I don't know what grocery stores look like where you live, but in my neck of the woods, shopping looks very different than it did at the beginning of the year. I'm talking about Safeway, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Lucky's.
Whole aisles will be only 50% stocked. Or whole categories of items will be missing, and a store will fill in with more of something else. For example, last week I went to Trader Joe's. Whenever I go to TJs, I buy canned tomatoes, because I like their canned tomatoes and I think the price is good.
Except last week, there weren't any. Where there would normally have been a whole big section with all sorts of canned tomatoes—diced, crushed, whole, imported, domestic, with and without salt, etc.—there was just more pasta. I asked a guy who works there about it and he said that they might be getting some later in the week. They might not.
That's interesting because before Sheltering In Place, canned tomatoes were an absolutely reliable staple that you would always find at Trader Joe's.
Those of us living in urban areas with a foodie emphasis—and the Bay Area definitely qualifies—are accustomed to choice in everything edible. Before March, in the spice section of the store, if I wanted smoked paprika, I could choose between several brands, between hot and sweet, between imported and domestic. The other day, I saw one inferior option in a tiny little box that cost a lot.
Since March, I am used to seeing the following things very minimally represented, and occasionally unrepresented: paper products; cleaning supplies; spices and herbs; canned goods; dry bulk goods; and oils.
I think there are a few things responsible for this:
*Hoarding. We saw this with toilet paper at the beginning of Sheltering In Place. I don't think this is a huge player right now, but it could be a contributing factor.
*Manufacturers are experiencing disruptions in their supply chains, as well as reduced staffing.
*Shipping issues are getting more complicated and are contributing both to the issue of manufacturers not getting everything they need, and stores not receiving what they would typically use to stock their shelves.
*Delivery routes are compromised and will to continue to be by our various concurrent natural disasters, such as wildfires in the west and hurricanes in the south.
I think we may be in a period when grocery shopping in the U.S.—if my experience is representative—looks more like shopping in other parts of the world, with a more limited palette of goods than the shopapalooza we're used to.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. But my observation is that a lot of what's less available, or intermittently available, are staple foods, such as canned tomatoes and bulk beans and grains. Also, I'm definitely seeing prices increase. The other day at Trader Joe's, nearly everything that I usually buy was marked up by a dollar or so. Owie.
I think this is a great time to get to know local food producers: the beekeepers who keep hives in backyards in your neighborhood; the local mushroom grower from the farmer's market; the farm eight (or 12, or 23) miles away where they raise pigs and grow apples. Maybe it's time to not only get to know these folks, but to start buying from them.
It also seems like a good time to store some staples. A five-gallon, food-grade bucket holds about 35 pounds of dry beans or 35 pounds of rice. That's a lot. A gamma lid will provide an airtight seal, and will allow you to easily unscrew it to access your yummy treats inside. (I realize that these buckets and lids are plastic, which I am trying to move away from using. By way of explanation—and I acknowledge that it’s not a very strong defense—I hope that these buckets and lids will be with me for a very long time.)
I'm starting with three buckets, one for black beans, one for navy beans, one for rice. (I hope to add more.) I'm also going to get a bunch of canned tomatoes, multiple cans of coconut milk (I know: definitely not local), and seeds for sprouting. All of that can fit easily into a closet in my house.
(Having food, being able to buy food, discussing the possibility of storing food—I recognize that these are luxuries that many do not enjoy right now. A September 2020 U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey revealed that 10% of American adults say they sometimes or often didn't have enough to eat in the last seven days. That's more than 22 million people.)
I don't think we know when the pandemic is going to end, so we can't know when/if supply lines will revert to their former state. I think this is potentially a good development, as all that shipping of food hither and thither is always reliant on fossil fuels. So emphasizing local edibles and storing food to create some margins should availability become more strained may be a valuable habit to build, in challenging times or not, given that it has the potential to reduce a household’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Besides, after the pandemic, we might be looking at any number of other challenges that could disrupt supply lines, e.g., natural disasters of all stripes; possible civil unrest; job loss; and financial collapse. I don't mean to sound all Debbie Downer here, but who could have imagined this current confluence of global pandemic, natural disasters, economic disintegration, and societal disruption? You never know. Preparation may prove useful. This may be a moment when food is a more valuable investment than stocks.
Here are three books that address the issue of storing some food to increase household security:
*Food Security For The Faint of Heart: Keeping Your Larder Full In Lean Times by Robin Wheeler
*Just In Case: How To Be Self-Sufficient When The Unexpected Happens by Kathy Harrison
*Independence Days: A Guide To Sustainable Food Storage And Preservation by Sharon Astyk