Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

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LadyGeek
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by LadyGeek »

Add light cream to the list. I checked in 2 stores. Heavy cream, yes. Light cream, not in stock.
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Silk McCue
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Silk McCue »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:58 am Add light cream to the list. I checked in 2 stores. Heavy cream, yes. Light cream, not in stock.
I certainly know that you can Google but I found this with a search.
To dilute heavy cream to make light cream, combine 1 part milk with 2 parts cream. Don't use water, which will dilute the flavor as well as the texture. Store the diluted cream in the refrigerator and use it within one week, or within two days past the expiration date of the cream.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by jebmke »

Cream can also be stored in the freezer. We use so little -- sometimes just a bit added to a sauce -- that if we left it in the fridge it would go bad. We fill up ice cube trays then bag the cubes for use when we need it.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tim1999 »

In my area, low-end canned wet cat food currently. Friskies, generic store brand, etc. Petsmart has a limited selection (mostly single cans and no multi-packs), the 5 grocery stores nearest me all have had empty shelves of it for the last 3 weeks or so.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by InMyDreams »

tim1999 wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:36 am In my area, low-end canned wet cat food currently.
Low end? I'm trying to stay ahead on Fancy Feast/Gravy Lovers. It definitely isn't plentiful, and common to find an empty shelf. Especially chicken and turkey.

Damn cat pesters me if he doesn't get the right flavor.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by LittleMaggieMae »

I'm having trouble finding the Blue Buffalo my cats eat, too. My local stores (petsmart, petco, pets supply plus) will have fewer than 10 cans when I try to order for pickup online.

I typically do a winter stock up so I can get thru the end of January with food I have at home. I've never had so much trouble trying to "find" 4 cases (24 cans each) of cat food.

I managed to get 36 cans (3 - 12 packs) a couple of weeks ago by visiting 3 different stores (I was visiting relatives 1.5 hours away and ordered for pick up from stores along the way.

I just put in an order with Chewy for 48 cans of cat food. I typically will do a winter stockup so I can get thru the end of January with food I have at home. I've never had so much trouble trying to "find" 4 cases (24 cans) of cat food.

I, also, do a winter stock up of kitty litter. There use to be fantastic sales in October/November but not this year. My favorite brand skyrocketed in price (it's now $8 dollars more than it use to be) and there isn't much in stock. I did a kitty litter "scavenger hunt" and found some of the brands from the "B-List" at slightly more reasonable prices, was able to stop at a couple different stores, and completed the winter "stock up".

My cat expenses have gone up quite a bit this summer and fall.
rooms222
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by rooms222 »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:58 am Add light cream to the list. I checked in 2 stores. Heavy cream, yes. Light cream, not in stock.

I think light cream is a regional item, so it is more difficult to stock. There are plants that make ultra pasturized heavy cream and half and half for national and super-regional distribution, so there are less supply issues as more places make it. All these items are regulated by milkfat content. Plain cream or whipping cream is another item with less distribution. For example, Aldi and Costco only have Half and Half and Heavy Cream here. Kroger also has Cream, but no Light Cream. I looked at a Walmart in NJ, and it had Great Value Light Cream is stock. I see from the photo that it was made in a dairy in NY state by the 36-XXXX code on the milk. No Walmart near me has the Great Value stocked. This discussion talks about the likely regionality of Light Cream availability in general.

https://www.chowhound.com/post/light-cream-area-568889
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Mudpuppy »

LittleMaggieMae wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:45 pm I'm having trouble finding the Blue Buffalo my cats eat, too. My local stores (petsmart, petco, pets supply plus) will have fewer than 10 cans when I try to order for pickup online.
Last winter when I had the same issue, it was because Blue Buffalo was changing their formula from the "Healthy" formula to the "Tastefuls" formula. My cats flatly rejected the new Tastefuls formula though, so I don't know how the supply chain is working for the new formula.

If you haven't expanded your search to Target, Walmart, and grocery stores, try those places too. I think I cleared out all of the remaining old-formula flaked tuna flavor from all of my local stores last winter when going through this.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by coastalhiker »

Kitchen and Bath paint base at Benjamin Moore. We tried to buy it in September. "Well, sometimes a shipment arrives when we aren't expecting it. And sometimes it doesn't arrive when we are expecting it. I have no idea when we'll have it again." They said that it had to do with a certain chemical that comes from Texas, and supply was disrupted by last winter's big freeze.

