How are the grocery shelves in your area?

[mommyoffive]

How are the grocery shelves in your area?  Are they back to normal?   What can you still not find?   

[freesia]

Still no toilet paper or hand sanitizer (going on a month now).  No baking soda or light bread, but there was other bread and eggs.  Dh was able to get everything else, so not completely sure about things we don't usually use.

[desertflower]

I have a friend who said that flour and yeast seem to be out.

[Noreen Claire]

First thing Saturday morning, the frozen fruit, frozen vegetables, and ice cream sections were EMPTY. There was toilet paper, but very little bottled water (I didn't need either, but I did look). Everything else was okay.

[Katy]

You can find everything, just in lower quantities than before.  Toilet paper, diaper wipes, and hand sanitizer all had limits of one package per person.

[stephanier.1765]

No hand sanitizer or disinfectant but otherwise back to normal.

[Joker]

I've only ordered online the past few weeks but I have been able to get almost everything. I may not get the normal brand or type but nothing has been completely out except apple sauce. I was able to get chicken, beef, bread, eggs, veggies, fruit, milk - but no apple sauce. Weird. 

I haven't tried to get paper products, flour, or water though as we're good for a while on those. 

[mom2scouts]

Still empty in a lot of areas. There's no toilet paper, tissues, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, or paper towels. Frozen meals, meat, canned food, and pasta are still mostly empty.

[MEmama]

Our grocery seemed pretty well stocked last time I went, though admittedly I was only looking for a few key perishables and not browsing or looking for things I didn’t need. There are limits on things like eggs and milk and paper products which I think is responsible. Produce was well stocked and I was happy to find large containers of almond milk. 
 

The store had someone counting people as they went in and out to adhere to a 100 person limit. The checkout aisles are marked off where to stand, and there’s plexiglass between customers and cashiers, but not the baggers. Seems like a good idea in theory, but if the baggers aren’t protected I’m not sure it does much good. I’m all for whatever methods they have available to keep customers and workers as safe as possible though. Shoppers seemed respectful of keeping distance as best as they could.

[Joker]

Oh, ds' college town stores are all fully stocked. Most kids went home so I think the stores there are selling much less than normal. Makes it easier for the ones like ds who stayed. It's about an hour from us.

[Miss Tick]

I'm battling anticipatory anxiety about my planned grocery trip on Wednesday. I think of I can get eggs at the first place, everything will be ok.

I've been asking friends and neighbors and except for wwflour, hand sanitizer, and fresh meat, they haven't reported shortages.

[BarbecueMom]

I went on Thursday, my mom went this morning (she LOVES “senior hours” and hopes they never leave).  Still no paper products (didn’t look hard though, don’t need them), but we were both able to find everything else.  Some item limits at Aldi.  Almost NO ONE in the stores.  You could keep 6 yards away from the nearest person.  My mom had her choice of front-row spots at Walmart, which is unheard of.

Apparently the weekend was more crowded.  I don’t do crowds during non-pandemics, so I have no idea what that looks like.  I haven’t attempted Costco yet. Going to try to go there sometime between now and the stimulus checks.

[ThisIsTheDay]

It is so random, both in stores in my area and even in the same stores a day or two apart.

I've noticed that stores in the poorer areas seem to be better stocked--perhaps they are not being shopped as heavily, or people are not buying so much at one time?

Otoh, we went to Aldi last week and were so surprised by what they did have that we didn't go to our regular grocery store as we had planned.

It feels like shopping in a zombie apocolypse.

[City Mouse]

Still very low on paper products and cleaning supplies. Most food products are available in general, but specific brands or cuts of meet are limited. The big problem here is that the supply truck (supposed to come on Tuesdays and Saturdays) is several days late and then does not have the store’s full order. So when the truck does come, there is a run on supplies again. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

We were seeing shortages first since we were first hit in the US.  We are seeing stock coming back.  Stores are rationing chicken and toilet paper though.  There is no hand sanitizer to ration.  There was a run on eggs at the end of last week.  All that is left are the expensive eggs.  I have to say though, those expensive eggs taste amazing!  And apparently there was a run on ice cream over the weekend.  But no one has to have ice cream and it will be restocked soon enough. 

