Things You Would not Expect People to make runs on.

We all know about the Toilet Paper, Hand sanitizer and Disinfectant Wipes be in short supply or in many cases non existent. I have found some things I would never have expected to be in short supply. While I refuse to call my self a prepper I am very well prepared for almost any Scenario and other than a family of mice getting into my air filter crate and destroying every filter and running out of seed starting inserts for the flats, I am in great shape for the long haul. On various town runs over the last six weeks (4) runs to be exact. I have found it interesting to observe what folks are making runs on and that everyone is now a homesteader and prepper LOL.

72 cell or any Number of cell seed starting inserts and trays. Usually shelves full of them locally this time of year. I needed 10 more to finish off my seed starting and there is not one in any store within 50 miles. I finally found 72 cells at one of my wholesale sources but I had to order a minimum of 1000. SO I now have 1000 on the way 990 of which I really didn't need this year. So another big box to fit into the warehouse.

Flour and Yeast. Never did I think I would see every grocery store and even Sams with NO Flour or Yeast...... Not even the 50 pound bags and 5 pound packs of yeast.

Chili Beans Not a can to be found.

Taco Shells......... Must be a lot of people eating chili tacos LOL.

Those are the ones that have given me the best chuckles. What have you guys seen sold out that you would never have expected?

 

I was surprised at flour, which I usually buy in the 50 lb bags. I went to cash and carry and found them completely empty, not actually a problem for me as I always keep an extra, even outside of food storage. There was a young lady in the aisle who asked me if she could make bread with chickpea flour, and I told her she would really need to know what she was doing to do that. She asked what I make bread with, and apparently decided that I'm not an expert because I use ap, not bread flour. So, she grabbed fifty pounds of chickpea flour. Yuck.

 

SpaghettiO’s. Those b@st@rds!

 

Flu medicine like Nyquil at the Walgreens. Shelves empty of it. First aid supplies low as well. Even stranger to me is the local hardware and Lowes; parking lots are always full.

 

Ugh @chickpea flour bread. I had Banza pasta once which is made with that and it was gross. She's better off just making a lot of hummus lol.

The first few days when the panic buying really began to heat up, we were at the grocery store gawking at the empty shelves and I told my husband, it looks like half the city printed out one of those Prepper Pantry Lists and bought everything listed on it. Flour. Sugar. Cooking oil. All the big bags went first. Rice. Dried beans. Dried Pasta. Peanut butter. Bottled water and Gatoraid. SPAM (not Treet, no one touched that crap until a few weeks later). Mainly stuff I expected to see fly off the shelves including flour because I live in Texas and like the rest of the south people here will batter and deep fry a quarter. Plus, tortillas. The stores are starting to get restocked now, around me anyway, but the only rice you'll find is "weird rice", ie wild or basmati or anything confusing to the white/brown rice crowd. I wish I'd gone to the big Asian market just to see... they usually have enough 25# bags of rice on the floor to fill a C130.

Things I did NOT see coming. Toilet paper obviously, and of course once that was gone every other paper product on the shelf went with it. But then Sweet & Low vanished. We usually buy the 1500 count box at Sams. None. Not one single box. There's some small boxes at the supermarkets but only a couple, and the prices on Amazon are double or triple what it was selling for at Sams.

And then here's what really surprised the hell out of me. Coffee? Full shelves, all the time. I always thought people would make a run on coffee but they didn't even make a dent in it. Maybe that's not so surprising. With everyone's kids now stuck at home 24/7, perhaps coffee gave way to hard liquor.

 

Italian sausage...all gone. Yet the Cajun sausage and boudin was fully stocked.

Butter and butter substitutes...

On the bright side, all of the bread, milk and eggs should be pretty fresh!

 

Chickens man, Live friggn chickens,Everyone is now a chicken farmer!

 

Best time to buy cold and kungflu medicine is in the summer. 2007-8 and 2017 were real nasty cold and flu years no nyquil or cough drops to be had.

 

Feels good to be among those that have been preparing for a long time before any of this started.

 

Oh yeah and baby supplies.
Luckily we buy baby wipes by the case and diapers to the limit when they go on sale during tax free weekend so our baby is good probably until potty training.

