Impact of Winter Weather on Food Shopping in US

[Maison Rustique]

Is it just here in our area, or is everyone in the country experiencing a shortage of food--mostly produce--right now?

 

My Misfits Market order had to be submitted last night. I had already put a few things in the cart, but when I went in to finalize it, there were a grand total of 4 vegetables available to choose from. And 2 of those were tofu. 

 

When I began talking about it with friends in the area, they said that all the stores are depleted. Is this a factor of people stocking up to get through the dreadful weather we've had this month, or is it that weather has been so dreadful throughout the country (and even the world), that the growing areas have not been able to produce as usual?

 

 

[BeeZee]

We had some hiccups in our area surrounding the relatively minor snow events last week, I suspect it was due to shipments of produce which were delayed from California. Some dry goods were out of stock, but that happens sometimes when the market has a "hot sale" on something so it could be supply chain issues or under stock/over sold! There was one stretch where we had zero availability of grape/cherry tomatoes for around a week.

[Alex]

Not much here in Michigan. My nearby supermarket was briefly out of celery and was running short on mushrooms, but that's about it, at least as far as I saw. The market was indeed more crowded than usual pre-storm, but it didn't look like there was a major run on any products. We're pretty blasé up here about big storms. A pandemic, on the other hand...

[rotuts]

today @ Market Basket everything looked normal

 

Dairy / Juices / cheese wall full

 

Meats full

 

fresh produce full

 

its s bit different @ TJ's , but the place looked the same.

[JeanneCake]

We saw some isolated "shortages" (I noticed chicken, mostly.  And it was all chicken - whole roasters, parts, ground - there was no chicken whatsoever!) the first two weeks in January and people thought it was a combination of holiday timing (on Mondays) and weather. Now I'm noticing some things are in short supply but not as widespread as earlier.

[rotuts]

in thinking about what @JeanneCake me ntioned

 

as we are in similar areas

 

I guess MarketBasket might have had a similar chicken issue weeks ago 

 

the chicken ' case ' was empty , and I chalked it up tp them preparing the refrigeration system.

[Shelby]

On 1/23/2024 at 8:03 AM, Maison Rustique said:

Is it just here in our area, or is everyone in the country experiencing a shortage of food--mostly produce--right now?

 

My Misfits Market order had to be submitted last night. I had already put a few things in the cart, but when I went in to finalize it, there were a grand total of 4 vegetables available to choose from. And 2 of those were tofu. 

 

When I began talking about it with friends in the area, they said that all the stores are depleted. Is this a factor of people stocking up to get through the dreadful weather we've had this month, or is it that weather has been so dreadful throughout the country (and even the world), that the growing areas have not been able to produce as usual?

 

 

I shop for groceries from Misfits the minute my window opens--or as soon as I can if something is going on that I can't.  There are a lot of choices at that time....If I wait until the last day of my 3 day window it looks just as you describe in both the fruit and the vegetable sections. 

 

Local stores--haven't noticed shortages but definitely the prices are a lot higher.

[Anchobrie]

I was expecting some stuff semi-preserved and it took an extra week to arrive... I can imagine how bad it may have been

[Smithy]

I'm not seeing any shortages in Yuma, Arizona -- but this place bills itself as the country's winter produce capital (I probably don't have the slogan quite right). There may be some empty meat sections, but they seem to correlate to bargains.

[pastrygirl]

28 minutes ago, Anchobrie said:

I was expecting some stuff semi-preserved and it took an extra week to arrive... I can imagine how bad it may have been

 

Was the carrier FedEx by chance?  I'm waiting on a package that's currently a week behind schedule. 

[Anchobrie]

1 minute ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Was the carrier FedEx by chance?  I'm waiting on a package that's currently a week behind schedule. 

it was, and some delays were non acceptable, as they claim to have the product at town office (less than 20.000 souls,

~4 miles apart) for a week.