[historically accurate]

No flour, no toilet paper (although DH was able to snag a pack from Walgreens while there to pick up a prescription last week - it was the last on the shelf), no hand sanitizer, no yeast, no ice cream, and no frozen pizza. Frozen veggies/fruit are very scarce. Canned goods (of pretty much every flavor - I got excited there was tomato sauce last time I was in a store) and pasta are few and far between. Chicken is hit or miss (although other meat is available). Eggs and sugar can be fully stocked one day and completely gone the next time you go in the store.

Fresh produce is pretty well stocked. Yogurt is fairly good - you may not get the brand you want, but there is some. Cereal is iffy - cheerios are gone, but kids' sugar cereals are still plentiful. Chips & Dip fully stocked aisle. Spices & baking mixes (cake, brownie, muffin) mostly stocked, although there is a limit on them at most stores. 

We have a pickup order set for Wednesday (the day DH goes to the office), and so far the only thing out of stock in the order is toilet paper & hand sanitizer. They allowed us to put them in the cart a week ago (both were added for my brother who couldn't find them at Aldi or Walmart), but they are out of stock since then. 

[KidsHappen]

We've had the best luck at Target and Aldi's. I have been able to get almost everything on my list at those two places. Walmart, Kroger and Publix not so much. At this point I am stocked on almost everything except hand sanitizer. We are having to go to the store about every 3-5 days to get both fresh and frozen produce but that is about it. 

ETA: I have yet to see sanitizing products or paper supplies in any store. I have had to procure those items online.

Edited March 30, 2020 by KidsHappen
Added info

[stephanier.1765]

I did find hand sanitizer at the Dollar Store last week

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by stephanier.1765

[cintinative]

It might depend on the store where we are. I haven't been to Kroger in a couple of weeks. Meijer has struggled to keep things in stock. They did have ground beef last Wednesday at 11 a.m. but no boneless-skinless chicken.  The soup aisle, canned fruit/veggies were decimated. Butter/cheese decimated.  The other thing I have noticed is not as many workers so there might be an illness issue. Aldi has largely been fine when I have been there recently. They do have limits per item but I can find bread, milk, eggs, and butter.  

I did go to Costco last Wednesday to stock up for awhile. They only allowed one person in as one person left, so it was pretty sparse people-wise inside.  They had a list outside as you entered of the things they were out of such as disinfecting wipes, tp, etc. so you didn't waste your time in line. 

[Spryte]

No TP, no paper towels, no facial tissues, no hand sanitizer, no cleaners that disinfect, not even something like Scrubbing Bubbles or toilet bowl cleaner.  Very few choices for meats. Eggs are scarce.  Most other things we found alternates to our usual brands, which can be tricky.  

[Frances]

Not sure because we haven’t been to one in almost a month. We’ve done two grocery pickups with online orders. The first a few weeks back was missing several items. The most recent one was almost completely fulfilled. Brown basmati rice was not available and some kinds of canned beans. But everything else was fulfilled.

[Pawz4me]

I went yesterday morning and got everything I needed. There was certainly some empty space, but most things were adequately stocked. There was plenty of bread, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, cold cuts. Sporadic empty shelves for canned food. The frozen aisles looked fairly well stocked. Plenty of pork and chicken. Some beef but very limited selection of ground beef. No TP and only a few PT. I didn't check the cleaning aisle to see if there were any disinfecting wipes or anything like that.

[Shoeless]

It depends on the store and town.  

I stocked up the week before this $hitshow started in the US, so I have not had to do any big shopping trips.  My local HEB was sparse about a week ago: no chicken, but there was plenty of the expensive cuts of meat. No flour, no yeast, no paper products. My town is lower-economic bracket, so cheap stuff goes first and fast. A friend that works there says it is getting better, though. People aren't rampaging through the store quite as much.

The next town over, the HEB had a fully stocked meat and fish department late in the afternoon on Saturday. Full stock of fresh veggies, some pasta and rice, some canned goods. No problems getting milk or bread. Pet supplies were fully stocked.  Eggs were out, no paper products (but Walgreens had some tp and Kleenex, limit one of each per person).  This town is more affluent.

