Food Shortage in UK?

[CharlesHarris]

News here states that the cupboard is bare and that grocery stores are rationing some items to prevent hoarding. What is the straight dope? Is it as bad as the doomsayers of US media relate? How are your Victory gardens doing?

[Straight Shooter]

Yes there are some shortages Charles , and some super markets have brought in some restrictions on fresh produce …….tomatoes , peppers , cucumbers etc this time of year we import these items from Spain and owing to weather conditions and labour shortages has effected our supply along with fuel , fertiliser costs raising has had added problems being magnified , they say it should normalise in about six weeks but I think that’s a bit ambitious
But the MM do their best to scare the shit out of the masses .

As regards our victory gardens , those of us that are keen , remain keen and get on with what we have always done quietly working away and providing food for our tables …..I do not post that much any more , it appears no one is that interested and replies are virtually zero when I post anyway ….but that’s alright it’s just the way it is .

In any event that’s the least of our problems , there are far more sinister goings on that are not being addressed or talked about that people are sleep walking into ….or just do not care even if it blighting them on the arse .

[CharlesHarris]

My Mum was a Brit war bride whom my late father brought to the US in 1946. I was raised in Depression era US practice and supplemented Mum's experience with WW2 rationiing. We were not poor, but frugal.

So I grew up with Victory Garden spuds, carrots, beets, radishes, onions, cabbages, celery, tomatoes and turnips. I may have been the only American.kid who brought lard sandwiches in his school lunch, seasoned with salt, black pepper and a slice of onion. Heaven!

We drank tea at home andcI didn't acquire a taste for coffee until a cadet at Virginia Tech.

[bigpaul]

The newspapers are full, as usual, of doom and gloom and photos of empty shelves in supermarkets, but its all city stores, we did our monthly shop a couple of days ago and whilst there were the odd gaps there were no shortages, of anything, this is smaller rural stores that dont get the huge quantities that the big urban superstores get.

[bigpaul]

I have just seen one of our local Greengrocers, an independent store not part of any supermarket chain, has NO shortages, shelves heaving with fruit and veg, so the answer is BUY LOCAL.

[harryhotspur]

It's an excuse by the Supermarkets to put up the prices and panic the public into buying anything that the Supermarkets have, just like the toilet roll shortage.

[Mortblanc]

So you are saying that there was no cold snap and snow event that wiped out 40% of the Spanish production coupled with a drought, and that fertilizer prices have not gone up?

All you have to do is google it!

[bigpaul]

its because most of the supermarket stuff is imported from Europe and all over the world, local shops buying local produce from local growers dont have any such problem. eat seasonally and eat local.

[Straight Shooter]

But they do have the same problems BP …..fuel is up in price and fertiliser is also up in price , just because you buy local by no means beats these increases ….not even in Devon ! There are many poly tunnels in this country that are closed. They cannot afford to heat the tunnels or buy the fertilisers, I am all for supporting local growers and eating seasonal but inflation will be killing all of us even the growers .

I will not be hanging about for super markets or local growers come to that , I will be growing my own and as much as I can .

[bigpaul]

true, but they dont have so far to travel, just a few miles in some cases, I know one place where the field is at the back of the store so it only travels yards or metres!
I grow some of my own but I dont have a greenhouse or polytunnel so I have to wait until the frosts are over.