But if there’s a spike in demand for pasta, it’s certain to be mostly elbow and spaghetti. Which could lead to factories making those shapes to the exclusion of the less-popular alternatives. So even though there may not be a shortage of pasta there might be a shortage of radiatore.
For several months my favorite pasta, which usually is sold in more than a dozen shapes, was literally only available in three shapes. The same three shapes in multiple stores, over multiple weeks. And ample supplies of those three shapes.
They have more, now. But I have to believe they shut down some of their production lines. I’m only speculating as to why, but I’m pretty sure they restricted something.
Similarly, i saw lots of canned soup, but many fewer varieties than usual.
I also couldn’t find peanut oil (my default cooking oil) for a few months. But maybe there were disruptions in the peanut supply chain or something.
I’ll buy that.
I was wondering why short grain white rice (sushi rice) was in short supply. The rice section of Giant Eagle had every rice imaginable, jasmine, wild, brown, etc, but no sushi rice.
Then I went to find oyster sauce. It wasn’t with all the other sauces (barbecue, mayo blends, pepper sauce). So, no sushi rice and no oyster sauce?
Turns out both are in the “ethnic aisle”, along with refried beans, jalapeños, and British marmalade. What The Fück, Giant Eagle?
^^ Luckily the oyster sauce wasn’t at the seafood counter.
More likely it’s that more people are buying pasta for home so they need to make more. The same machines make all of the shapes and they have to be changed over to make a different shape. During the changeover time, they are not making product. It’s more efficient to make fewer variants to keep up production.
Still no Hot Pockets available at the local Walmart, with the exception of a couple of beat-up smashed boxes that nobody clearly wants to f@!$ with.
No Hot Pockets, Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup, shredded Colby Jack/Cheddar cheese at WalMart today. Limited to one 6 roll unit of TP.
However, the Limited Edition Maple Creme Oreos are to die for! Get ‘em while you can.
So when I was in Walmart I figured out a secret… Buy all the Hot Pockets I can fit in my freezer. Then smash up a few of the remaining boxes and stuff those all the way to the back on the top shelf of the freezer case. Come back in a few days and buy those after I have made more room in my freezer. The boxes I smashed up are always still there since no one else wants to buy them 
More seriously, why can’t I find Wyler’s lemonade drink mix packets? Seem to always be out of them at my local Walmart. Lemonade is their featured flavor, so I would think they would focus on producing that before the other flavors like a berry lemonade or something.
That would be “approximately zero” at my local Wal-Mart. I was just there tonight, and took note of that shelf with this particular thread in mind.
Must be a western lakeshore Michigan thang.
Nah. Happening in boring old Nebraska too and there ain’t no lakeshores i sight.
Have you tried Dollar Tree? And/or Dollar General? I’ve definitely seen Wyler’s lemonade at Dollar Tree within the past month (and they’ll ship it to you if you buy cases of twelve boxes), and I think it was also at Dollar General a bit ago when I finally figured out they’re the place I bought Tang Zero packets- they definitely do stock it. Walgreens also carries a lot of these single serve drink packets, and their website mentions Wyler’s lemonade specifically.
Mmm, that sounds delicious.
Score! OK, I ordered for store pickup. Three cases - 36 boxes - 360 packets of lemony goodness! Thanks
There aren’t any shortages in any of my local grocery stores or supermarkets but I have noticed all ramen noodles are either beef, chicken, or “oriental” flavors. They don’t seem to be stocking any of the slightly more obscure flavors like Chili, Creamy Chicken, or Pork. Is this because the manufacturers are focusing on “core flavors” for increased production or is it because people are immediately snapping those more obscure flavors up? Haven’t had a pork noodle since January.
I always have trouble finding pork ramen in my area. Only one of my usual grocery stores reliably carries it. Oddly enough, this is a chain with multiple locations in the area, and only one of those locations usually has it.
Is that odd, though? I figured out a couple of years ago that the Walmart in Portsmouth, NH is the only store in reasonable driving distance, Walmart or otherwise, that sells Rice Krispies Treats cereal. None of the other Walmarts do, not even the ones in Somersworth and Newington that are only a few miles away from it, and I wasn’t sure they even sold it anymore until I found it there.
I went to Vons this morning. Plenty of paper towels, TP, all purpose flour, bleach, soup, rice, noodles and every other damn thing that was in short supply at the front end of the pandemic. They also had myriad types of Oreos but not Limited Edition Maple Cream Oreos nor had anyone even heard of them and now I am pissed off. I would have been perfectly happy never to have heard of them and now my week is ruined.
WalMart was where I found the Maple Creme Oreos.
Two items I bought regularly that totally disappeared from the shelves my local Jewel at the beginning of the COVID situation are 10 lb. bags of carrots and Campbell’s Chunky Jazzy Jambalaya soup. (Before that, very occasionally these items were sold out.) The soup finally returned to the shelves a couple of weeks ago. The carrots are still missing.
I can understand hoarding the soup. For carrots, I know there are ways to store them without refrigeration. But are that many people scared enough to do this for months?
Not a food, but tub and tile cleaner is also totally missing. Did the companies change production to disinfectant wipes and liquids?