FOOD Report food & grocery shortages / price increases here: 2023 Edition

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nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I buy the 20 oz bag of Hormel bacon bits. I had an opened bag in the fridge for so long that it spoiled. Now I keep them in the freezer, but its not in the kitchen so I don't use them as often.

Speaking of not being able to find something, I can't find Great Value condensed chedder cheese soup. I have a few in my pantry, but not many. Campbell's is 1.72 a can, that's too expensive to use two cans in a casserole. Its the same price on amazon too.
 
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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
nomifyle said:
I buy the 20 oz bag of Hormel bacon bits. I had an opened bag in the fridge for so long that it spoiled. Now I keep them in the freezer, but its not in the kitchen so I don't use them as often.

Speaking of not being able to find something, I can't find Great Value condensed chedder cheese soup. I have a few in my pantry, but not many. Campbell's is 1.72 a can, that's too expensive to use two cans in a casserole. Its the same price on amazon too.
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I have always had a hard time finding the cheddar cheese soup as well. I usually wait until Publix has the Campbells as a BOGO or has them at $1 a can (they do it a couple of times a year) and then buy a dozen or so cans at a time. Otherwise here at Publix they are $1.98 a can and they don't carry the Great Value brand of cheedar cheese soup at our Walmart.
 
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bracketquant

Veteran Member
nomifyle said:
I buy the 20 oz bag of Hormel bacon bits. I had an opened bag in the fridge for so long that it spoiled. Now I keep them in the freezer, but its not in the kitchen so I don't use them as often.

Speaking of not being able to find something, I can't find Great Value condensed chedder cheese soup. I have a few in my pantry, but not many. Campbell's is 1.72 a can, that's too expensive to use two cans in a casserole. Its the same price on amazon too.
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As a substitute, you might be able to make soup out of Rico's condensed cheddar cheese sauce.

I can't find the #10 (107 oz) cans of it anymore, just the 15 oz cans. And, two 15 oz cans is almost the same cost as one 107 oz can. I will not buy the small cans.

WalMart still has the #10 cans of condensed nacho cheese sauce.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
prudentwatcher said:
I have always had a hard time finding the cheddar cheese soup as well. I usually wait until Publix has the Campbells as a BOGO or has them at $1 a can (they do it a couple of times a year) and then buy a dozen or so cans at a time. Otherwise here at Publix they are $1.98 a can and they don't carry the Great Value brand of cheedar cheese soup at our Walmart.
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I've got a pretty good stock of Campbell's cheddar cheese soup. I bought all of mine at our local Walmart. Never had a hard time finding it. I use the canned cheddar in a lot of the one skillet meals I make from my pantry. It's good to have on hand if blocks of cheddar cheese become unavailable. I've also got a good stock of 1 lb boxes of Velveeta cheese on hand, too. It's shelf stable as well, but I store it in my freezer, so it will last even longer. I can't live without my CHEESE!
 
AlfaMan

AlfaMan

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I'll add to the price observations........

You know those cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli, Beefaroni and spaghetti that used to be 79 cents a can 6 months ago?
Well, those same cans at WalMart Saturday night are now $ 1.24 a can. Same size cans, big jump in price.
 
Flippper

Flippper

Time Traveler
Ice cream sizes are reducing again-the store had a sale and had the 1.5 qt size mixed with the 1.25 qt sizes all the same price.

Noticed Walmart green beans which were .50 a can are now .59, to be expected as processing costs rise.

Dry cat food, all 4 shelves in the aisle are empty of any except the super expensive types in one little area. Dog food doesn't seem to be an issue, nor small pet supplies, just cat food.

Walmart brand distilled water went from .88 a gallon to $1.25, if you can get it, it's very high quality medical grade-and apparently disappears off the 5 shelves 20 feet long within hours.
 
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Dm19cm

Contributing Member
Similar issues here Flipper! I went to Walmart yesterday for cat treats. I found some, but when I looked for regular cat food there were only 3 individual cans on the shelf...they left with me. A gentleman arrived and was looking for cat food too and we got to talking. He had just been to the other Walmart (popular store around here apparently), and the shelves were bare there as well. He left without getting anything.
There were about six bags of Meow Mix and Friskies dry so I got one of those, but that was pretty much it except for the smaller cans of Fancy Feast which I don't purchase. Then I saw six cases of the nine lives four packs above the shelves where nobody could reach. I found a ladder, got them down and spread them out on the bare shelves...except for the two that left with me.
I've seen sparse shelves before but nothing like this. Thank goodness for my pantry but friends, get what you can when you can because it's getting real out there!
 
tnphil

tnphil

Don't screw with an engineer
Kroger (middle TN) had some lamb left over from the holidays. The Frenched ribs were crazy high, like $13.99/lb.
But they had one boneless leg of lamb left at $8.99/lb. That's not too bad when you love lamb. I hadn't cooked one in 7-8 years, and my impulse-buy kicked in. Lol. Screw the red-meat gout trigger.