I have not ventured into a Walmart. They are usually a disaster on a good day. 

 

 

[lovinmyboys]

I went early Saturday morning and the only thing on my list they didn’t have was yeast. They seemed fairly well stocked-low on canned soup and ice cream. They didn’t have any ramen noodles, but plenty of rice.

[ScoutTN]

Better than they were a week ago. People are calming down a bit and stores are handing the situation better.

[TheReader]

Some stuff is getting back to normal -- I found lean ground beef with a 25% off sticker on Saturday morning, first thing. We haven't seen ground beef in a few weeks, at least the times we've been, so that was nice. 

On the other hand, still no/extremely limited TP, no hand sanitizer or cleaning/disinfecting supplies, they were out of PopTarts on Saturday, limited bread, rice, beans, pasta, etc. 

 

[klmama]

At the local warehouse grocery most things were in stock, but they were severely limiting quantities on many items - meat, TP (2 off brands available), soup, water, pasta, canned veggies and fruit, eggs, bread, bagels, frozen bread dough, cleaning supplies, and cold meds.  They had off-brand hand sanitizer and tons of Bounty and Brawny paper towels.

At Kroger, they were very low on eggs and almost out of TP - just 5 packages of some off brand, and they were limiting purchases to one package.    

[Sherry in OH]

Things are getting better although significant gaps remains.  Most noticeable gaps and restrictions - 

• Dairy - cheese aisle was mostly bare, only most expensive brand of butter available, eggs limited to 1 dozen per customer
• Baking - not much flour, no yeast
• Canned goods -  vegetables available, meats and fish in short supply, few varieties of soups and stews
• Dried beans - limited availability
• Pasta - available but not all brands and varieties
• Rice - limited availability, mostly boxes of seasoned rice mixes, specialty rices ($$$), and 20 pound bag
• Water (distilled, spring, drinking) - limited to 1 gallon or case per customer
• Liquid hand soap, hand sanitizer - none
• Toilet paper, paper towels - none
• Cleaning supplies - aisle almost bare
• Dish soap, dishwasher tabs - very little

[alisoncooks]

This morning I couldn't find TP, flour, chicken breast, and real butter sticks. There were also very few cured meats (sausage and hotdogs, especially). Limited breads. 

Edited March 30, 2020 by alisoncooks

[Bootsie]

We are not experiencing shortages or limits on items in the  grocery store in the village where I am, which is only 30 minutes from the northern Italian border.  There is plexiglass hanging between customers and checkers.  Any thing you might eat raw and isn't packaged, such as lettuce and apples, are left in your cart, rather than being placed on the conveyor belt and touched by the checker.   It is surprising when I hear how many Americans are going to multiple grocery stores and to stores like Walmart.

[athena1277]

Grocery stores here have been busy.  Depending on when you go, you may or may not find everything you need.  On the weekends, it looks like a going out of business sale with so many empty shelves.  If you go during the week, they have most everything except paper products.  They might not have your favorite brand, but they will have plenty.  If you want TP or paper towels, you have to go early in the day.  I went as senior shopping was ending a few days ago and was able to get a big pack of TP.

Edited March 30, 2020 by athena1277

[kbutton]

DH said our local Kroger (SW Ohio) is well stocked, which is good--they sometimes run short on normal weekends! He didn't take a big survey as he was in a hurry, but he didn't notice bare spots as he was walking around. He had previously been to Walmart not long after the big surge of buying, and it was lower stock at that point.

My personal theory is that the panic buying was people being stopped in their tracks with job/income loss, and besides buying for kids who weren't in school and not eating out as much, they bought as much as they could afford before the paychecks dried up.

I think we're going to see spots of low stock around times that monthly SSI, etc. come out, but that's pretty typical around here. The stores are usually having to hop to stay stocked at those times. 

[stephanier.1765]

Speaking of hand sanitizer in stores...where do you find it within the store? Near the soap? In the past, I just always grabbed it from the checkout lanes and that's also where I found it at the Dollar Store recently but as for the other stores I have no clue.

