I am NOT in the mood to think about dinner, not one bit, but I did go to grocery store and go through all the motions of buying food that could potentially be put together in a variety of combinations on one’s plate.
The grocery store has, of late, been… well, not worrisome, exactly. But every time I go there, I feel the parallel lines between my eyebrows deepening just a little in watchful pre-concern. Today, the produce section looked like it had been looted by a colony of ravenous hares. (Please note that a group of rabbits is also known as a fluffle, which is just too adorable for words, and which, sadly, does not have the right tone for my current level of grocery store apprehension.) There was no asparagus at all (I found some later in the prepared foods section), a single bunch of broccoli – even the section of more-expensive broccoli crowns was meager, and the crowns themselves looked like they were old – and the bell peppers were nearly non-existent. The boxed/bagged lettuce seemed plentiful, at least. But there were only TWO heads of iceberg lettuce at all. Except – and please share if your grocery store is doing this same kind of lettuce mind game – there were several two-packs of “artisan miniature iceberg lettuce” or however it is that they are trying to disguise the heads of lettuce that are too small to be sold as regular heads of lettuce. Every time I see these stunted, tiny twin packs I roll my eyes, but I have never taken a photo. I will try to remember to do so next time so we can all scoff at them together.
The berries were moderately plentiful, but the limes and lemons looked picked through and the only other available fruits were grapefruits, a few oranges, and some pears. I did get some kiwis, I suppose, which is good because Carla is in a kiwi kick. I suppose there was, in reality, an abundance of produce in a wide variety. But it felt like very low-stock, with lots of empty spaces. And perhaps that was due to it being first thing Monday morning, but I just don’t know.
The rest of the store seemed… sparse in odd ways. Like… the tonic section looked very picked over, with lots of holes on the shelves (the hole that most affected me personally was the one where the diet tonic should have been grumble grumble), but really there was a lot of tonic to be had. The same with the yogurt: holes and empty shelves, but in and among LOTS of yogurt. I was irritated to find that the peach Two Good yogurt had expired back on April 23, but there were enough other options to get plenty for the week. Cream cheese seemed very lacking – the foil-wrapped rectangles were not in evidence, nor were the tubs of whipped cream cheese Carla likes. I still have a couple of boxes from the false-alarm cream cheese shortage of last fall though (possibly expired), so I merely squinted at the empty cream cheese section and moved on.
Frozen pancakes were not only available, they were on SALE. I had promised my husband – who is joining me on Keto! – that I would get him some frozen egg bites, but they were missing from the shelves.
My grocery store has rearranged the meat section so I find it hard to evaluate whether it truly seems bare (there were three pork tenderloins total, and only a few packages of pork chops) or whether it’s just unfamiliar.
Things seem VERY expensive. I hesitate to admit that I am in a position where I buy things from a list, and rarely make note of the price unless it is wildly shocking (like the 2-for-$7 iceberg lettuce of last fall). But I am pretty sure that pints of raspberries and blackberries would normally, at this time of year, be $2 a package rather than $3.50. And containers of strawberries would typically be going for $2.50 a package rather than $4.99.
The biggest price escalation I spotted today was goat cheese. I am 99% certain that I could get a 4-ounce log of goat cheese for $3.99 in the past; today it was $5.29, and that was for a brand I’ve never heard of before. The kind I usually get was $5.49. That is a BIG jump. Cheese in general seems to have really gone up in price – unfortunate considering that we eat a LOT of cheese, especially when doing keto.
I also bought wheat germ for the first time, because I made a loaf of banana chocolate chip bread on Carla’s request; she’d tasted it at a friend’s house, and I got the recipe from the friend’s mother and it calls for equal parts flour, whole wheat flour, and wheat germ. For anyone who has also never before purchased wheat germ, and suddenly finds themselves needing it, it was in the cereal aisle, NOT the baking aisle like I thought it would be. I also scoured the aisle that has all the hemp hearts and chia seeds and whey protein and collagen powder before finally asking an employee.
I bought some cheery yellow tulips as well, on sale for $6.99 a bunch; there used to be a section of flowers that were 3 for $15, but several weeks ago that changed to 3 for $18, so I understand that flowers are no exception to inflation. These tulips were one of a handful of bunches that looked remotely acceptable; the others looked like they had already spent several long days preening for the customers and were now haggard and limp. Perhaps it is the persistent rain of this particular spring that is causing the lackluster flowers; perhaps there will be an influx later in the week in time for Mother’s Day.
Okay. I have dawdled long enough. Now it is time to figure out what to eat this week.
