Ok the food limits are getting annoying

[busymama7]

We have six kids still at home but have a missionary coming home in two weeks and another coming home from college.   So we will be back to 10 people here for a bit.  

Thanks to the hive I was fairly well stocked by March and we've just filled in with pick up orders etc.  My husband finally went to Costco today as we were getting kinda desperate on a few things.  They only let him buy one of everything except ground beef.(?!?!)  One thing of butter.  One bag of flour.  One case canned chicken etc.   

The result is going to be that we have to go more often. Just feeling annoyed.  We were down to 1/4 bucket of white flour and Walmart wasn't letting me order it for pick up and they had none the couple times I went in over the last almost 2 months.   So buying 50-75 lbs at Costco would not have been hording level but more like 2 months supply.    

I'm considering trying a restaurant supply store.  And maybe giving up the Costco membership.  I go there specifically to buy in bulk for our large family.  

[rebcoola]

I love the restaurant supply store!!

[Spryte]

I got stuck on ground beef.  Ooooh, how I wish any of our stores had ground beef!  I would do a lot for a burger right now.  🤣

[busymama7]

Walmart won't let me order more than 2 of any bread product. I have a wheat grinder, Bosch, and two more buckets of wheat and I *can* make all our bread products if I have to but it's hot(100+) here and was trying to avoid the oven daily.  Sigh.  Cranky tonight.  We won't starve.  We do have beans if nothing else.

[IfIOnly]

9 minutes ago, rebcoola said:

I love the restaurant supply store!!

Been shopping for years at ours. There's almost nothing but frozen meat in the store I was told today. Everyone is flocking there.

[rebcoola]

Our was close to normal the last time I was in. The only thing they didn't have was TP. No limits either!!

Edited May 8, 2020 by rebcoola

[IfIOnly]

32 minutes ago, busymama7 said:

We have six kids still at home but have a missionary coming home in two weeks and another coming home from college.   So we will be back to 10 people here for a bit.  

Thanks to the hive I was fairly well stocked by March and we've just filled in with pick up orders etc.  My husband finally went to Costco today as we were getting kinda desperate on a few things.  They only let him buy one of everything except ground beef.(?!?!)  One thing of butter.  One bag of flour.  One case canned chicken etc.   

The result is going to be that we have to go more often. Just feeling annoyed.  We were down to 1/4 bucket of white flour and Walmart wasn't letting me order it for pick up and they had none the couple times I went in over the last almost 2 months.   So buying 50-75 lbs at Costco would not have been hording level but more like 2 months supply.    

I'm considering trying a restaurant supply store.  And maybe giving up the Costco membership.  I go there specifically to buy in bulk for our large family.  

Is the limit per day? Just put groceries in the car and go back in for round 2? Not ideal, but would cut down on a bit of traveling.

Edited May 8, 2020 by IfIOnly

[Frances]

We had a huge grocery order delivered today and got everything we ordered except a few bags of frozen vegetables. Tons of meat and fresh produce, plus dairy and eggs. I guess it must really vary by location.

[IfIOnly]

4 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Loving the restaurant supply right now.

I don't know what it is about our area, but ours has been bare and things go quickly. 

Def check yours out, busymama7, before giving up Costco. Hopefully you'll have better luck with yours.

[Tanaqui]

I know it's annoying, but the alternative is that people without large families and with a lot of money would get a chance to buy up all the meat etc. before you even got there. This way you can at least get some, even if it's not as much as you'd like.

It'd be great if they could do it per person rather than per membership, but I'm sure you never told Costco how many people are in your family and they would have no way to verify that information even if you did.

[Miss Tick]

8 hours ago, IfIOnly said:

Is the limit per day? Just put groceries in the car and go back in for round 2? Not ideal, but would cut down on a bit of traveling.

I've done this to get enough milk and eggs for my smaller family. Is it cheating or unethical? I worry a bit that I'm doing something wrong when I do this, but it let's me go multiple weeks between trips.

[marbel]

My daughter and I go to the store together but take separate lists and shop separately.  So if we were limited to one carton of eggs, but wanted two, we would each get one. We'd do the same with other limited items.  We get in line separately, pay separately.   That may be unethical as well, I don't know. We (family of 4) are not loading up or hoarding food. We have one freezer that's pretty full right now. We just happen to eat a lot of eggs, use a lot of milk, etc.

