Is there an actual "Pingdemic" or are we all getting shafted by Brexit?

[Jittlebags]

Mustard totally gone in my local garage.

[Blue Jam]

My local area must be tres middle class. No fizzy water anywhere in Sainsburys, Tesco and LIDL.

Shelves appear to be well stocked otherwise.

As an avid consumer of fizzy water myself, I am having this exact same problem in Edinburgh.

[olliebean]

Scale of 1 - 10 how bad is the food supply stuff over there? It's hard to get a handle on it because all I see is the odd photo of an empty shelf, but that's how our grocery stores were for March and April 2020, and it was only for some stuff, and then it was all basically fine again.

Is it like that? Or a bigger issue?

This is likely to be worse. The problem in 2020 was increased demand due to lots of people all buying a bit extra at the same time, and once the supermarkets had a handle on it they were able to increase supply in order to fulfil the increased demand. This time it's a supply problem, caused largely by lorry driver shortages due to Brexit. If the supermarkets can't get stock to the stores, then the shelves are going to remain empty.

[Chedney Honks]

I wonder if weekender got through his bog roll and Super Noodles yet from the first lockdown.

[bomb_dog]

Hardly any crisps at our local lidl. I'm sure this is unrelated to the chips shortage, I mean they're different shapes and everything. And one is hot, one cold.

[greencalx]

I've not been into an actual supermarket since online deliveries came back, um, online for the general population after the first lockdown. I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with online shopping over the years - as we don't have a car a weekly shop for the family was always a bit of a logistical nightmare, and we eventually settled on getting a taxi back with all our bags. People asked why I didn't do online shopping instead and the answer was that they always fucked it up. The classic was when I ordered loose fruit and veg in kg and they systematically brought half the ordered weights, like they had weighed them in pounds or something. Customer service was like "We didn't charge you for anything you didn't get, so what's your fucking problem?" missing the fact that to rectify the problem I had to go down to the supermarket which negated the point of having it delivered in the first place.

Anyway I gave it a whirl again last year and actually it seems to have got a lot better, with only the occasional botched substitution (the main one being substituting vegetarian for meaty items). Coming back on topic, I have noticed wildly fluctuating stock levels, where some weeks fairly standard products (tins of beans, cereals) are unavailable. Sometimes you put together the order and if you go in to update it before the delivery, you find a bunch of stuff that was in stock has gone out of stock. This seems to be happening much more often in the last few weeks than previously, so is probably Brexit-related. We've also noticed that fruit and veg is having a harder time making it to the end of the week. It makes sense that they would try and offload the items with a shorter shelf life first, to save wastage. It seems that shelf life has got shorter.

[Chedney Honks]

Edited: Threatening nuclear-based sentiment.

[paruses]

Hardly any crisps at our local lidl. I'm sure this is unrelated to the chips shortage, I mean they're different shapes and everything. And one is hot, one cold.

No crisps at our local co-op for at least a couple of weeks. Not just no top-flight crisps, not even any of the worst ones like hula hoops. Nuts have also gone the same way.

[Pranet]

That'll be what they are calling the "Hundred effect". Once people have seen Ben Duckett endorsing Hula Hoops they go mad for crisps. Can't get enough of them.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

They say the nation is only 3 crisp packets from revolution.

[Ham Bap]

Im in N.Ireland and thanks to the N.I Protocol, we're still technically in the EU for goods, and everything is well stocked here.
Not had any substitutions in my Tesco shop for months. Sometimes the odd thing as per usual.

[Ferris]

Re: online shopping substitutions.

A few months back my mum ordered a "sorry for your loss" card which was substituted for a "get well soon".

Absolutely true, still makes me chuckle.

[JamesTC]

Re: online shopping substitutions.

A few months back my mum ordered a "sorry for your loss" card which was substituted for a "get well soon".

Absolutely true, still makes me chuckle.

Could have been worse.

[JaDanketies]

Could have been worse.

