Shortages & inflation-are you stocking up?

[PabloLerntKochen]

When it comes to food, I like to have some more in my shelf. It's not, that I think I might run out of food to eat, but I like to know what to eat, in the next days and weeks, so I started to jar food and to always think about the usability of what I'm jarring right now. The space in the fridge, my mother gave me, is never enough and sometimes, I feel bad about taking up to much room with my veggies.

For me, it feels kind of like being on an adventure or like I felt as kid playing in the playground and I could spend a lot of time, thinking about strategies, to keep myself fed and how to preserve food proper.

 

[flyinglentris]

I keep an unopened large package each of paper towels and toilet paper on hand now since the initial shortages but that's it.

NASA just brought three astronauts back from the International Space Station early, because they have no toilet and are forced to wear diapers. Even if they have toilet paper, it's of little help. I guess they'll be sending up a plumber with the next Space-X launch.

I wonder whether it will be mandatory for the plumber to wear a mask?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I don't panic buy but we have started to replace things like toilet paper when we open the last packet rather than start the last roll now but that's simply becausewe can't guarentee that we can buy it the only time we are in the shops, once a week. Going to the supermarket each day is simply not an option when you live rurally. From the supermarket petrol station to the bottom of our track is exactly 64.0km each way. There is a closer petrol station at 16.0km in the opposite direction. It has a typical 1 isle essentials. No use to someone who is anaphylactic to even small quantities of dairy in her food. There is also a closer "supermarket" in the village my doctors is in. It is only 54km away but given over half of its isles are taken up with junk food & sweets, and the fantastic free-from area no longer exists since the lockdowns in Australia, It is typically only of any use if you want fresh veg or fruit. Pretty much most of the rest of its goods are of limited interest to most households sadly.

So, if we can't buy it this week, it simply has to wait until next week to be purchased.

As for quantities of stuff. Yes I have around 10kg combined weight of various different flours from chickpea flour (to make Burmese tofu) to tapioca, to self raising white & wholemeal etc. I buy nuts in 5kg bags where I can, so I have an opened bag of Australian Organic Almonds, & an opened bag of cashew nuts (actually I need to buy another, this one is almost empty and we use a lot of cashew nuts in this house). I have between 5-10kg combined weight of every lentil or dal we use (and we use a lot of different versions). I've probably got around 10kg of different dried peas and beans with chickpeas and soy beans being most of that. Chickpeas we love and can make so much from and we eat daily in the form of hummus. Soy beans allow me all sorts of options from home-made soy milk (drunk daily), to soy cream, soy yoghurt (eaten daily) and home-made tofu (eaten daily).

As for tins we only have a handful. A couple of tins of Australian baked beans (less sugar more tomato than British style), a couple of tins of cooked chickpeas, kidney beans and proper butter beans. Then 5 or 6 tins of tinned tomatoes and finally a few tins of coconut cream (a particular brand which is 100% coconut kernel).

So yes, we have supplies in store but we don't have a local supermarket to drop in to or even for it to deliver to us (not avaliable rurally) and we haven't made any huge changes to our buying other than to raise the threshold a tad as to when to re-supply.

 

[flyinglentris]

I went for groceries this morning and had no trouble finding what I wanted.

 

[madebyyouandi]

As for quantities of stuff. Yes I have around 10kg combined weight of various different flours from chickpea flour (to make Burmese tofu) to tapioca, to self raising white & wholemeal etc.

I buy in 10kg packages and keep cake, AP, and bread flour plus specialty flours for pasta, so I end up with a lot. While not rural, in Tokyo you either have to go the market often or order online and have it delivered. Bulk/large size is always the better option for delivery, as it's free when over x amount -- and I always use it.

 

[caseydog]

I went for groceries this morning and had no trouble finding what I wanted.

I still find empty spaces where some items are gone, but nothing like the toilet paper hoarding of early covid days. The other day, there were even gaps in the toilet paper shelves. Certain brands and sizes of packages were out of stock, but I was still able to easily buy toilet paper.

I will say that if I lived in the country, 20-plus miles from the nearest grocery store (at least with reasonable inventory and prices), I would surely stock up more when I went into town, just for convenience and to save money.

CD

 

[rascal]

We are 20 mins away from where they make t.p. no worries here.
SatNavSaysStraightOn do you call the service station a servo like all the ozzie.
Lol

Russ

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We are 20 mins away from where they make t.p. no worries here.
SatNavSaysStraightOn do you call the service station a servo like all the ozzie.
Lol

Russ

no not yet. it's still a petrol station to me, station even service station because a service station is on a motorway in the UK, service both vehicles and humans alike... a petrol station is well fuel and sometimes snacks...

 

[rascal]

no not yet. it's still a petrol station to me, station even service station because a service station is on a motorway in the UK, service both vehicles and humans alike... a petrol station is well fuel and sometimes snacks...

