Food supply chain?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Expat, Apr 3, 2020.

  1. Expat

    Expat Expat™ Knives Staff Member

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    What are y’all seeing out there?

    all the panic buying seems to be over for the most part around me (Indiana). Kroger has pretty much everything except bleach Lysol and cleaning type things. Even toilet paper is back.

    What about your stores in your area?
     
  2. jafo

    jafo Member

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    last week, stores were almost back to normal. This morning we had hundreds of people lined up at the area Sams clubs again. My newphew runs the fresh area for a sams club. He said that the only thing they are having trouble is placing meat orders. Its not that they can't get meat, its that they have to take whats offered as opposed to placing orders.
     
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  3. TerryD

    TerryD Member

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    Haven't been for a few days. I've been able to buy everything I need except some meat. Would like to have a few extra pounds of hamburger and some frozen chicken in reserve but otherwise we've been ok!
     
  4. OKcherokee

    OKcherokee Member

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    Getting better here.

    Haven’t been to Walmart in a while, and don’t plan on it.
    They are going to start limiting how many people can come in the store pretty heavily.

    Local owned chain has been pretty well stocked, mostly because they put a purchase limit on heavily hoarded items really quickly.
    Only 2 bread items, no more than 10# of beef, etc.

    Braums fast food started putting in a tiny grocery store in their restaurants years ago, they were loaded with beef, eggs, milk, and bread.

    I went today to restock, I don’t plan on going back for a couple weeks or so at this point.
    I figure with each passing day my risk increases greatly.
     
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  5. Expat

    Expat Expat™ Knives Staff Member

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    Our local Walmart looks wiped out in some sections while the grocery stores have pretty much everything. Weird.

    I try not to go out if I can help it.

    we’ll see how things progress.
     
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  6. C99c

    C99c Member

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    NW Georgia calmed down and you could find pretty much anything you wanted...... and then our Governor issued a "shelter in place order" that is more title than details. And because people are stupid and believe everything they see on retardbook I'd hate to go anywhere near a grocery store this weekend. It may be ok outside the I-75 corridor and away from larger cities, but all the rumors of statewide curfews, fines, etc are likely to send the masses back into a panic.

    It'll likely calm down again middle of next week when folks figure out that pretty much nothing has changed since last week.

    I've heard that the walmarts here are still seeing some shortages but can't confirm because I don't spend any money with them.
     
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  7. Expat

    Expat Expat™ Knives Staff Member

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    I would hope that these other states would not freak out so much as these orders spread. We’ve been under one for almost 2 weeks and it doesn’t really affect life much. As far as getting supplies and food.

    people in other states should realize that since for the most part, most of these orders are the same.
     
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  8. SEMO

    SEMO Member

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    Our governor in MO issued a stay at home order this evening, effective Monday. At least they are giving people the opportunity to hit the stores over the weekend.
    My wife went shopping today and said that most everything is back in stock. Paper goods, meat, and especially Brach’s Easter Hiding Eggs.
    The first week end of the month always puts a strain on our local system, with the monthly checks being issued and spent.
    The changes from last week, smaller chain store had plexiglass installed around the cashier, and Wally World was prepping for the limit of customers by limiting entrances, marking aisles for direction, and more employees at the door.
     
  9. OKcherokee

    OKcherokee Member

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    I noticed the GA Governor came out from under that rock finally.
    He said a couple days ago he just learned that people could be infected and contagious days before showing symptoms and he wished that info had been made available earlier.

    I guess none of the rest of us had shared that info with him over the last two months.....
     
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  10. Frigin

    Frigin Member

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    @OKcherokee lol yeah he doesn’t seem to smart we have known a good amount for a wile now.

    all the stores seem ehh here not back to normal at all. Freezer sections are pretty ransacked still but they are getting more and more every week. Still no tp to be found. So I have about a 3-4 weeks left before I need to get more. Luckily right before the tp mageddon I had just got our normal supply that lasts about 2 months so worked out perfectly for me. And now we decided seeing as I’m not working we would train our 2 year old to go in the potty so now we are using that much more tp lol
     
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  11. IW17

    IW17 Member

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    Same in ohio. Grocery stores are stocked up, but Walmart looks like a ravaged war zone.
     
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  12. C99c

    C99c Member

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    Yes, his quote made him look very stupid. Especially when his reasoning up till then, per a couple of friends that work directly for him, was that he wasn't sure the state's constitution allowed for him to issue such an order. That's why he originally said that he was gong to let individual counties handle it themselves.

    He could have just said that, or nothing at all and it would have been fine. Instead he signs an order that really just repeats his earlier order from a few weeks ago which is vague as to the who's and what's, except for a few little things like "to be enforced by state officers". And gives a total BS reason for his timing.