[callapidder]

I went on Friday. The following were completely gone: TP, flour, yeast, ice cream, pasta, rice, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, shredded cheese. These things were very low: eggs, paper towels and tissues, laundry detergent, milk, bread, sugar, oil, butter, chicken, ground beef.

I'm trying not to go often, but between purchase limits (which are good), shortages, and the fact that I'm also shopping for my elderly mother who has underlying conditions...I'm finding it hard to get what we need in one trip. For example, we needed eggs and so did my mom, but there's a purchase limit of one, and the only eggs left were the 6-packs. That's not going to go very far in this house.

[historically accurate]

5 minutes ago, stephanier.1765 said:

Speaking of hand sanitizer in stores...where do you find it within the store? Near the soap? In the past, I just always grabbed it from the checkout lanes and that's also where I found it at the Dollar Store recently but as for the other stores I have no clue.

In our Walmart it's in the soap aisle right by the refills of the liquid hand soap. The tiny travel bottles are with the travel sized container usually somewhere in the toiletry section.

[Wheres Toto]

From what I'm seeing online, paper products, hand sanitizer, cleaning products, chicken, eggs, rice are all items that seem low.   We've been lucky since dh is in the senior category and an early riser so when he goes shopping he goes first thing in the morning and has been able to get at least a little bit of tp, eggs and milk. 

[Laura Corin]

Fine. The loo roll shelves aren't full, but there's usually some stock. Bread flour is unavailable, as are some pulses and hand sanitiser. Soap is in low supply.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Laura Corin

[Tap]

The cheaper stores are still a little low on shelf stable food items like dried/canned beans, ramen, rice etc. But the regular grocery stores in the mid-higher price ranges have pretty much everything. I live in a city where there are grocery stores within blocks of each other and I doubt you could go more 10 miles in any direction (on a major road) outside city limits without running into one.  

Sanitizing products are still scarce. Costco has toilet paper/paper products almost daily if you go early. Other grocery stores have it hit and miss. 

[Loowit]

When I went Friday, they were low and out of a lot of stuff.  I grabbed the second to the last package of toilet paper.  There was no oatmeal except instant in packets.  The flour was down to only the super expensive brand, same with butter.  Pasta was mostly gone except for gluten free, which I want to leave for those who need it.  They were starting to run out of eggs and they had no hand sanitizer or hand soap.  Things in the meat isle, fresh veggies and fruits, and canned goods mostly seemed fine.

I am frustrated that I can't order groceries for pick up or delivery because the spots are all full, and even if there were spots I can't get things like tp or paper towels ordering online.

DH and I are going to venture out again today because we are out of milk and I need some meds for my headaches.  I think we are going to try Target first as it seems better and much less people than grocery stores.

[Arcadia]

No screen and mask for cashiers at my nearest Safeway. Some cashiers are using their own supply of masks.

Meat, fruits, vegetables, bread, water, yogurt are well stocked. The rest of the food stuff are spotty. Yeast and flour are sold out. (ETA: Eggs sold out too)

Prices has gone up for some items like Hawaiian sweet dinner rolls, condensed milk, evaporated milk.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Arcadia

[Guest]

I went today and don’t expect to go out again any sooner than a week; I’ll try to stretch it to 2 weeks. 

I have not been able to get *bread* flour, though I now have some all-purpose flour. I bought flour today and it was the last bag left, except for a few bags of whole wheat flour. I got milk, but no more gallons of 2%. I didn’t need them, but I did see a small stock of paper towels (rationed), but zero other paper products. I have not seen a roll of TP anywhere all month. Luckily I am nowhere near out. 

My store was once again back to almost zero poultry products, though I bought a turkey breast. I don’t cook that a lot but it definitely comes through in a pinch. There were more fresh produce than the past couple of times, though some things were still out. I don’t need eggs because I have chickens, but I noticed there were no eggs except quail eggs. There was some bread, but not much. Cleaning and disinfecting products totally empty. 

