Community Chat

[Scooby Doo]

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@Junebug54 wrote:

@SharkE  Abosolutely 100% agree with you... Some posters just love to be the first to announce whatever bad news they can.   Deaths of celebrities etc.   And of course now any bad news regarding the virus.  They're part of the problem

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It's no secret and no fault of any poster.  The story is in the national news and is being reported on the TV news right now that I'm watching.  Sticking your head in the sand won't make this go away.

[Linmo]

One of the things that I'm learning from all of this is that it's better to be prepared.  I'm not talking about hoarding but rather having enough essential supplies (whatever that means to each family) to weather the storm.  

[Mominohio]

I don't see why people would complain about a post like this. It isn't like this hasn't been in the news for many days now. People who are paying attention get a heads up and aren't left in the dust. I see nothing wrong with it. 

People are going to panic and hoard regardless of a post here, because it is all over the media. Posting here just might let those who always say they don't watch or follow the news have a heads up. 

I went last week, when the news first broke, and bought about 25 pounds of various meats. As well stocked as we are, meat is the one thing we don't have a super huge supply of. My freezers are jammed and I could barely fit those packages in but wanted to 'beef' up what I could. Amazingly, I found lots of good deals and no limits. Ground beef and ground turkey $1.99 a pound. Bacon wasn't on sale, but got four packs of that as well.

We have friends that are farmers, and if we wanted a half or quarter of a cow, we could have it about any time (well, buy it, not HAVE it!) but I'd have to buy a third freezer to get it in. We have so much cider from pressing last year that it is taking up valuable space where we probably should be stocking meat, but we will leave things as they are for now.

[desertrat8]

The DRS are the ones with all the ,money$$

[Mominohio]

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@Spurt wrote:

@Carmie 

"Thank you" for posting this to start encouraging HOARDING!!! 

Lets present ALL the facts----

Virus is expected to reduce meat selection and raise prices

by DAVID PITT, Associated Press

Monday, April 27th 2020

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Meat isn't going to disappear from supermarkets because of outbreaks of the coronavirus among workers at U.S. slaughterhouses.  Consumers could face less selection and slightly higher prices, even as they try to dispel concerns about shortages.

The meat-processing industry has been able to shift production to open plants to keep a stream of meat moving through the supply chain, said Sarah Little, of the North American Meat Institute. Some plants that closed have reopened after deep cleanings.

“When one plant goes off-line, the others in the region can try and pick up the slack,” Little said.

The situation would be more dire if not for record amounts of meat in cold storage, though much of the meat was intended for restaurants that now are largely closed.

The USDA last week reported 921 million pounds of chicken in storage and 467 million pounds of boneless beef, including hamburger, roasts and steaks. Before much of that meat could be sold at markets, it would need to be repackaged because restaurants buy in greater bulk than individuals. Some of the meat would need to be cut by grocery store meat cutters and packaged for customers to take home.

In late March, the USDA eased restrictions to allow for meat that had been intended for commercial food use to be diverted into the grocery store channels for consumers The industry sought these changes in mid-March after brief meat shortages caused by the coronavirus panic sent people scurrying to grocery stores.

“By and large, there’s been enough food," said Jayson Lusk, an economist at Purdue University. “You might not get your exact variety that you want or the exact type you want, but there’s been food available if you have the money to buy it.”

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I can't say for sure there will or won't be shortages.

What there have been are supply chain issues. Some places have plenty, some have nothing for a time. 

I would have thought that people who don't live a prepared life would have 'got it' when the TP and sanitizing supplies disappeared, and looked at the rest of their needs and wants and thought ahead weeks ago to fill up on what they thought they might need for the foreseeable future. 

It really doesn't matter whether it's a logistics issue, an actual shortage from plant closings and excessive illness in the industry, a shortage because farmers/ranchers cannot get their goods to market and have to cut their losses, or nothing really wrong with supply, just a huge increase in demand from panic (or people just all waking up at the same time and deciding they need to think further ahead than their next meal), the result could be lack of something, and a higher price for what you can find.