    He then adds an order stating that local Sheriff's can close businesses that aren't following the guidelines for safe operation. Which they already had the power to do.

    He's definitely not as smooth as the snake/weasel we had before him.
     
  13. olderguy

    olderguy Member

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    I've been ordering my groceries online from King Soopers and going to their pickup doors. It's been working pretty good so far and keeps me out of the store. Few substitutions once in awhile but I'd rather have a substitute than nothing.
     
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  14. TerryD

    TerryD Member

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    I went out this morning and got a couple pounds of ground beef and a pack of chicken breasts.

    Also got a couple good looking ribeye steaks to fix for supper tonight with some baked potatoes and green beans.

    It was a pretty stock standard shopping trip except the line to get in walmart. Food lion was ransacked. No milk and very little cheese. The meats section was nearly empty too.

    I'm hoping folks keep their cool and things get back to normal.
     
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  15. timdgsr

    timdgsr Member

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    Same here. All the southern Governors were relying on the health department and local municipalities to implement restrictions, which most had done. Now the shelter in place is the same exact rules/restrictions that were already in place, but we have a fresh round of panic for almost no reason.

    There’s reports of folks on WIC not being able to find approved food because they issued the shelter in place at the first of the month, when vouchers come in.
     
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  16. ASH

    ASH Member

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    I haven't been out much, went to tractor supply yesterday to get some sheep and goat feed. I read an article today talking about how dairy farmers are having to dump milk because the processors can't take it with the restaurants closed down and that they are having delivery problems with truck lines.
     
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  17. timdgsr

    timdgsr Member

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    This seems crazy with some areas still not able to provide enough milk to meet demand.
     
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  18. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    Food supplies (not an actual supply issue but distribution) have stabilised a great deal in the past week. Rice/pasta/flour are about the only things I see regularly empty on the shelves (stocked in the morning gone by lunch). I even walked past full shelf of TP yesterday that no one was scrambling for.

    Cleaning products are still smashed day in and day out. Plenty of meat and such available as well (my guess is that there are now lots of very full freezers). On that I commented to one numpty I work with (who was bragging about the two large chest freezers of meat and such he has) that he is screwed if the power goes out !!! It was like watching 100 year old rusty gears turning for the first time. He did just look at me blankly. I said that given the current supply of meat (plenty) come the time he needed those freezers full odds were that there would be power supply issues and therefore unless he had plans for that his meat would start causing him hygiene issues because he and his family did not have the capacity to eat it , he didn’t have the knowledge or supplies to dry/salt it. He asked what I did, I was not going to day I had a fridge and freezer full (I always do not just now) as well but I said to him I would have a generator with capacity to run his cold storage and fuel for at least a week or more of running it 16/24 (we are going into winter so I would not run at night). No clue whatsoever. He just said I was a weirdo !!!

    one of his team later told me they saw him googling “cheap generators” on his meal break :D
     
  19. C99c

    C99c Member

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    Farmers are also worrying right now about having someone to pick the crops as their cheap labor is having more trouble getting across the border or are just staying at home period.

    Most of the smaller farms near me will be fine, but the midsized and large outfits are going to be hurting.
     
  20. TerryD

    TerryD Member

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    A thought on this. I grew up on a beef farm in the middle of nowhere. Our power feed ran up from another town several miles away through some really heavily forested terrain. Also, we were on the tail of the feeder with us and a small dairy operation.

    We commonly lost power year round. Either an ice storm when it was cold or on a really hot day where everyone was running A/C very hard and the line just couldn't handle the dairy farm firing up to milk in the evening and opening a line protection switch.

    We survived with just a small 4400W (continuous) Coleman/MAXA generator my grandpa bought in the 80s. That little thing is still kicking it to this day.

    I never run a generator more than 4hr/day. Fire it up and get the fridges and freezers cooled off. Usually 30-40 min. Then when that's done, do what other power consuming tasks you need to, then shut it down.

    This conserves fuel and reduces the wear on the generator.

    We had a big wind storm come through on the east coast a few years ago and knock the power out for weeks. With a 4000W (continuous) Coleman/MAXA set-up very similar to my parent's we kept everything cool in the freezer, washed clothes and ate well and just barely used a gallon of gas a week.

    There's also some other things to consider in this like our house being nearly 100yr old and designed to live in without A/C but a lot of houses are capable of that if you work it right.

    Also, keep frozen 2ltr bottles in your freezer for dead load. It'll lengthen compressor cycle times and help keep the fridges cool by moving a few into the top of it during the power off times.
     
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