# Anyone else having a hard time finding skim milk? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 3, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965 "2020-04-03T14:56:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/1 "2020-04-03T14:56:34Z")
Man, the local lowfat cows just aren’t producing. Lately, skim milk has disappeared from the local stores, and only some of them have 1%. Plenty of whole milk and 2%. But skim is all we use - it’s what the Firebug’s been drinking ever since he was 2 years old, and he goes through a couple gallons a week, plus it’s what my wife puts in her cereal and her coffee, so its absence is kind of a big deal with us. And we’ve got maybe 10-12 ounces left in the bottom of the last jug. I picked up a half-gallon of 1% just in case we ran out of skim, so we’ve got _something_ for the kid to drink besides sodas. I guess we’re about to find out if he likes it. Anyone else having problems finding skim milk, or is it just a local thing? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/2 "2020-04-03T15:02:34Z")
We can’t get peanut butter or bologna or a bunch of other things, and the produce is all nearly spoiled. Of course paper towels are unavailable, which is to be expected. But it seems like many things are impossible to get. I hope this improves soon. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/3 "2020-04-03T15:37:59Z")
Skim is available around here - it’s 1% that’s completely gone. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/4 "2020-04-03T15:47:03Z")
I was stocked up on PB already, so good there. But yeah, have totally switched to 1%, because skim milk has disappeared. I wonder if people with deep freezers bought a lot of it and froze it. I don’t know why people wouldn’t do that with other kinds of milk, unless it has to do with more older people drinking skim, and people with children buying 2% and whole. If you have children, you are just going to be making a lot more trips to the store no matter what, so maybe people who buy the 2% and whole decided not to stock up by freezing. But older people, who generally are trying to avoid going out, even to get the mail, are really serious about minimizing the trips to the store. Other than that WAG, I got nothin’. Personally, I stocked up on expensive 16oz bottles of shelf-stable Fairlife milk. It’s 1%, and 13g protein per 8oz serving, so, 26g per bottle. I have about 10 of them. This is the only thing I have stocked up on as part of the lockdown hoarding. Mainly because my son really MUST have his morning cereal, with his high protein milk. It’s a major source of vitamins and protein for him. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/5 "2020-04-03T15:48:33Z")
I drink fat free and there’s always a bunch on the pallet at Costco even when the other types are gone. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/6 "2020-04-03T16:03:13Z")
I had problems getting skim at my usual grocery store, with me grabbing 2 of the last 3 one week and them being out the next. I started going to a different grocery store and haven’t had problems since. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/7 "2020-04-03T16:08:26Z")
Every milk was gone at our grocery store 3 weeks ago. I even looked for powdered milk and it was gone. Then the next week I grabbed some almond milk and evaporated milk (I am eating a lot of cereal these days!) Last week, it was only whole milk on the shelves. I enjoyed a half gallon of it with my cereal. This week it was whole and skim on the shelves, but right as I was putting skim in my cart I saw The Hands reach out from behind the milk cooler and put out 2%. Normally I drink skim, but the skim had an expiration date of 4/10 and 2%'s was 4/17. I left the skim and took the 2%. The milk situation is indeed odd. I didn’t think people drank milk anymore ('cept me!) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/8 "2020-04-03T16:25:35Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I had problems getting skim at my usual grocery store, with me grabbing 2 of the last 3 one week and them being out the next. I started going to a different grocery store and haven’t had problems since. I was at two grocery stores (Safeway, Giant) early this morning, and I was at a third one (local non-chain grocery) yesterday. No skim anywhere, but whole and 2% available at all of them, and 1% available in Giant and the local grocery, but not Safeway. My wife had a doc appointment this morning, and was going to look for milk at a different grocery store on the way back. Heard from her just now: she was able to snag a gallon jug of skim - we usually buy it in half-gallons, because it’s just easier to manipulate the smaller containers in the fridge, but now’s not the time to be picky about that, so she wasn’t. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/9 "2020-04-03T17:02:11Z")
The farm market near me has Turner’s Dairy skim milk. They’ve been running out of eggs (people staying home and eating eggs for breakfast?), then they had eggs _but no cartons_. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/10 "2020-04-03T17:40:55Z")
Huh…around here, whole seems to be the first to go. That’s the one I try to buy. Then I go down to 2%,1%, skim. Haven’t had to stoop to buying skim yet. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/11 "2020-04-03T17:53:47Z")
It’s next to the yeast ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/12 "2020-04-03T17:57:46Z")
I had some problem finding half and half. Lucky I know the recipe, but in reality just bought light cream and used that instead. Half and half has since returned. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/13 "2020-04-03T18:25:58Z")
[Musical accompaniment for this thread](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuGWNshGM64), courtesy of Herman’s Hermits ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/14 "2020-04-03T18:35:17Z")
Plenty of milk where I am. A few weeks ago it was hard to find, but now the dairy cases are full (regular, 2%, 1%, skim etc.) ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/15 "2020-04-03T18:51:43Z")
Limit 1, but no limits at the local geedunk, yay! i did get some shelf stable whole milk, anyone use that to drink? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/16 "2020-04-03T18:59:42Z")
No luck on last week’s delivery order. My neighbor scored a half-gallon of 2% for us on one of his foraging runs. I’ve got the order in again for two gallons at another store this week. I don’t drink milk, but my wife does. I kicked around the idea of a small freezer for the basement about a year ago. Wish I’d followed through on it. I used to buy eight gallons of whole milk and freeze it when I lived in the boonies many years ago and had small children. Needed to be shaken once it was thawed, but it was fine. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/17 "2020-04-03T19:12:15Z")
Milk is a sometimes maybe, and some stores are limiting purchases to one gallon. I have a soymilk machine, so that is on standby. And to further gild the lily, I like to mix the Mexican chocolate tablets into the fresh hot soymilk. Ahhh, bliss! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/18 "2020-04-03T19:28:32Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > We can’t get peanut butter or bologna or a bunch of other things, and the produce is all nearly spoiled. Of course paper towels are unavailable, which is to be expected. But it seems like many things are impossible to get. I hope this improves soon. Weird. Where I am pretty much all that stuff, except bologna, is in stock. However hot dogs are sold out. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/19 "2020-04-03T23:01:15Z")
Milk has been in strange supply, sometimes the shelves are stuffed and sometimes there isn’t even pint bottles. Kids are out of school, mom’s are using more milk, plus folks are cooking and baking which also uses more milk. I have not been able to find the laundry detergent I like for a month. I actually haven’t seen any laundry detergent in the wild for almost that long. I ordered some from Amazon, but I keep looking just because I can’t believe its not available. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965/20 "2020-04-03T23:08:26Z")
Skim milk has been sporadically available. It’s just the luck of when you get there. But the 2% milk has been fairly regularly available. My nearest grocery store used to stock 3 different brands of ordinary cow’s milk (at 3 different prices) plus the usual assortment of weird stuff. Now they usually only stock one brand and it’s usually not one of the three they previously stocked. That leads me to believe that they are scrambling to find milk and buyng it wherever they manage to find some. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-having-a-hard-time-finding-skim-milk/850965.md?page=2)