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General => The Stay Safe Board => Topic started by: LizzieL on Tuesday 05 May 20 08:22 BST (UK)
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Is anyone else still experiencing food shortages in supermarkets (in UK)? For 7 weeks yeast and any kind of flour (not just bread flour) has either been unavailable to order, or if we do order has not actually arrived. last week we couldn't get eating apples. This week no cooking apples and no fresh skimmed milk. This is in addition to less essential items not being available like mustard, packet soups, pickles etc. Is this general or am I just unlucky? I haven't been out to shop since 17th March and that was just to the village shop which at the time was experiencing considerable shortages
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I know that some people have been having problems with flour and yeast.
I have not had any problems with Milk and fresh produce that I would not have normally experienced with my online delivery. I always used to say 'no alternatives' but my list nowadays allows these wherever I am not after a particular branded item.
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Bicarbonate of soda has vanished as have cheap dishwasher tablets.
Linda
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Flour was patchy but reappeared, and then disappeared. Only available from local shop if you order sackfuls - so I assumed the bigger supermarkets were grabbing all the standard bags - but some of them also do not have any available online.
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Found recent Daily Telegraph article - problem is demand for normal size flour bags vastly exceeds capability of producers to pack and supply them. They are used to dealing with large sacks to commercial operations.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/why-flour-shortage-shops/
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You're not alone, though I haven't experienced any issue with fresh produce, it's usually more the likes of frozen veg (cauliflower in particular) and tinned items like mince /stewed steak. Plenty of toilet rolls available though - I hope folk sitting with a stockpile of 300 rolls in the garage or roof space feel suitably embarrassed.
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Friend of my daughters ordered a large bag of flour. To get free delivery she added the teabags, then had to “persuade” all her friends to buy them off her in lots of 100! ;D
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All baking ingredients ?? can’t get glacé cherries, sultanas, raisins or mixed peel. No flour, no yeast, no baking powder, no ground almonds. Bakery were selling plain flour not much help if you have no baking powder.
Some cereals have been patchy too, cornflakes, all bran, shredded wheat.
Fresh fruit and veg have all been ok, we use two different farm shops, what we can’t get in one we generally get from the other. Milk fine, straight from the farm.
It seems that the things I can’t get I can live without anyway so mustn’t grumble!
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Wow :o. I bet those teabags worked out cheaper in the long run though.
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I used to buy bread flour on-line from a mill on Berks (now Oxon) Large bag of plain strong white and retail size packs of a few speciality ones to mix in with the white to get a reasonable rate on shipping cost. but they have closed their web site since the pandemic " to concentrate on supplying retail outlets" I wonder where all the flour is going. Surely the panic buyers have enough by now. Or are people eating vastly more bread than they used to?. Whether they make it themselves, buy it ready made from supermarkets or buy it as filled sandwiches/ baguette/ rolls etc from sandwich shops / delis or the vans that used to call by their offices, the amount consumed by 65 million or so of us shouldn't have changed much.
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I am in New South Wales, Australia, where raiding and fighting over LOO paper likely became a focus.
We order online, then drive to collect it. Each time I have ordered dry yeast... nope, none lands in the pick up.... been that way since 3 March.... So my pantry has run out of yeast, at the mo.
Rice was hard to get, but readily available after Easter.
Fresh meat ... My freezer is getting low but there's still several lamb legs, chops, and some corned silverside and scotch fillet ...... My need to worry before end of the month.
Fresh veggies... Well it is Autumn now, heading to winter ... some Cauliflower ready in our own veggie garden, spinach too. I have so butternut pumpkins .... but there's frozen vegs in the freezer.
Fresh milk ... have finally trained my OH after over 45 years of marriage to actually look at useby/best by dates. ....
2 x 2 litres fresh milk with a clear 10 days before concerns .... gets us through on tea/coffee etc and occasional hot custard ... when he ventures out to corner shop to see if the rest of our local community are staying home like us.
JM
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Reply #4 as chempat says - there is a shortage of the packing for flour. This was reiterated on tv a couple of days ago plus there is a demand as more home bakers now.
