It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

DiamondLil

T*sco yesterday had no frozen food at all. None at all. All the freezer cabinets were empty. No idea what that was about.

GaleSF63

DiamondLil said:

T*sco yesterday had no frozen food at all. None at all. All the freezer cabinets were empty. No idea what that was about.

Whenever I've seen that it's been because of a freezer failure.

Toonie

My local Sainsbury has been without own brand eggs for months. You can get the more expensive branded boxes, but no own brand at all, otherwise most seem to be in stock but fruit and veg seem to be of a much lower quality. Many items don't seem to last. I bought a bag of salad potatoes and within a couple of days they were going soft and many of them had cuts in them. Soft fruit seems especially poor, I've stopped buying most of it and now use the market or the local Turkish shop which always has lots of salad options.

pumpkin89

With food availability, it's a double whammy - when there is less of a particular product available in the global market, the prices go up and supermarkets drop their standards as the choice is accept lower quality or get nothing at all.

London_1

I've just been watching the dreadful news about the floods in the Ukraine. Well being bit of a history nut I remember learning about Stalin calling the Ukraine his bread basket for the USSR, maybe thats why Putin wants it back !

But anyhoo, it seems that the very fertile land of Ukraine, because of the burst dam it has flooded, a chunk around the size of Norfolk and the irrigation in other parts will also be badly affected.

Looking forward it seems there will be even more food shortages for the world ahead of us, and food prices will rise correspondingly. 

So anything with cereal, rice or wheat in it will definitely rise in price this coming winter. So I'm buying a few more things to stash away towards my winter store cupboard , Not panic buying on a grand scale, but just a few extra bits of basic stuff Rice, pasta, oats, cereals etc. a few extra packets will be stashed on a 'just in case' basis, as I have sufficient room to store a wee bit extra which if needed I can pass on to my two DDs for their families as well.

We have seen how the price of pasta has risen in the past year and I think it may possibly double in the next year.

Sunflower oils will rise ,in fact most oils will go up as people try to source other things. My granddaughter is moving in August into a flat for herself as sadly her marriage has floundered so I know she will need a bit extra help

So keep a sharp eye open for a little extra to stash away ,even if its only an extra tin or two a week if its parked out of the way it may help during the coming winter when prices again start getting higher than today

I have a couple of bookshelves cleared in my spare room that I keep my emergency stash on, and last winters stash came in very handy this year as I had about the first three months after coming out of hospital in late January when I couldn't get to the shops at all owing to risk of infection.

I go away in three weeks time for a fortnight, then when I come home I have a few days before I go back into hospital for an operation, so in those days I will do a top-up shop so I can rest easy knowing if push comes to shove I will have plenty of stuff in store  and no need to worry about getting any extra stuff in. 

zcrat41

@London_1
Dont worry too much about cereal prices going back up. The crop in Ukraine is far enough along that they don't think it'll need much irrigation. Also they've had a wet spring. 

Also the wheat price had dropped from £300 a ton just after the invasion to a massive low of £165. £30 Lower than pre invasion. 

Source - farmer who had to sell some what at below the cost of production price this week aka me!!! 

ladyholly

Its not the irrigation that will be the problem it is the flooded land which has destroyed the crop which I dont think was ready for harvesting. Also is the water going to dry up without the dam to control it? I am not a farmer or an engineer but according to the news this evening the loss of the dam could affect the land for years.

zcrat41

it it will affect the land and is disastrous for those affected directly. There's enough wheat in the rest of the world for there not to be a shortage though. The wheat price held steady today at around £180 so the markets aren't seeing that as a problem. 

YorksLass

I'm with London_1 on stocking up a bit on basics.  It's something I've always done anyway and there's been many a time when I've been glad I can put a meal on the table using what I already have, especially during the winter months or when cash is a bit tight.  An extra one or two items each week can make all the difference.

Today I had a click and collect order to pick up from M&S.  It's some time since I've been in that direction and what a shock I had when I saw the shopping parade opposite.  There are now no food shops there at all, we've lost 4 out of 5 bank branches and there are several units that are empty.  What we do have is 6 charity shops, a couple of cafes, a nail bar, a unisex hairdresser, two funeral directors, three estate agents, an opticians and a cobbler's shop.

Whilst in M&S (it's a food hall only) I had a look round and bought some cod fillets, bell peppers, strawberries (all priced at roughly the same as Sainsburys) and a pack of 3 individual strawberry trifles that had been reduced from £3 to 60p.

Our TV transmitter has had some engineering works done in the early hours of the last two days and since then our reception has been dreadful - pixellating picture and crackling sounds.  There's another session on Monday morning so I hope things settle down after that.

zcrat41

Hello, quick question for those more knowledgeable than me. I've just found 20 or so cans of Magners Cider which went out of date a year ago. 

1) would you drink them
2) would you take them to the church social tonight and give them to others?