Global Supply Chain Crisis 2021: Megathread - A cozy thread for watching the supply chain fall apart just in time for the holidays

[Totallyunknown]

I had a lot of naivete being raised by essentially a low income senior that everyone learned to cook as a basic life skill. It really blows my mind that there's people over the age of 25 who cannot cook a solid meal besides pasta and are dependent on prepared frozen food or take out. It's just an exponential amount of waste for less than an hour saved. That Rachael broad made an entire career on 30 minute meals.

With that said, most of what still remains empty is frozen food sections. The prices have been raised pretty much across the board and I'm depressed and unemployed so I've just hit the local food banks to save money. Thankfully I did learn how to cook and my local food banks are fantastic with store and farm donations so I've been able to create a little stock pile of non-perishables while making use of the fresh ingredients they provide.

I'm just saying if anyone reading this legitimately does not know how to cook a solid meal with multiple food groups involved, you should start learning now. I know a good portion of America/Canada lives paycheck to paycheck and it takes one missed check to be looking at food banks and food stamps where your selection for meals will be based on your creativity & skills. Or just eat toast and beans with a fried egg until your heart gives out like one of my chronic bachelor relatives.

Grandma was admired because she somehow made a can of beans into a casserole that fed 7 people for .40 each and actually tasted fairly good and mightve included a few vegetables.

 

[JustSomeDong]

I had a lot of naivete being raised by essentially a low income senior that everyone learned to cook as a basic life skill. It really blows my mind that there's people over the age of 25 who cannot cook a solid meal besides pasta and are dependent on prepared frozen food or take out. It's just an exponential amount of waste for less than an hour saved. That Rachael broad made an entire career on 30 minute meals.

With that said, most of what still remains empty is frozen food sections. The prices have been raised pretty much across the board and I'm depressed and unemployed so I've just hit the local food banks to save money. Thankfully I did learn how to cook and my local food banks are fantastic with store and farm donations so I've been able to create a little stock pile of non-perishables while making use of the fresh ingredients they provide.

I'm just saying if anyone reading this legitimately does not know how to cook a solid meal with multiple food groups involved, you should start learning now. I know a good portion of America/Canada lives paycheck to paycheck and it takes one missed check to be looking at food banks and food stamps where your selection for meals will be based on your creativity & skills. Or just eat toast and beans with a fried egg until your heart gives out like one of my chronic bachelor relatives.

Grandma was admired because she somehow made a can of beans into a casserole that fed 7 people for .40 each and actually tasted fairly good and mightve included a few vegetables.

The only thing I'd add to this is that cooking can be FUN! It's fun to tinker in the kitchen with new recipes. Its fun to try shit you'd never tried. It can even be fun to fail when cooking, because, lets face it, not everything you try will be a success. And when you do make something really good, its extremely rewarding to share it with your friends and loved ones.

 

[Kujo Jotaro]

Another bunch of snow is going through the center of the country. St. Louis and Memphis (two major shipping hubs) are getting about 3-5 inches each this weekend, so this will certainly not be any good for moving things around. The same area got hit about 8 days ago, and I was told that some shipments had been delayed for several days because a bunch of trucks just don't bother driving in the snow, or end up driving less.

3-5 inches is literally nothing, if the plows are running there should be at most a slight delay.

 

[JustSomeDong]

3-5 inches is literally nothing, if the plows are running there should be at most a slight delay.

My little town and a neighboring town I drove through late this afternoon were even doing pre-salting before it started. I think our road guys are bored. This has been a pretty tame winter, and this is only the second real snow we've had. After the last few winters, I don't blame them. Hell, I'm damned grateful they are on top of it.

 

[George Lucas]

Went to the store and USDA Choice New York strip steak was $5.99/lb. Rather odd considering nothing else beef, not even ground beef, was cheaper. Whatever is going on with the beef market is absolute absurdity.

 

[Lorne Armstrong]

Went to the store and USDA Choice New York strip steak was $5.99/lb. Rather odd considering nothing else beef, not even ground beef, was cheaper. Whatever is going on with the beef market is absolute absurdity.

What’s going on is that the New York Strip was the big sale item they advertised that week. The Loss Leader for the week to get folks into the store. That was the time to stock up on that item, before it’s back up to over $10 per lb. It’s usually 6-8 weeks between sales on items like that. You don’t have to go crazy, just buy a Value Pack or two, and put them away in the freezer for when you want steaks.

 

[Bakarina]

The only thing I'd add to this is that cooking can be FUN! It's fun to tinker in the kitchen with new recipes. Its fun to try shit you'd never tried. It can even be fun to fail when cooking, because, lets face it, not everything you try will be a success. And when you do make something really good, its extremely rewarding to share it with your friends and loved ones.

Get children involved in cooking young. They don't have to use the stove but mixing and pouring are basic things that even toddlers can do. Plus, kids seem to be less likely to rebel against meals if they helped prepare them and they get excited when they get to help out. And they learn a valuable life skill so it's a win all around. Sure, pizza rolls and fish sticks are okay to have in the freezer for days you don't want to think much about dinner, but they're also pretty easy to make and the only things you really need are a few cheap ingredients and counter space.

 

[Sped Xing]

Don't eat trash, @naaaaiiiiillllll!!!

And butter absolutely does not have the same tasteless, sticky properties of shittier fats. Here's proof: proper homemade cookies are amazing, while chips ahoy (palm oil) are disgusting.

Your neighbors are much more likely to complain about a crowing rooster than hens.

Fuck your faggot neighbors.

 

[naaaaiiiiillllll!!!]