We managed to get some on our last Tesco order but there was no yeast. My husband uses a bread maker but is running out of yeast.
I make soda bread with yoghurt. I have ordered buttermilk this week so we shall see if it arrives in the order.
I made bread with beer last week- that was lovely - similar time soda cake.
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I was short of dried yeast for the breadmaker a few weeks ago & on a hunt in the local town I called in at the baker who said they'd sell me fresh if I ran out - so try a local baker. Also local [closed] pub who used to do a pizza night every Thursday now does them Mon - Fri for collection uncooked. They have set up as a 'reluctant grocer' & will sell bread flour & yeast along with local eggs and other groceries. So try a pizza place! They may sell you a small amount from their larger stocks.
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Morrisons and Asda have started to split their own bakery flour bags and sell it in kilo bags. Managed to get self raising flour yesterday for the first time in months.
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Fresh milk ... have finally trained my OH after over 45 years of marriage to actually look at useby/best by dates. ....
Wow - that's an achievement ;D
We celebrate our 45th at end of August, so maybe I have to wait a few months.
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I have been making regular sourdough bread for a few years now. I have enough flour to last me a while - some I bought before lockdown, also got some from Asda more recently.
Easy to make sourdough starter if you have got the flour.
Regards Margaret
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I read an article a couple of weeks ago in which wholesalers have opened to up to normal household customers in order to sell the goods that shops etc. would normally buy but are just taking up space in warehouses at the moment. It might be worth trying to find out if any in your areas are doing the same.
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My local Waitrose has had bread flour of one sort or another the past couple of weeks when I've been in - though I do go early in the day. It's been dire in Tesco, though.
However, when I was running short before that I managed to order a 16kg bag online direct from a mill. Some have closed their online sales entirely, but some are open for a short time each day, so you may need to keep trying places repeatedly until you catch them. Try searching for "wholemeal bread flour UK" (or whatever kind you want) and see what comes up. In my case, the cost of flour plus delivery came to a bit more per kg than I'd have paid locally, but not massively so - certainly not as much as the rip-off merchants on eBay where you can pay £10 or more for a single 1.5kg bag.
It's a similar story with yeast, though I haven't seen any at all in the supermarket for weeks. I usually use Allinsons Easy Bake (for a machine), and currently you can get a 100g tin on eBay for about £10 instead of the usual £1.20 or so (from memory). Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I came across another brand (Fermipan), with sellers on Amazon and eBay, and as the reviews were quite good I thought I'd try it - 500g for a bit under £10, but smaller sizes are also available. I haven't needed to open it yet, so I hope it's OK - the flour I got was very good, though.
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I usually use Allinsons Easy Bake (for a machine), and currently you can get a 100g tin on eBay for about £10
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A couple of weeks ago people were bidding well over £20.00 for a tin on eBay.
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Popped into nearby Lidl today for something, and saw self raising flour there, so bought one for friend who had been bemoaning couldn't get any. (Spread a little happiness....)
TY
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My local Waitrose has had bread flour of one sort or another the past couple of weeks when I've been in - though I do go early in the day. It's been dire in Tesco, though.
However, when I was running short before that I managed to order a 16kg bag online direct from a mill. Some have closed their online sales entirely, but some are open for a short time each day, so you may need to keep trying places repeatedly until you catch them. Try searching for "wholemeal bread flour UK" (or whatever kind you want) and see what comes up. In my case, the cost of flour plus delivery came to a bit more per kg than I'd have paid locally, but not massively so - certainly not as much as the rip-off merchants on eBay where you can pay £10 or more for a single 1.5kg bag.
It's a similar story with yeast, though I haven't seen any at all in the supermarket for weeks. I usually use Allinsons Easy Bake (for a machine), and currently you can get a 100g tin on eBay for about £10 instead of the usual £1.20 or so (from memory). Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I came across another brand (Fermipan), with sellers on Amazon and eBay, and as the reviews were quite good I thought I'd try it - 500g for a bit under £10, but smaller sizes are also available. I haven't needed to open it yet, so I hope it's OK - the flour I got was very good, though.