Dinners for the Week of May 2 to May8
- Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms with Everyday Salad: I wonder if I can substitute a pork chop or some salmon for the chicken?
- Honey-Dijon Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Asparagus: I am hopeful we have a pork tenderloin in the freezer.
- Tacos
- Beef and Snow Pea Stir Fry: I didn’t get beef or snow peas at the store, so this may be difficult to achieve.
- Sheet Pan Parmesan Salmon with Broccoli: I did manage to find some broccoli, after circling back through the produce section. Perhaps I will make a chicken breast for my salmon-averse husband.
What are you eating this week, the FIRST WEEK OF MAY OMG?
I’ve been caught up in the lack of cream cheese and coffee creamer but have been doing pick up so I’m not sure what the shelves look like. We have so many choices in our stores that it’s difficult to tell if there are actually shortages, or just the lack of the very specific item that we’re used to. Like with gas, I would rather deal with raised prices than shortages. I still remember sitting in gas lines in the ’70s and get nervous if my tank drops below 1/4.
Ha I don’t want to think about dinner either! I have a long list of things that I would like to try that my family would have no interest in eating which isn’t helping.
BUT I can tell you that the second time that I made the beef and snow pea stir fry that I didn’t have any snow peas so I used about two cups of frozen stir fry veggies instead and it was still a great meal.
We are having stuffed shells, teriyaki bowls, fish, and then one day of chorus concert and one day of school carnival.
Jen, please tell me more about the teriyaki bowls.
I just make rice, vegetables, and teriyaki chicken and then pile them all on top of each other in a bowl. It’s nothing fancy but rice, vegetables, and teriyaki chicken are all very delicious so it makes itself fancy that way.
A FLUFFLE
Do you know, I noticed the exact same thing this past week about iceberg lettuce – there was none to be had, not at any price. My kids like it in their sandwiches so that was a weird thing. But then I went to the Co-Op and there it was, aplenty. So I don’t know. Last week was a weird one for groceries; so little of the greens, I thought. I mean, there were greens, but the selection was small. Also there were no organic bananas, which is a ridiculous complaint, but there we are.
This week I have to do a Costco run on top of my usual groceries, and somehow it’s been 4 weeks since my last one, so RIP me.
A fluffle makes me think of a “fluff” which is what a friend of mind called farts growing up. Sorry – how immature of me to post potty humour in the comment section of your blog. But there you have it.
We’re having ham (in an orange/cinnamon sauce), peas and mashed potatoes tonight, approximately two weeks after everyone else had ham, peas and mashed potatoes. Beyond that, I’m choosing not to think about it. Perhaps magical fairies will come to my home and create something delicious for me?
I haven’t done our grocery shopping since August of 2018! It’s a job that my husband took over when I returned to work after having our first child because I no longer enjoyed being away on Saturday mornings and would have preferred to be at home with our son. So now I have no idea what is happening in the grocery stores unless it is so drastic that it inspires my husband to take a picture – which he did once in 2020 when the produce areas was completely barren! He will give me little tidbits about the stocking situation but it’s pretty brief. I know Aldi has been out of my creamer for weeks on end, so I am making do with a coffee mate substitute. I keep telling him to buy 2-3 when he does see it back in stock, and I will thus contribute to the lack of supply… but so it goes. I will use every drop of the creamer, though!
I made lentil enchiladas on Friday night and pasta with ragu sauce that I sneakily add blitzed carrots, celery and onions to. Both yield many servings so I am only planning to make shrimp and pineapple skewers this week with an Asian rice on the side, so I am getting off easy! We will make the skewers on the grill as it’s finally warming up here!!
We still have yet to grill! I envy your tropical sounding grill fest!
I have not noticed any additional shortages in our grocery store. Even the lemon lime Gatorade Zero has reappeared (although only in the individual 32 ounce bottles, not the 8-pack of 20 ounces, but beggars can’t be choosers), so I am here to pronounce the Gatorade Shortage of 2020-2022 probably over. My husband buys Fage full fat yogurt and it has been hit or miss if it’s in stock, but I have always chucked that up to the fact that it’s a bit of a niche product.
We’re having an Indian chickpea curry tonight and probably tomorrow night, too, if the leftover situation is what I think it will be. After that, I’m winging it for the week because I’m over meal planning.
Please give me all the deets about this Indian chickpea curry.
You can find the recipe here: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020739-indian-butter-chickpeas
It’s time intensive, but delicious. We make it quite regularly.