[Janeway]

They are fine, just cannot get rice. A bunch of people could not get toilet paper or paper towels so when I saw both at the store today, I texted them. I could not reach them so I bought a bunch. Now, turns out, they got the texts and ran to the store too. They don't need it, except the one person still needs the paper towels. I have plenty so I guess I will just hold on to them and wait until the next time someone close by says they are out.

[lulubelle]

Very little meat, no butters, sugar, flour, toilet paper, paper towels, and snacks were very low.  I think the weekends have a huge surge of shoppers.  I had a false sense of toilet paper calm last week - seeing as stop and shop had plenty of their own brand.  Now I’m starting to panic again.  I plan to go out tonight and see what there is.

[regentrude]

I had groceries delivered from Aldi today, and the shopper found everything that was on my list. But I didn't ask for tp or flour.

[rebcoola]

Out of TP, Lighter Fluid, and Chicken, and sanitizer.

Low on pasta, eggs, paper products and cleaning products.

[Elfknitter.#]

I ran to the Vons by my work during my mid-afternoon lunch break. They looked much better than when I last stopped by about a week to a week and a half ago. I think I saw a small handful of 4 roll packs of TP, otherwise the aisle was still empty. I didn't look for any hand sanitizer but I haven't seen any in stores for awhile now.

Frozen pizzas seem to be another out as fast as they come in item.

[BusyMom5]

A few weeks ago it was really bad, but last week was better.  No flour or cornmeal, TP, hand sanitizer and limits on things like butter, milk, meat.  Canned veggies weren't totally wiped out, but still very sparse.  No rice, beans, low on pasta.  I was thrilled to get the last bag of frozen veggies!  I had opened my last bag and we eat a lot.  No frozen chicken breasts, all meat was hit or miss.  There is plenty of meat,  but you cant be picky about which cut you want.

What I notice missing are the basics, but there are plenty of boxed foods, frozen meals, pre-packaged stuff.  I think it's a combo- people are cooking more meals from scratch at home bc they have more time and less money.  All fresh produce was available,  even potatoes- they had a limit.   

Crazily still no cases here.  I'm not sure what's going to happen once we start getting cases!

[kokotg]

We've been doing pickup orders, and it's been getting progressively better.  Order before last there wasn't much produce or meat; last time the only things I didn't get were ground beef and, mysteriously, gluten free macaroni and cheese (but got other GF pasta and no problem getting pork or chicken). I have another pickup scheduled for Thursday and they're finally letting me put toilet paper in my order! We'll see if I actually get it or not. Atlanta metro area. 

 

[Ausmumof3]

No toilet paper, only the expensive lavender and eucalyptus tissues, limited range of uht milks, limits on mince.  There was bulk bags of rice but none of the usual brands we buy but I expect that to become normal as Vietnam have banned rice exports and Aus is short due to drought.  There was some pasta sauce but the brand on sale was all gone.  The other jars were $3-4 each.  There was mince but limited to one per person and $17kg.  There was no hand sanitiser and only expensive fancy soap left.  All the bulk basic soap was gone.  The Asian cheap shop next to the supermarket were advertising hand sanitiser, masks, gloves and toilet rolls but I imagine they would be expensive.  There was no sambucol.  The shop kind of had a section with all the foods selling out in it including rice, pasta and pasta sauce.  There was tonic water there.  I’ve heard some people are buying up because they’ve heard about the chloroquine being a malaria medication so they figure they’ll give tonic water a go.  Almost no flour and no yeast at all.  Popcorn and vinegar restocked.  Paper towel is back in but not much. 

the biggest impact for us is there are very few sales.  I normally shop by whatever is on sale that week and keep the pantry stocked at lower cost.  Veg and meat prices are up as well.   And there are item limits of 1 for uht milk, rice, toilet paper and hand sanitiser (not that they had any) and disinfectant spray.  And limits of two on pasta, tinned fruit and veg, flour, etc

[madteaparty]

Totally fine. Got even TP at Aldi last week. I went to a Trader Joe’s in CT Friday and they had every last thing, as usual. They only let so many people into the store and it must have been the best US grocery shopping experience of my life.