 

Hehe I am evil I bought 4 cases of the tall cans with Meat Balls early on at Aldi's. Have not seen a can on a store shelf since then. My personal summer lunch fetish is a can of Spaghetti O's with a close second being Sardines in Hot Sauce with some crackers. Something I could not escape from my childhood

Guess I don't know what I am doing either! AP flour makes just as good or better bread than the Bread Flour does IMO and I make A LOT of bread. I do buy the bread flour but I like to use it for Pizza and Pie Crust, I just like the texture better.

It was hit here pretty hard initially but was restocked and has not been short since the first rush. Hot Chocolate, Choco Drink Mix and syrup and teas on the other hand have stayed pretty much sold out.

This reminds me of something else. I hit Lowes yesterday as well as TSC and was going to pick up some extra 24" and 14" Husq chainsaw chains ( I like their factory chains) usually 10-12 on the hangers and there was EXACTLY 1 16" at TSC and 1 14" at Lowes so I got 1 chain at Lowes. Even the Oregon and whatever the junk off brand was were empty. Guess I have to quit being lazy and just buying new chains and actually sharpen the 40 or so I have in oiled newspapers LOL.

 

I was shocked to see the baking isles cleared out, like every one is now suddenly baking at home! There was NO sugar except for my Sugar in the Raw that I use for Tea and the sugar replacements, every thing was cleared out! No Peanut Butter and only the Good Honey left over, no jams or preserves. The pre packaged lunch meats and cheeses were all gone, no condiments at all, salad dressings down to the cheap crap and the high end stuff. Eggs were picked over pretty good, but for some reason the Organic labeled browns were still in good supply. That was weird!
No Pain management pills, no tooth paste, no deorderent, and the personal care products were picked through pretty bad!
Before we bugged, I stopped at the hardware stores to pick up some needed stuff, and noted the fuel stocks were still good, while the normal sources were cleaned out, I guess folks never thought that a hardware store would carry heating oil in 5 gallon cans! Weird. This store is also a saw and mower shop and their stock of Sthil chain saws had been hit pretty hard, only the farm/industrial saws were left! The light bulb isle and obviously the cleaning supplies were all cleaned out! Funny,and the biggest head shaker of all was the Knife displays were bare, apparently, every one is now Jim Bowie and needs a knife, didn't care what kind it was, they damn sure needed it RIGHT NOW!

 

Here in in da hood (Anchorage) also no flour, which struck me as quite odd, because we have a major bakery (break factory) here in town.

No elastic at the notions store - this is something of a nationwide shortage,. Guess where most of that comes from?

Yup, same place as 95% of the socks made for the planet - Sock City. China,
Datang, China, Is Known As Sock City, Producing 2 Pair For Every Person In The World Yearly - South Florida Reporter

We grind our own wheat, but mix the whole wheat with white cake four so the bread is a bit fluffier(?) as the WW doesn't seem to rise as well, at least with how we bake bread.

 

i was surpised by run on flue medication, paper towels, kleenex and paper napkins. literally all the paper goods are gone and dont seem to be comin back soon

bacon and meat and chicken.... lots of sandwich meat and fresh veggies left. I think ditchwitch is right people pulled up a list and bought of the list and are congratulating themselves on being prepared

 

Bleach!! That one caught me off base by a LONG way.

 

I noted that too. No worries - hot tub or pool shock, unscented. Just be very sure it's 100% calcium hypochlorite.

 

Lot of places that are staying open are using gallons of bleach to clean. Floors, bathrooms, equipment. My trainer runs a private gym, 1 on 1 training mostly, and he wipes everything down with diluted bleach after every client. Using about a gallon a day.

 

Send her the following link....Recipe - Chick Pea (Besan) Flour Recipes
There are many recipes that will use up that chickpea / besan flour. The flour is nutritious.

 

We just bumped into each other at the store. Her question was about baking bread, and although I'm certain many talented bakers could make a loaf (possibly even a gluten free loaf), I have my doubts that a first time bread baker is going to soar to such heights on her first few (or even her first hundred) attempts. I do not doubt that a dedicated baker would even learn such a feat, but my assumption is that new born prepper Barbie is going to end up with 45 pounds of chickpea flour in her garbage can.