Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

Every Friday I get out and order myself a pizza. While it's cooking, I go over to the local Zhers across the street (I'm in Ontario, Canada.) It's a big store, and I like that it has a self-checkout so no one is watching what I'm buying ("Ooo, candles and a box of condoms... good luck tonight sir!")

This night was the first ever that I've seen a little blue tag saying "This item is temporarily out of stock". And I saw them everywhere. Four types of rice were out of stock (basmati was completely gone, and jasmine and brown jasmine were gone from the 'good' brands.) Three types of flour were out (and the remaining brands looked low). Several canned items were gone, or had nothing left but dented cans or torn labels. My favorite canned thing, Stag Chili (expensive, but high in calories and I like the taste and the expiry dates approach 2013) was nearly gone. The 10 or so cans left were mixed in with the canned chili beside it, completely unsorted, and mostly dented. All had 2010 or soon expiry.

The bare shelves were not only surprising - they looked terrible. Especially the flour shelf with 5 feet of sheet metal covered with old spilled flour. Clearly they did not anticipate running out of anything, or they would have at least adjusted so the store wouldn't look like it had just been looted.

Surprisingly, cans of chili peppers were gone. I only noticed because my eyes were tuned to the blue tags.

As I said before, this is Ontario, Canada. No one here is even talking about food shortages. I talk to people, and they have no idea - it's the first they've heard. The only ones who even knew about the price of rice and the export bans were the guy running the local Indian store and his wife. I was amazed to see evidence in the store that some people had been stocking up.

Based on the canned food that is out-of-stock (the stuff with long expiry dates), I'm guessing that people really are stocking up. It's starting to settle in my mind, that maybe this time it's for real.

Edit: I got back to pick up my pizza... they had run out of green chili's to put on it! Crazy.

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

went to Chinese place tonight to eat, asked the owner if she feared the rice shortage she was like WTF are you talking about, she hasn't heard of it

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

I was chatting with a woman at the next table at a diner a couple of months ago. She worked at a large chain grocery store downtown and had just discovered cooking home meals instead of eating fast food and was ecstatic about it and almost evangelical in her desire to share the wonders of her newfound skill and hobby. I asked her how often the store got deliveries, and she said, "Oh, Lord! We get deliveries every day for some stuff, like dairy products, and every day and a half for the rest! If a delivery truck couldn't make it, and it hasn't happened yet, but if they couldn't, it would be a crisis for the store! It's a crisis when a truck is a couple of hours late! We get tons of angry customers wanting to know where the eggs and milk are! If the trucks missed a day completely, those shelves would be so bare you'd think the place was looted! And can you imagine how bad that would be for the store? Not making any money for a couple of days! That would really, really hurt us!"

By the time the conversation was over, I had gotten her excited about having a pantry like her grandmother had and had introduced her to the notion of canning food. She was fascinated with the idea of canning food. She didn't even know what I meant when I brought it up. Then her eyes lit up and she remembered that once an elderly woman had bought a box of canning jars in their store, and she said all the employees were mystified by it, not having any idea what the jars were used for. I explained how it's done, and she loved the idea of being able to make her own homecooked food and have it waiting in a jar, ready to heat up when she got home from work. She said she was going to give it a try, and I always wondered if she did.

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

Went out to Sobeys today, which is the main competition for Zhers around here. They're still loaded up on everything, including rice and flour.

Edit: Went to the other Zhers in search of a lawn chair, it's the biggest zhers in town... probably biggest and busiest grocery store in town. Rice supply was pathetic, about seven 1 lb bags of various brands and acres of empty shelf space.

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

Wife and I were at a friends house in town today (Sat) and as we left, we passed a house in the subdivision where a Honda SUV kinda vehicle was unloading like they had been to the grocery store.....in the back where the big lift up door is, I could see two CASES of Maxwell House coffee.....plastic cans that look like about #10 size....I think there were 8 to a case,(might have been 10 ) so that's 16 cans of coffee.....SOMEBODY is stocking up on coffee ! I don't drink coffee, and don't know how much that makes, but it sure looked like a lot.

I believe if it had been me, I would have BACKED the car in the driveway..... :D

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

The Asian supermarket here had tons of rice, all at regular prices. The shelves were overfull.

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

LOL,I would like that coffee supply,and yes I do back the car in and only unload the perishables,after dark I unload the the others,nobodies business what Im moving.

BTW,got 'caught' once,while unloading the bags of 'chicken feed',price is going up doncha Know!
LOLOLOL :D

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

Local China*Mart (Wal*Mart) here at the 'crossroads of the west' was virtually EMPTY of rice, only a few 1lb packages left on the shelves, the flour was the same, only a few left on the shelf. Went back today, almost the same condition.

Several co-workers that gave me the 'You must of fallen off the turnip truck' look several months ago when I attempted to give info about preparation are now finally starting to wake-up.

I was listening to J6P bitching at the Jiffy Lube while getting my car reregistered. He was whining and complaining about how expensive gas has become. I heard him say "someone needs to do something about it, this is crap!"
I could only smile and nod, it was VERY difficult not sharing the info that would have fallen on deaf ears anyway.

A,B,C,D,E,F,G.....G.I.M worked great for me!

Re: Local Zhers store out of stock on some prep food.
 

I think a good start on the gas is not to elect an Oil pres,an Oil VP,and have a Condeleeza 'I have an oil tanker named after me' in power.

You KNOW who they represent (OIL) It sure isnt you or me!