[Better Midlands]

As an avid consumer of fizzy water myself, I am having this exact same problem in Edinburgh.

Fellow sparkler here - there was empty shelves a couple of weeks ago, but we're back in business this week.

I read somewhere it was due to a shortage of CO2 (not sure if that was delivery or production).

[beanheadmcginty]

I read somewhere it was due to a shortage of CO2 (not sure if that was delivery or production).

Shortage of CO2? I thought we had too much. I wish these so-called scientists would make up their minds.

[Ferris]

We got a sodastream from the in-laws for Christmas a year or two ago and I'm a complete convert. Dodgy politics aside, it's a great product for fizzy water people, and I have to go to the homebrew store to replace the CO2 tanks which is a terrific excuse.

[mothman]

Ongoing building work has been impacting on our ability to do much cooking, so have been having takeaways more than usual. So we haven't been shopping as much but I've really not noticed much in the way of empty shelves in the Bristol area. Plenty of fizzy water too!

We got a sodastream from the in-laws for Christmas a year or two ago and I'm a complete convert. Dodgy politics aside, it's a great product for fizzy water people, and I have to go to the homebrew store to replace the CO2 tanks which is a terrific excuse.

You have to apply the fizz slowly and gradually, but a sodastream can turn an ordinary box of white wine into a perfectly passable Prosecco.

[Sebastian Cobb]

We got a sodastream from the in-laws for Christmas a year or two ago and I'm a complete convert. Dodgy politics aside, it's a great product for fizzy water people, and I have to go to the homebrew store to replace the CO2 tanks which is a terrific excuse.

Fair enough if you like fizzy water but isn't it more expensive and less convenient if you buy the syrups to make coke etc at home?

I think once the initial syrups ran out on my parents on I mostly just used it to make fizzy vimto.

[Dex Sawash]

There's probaby already a YouTube channel that makes stuff like fizzy clam chowder, isn't there.

[Sebastian Cobb]

There's probaby already a YouTube channel that makes stuff like fizzy clam chowder, isn't there.

Ever since Adam and Joe did their 1980's house sketch I've wondered what Soda Stream milk would taste like.

I mean it'd be obviously vile, but still.

[Ferris]

Fair enough if you like fizzy water but isn't it more expensive and less convenient if you buy the syrups to make coke etc at home?

I think once the initial syrups ran out on my parents on I mostly just used it to make fizzy vimto.

There's like a billion warnings NEVER to use ANYTHING except water in it. Don't know why.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Oh yeah that reminds me (should've remembered when Dex posted really) Big Clive sometimes does soda stream stuff.

Turns out the co2 makes baileys turn into custard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oUJ27q0noU

[greencalx]

Re: online shopping substitutions.

A few months back my mum ordered a "sorry for your loss" card which was substituted for a "get well soon".

Absolutely true, still makes me chuckle.

Brilliant. At the risk of veering waay off topic, I'm reminded of the time we walked past a card shop that had a sign "All titles. Any occasion." outside it. My wife wondered how well the "Congratulations, Wing Commander, on your cicumcision" line was selling.

[chveik]

We got a sodastream from the in-laws for Christmas a year or two ago and I'm a complete convert. Dodgy politics aside, it's a great product for fizzy water people, and I have to go to the homebrew store to replace the CO2 tanks which is a terrific excuse.

what are the politics of a sodastream?

[Buelligan]

https://bdsmovement.net/news/%E2%80%9Csodastream-still-subject-boycott%E2%80%9D

[chveik]

thanks, i had no idea. thankfully there's no way in hell i would ever buy this sort of thing

[Neomod]

Local Tesco Express only letting 12 people in at a time yesterday due to self isolation staff shortage.

And still no bleedin' fizzy water on the shelves.

[greencalx]

Five substations in today's order. Usually it's one or two at most. Could just be one of those things or maybe indicative of a deeper problem.

[JamesTC]

I wonder what would happen if you sodastream petrol. I bet it would make your car go faster.