I do feel for large families. But I also agree with Tanaqui above as well. I've heard people talking about buying extra freezers (when people could still buy freezers) so they could fill them up. I'm not talking about large families, for whom that is just practical, but small families/couples who have the wherewithal to go out and spend hundreds on a freezer and however much it costs to fill one with meat.  Not to mention having the space to slip an extra freezer or two!

[skimomma]

I don't know what the right answer is here, but I am also struggling with this.  I have a small family.  But I live in an area where no one is following any of the rules.  Grocery workers and patrons are not distancing or wearing masks. During my last trip, but the bagger and the cashier BOTH wiped their noses with their hands multiple times while handling my groceries!  Our stores do not have grocery delivery.  This leaves me two choices, either do a curbside pick up order (only one store offers this) or shop inside.  The latter is more "risky" but the former has a 20 item limit.  I would have to go every three days with a 20 item limit.  So shopping in person is my only reasonable option.  Because of the risk, I am spacing my trips to once every three weeks.  This becomes a problem when I am only allowed one dozen eggs or one box of butter or one carton of milk per visit.  I understand the problem with not having limits but it does mean that people are having to enter stores more often to replenish supplies, increasing risk to shoppers and staff.  I don't know what the answer is.  We are very flexible eaters and I can make a balanced meal out of just about anything, so we are fine.  But, if I had a large family and/or was less willing/able to just make do with whatever I can get, I would have to shop almost daily due to the egg and milk limits.

I had an actual issue with this and hand sanitizer yesterday.  We have not had any as we were almost entirely at home with access to  running water and soap.  So I left whatever I saw for people who might "really" need it.  All of a sudden, both dd and dh are working out of the home in places where hand washing is difficult.  I want  both of them to have a bottle of hand sanitizer on them.  The only place locally that has any in stock only has the tiny purse-size bottles and there is a limit of one per customer.  So, I had to go to the store TWICE to "follow the rules."  Or I could have had dh or dd come in the second time.  But either way, the rule meant either a double exposure (both to me and to others) or double the amount of people going into the store.  I get why they have the rule.  I agree with it.  But I also just want to be able to say....."look, here's the deal, if you let me buy two bottles I promise to not buy any more for at least a month."  They have the same limits on TP and again, I'm thinking if I had 10 kids, I'd have to shop daily to adhere to the one 4-pack per customer limit.  

[maize]

How does one locate restaurant supply stores? I tried googling locally and nothing came up, which can't be right as there are plenty of restaurants.

[KungFuPanda]

I was able to score ground beef, chicken breast, pre-formed hamburgers, and flour at Aldis on Wednesday. It was rainy and nasty and my thinking was I’d have better luck if I went out in bad weather right when they opened. It paid off. The superstitious part of me believes I only found flour because I ordered 50 lbs from a mill. I’m just not sure when or if they’ll actually ship it. 
 

eta: The elderly woman behind me had two of a limited item and the cashier offered to do a separate transaction for her so she could buy it right then, but she wouldn’t ring it through in one transaction. 
 

I’m guessing all of the people who purchased freezers for the pandemic are filling them with at least a 6 month supply of meat and the supply chain probably would hiccup over that in normal circumstances. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by KungFuPanda

[rjand6more]

Sigh.  I have had this issue as well.  I am shopping 2-3 times as often as I did pre-pandemic.  I understand that some stores can not know your buying history, but Costco can!  They have an inventory of my purchases over the last 5+ years.  They can see I buy 3-4 bags of flour a month, 3 pkgs of organic eggs, 6 gallons of milk, 2-3 bags of frozen chicken, 4 cases of canned vegetables.   

[Selkie]

My situation is different because we don't eat any animal products, but I've been able to get everything we need for our family of five without going to stores. The last time any of us was in a grocery store was the very beginning of April, and we have no need to go back any time soon. It's been great - I don't know if I'll ever go back to shopping at stores again!

We get 40# of produce delivered each week, the Schwan's guy makes a delivery every two weeks, and we get pantry staples, frozen items, paper products and cleaning products from a few online places. I also grow our own greens.

[Scarlett]

I am shopping for 3 families, all small families but it is still a pain.  I do end up just having to go in the stores more often.  

[Miss Tick]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

I was able to score ground beef, chicken breast, pre-formed hamburgers, and flour at Aldis on Wednesday. It was rainy and nasty and my thinking was I’d have better luck if I went out in bad weather right when they opened. It paid off. The superstitious part of me believes I only found flour because I ordered 50 lbs from a mill. I’m just not sure when or if they’ll actually ship it. 
 

eta: The elderly woman behind me had two of a limited item and the cashier offered to do a separate transaction for her so she could buy it right then, but she wouldn’t ring it through in one transaction. 
 