4 lb boneless leg, 1.5 hours in 400 degree oven on air roast, rested for 10 minutes.
Sublime! Between medium-rare and medium, fork tender. Served with broccoli and wild rice and mushrooms.
BTW, our Kroger no longer sells wild rice??? I had one box left for tonight, but got a couple of pounds off Amazon today.
 
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Terrwyn

Veteran Member
OMG! I did an Instacart order and my poor shopper was completely frazzled at the empty shelves and substitutions. The store was Stater Bros in S.CA high desert. I kept telling her not to worry and she joked she thought she was in Walmart. No one would starve but you better not be picky. Worst shortages were eggs, milk, no hot dog buns, and very little orange juice. Never seen it like this. They were out of stock on so many items can't even list them. Won't be doing this again for awhile. Looks like time to hunker down.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
phloydius said:
A family of 4 that eat eggs for breakfast most days, but only goes shopping twice a month?
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Yep. It's just Cary and I, and we go through 2 dozen in two weeks. A family of 4 could easily go through 4 dozen in two weeks. We eat a lot of eggs, and I use a lot in cooking. I try to maintain 4 dozen in the fridge. Use 2 dozen, replace with 2 dozen every 2 weeks.
 
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Martinhouse

Deceased
If I shopped only once a month and regularly ate two eggs for breakfast every morning, I would need 5 dozen eggs just for myself. Five dozen undamaged eggs easily keep a month and more in the refrigerator.

When I used to eat this way, I would scramble several dozen and then freeze them in gallon Ziploc bags. Each morning I would steam a serving to thaw and heat it. Doing it this way added a little less to the electric bill and also saved a lot of time, effort, and soap and water for cooking and meal clean-up.

I also liked adding one hard-boiled egg to a can of tuna whenever I made tuna salad. (Unrelated but a good place to mention.....when you don't have any lettuce, thin-sliced cucumber is a great substitue on a tuna sandwich and really tasted better than lettuce to me. This would assume that you could find cucumbers when there was no lettuce available.)
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
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SouthernBreeze said:
Yep. It's just Cary and I, and we go through 2 dozen in two weeks. A family of 4 could easily go through 4 dozen in two weeks. We eat a lot of eggs, and I use a lot in cooking. I try to maintain 4 dozen in the fridge. Use 2 dozen, replace with 2 dozen every 2 weeks.
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I started raising chickens because we were going through 9 dozen eggs a week... or more, if I was baking.

Summerthyme
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
summerthyme said:
I started raising chickens because we were going through 9 dozen eggs a week... or more, if I was baking.

Summerthyme
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I'll be using half a dozen tonight just for our supper. That's why I like to keep 4 dozen in the fridge at all times. Sometimes I use more, sometimes I use less in a 2 week period. There's no way I could use 9 dozen in 1 week, though.
 
TxGal

TxGal

Day by day
I went to HEB in Huntsville, TX this morning, not a lot of shoppers there. Cold meds and antacids almost wiped out. Eggs were in very, very short supply. I picked up two of their 18-ct Central Market pasture-raised brown eggs for $9 each; these eggs are the most similar in looks and taste as our hens' eggs...but they're not laying right now. The less expensive eggs were almost gone. We generally use 4 eggs for breakfast each morning, several times a week I'll hard-boil several, and I'm baking a lot now so we can really go through eggs quickly.

Plenty of breakfast cereal, junk/snack food, and soft drinks. Stuff we rarely buy was plentiful, but I didn't check prices. Ozarka bottled water, small bottles, pk of 24 is now $4.78.

Bananas almost gone. Bulk red potatoes $1.18/lb, but I swear they don't look great.

Fresh chicken of all types, whole, cuts, etc., very sparse. Beef was pretty well stocked, but prices are up. I went to see what was left in the whole turkey freezer, and a nearby one was stocked with pigs feet, some pig innards (tripe?) I can't recall right now, and joy of joys noticed a whole hog head looking back at me...good grief. There were about half a dozen of them there, selling for 89 cents/lb.

The house brand of facial tissue that I used to buy for $1 is now almost $2.

