Grocery Stores Are Crazy

[pop pop]

People are panicking around here. You can not purchase many groceries as the stores have been cleaned out. I went to the local large super market, this afternoon, and I have never see it like that before. I had to stand in line for 30 minutes just to check out. Many of the shelves were empty. No eggs, meat, or any paper products. Bread and water racks empty.  My daughter went to Sams, this afternoon and said ther was a line in the parking lot trying to get into the store. 

The clerk, at Kroger, said it has been like this for the last 2 days. We now have a couple cases of the virus in our local county. The clerk told me they were closing at 12 midnight, just so they could restock the shelves. They normally are open 24 hrs. They had every register open and all the self checkouts have lines 10 to 15 people deep. One guy in line told me his wife told him to get groceries. He said I thought what groceries, she never cooks, and we eat out all the time. Milinials!!!! Makes me wonder if they can cook, or feed themselves.

We may be eating old TOM Turkey, that has shown up in our yard, if this gets worse.

I most times keep about a months supply of food on hand at all times , except for perishables. I don't like to go grocery shopping so I purchase a large quantity when I go. Hope you guys are not experiancing this in your area.

[Ronald_55]

Not terrible here. Was just in 2 pharmacys and  grocery because our thermometer decided to crap out now. Water and paper goods low in both pharmacys, but not out. Grocery seemed to be out of TP, but had tissues, flush wipes, and paper towels. Though paper towels limited to two per person. No craziness from the shoppers though Sam's parking lot looked packed as I passed. 

I picked up.some top off stuff a few days ago. Not a lot, just a few things that store well and we use normally. We try to stay stocked up on nonperishible food anyway. 

[Ski]

I went to pick up a few things this evening.  In my area the Aldi looked quite picked over, and at Kroger the meat section was pretty bare.

[gregintenn]

Toilet paper and hand sanitizer seem to be the 2020 version of 22 ammo here.

Edited March 14, 2020 by gregintenn

[Chucktshoes]

[hipower]

10 minutes ago, Ski said:

I went to pick up a few things this evening.  In my area the Aldi looked quite picked over, and at Kroger the meat section was pretty bare.

Strange you should mention Aldi. I passed the local store in Madison on my way home this afternoon.

The parking lot was only about half full, so I wheeled in to search for my favorite cookie.

Benton's Iced Oatmeal. The tastiest cheap oatmeal and sugar treat you can find. 

I get inside to see that the parking lot was very misleading. Lots of shoppers with full carts and long checkout lines.

I went about my search. Found the cookie section...and there it was! The holy grail of cookies. lol

Eight packages of high calorie, high fat goodness. Never seen that many at one time there.

I bought them all! Never know. That might end up being like ZombieLand's last Twinkie! 

[TomInMN]

2 minutes ago, hipower said:

Strange you should mention Aldi. I passed the local store in Madison on my way home this afternoon.

The parking lot was only about half full, so I wheeled in to search for my favorite cookie.

Benton's Iced Oatmeal. The tastiest cheap oatmeal and sugar treat you can find. 

I get inside to see that the parking lot was very misleading. Lots of shoppers with full carts and long checkout lines.

I went about my search. Found the cookie section...and there it was! The holy grail of cookies. lol

Eight packages of high calorie, high fat goodness. Never seen that many at one time there.

I bought them all! Never know. That might end up being like ZombieLand's last Twinkie! 

I'll swap you some TP for a pack!

[Trekbike]

11 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

Toilet paper and hand sanitizer seem to be the 2020 version of 22 ammo here.

Not sure why everybody seems to be more panicked about TP, rather than food.    If you don't have much food to eat, you sure won't need much TP.    Nothing in, equals nothing out...

[hipower]

Just now, TomInMN said:

I'll swap you some TP for a pack!

Nope. I got a S---load of TP stockpiled. 

I grew up in a family that always kept "extra" on hand. Have tried to follow Mom's training on that. Have failed in a lot of things, but do have TP, Paper towels, and bar soap.

Side note. Mom seemed to think there was no soap of the brand I liked, Coast, available around here. She always brought multiple 8 bar packages when she came to visit. I'll never forget the look on my wife's face the first time that happened.

She thought Mom was bringing in food. But seeing 3/4 bags with 8 pack bars in them just confused her to no end.

I really miss those days. And Mom, of course.

[MacGyver]

Went to pick up a few things for my wife this evening. As long as you weren’t looking for toilet paper or potatoes??, everything seemed quite well stocked.

Walked straight to the self checkout and was on my way.

I hope it stays that way.

 

[TGO David]

16 minutes ago, Trekbike said:

Not sure why everybody seems to be more panicked about TP, rather than food.    If you don't have much food to eat, you sure won't need much TP.    Nothing in, equals nothing out...

Because social media told us that TP was in shortage.  Self-fulfilling prophecy.