I’m guessing all of the people who purchased freezers for the pandemic are filling them with at least a 6 month supply of meat and the supply chain probably would hiccup over that in normal circumstances. 

I've been thinking that Aldi must have it's own, closely guarded supply chain. Mine has always had flour and this week they still had meat and now they suddenly have jugs of liquid hand soap that I haven't been able to find elsewhere.

Apparently some Wendy's restaurants in CA and NC don't have burgers to sell, but this is not a problem at McDonald's due to their tight (tyrannical?) supply chain - and less of an emphasis on "fresh". I wonder if Aldi has something similar to McDonald's in the way of supply chain. Hopefully a beneficent version.

[IfIOnly]

7 hours ago, maize said:

How does one locate restaurant supply stores? I tried googling locally and nothing came up, which can't be right as there are plenty of restaurants.

 

1 hour ago, Arctic Mama said:

@maize our local one is Gordon Food Service, that could be your google issue - google food service store instead of restaurant supply store and see if you have any more luck?

 

We have Smart Foodservice. There are about 20 SFs in our state, and as far as I can tell, they're just in OR. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by IfIOnly

[AngieC]

Gordon is our local restaurant supply store and I've been going there to avoid crowds.  

They have had huge bags of flour every time I've been along with plenty of bread.  At ours, milk is limited to 2 gallons and meat is limited to 2 of each type for fresh, but frozen is unlimited (and plentiful in the store).  

Another place to get large quantities of food is from produce suppliers.  In addition to produce, ours sells meats and dairy products.  In my area, there are several suppliers that used to supply to restaurants and schools and with all of the closures are now looking for revenue streams so are selling to the public.  It's mostly large quantity purchases, but we've found it to be convenient and are happy to help out a couple of businesses that may be struggling right now.

[rebcoola]

Try searching for food services.  Ours is called smart food services but it seems like they all are something food services.

[JustEm]

If there is a Restaurant Depot in your area and you don't have a membership(you need a business license to get one) then you can check if it is available for delivery via Instacart.  That is how my brother has been able to get staples from them.  My dad, who lives with us, has a membership so we've been able to get stuff from there.  Another restaurant supply place in our area is The Restaurant Store

[Halftime Hope]

On 5/8/2020 at 8:33 AM, marbel said:

I've heard people talking about buying extra freezers (when people could still buy freezers) so they could fill them up. I'm not talking about large families, for whom that is just practical, but small families/couples who have the wherewithal to go out and spend hundreds on a freezer and however much it costs to fill one with meat.  Not to mention having the space to slip an extra freezer or two!

I don't have a problem with this, as long as it was done before there were shortages.  In my extended family, I know of two SUPER high risk couples that did this. very early on.  They are so high risk that when one spouse goes out (which is very rare), she or he masks at home like on Days 2-9 afterwards, sleeps in a separate bedroom and uses her/his own bathroom, and so on.  The blessing now is that these couples are not out buying food, they bought theirs and are using it up.  The advantage to society is they are also not out mingling and sharing (or picking up) germs.  

When I was at Costco last week, bending over the fresh meat, a lady started loading her cart with the 6 remaining ground beef packages.  I pointed to the signs and she got so sad/frustrated.  She said she had not been out of her house since the first week of February, because her husband was high risk, and she needed to stock up.  I told her I had been to the grocery store (the day before) and she might do better there.  I really felt for her, because she is trying to mitigate risk for herself and her husband by limiting exposure, but she ran into the limits at a bad time.  I don't think many people ever imagined that there would be food shortages. (I did, but we don't eat much of what other people are stockpiling.) 

[J-rap]

We don't seem to have any food shortages at all.  (Just shortages of hand sanitizers, TP sometimes -- though not as much lately, and things of that sort.)  I wonder why it makes such a difference from state to state? 

[melmichigan]

The food limits are really old here as well.  Our local Sam's Club was my go to for many things and they limit so much right now that it's almost not worth going.  Like Costco my history is listed.  I've been shopping for a family of seven, with four teenagers, for a bit now. 🙃

[kiwik]

On 5/9/2020 at 1:21 AM, SusanC said:

I've done this to get enough milk and eggs for my smaller family. Is it cheating or unethical? I worry a bit that I'm doing something wrong when I do this, but it let's me go multiple weeks between trips.