Our grocery bill has pretty much doubled now, every single trip.

Popped into a nearby Aldi, picked up some organic avocados on sale. They were pretty well-stocked, not very busy. Did see some frozen turkeys left. They also had their canned pears back in stock, they've been out of stock for a long while.
 
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SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
TxGal said:
I went to HEB in Huntsville, TX this morning, not a lot of shoppers there. Cold meds and antacids almost wiped out. Eggs were in very, very short supply. I picked up two of their 18-ct Central Market pasture-raised brown eggs for $9 each; these eggs are the most similar in looks and taste as our hens' eggs...but they're not laying right now. The less expensive eggs were almost gone. We generally use 4 eggs for breakfast each morning, several times a week I'll hard-boil several, and I'm baking a lot now so we can really go through eggs quickly.

Plenty of breakfast cereal, junk/snack food, and soft drinks. Stuff we rarely buy was plentiful, but I didn't check prices. Ozarka bottled water, small bottles, pk of 24 is now $4.78.

Bananas almost gone. Bulk red potatoes $1.18/lb, but I swear they don't look great.

Fresh chicken of all types, whole, cuts, etc., very sparse. Beef was pretty well stocked, but prices are up. I went to see what was left in the whole turkey freezer, and a nearby one was stocked with pigs feet, some pig innards (tripe?) I can't recall right now, and joy of joys noticed a whole hog head looking back at me...good grief. There were about half a dozen of them there, selling for 89 cents/lb.

The house brand of facial tissue that used to buy for $1 is now almost $2.

Our grocery bill has pretty much doubled now, every single trip.

Popped into a nearby Aldi, picked up some organic avocados on sale. They were pretty well-stocked, not very busy. Did see some frozen turkeys left. They also had their canned pears back in stock, they've been out of stock for a long while.
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Our monthly grocery bill has more than doubled. I've had to adjust my grocery budget twice in the past year.
 
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hd5574

Veteran Member
We are no longer stocking up on most things...just replacing as needed for things we have used...we continue to get things for the new fur kid ...she is a rescue who arrived unexpectedly November 20 ...she is a blessing...
Also if we see a super sale...we will get meats to can...some during Christmas were half price...so too good to pass up...
 
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Nich1

Veteran Member
Quick report from Piedmont, NC. At Aldi, the bargains: bacon $3.89/lb; eggs $3.85/dozen; hamburger $2.79/lb; cilantro $0.49/bunch. The "not" bargains: the hams that were $0.85/lb before Christmas are now $2.59/lb; whole organic roasting chickens (maybe 4 lbs each) $14.99 ea.

At Food Lion, boneless chicken breasts are $1.99/lb and chuck roast is $3.99/lb. Everyone needs Doritos and they are BOGO. :-)
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
When we have eggs for our first meal we each eat three, so that's a half dozen in one meal. Although there are days we don't eat any.

I was in walmart in Shreveport today and there were a lot of empty spaces. I was looking for locking lid totes, I only found three of the 15 qt. size. Canning jars have gone up to 14.97 for a case of ball wide mouth. There were not regular mouth and I got the only two they had. I was also looking for salad/butter crackers, none at all. I found one box of woven wheat and I got one box of pita crackers. All have gone up in price. I do have some put back sealed in 1/2 gallon jars.
 
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Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Went to WalMart in suburban Memphis today. It was late afternoon, maybe about 4 pm.


There were lots of heads of iceberg lettuce - maybe 30 or more. I failed to notice the price, because I only eat iceberg if there is nothing else.

There were eight packages of romaine lettuce, with three hearts of romaine per package. Cost per package: $3.68. That is just a little over a dollar
per romaine head. That is a good price nowadays, IMHO. i took two packages and left the remainder for someone else.

There were some fresh strawberries, but they didn”t look good enough so I passed.

Milk was $4.19 for a gallon of Great Value whole milk.

EGGS WERE $4.86 for a single dozen of store brand, plain, white shelled, Large eggs. A dozen Jumbo sized of Great Value white eggs were over 6 dollars!


(My chickens are looking better and better with each passing day!)

A gallon of spring water is now $1,18.

They had a good amount of it.

They did have a few gallons of distilled water, way up on the top shelf. You really had to look hard to find it.

Great Value pound of butter - the cheap kind - was $4,48 per pound.

The store looked pretty well stocked, considering the fact that it was getting to be late in the day.

I did find one mismarked item - a bag of cheap chips, marked $1.98 on the shelf, rung up at $3.58 at the register.