I call them gas stations but I revert to servo when in aussie.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

delivery

delivery doesn't happen rurally or remotely in Australia (remote and rural are different levels on the same concept to city dwellers. to those of us who live rurally, remote is rural and well rural is just down the road from a town or city. an hours drive each way is nothing. I've lived more rural than that in the UK.

 

[flyinglentris]

delivery doesn't happen rurally or remotely in Australia (remote and rural are different levels on the same concept to city dwellers. to those of us who live rurally, remote is rural and well rural is just down the road from a town or city. an hours drive each way is nothing. I've lived more rural than that in the UK.

Rural in the USA is out in the sticks, far from cities and large towns, often farmland, forest, desert or mountainous areas. Urban and metropolitan describe cities and the built up metropolitan regions of several conjoined cities. For those areas that are not far from cities, but not part of the metropolitan sprawl, they are called suburbs or suburbia. I live in a small suburb of the San Francisco/Silicon Valley metropolitan area which might be called rural, except for its proximity. San Jose is the largest city nearby, both in population and surface area. Areas without human settlement or occupation are aptly wilderness or under the governance of things like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the Bureau of Forestry. These are what in Australia might be termed the outback.

In terms of government, the most rural areas are unincorporated. Then there are towns and cities and metropolitan areas. Beyond cities, we speak of counties where other countries speak of provinces. Still larger and more encompassing, there are states and areas under US management. Beyond that, we speak of the continent and the relations between free and democratic nations, as well as our neighboring nations who are in conflict with their opposing ideologies and forms of government. There is nothing like the European Union in the USA.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Rural in the USA is out in the sticks, far from cities and large towns, often farmland, forest, desert or mountainous areas. Urban and metropolitan describe cities and the built up metropolitan regions of several conjoined cities. For those areas that are not far from cities, but not part of the metropolitan sprawl, they are called suburbs or suburbia. I live in a small suburb of the San Francisco/Silicon Valley metropolitan area which might be called rural, except for its proximity. San Jose is the largest city nearby, both in population and surface area. Areas without human settlement or occupation are aptly wilderness or under the governance of things like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the Bureau of Forestry. These are what in Australia might be termed the outback.

In terms of government, the most rural areas are unincorporated. Then there are towns and cities and metropolitan areas. Beyond cities, we speak of counties where other countries speak of provinces. Still larger and more encompassing, there are states and areas under US management. Beyond that, we speak of the continent and the relations between free and democratic nations, as well as our neighboring nations who are in conflict with their opposing ideologies and forms of government. There is nothing like the European Union in the USA.

just down the road still means rural. I'm on an 800 hectare (2,500 acre) sheep ranch. it's surrounded by more sheep and cattle ranches, most considerably larger. in the 16km into the local town (no villages in Australia, it's a hamlet (up to 3 or 4 houses together, then a town...) I will pass maybe 10 houses total (that's both sides of the road). only 1 of those is visible from the road. the rest are only given away by the letterbox and a number on a gate. nothing more. most Australians consider us to live "in the middle of nowhere" as we were informed yesterday.

I/we just have a different idea as to what counts as the middle of nowhere to the vast majority (99%) of the population.

 

[flyinglentris]

just down the road still means rural. I'm on an 800 hectare (2,500 acre) sheep ranch. it's surrounded by more sheep and cattle ranches, most considerably larger. in the 16km into the local town (no villages in Australia, it's a hamlet (up to 3 or 4 houses together, then a town...) I will pass maybe 10 houses total (that's both sides of the road). only 1 of those is visible from the road. the rest are only given away by the letterbox and a number on a gate. nothing more. most Australians consider us to live "in the middle of nowhere" as we were informed yesterday.

I/we just have a different idea as to what counts as the middle of nowhere to the vast majority (99%) of the population.

That sounds like what we call rural, all right.

 

[Windigo]

I still find empty spaces where some items are gone, but nothing like the toilet paper hoarding of early covid days. The other day, there were even gaps in the toilet paper shelves. Certain brands and sizes of packages were out of stock, but I was still able to easily buy toilet paper.

I will say that if I lived in the country, 20-plus miles from the nearest grocery store (at least with reasonable inventory and prices), I would surely stock up more when I went into town, just for convenience and to save money.

CD

Wow, people are still panic buying there then?

We've only had that happen in the first month of the pandemic. It's been like normal ever since

 

[TastyReuben]

Wow, people are still panic buying there then?

We've only had that happen in the first month of the pandemic. It's been like normal ever since

We still have the occasional issue with an empty shelf at the grocery store, yes, but it seems to come and go.

Last shopping trip, it was ground beef. Maybe they had about 20% of what they normally stock, and the ground chuck was completely gone. This week, who knows? Maybe it'll be light bulbs.