I can’t remember if I have already mentioned this, but the chicken nuggets we used to buy for $5.99 went up to $7.99 and now to $9.99!! I am feeling distressed. Also, the grapes are back to being so terrible I can’t imagine anyone buying them. Like, they look like if I had them at home I would be putting them into the trash. I have wondered if it’s the produce department’s way of saying “SEE WHAT WE ARE WORKING WITH HERE??” Jalapeno peppers have continued to be hit and miss: sometimes available and HUGE, sometimes available and TINY, sometimes normal size and there are only seven of them and they have little scars all over their…peels. rinds. whatevers.
I have wondered that same thing about the bell pepper situation. Sometimes they are so wrinkled and soft that I just can’t IMAGINE the produce department would put them out except as a way to Make A Point.
Just to let you know that I paused reading this and went over and told all my Facebook friends about a fluffle. We all need a smile right now!
I’ve noticed the higher grocery prices too. It took a while – there’s not much store choice here in my small town. I have the Save A Lot (Aldi’s poorer cousin) that I usually frequent, and what I call the Fancy Store which has a much better selection of products and brands, at higher prices. Save A Lot lived up to their name for quite a while, but now I can see prices hopping (nod to the bunnies) even in that store.
Tomorrow I am not cooking because it is Cookbook Club night (!! I’m making lime cheesecake bars) and Sunday is Mother’s Day, and I’ll be out with my daughter at the tulip festival in Holland, MI. So two whole nights with no cooking – be still my heart. 🙂
The peppers and tomatoes and lettuce shortages, as well as apple and oranges for that matter, make sense to me as those are so thoroughly out of season- being summer crops for the first ones, fall crop on the apples, and a (mostly) winter harvest on the oranges. (We’re having periodic tomato, lettuce, apple and orange shortages here)
The broccoli and snow peas are in season though so lord who knows.
I actually like seeing larger or smaller produce available in stores- historically stores refused to buy those from growers so they all went to waste. It’s still a perfectly useable pepper or orange or whatever if it’s bigger or smaller than normal- I hate the idea of good food being thrown away due to not being what we’ve all grown accustomed to as the “perfect” size, you know? As long as pricing is held fair for the per lb price I’m cool with it.
We had the weirdness of our grocery store closing down and the grand opening of its new building- shared parking lot, built right next door- this last week. How many of the shortages were due to that or to supply chain issues? They had a day where everything in the “old” store was 50% off right before it was shuttered for good- so we did stock up on a few things. When was the last time you got butter lettuce at half off? It was glorious but INCREDIBLY picked over at the same time. The new store is pretty amazingly stocked right now, but perhaps that was just the grand opening?
Sunday: Beth made portobellos with tomato slices on top and a cream cheese-parmesan filling in between.
Monday: I made wraps with edamame and vegetables inside. On the side we had fried tofu cubes with peanut sauce.
Today: Beth will be at her office late and it’s not clear if North will be at dinner, so I’m not cooking. Everyone can fend for her/themselves.
Wednesday: Wilted spinach salad with shiitakes, sun-dried tomatoes, and boiled egg
Thursday: North is making canned minestrone and homemade garlic bread.
Friday: Homemade pizza
Saturday: Fake shrimp with braised kale and tomatoes
Yesterday we had hamburgers with baked beans and chips with onion dip. Tonight’s going to be fish and chips from the seafood department at the grocery store. And another night this week will be chicken quesadillas and mexican slaw. That’s all I’ve got, which is honestly still more than I’ve had previous weeks- our dinners have been devolving into constant ‘scrounge your own’ nights or take out for awhile now and I’m trying to get back on track.
Mmmmm fish and chips sounds wonderful
Fluffle, proof that you learn something new everyday.
I am not in the habit of making dinner. I made a ham in my crockpot over a week ago for Curly’s confirmation. They only had hams that were large, but not large enough so I made two large hams. We’ve ben eating ham at nauseum, and finally threw out the rest of it. I thawed some baked mostaccioli from the freezer. I bought a rotisserie chicken at Costco. I think I will do chicken tacos tomorrow. Oh, I also did a turkey breast early this week. All low maintenance/easy-peesy meals. I did make brussel sprouts one night to go with whatever meat people chose to eat. I’ve been fairly busy, so I need to get back to actual meal making.
I was about to say LET ME TRY THIS PARMESAN SALMON, and then I read that your husband prefers chicken and I’m thinking SO DO I. So I’m feeling less adventurous. Fish dislikers unite!
I do pay attention at the store and yes, what has struck me most is that prices are rising across the board, like almost every week (I keep a grocery price sheet, so I know because I’ve been constantly adjusting). I also had a hard time finding gnocchi as of late? Haven’t figured out that one yet. Maybe it’s the universe trying to tell me that I should attempt to make from scratch?