I quickly showed the cashier a photo of the item on the chelf with the $1.98 price marked on it, and he very calmly gave me the lower price. No problem getting it corrected.
 
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Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I also went to a regional chain store (Food Giant).

I was able to get a Family Sized package of assorted pork chops fpr $1.59 per pound (a little over 7 bucks in total for 8 very nice sized, good quality chops).

8 chops is 4 meals for me and my wife. So that was a good deal, IMHO.

They also had Kelly’s chili (with both beans and meat) for $1.25 a can 4 for $5). I bought a flat. I would have bought more, but they didn’t have a whole lot on the shelf, and I wanted to leave some for somebody else.

Kelly’s is, by far, my favorite brand of canned chili. It is manufactured in a plant in Jackson, TN, about an hour away from my home, so it is local food to me.
 
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bracketquant

Veteran Member
The local Stop & Shop, western MA, has butt portion hams on sale for .49/lb, through January 19th. I don't know if it extends to a regional thing (MA/CT). Perfect timing for me to bake one now, and also take a few days to make room in the freezers for how many more can fit. The store has 30, or more, of them. So, I don't expect them to sell out immediately.

Then it's making split pea with ham soup. And with 5 pounds of potatoes at WalMart going for 85 cents, I'll search for cream of potato with ham soup recipes. The main ingredients are so inexpensive, I can risk trying different recipes. Historically, mid-January to mid-February is the coldest time of year, here, which means soup weather.

The local WalMart has a clearance sale on many canned soups. GV chicken & stars at .25/can (sold out), Campbell's cream of potato at .41/can, Campbell's beef vegetable barley at .43/can, Campbell's chicken gumbo at .52/can, several others at under .70/can, and the elusive Campbell's cheddar cheese soup at 1.20/can. The sale is no use to me other than more donations to the food pantry for the same cost.

I like to make my own lower than the low sodium canned soups. The last time I checked, most low sodium canned soups were about 420 to 450 mg of sodium per serving. I make mine at about 325 to 350 mg per serving. Below 300 mg, the soup can lack flavor.
 
Redcat

Redcat

Veteran Member
SouthernBreeze said:
In order to cut cost, I've stopped shopping to add to our storage supply. Now, I'm only replacing what I use out of my pantry. It has helped, but not a lot, because prices still continue to rise.
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I am doing the same. Rarely adding any more and simply replacing what I use. It has been around six months of using the pantry pretty well exclusively along with frozen I have. But even so, my total weekly bill is upwards of $100. That is just replacing items and detergent, paper products etc. I try my hardest tho to keep at $100 a week. I earmark $500 a month for groceries and household. It is barely covering it anymore (and I do grow a big garden, we are still eating potatoes from it and frozen veg).
 
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SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Redcat said:
I am doing the same. Rarely adding any more and simply replacing what I use. It has been around six months of using the pantry pretty well exclusively along with frozen I have. But even so, my total weekly bill is upwards of $100. That is just replacing items and detergent, paper products etc. I try my hardest tho to keep at $100 a week. I earmark $500 a month for groceries and household. It is barely covering it anymore.
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I hear ya. Since I only shop every 2 weeks, I have a lot to replace when we only eat out of my pantry. It's almost as much, now, as it was when I was still adding to my storage.
 
Kewpie

Kewpie

Senior Member
Eggs have been…weird! I don’t buy them often (usually just if I need hard boiled eggs or I’m doing a ton of baking and don’t mind getting cheapies), but they’re up, they’re down, the whole case is empty or completely stuffed with overflow. I’m basing this off the one or 2 stores I shop at in person, like Aldi or Albertsons.

My kiddo had a nasty cold (no positive Covid tests, thank god) right before Christmas, and I noticed the kid med aisle was SPARSE. He’s almost 13 and in theory is fine for adult meds, so I stocked up on some of the name brand that are gel coated and he can swallow easier, there was plenty of those types, and left kiddie meds for those that *have* to use them. It’s been a rough year for little kids, several of my friends babies have been hospitalized the last few months. :-/
 
ainitfunny

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
phloydius said:
Are your Hormel ones in glass, plastic jar, or plastic bag?

I've been getting the store brand version (from HEB) that come in a plastic bag, and they seem to last about 10 - 15 months before they mold or have another smell/taste problem causing me to throw them out. As far as I can tell the Best By date on them is generally about 8-9 months after manufacture.

I want to try some of the Hormel ones in the glass jar as I have read the shelf life is longer, but have not been able to find any.
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Did you refrigerate them after you opened them?
 
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