Concerned about Food Shortages

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Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby KathyD » Sat Apr 09, 2022 1:01 pm

Is anyone particularly concerned about the forecasted food shortages? A lot of what I hear regarding shortages and price increases is with regard to animal flesh, dairy products, eggs and cooking oil, but I pay attention to the information regarding wheat and fertilizer. Fertilizer is used to grow plant foods.

I am stocked up on wheat (pasta, flour, ) and other grains and grain products (millet, oats, cornmeal) as well as beans. I try to avoid pesticides and herbicides in my food, but a good amount of the produce that I buy is conventional, not organic. I know that farmers won't be successful switching to organic farming overnight.

I can't grow enough in my garden to replace all of my produce. I don't have a low income, so I should be able to sustain myself even if prices rise, but I am concerned about there just not being any food available. Even potatoes were difficult to find during the height of the pandemic. Tofu also disappeared, which I still don't understand.
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby VeggieSue » Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:58 pm

KathyD wrote:Is anyone particularly concerned about the forecasted food shortages?


Every year I kept a box of emergency foods because many times after a summer hurricane or winter blizzard we would lose power, sometimes for a few hours, but after Hurricane Sandy it was over a week. We have a gas stove, so even with the electric out we were always able to cook rice & beans, soups,even potatoes and veggies. The veggies come from my stash of dehydrated and freeze dried foods. When covid started, even Dr McDougall suggested in 2 different videos that people should start stocking up in the same things I already had plenty of on hand.

As things got low the past 2 years I would not only replace them but buy a bit extra, just in case. As prices start soaring, I'm glad I have a lot already on hand I can add to the fresh and frozen produce I can still get at reasonable costs.

but I pay attention to the information regarding wheat and fertilizer. Fertilizer is used to grow plant foods.


I did notice the prices of some staples increasing. Rice is up a bit, but many of the heirloom bean places I used to shop through on-line have really increased their prices, especially those out in California. They blame not only increases in shipping costs but weather conditions causing smaller yields from the acreages. So now I'll buy less heirlooms and more conventional and from local grocery stores instead of on-line.

I can't grow enough in my garden to replace all of my produce.


One of the hazards of urban living - no garden in sight and our apartment has poor sources of sunlight.

Even potatoes were difficult to find during the height of the pandemic.


The quality of potatoes around this area has been poor for a number of years now. Full of eyes, cut marks, chunks chopped out by blades in harvesting (I assume), or green and moldy. When I can find a decent bag, or even loose, I grab them, but many of the meals I make are done using the dehydrated cubed or sliced or frozen cubed or shredded hash browns.

Tofu also disappeared, which I still don't understand.

Very few people pre-covid carried the only low fat tofu, the boxes of MoriNu silken low fat style, and since then the local health food store stopped carrying MoriNu altogether (They say people complained it was cheaper by mail order), and the one grocery store that had it recently underwent a massive renovation and they got back soft silken (full fat) but not the low fat. The manager said it wasn't a big seller. I only used it once or twice a year to make Mary McDougall's chocolate pudding around Christmas or a birthday, so I guess it's time to find a different special dessert or order from Amazon.
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby KathyD » Sun Apr 10, 2022 4:23 pm

I noticed the same thing with the Mori Nu tofu, but recently found the light silken being carried in the Asian section at Wegmans. We've only had Wegmans in my area for a couple of years or so.

I started stocking up on things after COVID, similar to you. I am just concerned at how long this might go on. I guess I have to treat this as the new normal.

Thanks.
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby michaelswarm » Sun Apr 10, 2022 8:06 pm

No shortage of food here in Mexico. Store shelves are full.
Amazed at abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, compared to US.
Also many alternatives to supermarkets, including many local green grocers and informal street markets, and street sellers.
No shortage thru the covid panic.

Most food everywhere is produced locally.
Shortages have local causes.
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby KathyD » Mon Apr 11, 2022 5:43 pm

I live in central North Carolina and, interestingly, a lot of the fresh and frozen produce, organic and conventional, comes from Mexico.
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby plaidcanary » Mon Apr 11, 2022 9:20 pm

I live full-time in a small travel trailer, so not much room for food storage; although I have started buying freeze-dried/hydrated foods as a prepper. I wish I had a garden, also, but kind of hard to do in an RV resort in Arizona...altho I have seen people with portable container gardens that they keep right outside their RVs. I think it makes good sense to store extra food/have a garden not just because of pandemic issues, but because of climate change side effects/plant growth decline may get worse going forward. I've seen articles where apartment dwellers can grow some things indoors or on balconies, that might be a possibility...
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby plaidcanary » Mon Apr 11, 2022 9:22 pm

I live full-time in a small travel trailer, so not much room for food storage; although I have started buying freeze-dried/hydrated foods as a prepper. I wish I had a garden, also, but kind of hard to do in an RV resort in Arizona...altho I have seen people with portable container gardens that they keep right outside their RVs. I think it makes good sense to store extra food/have a garden not just because of pandemic issues, but because of climate change side effects/plant growth decline may get worse going forward. I've seen articles where apartment dwellers can grow some things indoors or on balconies, that might be a possibility...
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby kimba » Wed Apr 13, 2022 9:56 am

We grow a garden. Also, we use window boxes, the long ones. We grow green onions, lettuce, radishes, spinach, cukes one year. And basil, rosemary. All on the front porch. Well, the garden is out in the yard of course. Plan on doing some potatoes this year. Gotta have those spuds! :-)
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Re: Concerned about Food Shortages

Postby VeggieSue » Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:24 am

michaelswarm wrote:No shortage of food here in Mexico. Store shelves are full.


Around here (urban NJ), it depends on the store.

Some of the chain groceries, like Shop Rite and Stop and Shop, have a number of empty spaces on the shelves. They may have one brand of tomato products or tissues, etc., but not another, or certain versions of a product may be out of stock for weeks on end.

Then you can go to Target and the shelves are over-flowing. Of course, not being a grocery store per-se they don't have a wide selection of items. Even the local Costco - not an empty spot. In fact, things that were out of stock the past few months are back, and plenty of them available. I was about to give up on their frozen veggies because all they had the last few months were edamame and Normandy, nothing else. Yesterday they had over a dozen different kinds of veggies.

Makes it hard to plan a menu or grocery list ahead of time.
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