People are easily manipulated sheep.

[btq96r]

I went to the Publix in the new Capital View area of Nashville yesterday.  It looked like I'd imagine Rome did after the Visigoths left after the sack in 410 AD.  A lot of the staples were gone, milk, eggs, but so were frozen pizzas, which makes sense as they can last a while. 

Ironically,if you actually know how to meal plan and cook, there was still plenty to be had.  I went ahead and picked up a 6.5lb pork shoulder at 33% off, and a few packs of andouille.  Between those, the rice I already had in the cupboard, along with my spices and seasoning, I could eat well for weeks.  I'll try to buy some ground beef for meat sauce and chili, as well as plenty of chicken thighs that can be made into plenty of things when the shelves fill back up, and before the next panic wave and keep it frozen.  I'll be set for a good while then.

[Chucktshoes]

[Garufa]

I went to WalMart, Sam’s next door, and a Kroger 3 miles away today.

Not a single roll of toilet paper.  No paper towels.  Little to no soap.  Canned food aisles decimated.  No bottled water.  No pasta other than really fancy stuff.  No isopropyl alcohol.  No cleaning wipes.  No hand sanitizer.

There is a full blown panic going on.

[MacGyver]

I found it quite funny that the only “antibacterial” cleaners on the shelves were the ones made out of stuff like orange peels, and essential oils and all that stuff.

I guess it’s sort of the same as “there are no atheists in foxholes.”
 

[AuEagle]

Food City this afternoon. Limit signs on bleach & other cleaning items, TP not full but still good selection, all aisles chock full of everything, full meat & frozen food cases. The only thing that was totally closed was the smorgasbord bar. Plenty of vitamins, cold meds, etc...

We live pretty rural so that probably makes a difference.

Store not crowded at all, no wait at cashier lanes. 

Edited March 14, 2020 by AuEagle

[hipower]

1 hour ago, Garufa said:

I went to WalMart, Sam’s next door, and a Kroger 3 miles away today.

Not a single roll of toilet paper.  No paper towels.  Little to no soap.  Canned food aisles decimated.  No bottled water.  No pasta other than really fancy stuff.  No isopropyl alcohol.  No cleaning wipes.  No hand sanitizer.

There is a full blown panic going on.

One of my past co-workers has an issue in all this insanity. His son has multiple medical issues and needs advil, ibuprophen, and Benadryl at times. White House area is depleted. He is in Atlanta on a work trip and hoping to score some while there.

Thankfully, the community has stepped in and is getting these to them.

I would have been part of the issue as well, but I couldn't find any either.

[Grayfox54]

I missed this thread earlier and had just posted my shopping experience in the Covid-19 thread. So I just copied and pasted it here.  

I go grocery shopping once a month. I usually later make a small trip to the store once or twice for items I forgot or just run out of. I did my shopping last week and it was fine. Just another routine trip to the store. 

Well I forgot a couple of items and a disabled friend asked me to pick up a few things for her. So I went to Kroger this morning. WHOA! What a mad house!   The place was packed! People everywhere with carts piled high! All the usual stuff that;s already been reported was gone. Lots of empty shelf space. This store normally has one entire aisle of nothing but toilet paper. There were maybe 10-12 packs left. I'm ok on TP, but I didn't know about my friend. So I grabbed 3 six packs just because I was there and so was it.  What little was left disappeared before I had cleared the aisle. What should have been a quick 10-15 minute stop at the store took over an hour due to the crowd. 

Top story on the local news tonight was about panic buying at local stores. It seems the mess I witnessed today is quite common all over the Memphis area. Oh well, I'm good for a couple of months at least. I feel sorry for those who waited and are now too late.  

 

[Erik88]

9 hours ago, pop pop said:

Milinials!!!! Makes me wonder if they can cook, or feed themselves

Many of my wife's coworkers are gen x and boomers. They eat out at least twice a day and complain about being broke. 

My wife and I are in our 30's are we cook at home. We're not all helpless. 

 

 

[pop pop]

This is going to make T P hoarders out of many people. 

[xsubsailor]

1 hour ago, pop pop said:

This is going to make T P hoarders out of many people. 

 Wait until people start getting killed over a 4 roll pack of TP 

[gregintenn]

1 hour ago, pop pop said:

This is going to make T P hoarders out of many people. 

My wife has kept enough toilet paper on hand to build a fort out of since I've known her.

[Quavodus]

12 hours ago, Chucktshoes said:

That reminds me of that song. "When the beer runs out".

[Quavodus]

This just reminds me of a quote a friend of mine used to say all the time. "People are the craziest people I know".

[Chucktshoes]

I did find something that gave me hope that it wasn’t that bad yet. In the middle of all this madness of people buying thousands of paper rolls "just in case", some people keep making right and wise decisions.
 

Edited March 14, 2020 by Chucktshoes