And refrigerators. Backorders going into 2022.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Tubes »

coastalhiker wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:30 pm Kitchen and Bath paint base at Benjamin Moore. We tried to buy it in September. "Well, sometimes a shipment arrives when we aren't expecting it. And sometimes it doesn't arrive when we are expecting it. I have no idea when we'll have it again." They said that it had to do with a certain chemical that comes from Texas, and supply was disrupted by last winter's big freeze.
The same refined chemicals (binders, glues) were blamed on the plywood cost issues, which just compounded on top of the base wood price issues.

It has been 8 months. By next year, I don't want to hear about disruptions from that one event anymore.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by MadHungarian »

My local Costcos are all out of TP and paper towels again. That one hasn't happened for awhile. I've got plenty in stock, but was just keeping an eye on futures.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by egrets »

I haven't seen anything I buy out of stock at the grocery store, but food prices are horrible, almost 80% higher for some things.

One thing I can't find anywhere are Tretorns in my size. I emailed customer service at the manufacturer, but those people are clueless.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by InMyDreams »

InMyDreams wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:08 pm Low end? I'm trying to stay ahead on Fancy Feast/Gravy Lovers. It definitely isn't plentiful, and common to find an empty shelf. Especially chicken and turkey.

Damn cat pesters me if he doesn't get the right flavor.
Situation is not improving. I've piloted one serving of Fancy Feast Petites also in Gravy lovers style. He liked that - the problem is, it's more expensive, and if he gets used to it, he won't go back to the other. Even after one serving he seems to be more demanding to get more of the Petites ...
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by GG1273 »

We were replacing our doors last year and ordered some through Box Store - took 5 1/2 months. They get delivered, the installer comes and checks them out - can't use them because they aren't straight. Sent those back and took two basics off the floor. So far so good & saved $2,500 on the doors

I walked down the pet food isle today (since it is usually void of customers) and saw that a lot of the shelves were bare.

Was on Rte 287 North yesterday - bumper to bumper 18 wheelers so they are out there....
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tim1999 »

InMyDreams wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:08 pm
tim1999 wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:36 am In my area, low-end canned wet cat food currently.
Low end? I'm trying to stay ahead on Fancy Feast/Gravy Lovers. It definitely isn't plentiful, and common to find an empty shelf. Especially chicken and turkey.

Damn cat pesters me if he doesn't get the right flavor.
Friskies and generic store brands in larger (5.5 oz) cans seems to be in the shortest supply with bare shelves in most stores here. First the multi-packs disappeared, then all the single cans disappeared.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by fareastwarriors »

No issues all pandemic but last couple of months, it just disappeared!


Similac Pro-Advance Non-GMO Infant Formula with Iron Ready-to-Feed - 32 fl oz
https://www.target.com/p/similac-pro-ad ... A-17425675

Price was $6.99 at beginning of covid and now is $8.19 but completely out of stock....
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by rascott »

Donut holes. Seriously my local donut shop claims they can't make donut holes right now. They make regular donuts, how can they not make the holes?
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Tubes »

rascott wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 11:42 pm Donut holes. Seriously my local donut shop claims they can't make donut holes right now. They make regular donuts, how can they not make the holes?
If it is an honest question, I've got an honest answer. Labor. Perhaps they have just enough labor to deal with the high margin selling items like fancy iced donuts, and that person doesn't have time to drop the blobs for holes -- which was normally taken care of by the up and coming interns which now don't exist.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by jlawrence01 »

rascott wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 11:42 pm Donut holes. Seriously my local donut shop claims they can't make donut holes right now. They make regular donuts, how can they not make the holes?
At least they have donuts.

Last week, I was travelling between Cincinnati and Louisville. I stopped at a Kroger store and they "were not making donuts today."
I drove down the road and got the same response at the local Walmart Supercenter. This was at 8:30 am.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ResearchMed »

Apparently several of the local Starbucks are now having restricted hours. Some were not open at all yesterday.
We are guessing it's due at least in part to the labor shortage, but perhaps also there are shortages of beverage/food supplies?