[Maison Rustique]

22 hours ago, Shelby said:

I shop for groceries from Misfits the minute my window opens--or as soon as I can if something is going on that I can't.  There are a lot of choices at that time....If I wait until the last day of my 3 day window it looks just as you describe in both the fruit and the vegetable sections. 

 

Local stores--haven't noticed shortages but definitely the prices are a lot higher.

Misfits was depleted from the minute my window opened this time. I keep wondering if it is something about the distribution center that serves my area. A couple of weeks ago, delivery was a day late with no notice about it. I don't get communications from them in a timely fashion. Often the email that tells me the order shipped and some items won't be in it doesn't go out until after the order is already here!! I can't plan meals if I don't know what I'm getting. And my other regular grocery order goes in just prior to this one, so it is too late to order from them if Misfits is out of something. Ready to quit Misfits again.

[Maison Rustique]

We went to Costco yesterday and their produce department was also way down--most notably, onions and potatoes!

[Shelby]

13 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

Misfits was depleted from the minute my window opened this time. I keep wondering if it is something about the distribution center that serves my area. A couple of weeks ago, delivery was a day late with no notice about it. I don't get communications from them in a timely fashion. Often the email that tells me the order shipped and some items won't be in it doesn't go out until after the order is already here!! I can't plan meals if I don't know what I'm getting. And my other regular grocery order goes in just prior to this one, so it is too late to order from them if Misfits is out of something. Ready to quit Misfits again.

That's really too bad.  I'm guessing it's Misfits and not FedEx that is doing the deliveries?  Have you tried writing to customer service?  In my experiences they respond within 24 hours and always have a solution.  Often they offer me $5 off my next order due to what ever problem had happened.....

 

Where do your boxes ship from?  Mine are from San Antonio, TX.

[Maison Rustique]

23 hours ago, Shelby said:

That's really too bad.  I'm guessing it's Misfits and not FedEx that is doing the deliveries?  Have you tried writing to customer service?  In my experiences they respond within 24 hours and always have a solution.  Often they offer me $5 off my next order due to what ever problem had happened.....

 

Where do your boxes ship from?  Mine are from San Antonio, TX.

They are delivered by trucks that say Imperfect Foods (They merged a year or so ago.) I don't think they say where they come from.

 

Yesterday was my delivery day. I got an email around 3 pm saying it had shipped. I clicked on the tracking and it said the truck was about 5 minutes away. And it was. But that's what I mean--why am I getting these emails so late? And I have complained. Last time, they never responded. I think they just don't like me.  Ha!

[Shelby]

19 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

They are delivered by trucks that say Imperfect Foods (They merged a year or so ago.) I don't think they say where they come from.

 

Yesterday was my delivery day. I got an email around 3 pm saying it had shipped. I clicked on the tracking and it said the truck was about 5 minutes away. And it was. But that's what I mean--why am I getting these emails so late? And I have complained. Last time, they never responded. I think they just don't like me.  Ha!

I see.  Mine are brought by FedEx so I have double alerts--FedEx always has a tracking number etc.  so I can stay on top of it (side note, my box was supposed to be here yesterday....FedEx says it's delayed due to weather sigh. ). Misfits must not have a great system down yet to alert you of changes and that's too bad  

[Annie_H]

I order Misfits every 4-5 weeks in rotation with our local FreshDirect. When I logged onto Misfits a few days ago, they had a header banner saying they had stock issues due to weather. Mostly vegetables. I logged on and checked before starting a cart....sure enough, most what I usually order and rely on were out of stock. So I went with my other market this go-around. 

Still the best prices if careful. I never rely on them to be 100%. I had some issues last spring before taking a summer break from Misfits. 

During the holidays I had an unprecedented perfect order. As if a supervisor packed my order maybe during a training 'new employee' event. 

We wait for the Misfits delivery before any other shopping. Can't rely on them for meal planning. My orders are usually 100-120$, so now free shipping.