I too found this make and ordered a packet.
500g is enough for quite a lot of bread/buns etc, just need to aquire a bit more flour but I have enough for a couple of loaves
We have enough bread to last until Wednesday so Thursday is bread making day.
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I don't make bread very often -- currently only when we run out between supermarket deliveries.
We had stocks of bread flour & dried yeast in for Brexit at the end of January, so am using those. I have managed to get a couple of bags of bread flour in one of my deliveries but they substituted the tin of dried yeast with a couple of sachets of dried yeast that is not suitable for use in a breadmaker. Makes lovely dough for pizza bases tho!
Mostly, I get what I order in my delivery --tho often some things are out-of-stock at point of order so I have to substitute at that stage. For instance, most of Heinz soups always seem to be out of stock but other brands have availability.
Things that are most often missing from my order without substitution are 85% Plain Chocolate and Olives.
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My local Waitrose has had bread flour of one sort or another the past couple of weeks when I've been in - though I do go early in the day. It's been dire in Tesco, though.
It's Waitrose we've been trying with no success at all. My husband gets delivery slots because he is classed as vulnerable. We can't get any delivery slots at all from the other three supermarkets we are registered with and have used in the past. Aren't supermarkets using the same NHS list of vulnerable people?
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I thought that the craze for bread making was the most recent fad and that many people would have got bored with it by now, just like the latest exercise video or whatever. (I don't mean those of you regular breadmakers). It would seem not.
My friend has been shopping for me and the only thing she had difficulty with was eggs, although she did get me some a few days later. Someone mentioned a problem in getting frozen cauliflower - yesterday I got a Tesco delivery that I booked four weeks ago, I wasn't able to order frozen cauli although I did get a fresh one. It's my favourite veg but as I live on my own the frozen veg is more convenient. Seems odd that broccoli was available though.
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My local Waitrose has had bread flour of one sort or another the past couple of weeks when I've been in - though I do go early in the day. It's been dire in Tesco, though.
It's Waitrose we've been trying with no success at all. My husband gets delivery slots because he is classed as vulnerable. We can't get any delivery slots at all from the other three supermarkets we are registered with and have used in the past. Aren't supermarkets using the same NHS list of vulnerable people?
I am not on the gov. list either, seems you not only have to register online but tick the box for needing help.
There is a phone no. to ring as well which may work.
Mike
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Our flour in the main comes from a local flour mill, Laxey Flour Mill.
However they are used to supplying large bags to the trade (restaurants, bakers etc.) and have found it difficult to supply the demand for 1kg bags. So there was a shortage of flour.
But perseverance paid off and I got a bag of plain, and a bag of self-raising, some weeks ago.
I go to Tesco (my closest supermarket) each Monday; 9am to 10am is reserved for vulnerable and elderly.
This week and last week, there were no queues ;D
The only thing I am having a problem getting is Tesco's in-house bakery wholemeal baguette (aka French stick).
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I think the problem with supermarkets is that my OH is registered with Waitrose and I am registered with the other three. We both have medical conditions as listed on the government website
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults
but my OH is over 70 and I'm just under, so he qualifies for priority delivery slots but I don't even though shopping for same household.
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My weekly delivery is due today. The only replacement is 2 x 6 eggs rather than a dozen!
There were a few problems at the beginning but no problems with flour, yeast or baking powder. I only bought milk for visitors or an occasional recipe so no problem there!
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I've found that a wholefood co-operative that we we used to use regularly, because it was round the corner from where OH used to work, is listing flour and yeast on their website. The trouble is they have suspended click and collect (as well as deliveries, but we're outside their delivery area anyway). They won't even put by a few things for collections, like they used to do with bread and a few other thing which sold out quickly. It's a 40 mile round trip, is that permitted? Especially if I came back empty handed because it had all sold out when I got there.
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My delivery has arrived today and the only adjustment was Eggs, they just upgraded the size for the same price. I did not order flour or yeast ;D