In a busy mall, the Starbucks there was open, but none of the others for several miles around.

Starbucks used to be the one place one could always count on being open, and among the last to close if heavy snow was forecast, etc.


RM
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by rivercrosser »

HVAC equipment and refrigerators. Got hit by lightning back in Aug. Had a hard time finding the same width refrigerator. Took a couple weeks. Furnace and AC got wiped out. I wanted to go back with the same brand and level of equipment I had. They never could get it. Got to be middle of October so I ended up with a different dealer and brand. Bigger dealer. Had a lot of equipment in stock but he was starting to have trouble getting stuff also. Had to go with a different outside unit than I wanted. Actually ended up with a nicer system but had to fork over a good chuck of change on top of my insurance check.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by stan1 »

Cholula hot sauce (all varieties) gone for over a month, with other brands now scarce too.
LaCroix water of all flavors now gone, Coke AHA is there and drinkable. Even now no one wants to buy Pepsi Bubly.
Yogurt of all types very limited. Chobani gone for close to 2 months now.
Clear produce plastic bags gone

So that's I'm guessing glass, aluminum and plastic shortages?
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Second Round »

Johnson & Johnson dental floss.
Maybe they converted the shop for vaccine production?
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Tubes »

Second Round wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:51 am Johnson & Johnson dental floss.
Maybe they converted the shop for vaccine production?
I see this too! It started early in the pandemic and hasn't recovered yet.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by AllMostThere »

ResearchMed wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:43 pm Apparently several of the local Starbucks are now having restricted hours. Some were not open at all yesterday.
We are guessing it's due at least in part to the labor shortage, but perhaps also there are shortages of beverage/food supplies?

In a busy mall, the Starbucks there was open, but none of the others for several miles around.

Starbucks used to be the one place one could always count on being open, and among the last to close if heavy snow was forecast, etc.


RM
Local Tim Horton's near me is in same situation. Drive thru only and the line is usually 15 cars deep. They open daily @ 7AM (used to be 5AM) and close daily @ 3PM (used to be 9 PM). I find this last one as unbelievable but true - they are CLOSED on Saturdays and Sundays! So much for Soccer parents getting their team donuts.....
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by AllMostThere »

stan1 wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:01 pm Cholula hot sauce (all varieties) gone for over a month, with other brands now scarce too.
LaCroix water of all flavors now gone, Coke AHA is there and drinkable. Even now no one wants to buy Pepsi Bubly.
Yogurt of all types very limited. Chobani gone for close to 2 months now.
Clear produce plastic bags gone

So that's I'm guessing glass, aluminum and plastic shortages?
Ditto! My DS loves the Dollar Tree Hot Sauce (he puts that S@$# on everything). Every store in area is out of stock for past month and it looks like it's no longer part of the inventory as it's not even shown on website anymore. DS also loves the Bubly flavored waters. We were getting 18 packs delivered from Amazon on a regular basis and last 5 orders were cancelled as these flavors are no longer available. If any flavor is available it's at 2X prior price. Limited 8 Packs are available local at nearly 3X unit price compared to prior Amazon price. Guess who's getting a SodaStream for Christmas this year. Since pandemic, I've been making my own yogurt via Instant Pot process. OMG, it's soooo much better. After making, I strain the whey using coffee filters over night to make a very thick homemade Greek Yogurt. I retain some of the whey to use as starter for next batch. No more store bought yogurt for me. I initially started with this Heriloom Starter that can be reused over-and-over. I think it gets more flavorful with each re-use. :beer

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016B ... UTF8&psc=1

Hint: Left over whey can be used a liquid for homemade breads also. Gives it a sort of sourdough flavor.
Last edited by AllMostThere on Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by bradinsky »

Fritos. DW had a taste for them. Went to multiple stores and there were none available. Weird.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by 2Scoops »

stan1 wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:01 pm Cholula hot sauce (all varieties) gone for over a month, with other brands now scarce too.
LaCroix water of all flavors now gone, Coke AHA is there and drinkable. Even now no one wants to buy Pepsi Bubly.
Yogurt of all types very limited. Chobani gone for close to 2 months now.
Clear produce plastic bags gone

So that's I'm guessing glass, aluminum and plastic shortages?
Being out of Cholula is worse than being out of paper products IMO! Check out Amazon. You can still buy the 64oz bottle for a reasonable price. We keep a decent stock of the regular and green sauces on hand at all times. They also have the variety pack of 6 different flavors but I really didn’t like any outside of the two I mentioned.