If you have to queue outside for 40 minutes to get in you really don't want to do it again.

[Meriwether]

Dh is less optimistic about pork than he was. The new rules for packing plants decrease production an additional 20%. That has pushed more farmers to euthanize their hogs. Since the vast majority of the pork available in the grocery stores was butchered in the past 3-4 days, it would have turned around fast as soon as production increased again. But if the farmers don't have confidence that they will be able to send the hogs to the plant, they won't feed them out. So, it looks like there will be rolling availability for the next nine months even if plants got up and running quickly. Although quicker would obviously be better of course.

[Miss Tick]

2 hours ago, kiwik said:

If you have to queue outside for 40 minutes to get in you really don't want to do it again.

True! I have never seen a queue at any of the stores near me. Thanks to homeschooling older kids I can go at 8 on Wednesday morning, so there aren't terribly many other shoppers, although I would prefer to have the store to myself these days!

[MEmama]

@peacelovehomeschooling FWIW in case anyone is having trouble finding it, local breweries here are selling yeast. Might be worth a try. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by MEmama

[Halftime Hope]

3 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

One thing I found at Costco was that they weren't limiting the frozen meat the same as the fresh meat.  I was able to pick up 3 of their fresh chicken (you know those 6 packages with like 5 legs, or thighs or whatever) but then in the frozen section they had plenty of frozen ground beef, frozen burger patties, frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts.  And there was no sign about a limit on those.  I picked up some rolls of ground beef and also a 10lb box of burger patties.  Chicken and ground beef are the two things we go through the fastest, and all the ground beef from our freezer beef ran out this week.  

Now, also at Kroger, they had 10lb bags of chicken leg quarters for $4.  Those were totally frozen, and also they had huge Thanksgiving sized frozen turkey, and I wasn't seeing a sign about limits on any of that.  

 

Yes, this is what I found, too.  The limits were new to me, too, and so I put the three largest fresh meat items that I could find in my cart, and then made my way over to the frozen section.  I got 1 bag of frozen chicken breasts and frozen breakfast sausage, and then at checkout, no one said a thing.  (Learn as we go, right?)  I wish I had known that when I encountered that poor lady.  That bit of info would have been of help to her. 

[Halftime Hope]

I've always thought ingenuity is one of the hallmarks of American culture.  I have seen so many people working on alternative means to get their product to buyers, including local ranchers selling direct to the public, pop up stores, and so on.  I can see if being much, much harder for grain growers to do that, sadly, but I wonder if that won't be the wave of the future?  Much more decentralization of production, and more diversified distribution chain.  That will probably come with higher costs and worsening of the food deserts.  Sigh. 

[Tree Frog]

For those of you who are in Texas and have a freezer, this meat might help with large families and is supposed to be good. I've never used the service, but the neighbor who did said the meat comes vacuum sealed. https://www.abetterwaybeef.com/?fbclid=IwAR2-pMFRFc2FKsPmK5yIZoVlRHXmbItyoAMv9QRO5WConjULgmpNS3ZbTGs For those of you not in Texas, perhaps there's something like this near you.

[itsheresomewhere]

Yesterday, I ventured into a local grocery store that I really don’t care for but needed one time.  The women in front of me wanted to buy a few small packs of meat.  This store was limiting her to two little packs no matter what . I told her to put the meat on my shopping card as I wasn’t buying any.  Each of these packs she was buying had one to two pieces in it.  
 

Wegmans had chicken but Costco had none.  Wegmans bakery is selling yeast by the pound if anyone needs it.
 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by itsheresomewhere

[melmichigan]

On 5/10/2020 at 7:41 AM, happysmileylady said:

One thing I found at Costco was that they weren't limiting the frozen meat the same as the fresh meat.  I was able to pick up 3 of their fresh chicken (you know those 6 packages with like 5 legs, or thighs or whatever) but then in the frozen section they had plenty of frozen ground beef, frozen burger patties, frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts.  And there was no sign about a limit on those.  I picked up some rolls of ground beef and also a 10lb box of burger patties.  Chicken and ground beef are the two things we go through the fastest, and all the ground beef from our freezer beef ran out this week.  

Now, also at Kroger, they had 10lb bags of chicken leg quarters for $4.  Those were totally frozen, and also they had huge Thanksgiving sized frozen turkey, and I wasn't seeing a sign about limits on any of that.  

I wonder if this is some of the reason for our freezer sections to be completely empty of meat the last three times I've gone?