A Trip to the Supermarket: Empty Shelves in "The Land of Plenty"

It being Monday today, it was time to go to the supermarket as part of my errand running to our local town.

The USA is often associated with "excess" and one of the things my relations visiting from Denmark always remark on is the size of supermarkets, as well as the immense selection and the shelves stocked to overflowing.

Doesn't look like there's much in the way of pork, today...

I think most people in this country take it for granted that you can always find what you want at your local supermarket, and the whole idea of "shortages" and empty shelves is almost unimaginable.

Sure, there was a run on toilet paper and hand sanitizer during the early days of Covid, but people recognized that as a result of hysteria and hoarding, not actual shortages.

Chicken selection is pretty limited, too... unless peppered drumsticks is your gig...

Well, the "supply chain issues" and related shortages due to many food production plants being short staffed is starting to manifest more and more.

The supermarkets are no longer able to shuffle products around to give the illusion of well stocked shelves. There are more and more gaping holes. And not just on select categories, but across the board.

Need some pasta? Better take what you can get...

Most notably affected — for the time being — are lower cost meats like chicken, pork and regular ground beef for hamburgers and meatloaf.

Some of the basics like pasta, rice and beans are looking thin.

Interestingly enough, so are over-the-counter medications. I needed to get some non-prescription allergy meds for Mrs. Denmarkguy and was grateful to get the last package of the house brand.

Better not get a cold, or the flu....

It also doesn't look good for our furry and feathered friends. Canned cat food has been almost impossible to get for the past six months now... even with the prices going up over 50% since January.

Overall, though, you're better off if you're willing to be creative and cook your own food. Prepared foods in cans and boxes, and frozen "TV dinners" are increasingly rare finds.

These days, this is a really GOOD selection of cat food!

It makes me very grateful that we always cook our own food from scratch, and we grow a lot of our own.

To many people seeing this, perhaps it seems perfectly normal. To the average American, it is scary and surreal. Having lived part of my childhood and early teens in a totalitarian dictatorship (Spain under Franco) I was very familiar with empty shelves from an early age, along with the "35 ways to cook the same thing and make it taste OK" style of cuisine!

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out, come winter and the end of the growing season.

Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? How is the food supply, where you are? Do you see a lot of empty shelves, or do things seem pretty normal? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 202207011 23:57 PDT
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