My hard to find item has been Gatorade Zero. Some weeks I can’t get any and others I’ll find one or two 32oz bottles.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by wilshuer »

stan1 wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:01 pm Cholula hot sauce (all varieties) gone for over a month, with other brands now scarce too.
They must have shipped it all to my local Costco. They had a full pallet of double pack bottles yesterday.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by livesoft »

ResearchMed wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:43 pm Apparently several of the local Starbucks are now having restricted hours. Some were not open at all yesterday.
We are guessing it's due at least in part to the labor shortage, but perhaps also there are shortages of beverage/food supplies?
[...]
From a Starbucks employee, paraphrasing, "A co-worker has been infected with Covid-19. Almost all the staff were exposed, so we have to quarantine for several days. No one left to run the store."
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Barefootgirl »

I have a gift certificate someone gave me for Famous Footwear - I tried their website - many brands/most styles - out of stock in most sizes.

I'll wait.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by stan1 »

wilshuer wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:52 am
stan1 wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:01 pm Cholula hot sauce (all varieties) gone for over a month, with other brands now scarce too.
They must have shipped it all to my local Costco. They had a full pallet of double pack bottles yesterday.
I had two people tell me at work today they picked it up at Costco, I guess Costco got all the inventory.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by jebmke »

AllMostThere wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 6:18 am Hint: Left over whey can be used a liquid for homemade breads also. Gives it a sort of sourdough flavor.
We add the leftover whey to the sourdough starter; it seems to make a more uniform sourdough loaf.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by You Know What I Mean »

Our local (Oklahoma City) stores have not had Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi for over a year, since early in the pandemic, except for occasionally the 2-liter bottles, never in the single-serving smaller bottles or cans. I did find some in 12-oz cans in a Walmart in Rochester MN in September. (I don't buy soda pop in the big bottles because it goes flat so quickly.)
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tigermilk »

Over the last month or so we have had a repeat of a difficult item to find - sparkling water from Italy. We usually get Central Market (Texas grocer owned by HEB) brand water, but in the last month I have been to CM and several HEBs with no luck. Today we broke down and went to Whole Foods. They have their own brand, and the large WF I went to had limited supply, and. No San Peelegrino or Topo Chico brand. There was even a sign on the shelves about supply. And a Kroger near us has been out of bottled sparkling water (all brands) as well. Another fizzy beverage I like which has had supply issues is Mexican Coke.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ResearchMed »

tigermilk wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:32 pm Over the last month or so we have had a repeat of a difficult item to find - sparkling water from Italy. We usually get Central Market (Texas grocer owned by HEB) brand water, but in the last month I have been to CM and several HEBs with no luck. Today we broke down and went to Whole Foods. They have their own brand, and the large WF I went to had limited supply, and. No San Peelegrino or Topo Chico brand. There was even a sign on the shelves about supply. And a Kroger near us has been out of bottled sparkling water (all brands) as well. Another fizzy beverage I like which has had supply issues is Mexican Coke.
The smaller glass bottles of San Pellegrino have been almost impossible to find for the past several months.
When one store had them listed on Instacart, I got 12 of the little 6-packs. The shopper agreed that she hadn't seen them in ages.

Usually the medium plastic bottles are available, but not always. And the same with the larger bottles. Sometimes it's only the larger glass bottles, but those have a beer bottle type of top, one that can't be re-attached/screwed back on. And especially for that large bottle... it's just waiting for me to look at it so it can spill over :annoyed .
And the large bottle with screw top are plastic, which we prefer not to use. I also strongly prefer the taste of beverages in glass bottles, although plastic is second. Metallic cans.... blech.... metallic taste. But I'm seeing more and more of the cans...

There is another local brand that we also like, but that hasn't been seen in even longer.

