Cream cheese shortage. Kraft paying $20 to not use cream cheese for your dessert

[cintinative]

This is bizarre but apparently true

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/16/1064855510/kraft-cream-cheese-20-dollar-website

[KungFuPanda]

I guess “make homemade cream cheese” just jumped higher on my list of things to try. 

[QueenCat]

We had issues with cream cheese about a month ago. I've been able to get it in the last week or so. 

[Annie G]

Just now, QueenCat said:

We had issues with cream cheese about a month ago. I've been able to get it in the last week or so. 

Same here. A month ago we had nothing but bare shelves where cream cheese should be. Today it’s fully stocked, though there is more of the store brands than Philly. 

[DawnM]

I had trouble a week ago.   AND trouble with whipped cream.  There wasn't any of either one.

[Jean in Newcastle]

It seems weird to me that they would try to keep me from buying it. Surely I can only buy  it if it’s on the shelf?  And it doesn’t have that long of a (refrigerated) shelf life. 

[Slache]

17 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

It seems weird to me that they would try to keep me from buying it. Surely I can only buy  it if it’s on the shelf?  And it doesn’t have that long of a (refrigerated) shelf life. 

Yes. I'm very confused.

[Farrar]

It's a publicity stunt. They know that if there's an issue where you can't get the ingredients you need, that people will change their traditions or feel angry at the company. So they're trying to buy back loyalty and also a bit of good publicity for doing it. It makes complete sense to me.

[happi duck]

And...now I really want cream cheese!

[cintinative]

9 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I guess “make homemade cream cheese” just jumped higher on my list of things to try. 

Oooh! If you do, please report back.

I usually make cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning and they have cream cheese icing. I still hope I can find cream cheese tonight but we'll see. 

 

[Idalou]

 There is definitely no shortage of cream cheese here. Plain, whipped, flavored, no shortage. Even Kraft brand, but I never buy theirs, it is overpriced and even the Wegman brand is tastier.

[Forget-Me-Not]

I just bought a 6-pack of it at Costco today 🤷🏻‍♀️

[vonfirmath]

We are making cheesecake for Christmas so I hurried out and bought our cream cheese. But--no shortage

 

[cintinative]

Interesting that forget-me-not and vonfirmath and others could find it. There was none at our Aldi or Meijers of any brand.  

[BlsdMama]

On 12/16/2021 at 10:49 PM, Farrar said:

It's a publicity stunt. They know that if there's an issue where you can't get the ingredients you need, that people will change their traditions or feel angry at the company. So they're trying to buy back loyalty and also a bit of good publicity for doing it. It makes complete sense to me.

Yep. 

[math teacher]

Super 1 was out of Philly Cream cheese, so I bought the store brand. Then I found Philly brand at dollar general, so I got more. Should have plenty!!

[ScoutTN]

Plenty of cream cheese, all brands, at my groceries.

[Longtime Lurker]

I couldn't find any a couple of weeks ago, but this week there was plenty.

[cintinative]

In this episode of "I don't understand the supply chain,"  Meijer and Aldi are completely out of all cream cheese, but Kroger has a huge display with probably 100 packages.  

[Shoeless]

15 minutes ago, cintinative said:

In this episode of "I don't understand the supply chain,"  Meijer and Aldi are completely out of all cream cheese, but Kroger has a huge display with probably 100 packages.  

It likely has to do with who got the contract with the cream cheese supplier. 

When tp was in short supply, my local chain had no Charmin, but Walmart had plenty. Walmart had a bigger contract than HEB, so their orders were filled first. 

[marbel]

I can't find Philadelphia brand, but store brands are always available. For bagels and for "plain" cheesecake, Philly is the only thing that people here will eat. The others just don't taste good. I do use store brands in recipes where the cream cheese is not the predominant flavor.

The other day I was walking to that dairy case to see if I could get some, and a woman already standing there looked up at me, wild-eyed, and said in a panicked voice "Am I seeing this? There is no PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE?" We agreed it was a travesty and did not know how to manage the holidays without it. 

Oh, Costco does have it but they sell it in a big single brick (3 pounds, maybe?). We would not use that much in time for it not to go bad. Sam's Club used to sell a 4-pack of the 8-ounce bricks, which worked well for us.  But for a long while they have only had some brand I've never heard of, and I'm not willing to risk it.

[ericathemom]

On 12/16/2021 at 6:55 PM, KungFuPanda said:

I guess “make homemade cream cheese” just jumped higher on my list of things to try. 

I made some last year (one of my many lockdown experiments). It was insanely easy to make but I couldn't get the texture right. It was either too grainy or too "chewy." But, again, it's really easy to do.

[cintinative]

1 hour ago, ericathemom said:

I made some last year (one of my many lockdown experiments). It was insanely easy to make but I couldn't get the texture right. It was either too grainy or too "chewy." But, again, it's really easy to do.

I made my own fake ricotta and it wasn't the same either. It did work in lasagna in a pinch but I don't think I would do it again.