[qbetzforreal]

Where's sidsmom?  She would certainly enjoy this thread.

[violann]

Listening to a late news broadcast last night, I couldn't help wondering why, after hearing that two or three LARGE meat processors in western states hesitated until many workers were infected, before shutting down the plants, action wasn't initiated sooner.

Would it have been wiser for supervisory authorities to have been more proactive early on rather than continuing to send PEOPLE into work situations that were dangerous to themselves AND consumers??

My perspective is skewed, of course, because I'm just a crabby old lady who has been quarantined for almost two months, and almost lost a close relative who's 91, and hasn't seen my grandchildren (including one born Feb. 24] in that span of time, and has a tooth that's needing treatment, and misses band rehearsals and Church, and doesn't care whether she eats meat or not.

[CalminHeart]

I live in iowa.  Our governor ignored the virus' impact on meat packing plants too long so the number of outbreaks went wild.  Now it's hard to reign them in.  She finally sent tests to them last week.  Tyson finally closed.  Some are still running.

Iowa has not peaked but the state is being reopened.  We never had a stay-at-home order and people have taken wild advantage of it.  I had to get a prescription and did it via drive up two days ago. 9 out of 10 going into the store did not wear masks.  I really hope the next round of covid isn't as bad but I doubt that'll be the case.

[SaggingGal]

We are fortunate to live near two organic farms with a wide variety of frozen beef and chicken items and canned and jarred items along with fresh eggs and produce. Yes the price of the items is high but it always was. The quality is superb. We figure with the reduction in eating out this is a good high quality substitute. We place and pay for the order over the phone and it is ready for pickup within one to two hours. The paper bag of groceries is carried out to the designated pickup point, a picnic table, by one of the owners wearing who wears disposable gloves. It is carried out as I pull up outside of the farm market. Others sitting in the small lot politely wait their turn until a customer has loaded their items in their car to claim theirs. Bags for pickup are placed 4 to 6 feet apart on the table. It is an effortless transaction.
We live one hour from three meat processing plants that closed due to lack of PPE for workers in our state. The number of cases was in the hundreds causing alarm where numbers had been low. The National Guard was called in and the CDC came to investigate. As positive Covid19 cases upticked alarmingly I decided to play detective to trace where our ground round purchased 3 days ago at our local chain grocery store came from. It worried me. I spoke directly with the meat dept. I was given the brand name. Then I asked the location and name of the facility where it had been processed. I was told it was at the largest processing plant that had hundreds of workers test sick in the last 4 days. So I tossed it wearing my gloves. I had previously washed the package in soapy water and placed it in the refrigerator but shrink wrap has too many crevices so out it goes. Why take a chance on the packaging of a product from a known outbreak site?

[happycat]

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@Linmo wrote:

One of the things that I'm learning from all of this is that it's better to be prepared.  I'm not talking about hoarding but rather having enough essential supplies (whatever that means to each family) to weather the storm.  

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Yes, ITA, @Linmo  and they just said on my local news that the shortages of certain cleaning supplies could last into the summer.

Demand for toilet paper has increased by 40 percent.

They said you can by charmin tp on its website. News to me.

Its no fun having to search for tp. I know, cause dd was having to where she lives. It was ridiculous.

Anyway, back to food and this thread- I had seen this story yesterday morning, early. I can't believe people are giving @Carmie a hard time. She was just being helpful. And ya'll go off on her. If anyone watches the news, you are gonna be seeing this story.

Dh and myself discussed this, its better to be safe than sorry. We sat down and tried to think of all we might need and took

inventory. I wentt o a smaller town, (less people) yesterday and did some shopping. I don't look at this as hoarding, I look at it as attempting to be prepared. And its will all be used.

I wish I had a garden, and ds has our tiller, as we hadn' planned on making one this year.