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finite_difference
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by finite_difference »

AllMostThere wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 6:18 am
stan1 wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:01 pm Cholula hot sauce (all varieties) gone for over a month, with other brands now scarce too.
LaCroix water of all flavors now gone, Coke AHA is there and drinkable. Even now no one wants to buy Pepsi Bubly.
Yogurt of all types very limited. Chobani gone for close to 2 months now.
Clear produce plastic bags gone

So that's I'm guessing glass, aluminum and plastic shortages?
Ditto! My DS loves the Dollar Tree Hot Sauce (he puts that S@$# on everything). Every store in area is out of stock for past month and it looks like it's no longer part of the inventory as it's not even shown on website anymore. DS also loves the Bubly flavored waters. We were getting 18 packs delivered from Amazon on a regular basis and last 5 orders were cancelled as these flavors are no longer available. If any flavor is available it's at 2X prior price. Limited 8 Packs are available local at nearly 3X unit price compared to prior Amazon price. Guess who's getting a SodaStream for Christmas this year. Since pandemic, I've been making my own yogurt via Instant Pot process. OMG, it's soooo much better. After making, I strain the whey using coffee filters over night to make a very thick homemade Greek Yogurt. I retain some of the whey to use as starter for next batch. No more store bought yogurt for me. I initially started with this Heriloom Starter that can be reused over-and-over. I think it gets more flavorful with each re-use. :beer

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016B ... UTF8&psc=1

Hint: Left over whey can be used a liquid for homemade breads also. Gives it a sort of sourdough flavor.
Our Costco has some pretty delicious sparkling water on sale so maybe try there.
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EnjoyIt
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by EnjoyIt »

tigermilk wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:32 pm Over the last month or so we have had a repeat of a difficult item to find - sparkling water from Italy. We usually get Central Market (Texas grocer owned by HEB) brand water, but in the last month I have been to CM and several HEBs with no luck. Today we broke down and went to Whole Foods. They have their own brand, and the large WF I went to had limited supply, and. No San Peelegrino or Topo Chico brand. There was even a sign on the shelves about supply. And a Kroger near us has been out of bottled sparkling water (all brands) as well. Another fizzy beverage I like which has had supply issues is Mexican Coke.
I love sparkling water. I probably drink 1-2 litters of it every day. I got myself a soda stream and make my own which works great. I just use filtered water from my fridge, but if you really want to be fancy, you can take spring water and add CO2 to that.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by jayjayc »

Diamond Crystal kosher salt.

I've checked every grocery store in town and no one has it anymore. Later I found a specialty spice shop selling little baggies of "kosher-style" salt. The store said they get a tiny amount of Diamond Crystal salt. They open the box and divvy them up into little baggies to satisfy their customers. Walking out of this store with my little baggie of a scarce white substance makes feel like a drug buyer. :twisted:
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Random Musings »

ResearchMed wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:43 pm Apparently several of the local Starbucks are now having restricted hours. Some were not open at all yesterday.
We are guessing it's due at least in part to the labor shortage, but perhaps also there are shortages of beverage/food supplies?

In a busy mall, the Starbucks there was open, but none of the others for several miles around.

Starbucks used to be the one place one could always count on being open, and among the last to close if heavy snow was forecast, etc.


RM
Our "traditional" Starbucks store was takeout only when they were having COVID issues, but the Starbucks found in grocery stores, Target, B&N always have internal sales (no takeout anyway). I don't drink that stuff, but my kids do occasionally. From my perspective, the least friendly SB is the "traditional" one. B&N is closer to us anyway and also cheaper.

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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Bear906 »

In my locale in western Michigan, red grape juice along with most Zatarain's and Tony Chachere's rice entrees have been nowhere to be found for most of the past year.

Last week, I was surprised to find the shelves bare of most fruit and vegetable juices along with "Limit 1 per customer" signage. There was plenty of prune juice, but that was all. Ended up buying fresh apple cider in the produce aisle. No complaints there :D
Eschew obfuscation.
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heartwood
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by heartwood »

jayjayc wrote: Sat Nov 20, 2021 9:02 pm Diamond Crystal kosher salt.

