8 New Grocery Shortages Shoppers Have Reported This Week
Shortages of so many products are likely to be the norm this holiday season, as this month saw an arguably unprecedented number of shortages than any prior point in the pandemic. This week is likely to kick off the start to holiday madness—and if you're following along, we've got an updated list of groceries shoppers around the country say are now disappearing from their local retail stores. "Just imagine what will happen when snow starts showing up," mused one.
Sunday afternoon, we turned to a subreddit sharing grocery shortages around the country. See their running list—and if you're thinking ahead to stock up proactively, you may want to read this, too: Costco Shoppers Are Already Raving About These 7 Holiday Groceries.
Sandwich Fixings
On Thursday, u/8Deer-JaguarClaw flagged what looks like a deficit of sandwich ingredients at a local QuickChek convenience store in New Jersey.
On their paper notice, store management apologized for running out of foods like mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, avocado, cucumbers, chicken tenders, and ingredients for their Thanksgiving wraps and subs. "We are happy to help you find an alternative," the note reads.
Analyzing this as an apparent part of a widespread issue, the user noted: "This is a regional gas/convenience store chain that has pretty good buying power, not a mom-and-pop sub shop buying for one store."
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Pasta Sauce
On Saturday afternoon local time, the same user shared what they reported to be the bare shelves of the sauce aisle inside their local New Jersey ShopRite. "Note that most of the cheaper national brands were low stock or out of stock: Ragu, Classico, Prego, etc., as was the store brand," they said "The more expensive local and regional brands were generally in stock at somewhat normal levels."
In skillful investigative mode, the user added: "In particular this is unusual, as Friday night after close is a big restocking night at this store (I know a couple people that work there). I suspect that the stock dwindled over the last week or so and there just wasn't enough to get it back to "fully stocked on the shelf" status. Or maybe they are short on stockers…but they don't have any help wanted signs up, so maybe not."
One user pointed out a recent Canadian news report that revealed a possible connection between tomato product shortage and forced labor in China.
Another user highlighted a very interesting potential link: "Or related to the fermentation (?) issue in California a couple of months ago?"
To which the original poster replied: "Was that where the shipping containers of tomatoes has been sitting so long that they started to explode and it was running all over the port?"
One commenter shared what appears to be that video:
Candy Corn
On Wednesday, u/Dana70620 said when "a craving for candy corn" struck, they had no luck visiting Dollar Tree, Target, and two Walmart stores.
Good news for candy corn lovers who might be stocking up at clearance sales this week—another Pensacola dweller, u/SouthernPie, shot down the above user's claim: "There's no shortage of candy corn in Pensacola," they said. "I just bought some 2 days ago. There's also plenty in neighboring areas."
Eggs
Last Tuesday, u/DarkCougar shared a reported egg shortage at a local coffee shop that led to a temporary halt to breakfast sandwiches. "[…T]he barista told me they were out of all egg breakfast sandwiches due to an egg shortage at their vendor. Hopefully it's a local blip," they said. The user's location wasn't clear.
Canned Pumpkin
Thursday, U/Seekingaloha announced the following discovery at a Trader Joe's in the Western U.S.: "Trader Joe's officially out of canned pumpkin . . . No photo to even post."
In a recent poll, some of our readers named Trader Joe's the best supermarket chain for holiday appetizers. If you're a TJ's fan who's stockpiling your groceries for an upcoming feast, you may have to brainstorm another option or two.
Turkey
Also Thursday, u/HalcyonCEO posted a link to a Wisconsin State Farmer article that suggested some turkeys, specifically those around 16 pounds, "are selling faster and sooner than they did in 2020."
RELATED: If You Bought This Ground Turkey, Throw It Out Now, FSIS Says
Cream Cheese
Saturday, u/intertoe shared an image of a chilled dairy case, reportedly at a Publix in "west central Florida."
In response, u/SWGardener said, "There will be many naked bagels in the days to come."
To which u/poofymon declared: "i aint eatin no nakey bagel."
Alcohol
Your holiday table might not be the only spread that requires some foresight. Wednesday, u/HalcyonCEO shared a link to a Houston Chronicle story from this week. In it, the Chronicle cited an NPR piece with David Ozgo, chief economist for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Ozgo suggested due to glass shortages, a dearth of drivers, and higher-than-average overseas liquor costs, a shortage of hard liquor has arrived amid ongoing heightened consumer demand.
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Editor's note: Technical choices in user comments were kept to preserve the original quotation.