I've checked every grocery store in town and no one has it anymore. Later I found a specialty spice shop selling little baggies of "kosher-style" salt. The store said they get a tiny amount of Diamond Crystal salt. They open the box and divvy them up into little baggies to satisfy their customers. Walking out of this store with my little baggie of a scarce white substance makes feel like a drug buyer. :twisted:
We've used Diamond Crystal Kosher forever. I don't recall using anything else.

Needed a new box a few weeks ago and there was none available. We bought Morton's Coarse Kosher salt and like it quite a bit. Slightly larger crystals. Plus it has a metal pour spout. Diamond Crystal did away with that a few years ago, going to a cardboard serrated flap.
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tooluser
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tooluser »

Bear906 wrote: Sun Nov 21, 2021 10:48 am There was plenty of prune juice, but that was all.
"A warrior's drink." -- Worf, from Star Trek: The Next Generation
madbrain
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by madbrain »

A local electrical supply store quoted me $350 for this circuit breaker :
https://www.superbreakers.com/cutler-ha ... it-breaker
It's unobtainium from any regular place online. Not regularly stocked or orderable from Home Depot/Lowe's.
I suppose it's not the most common breaker type, but still. The point of that breaker is to add a circuit to a panel that doesn't have any space left (assuming load isn't an assuming). But at $350 a breaker, you can add a whole new subpanel and move a few loads there to get more space instead.
madbrain
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by madbrain »

tim1999 wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 2:32 pm Friskies and generic store brands in larger (5.5 oz) cans seems to be in the shortest supply with bare shelves in most stores here. First the multi-packs disappeared, then all the single cans disappeared.
Costco still has the 60-packs of Friskies 5.5oz around here.

Fancy Feast 3oz at, Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon have gone up about 15-20% for 24 and 30 packs since last year.

I had cat litter deodorizer backordered for over a month from both walmart.com and Amazon. Finally got them all delivered in the last week.
madbrain
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by madbrain »

Kirkland brand tissue packs. I used to buy them in packs of 30. They fit nicely in a handmade tissue dispenser box I bought in Vietnam.
I have not seen them at any local Costco lately. They now have brand name tissues only, and the boxes are too tall to fit in the dispensers. Looks like the large packs are still on costco.com. It's $30 + 3 delivery, instead of $26 before at the warehouse, I think.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by btenny »

Large window glass is on backorder and 8+ weeks delivery times. My bedroom has a 8 foot patio door with dual panes and argon and sun coating. One outside pane in one door shattered in early October. We have been waiting for a new pane since. Latest date is next week. Lucky for us the inside pane is OK and the screen door is protecting the broken panel and frame.

My daughter had to wait for 4+ extra weeks to get into her new house due to window shortages.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Random Poster »

heartwood wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 5:51 pm
We've used Diamond Crystal Kosher forever. I don't recall using anything else.

Needed a new box a few weeks ago and there was none available. We bought Morton's Coarse Kosher salt and like it quite a bit. Slightly larger crystals. Plus it has a metal pour spout. Diamond Crystal did away with that a few years ago, going to a cardboard serrated flap.
I wonder if the supply chain issues are going to result in people trying out alternative items, who then discover that they like them, and essentially abandoning their old favorites, with the end result being new and sustained business for the new product and permanent loss of market share for the old one.
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Tubes
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Tubes »

madbrain wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:02 am A local electrical supply store quoted me $350 for this circuit breaker :
https://www.superbreakers.com/cutler-ha ... it-breaker
It's unobtainium from any regular place online. Not regularly stocked or orderable from Home Depot/Lowe's.
I suppose it's not the most common breaker type, but still. The point of that breaker is to add a circuit to a panel that doesn't have any space left (assuming load isn't an assuming). But at $350 a breaker, you can add a whole new subpanel and move a few loads there to get more space instead.
My guess is the problem is related to your use case. People are in a remodel frenzy. Panels are full, and they used the easiest solution to obtain new circuit(s). High demand leads to shortage.

My take on this problem is that adding a subpanel (or a new larger main) might be in your best interest now anyway as EVs will require future circuits.
charis23
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by charis23 »

Add saline nasal drops for infants to the list. Sold out on Amazon, Target and pharmacies near me. Had to drive 30 mins to pick some up.
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