But eating trash is environmentally friendly. Can't pollute the world with our trash...

Also, who the hell decides what is "trash"? I'm terrified that AOC-folk will tell us meat is "trash" in the all too-soon future. Arguments like yours @Sped Xing could lead to the BS we're seeing today.

Not trying to shit on you, but I'm scared of us making the whole "you're eating trash" argument, since it becomes a slippery slope. I'm terrified of NPCs (a plurality of humanity) will say all meat and dairy is "trash" in the next few decades. Maybe I'm too paranoid, but every BS paranoid idea I had came true over the last 9 years...

 

[Diana Moon Glampers]

The world is ending.

From crackerbarrel.com:

I've tried multiple "copycat" recipes for this cheesy starchy "hits right in the perfect comfort food spot" shit and none of them are any good. Most of them use some garbage condensed soup, which is always a warning sign that it's not going to taste like the restaurant version because they're not cracking open a can of cream of chicken every time they make a pan of casserole.

If any of you farmers have a good recipe, let me know. I am pregnant and angry and sad because things I crave keep disappearing.

 

[Lorne Armstrong]

The world is ending.

From crackerbarrel.com:

View attachment 2889542

I've tried multiple "copycat" recipes for this cheesy starchy "hits right in the perfect comfort food spot" shit and none of them are any good. Most of them use some garbage condensed soup, which is always a warning sign that it's not going to taste like the restaurant version because they're not cracking open a can of cream of chicken every time they make a pan of casserole.

If any of you farmers have a good recipe, let me know. I am pregnant and angry and sad because things I crave keep disappearing.

They’re not cracking open a 12oz can of cream of chicken for each pan of casserole because they buy in bulk at wholesale prices. They’re using 50oz cans if they’re even doing that. Odds are that the casserole is premixed and shipped to them frozen, then stored in the fridge until it’s time to cook.

Homemade cream of chicken soup isn’t hard to make if you don’t want to use canned, (though I guarantee you that’s what’s in the Cracker Barrel casserole). Converting potatoes into hash browns isn’t hard. One store near me had 2lb blocks of cheddar for $5 today on sale and last week another store had 15lb bags of potatoes for $4. You can do it, and it’ll taste even better than Cracker Barrel.

You’ve probably already seen this recipe,

https://www.food.com/recipe/cracker-barrels-hashbrowns-casserole-copycat-15242

it looks pretty close to me. Has the sour cream in it for that tart taste I remember in this casserole. It calls for one can of cream of chicken soup and for frozen hash browns but if you don’t want to use canned CoC soup you can make this casserole if you make homemade Cream of Chicken soup for dinner one night, and hold back a little bit of that soup for casserole the next day

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/211123/cream-of-chicken-soup-from-scratch/

One MORE tip. The cheapest way to make chicken for soups/stock/broth/etc is to buy a whole chicken and boil it in a pot. You get a bunch out of that. You get the meat, but also the chicken stock for soup, plus the chicken fat for frying. Buying chicken whole is the cheapest way to do it unless shopping sales and buying markdowns.

 

[Sped Xing]

But eating trash is environmentally friendly. Can't pollute the world with our trash...

Also, who the hell decides what is "trash"? I'm terrified that AOC-folk will tell us meat is "trash" in the all too-soon future. Arguments like yours @Sped Xing could lead to the BS we're seeing today.

Not trying to shit on you, but I'm scared of us making the whole "you're eating trash" argument, since it becomes a slippery slope. I'm terrified of NPCs (a plurality of humanity) will say all meat and dairy is "trash" in the next few decades. Maybe I'm too paranoid, but every BS paranoid idea I had came true over the last 9 years...

What the devil are you on about? "Eat the bugs" is the furthest conceivable thing from "let the proles eat margarine if they must, but it's worth the expense to eat tastier food."

I am not, nor ever would I, advocating legislation against crummy food.

 

[Diana Moon Glampers]

I absolutely, unequivocally disbelieve that there's cream-of soup in that casserole. It's made with a bechamel/mornay type sauce. The cream of chicken is basically a shortcut for cooks who have no idea how to make a roux. The sour cream I definitely believe, but cream-of soup is basically a way for proles to access modified food starches that don't lump up even if your technique for adding them is novice-level.

 

[Lorne Armstrong]

I absolutely, unequivocally disbelieve that there's cream-of soup in that casserole. It's made with a bechamel/mornay type sauce. The cream of chicken is basically a shortcut for cooks who have no idea how to make a roux. The sour cream I definitely believe, but cream-of soup is basically a way for proles to access modified food starches that don't lump up even if your technique for adding them is novice-level.

Do you have a link to a recipe for the sauce? I’d be interested in trying it if you do.

I can and do make roux for gumbo from scratch, but that’s obviously not what’s in that casserole. Roux for gumbo looks like melted milk chocolate.

Here’s the roux recipe I use. From the Justin Wilson Cookbook, I guarontee! I only differ from it in that if I’m doing Chicken Gumbo I’ll cook the chicken off and use the fat from that or otherwise use bacon drippings instead of the olive oil.

 

[Totallyunknown]

I never had butter as a child unless we went to a restaurant. We only had margarine because it's about $1.50 for a small container. My family usually had 3 or 4 in the freezer, along with 4-5 loaves of white bread. My parents being older seemed to stock pile food for "just in case" moments. As an adult I rarely buy butter because I don't want butter sitting out (even covered in a cupboard, it just weirds me out) and it's generally $3 - $4 if not on sale and if one has maybe a $30 budget for the week, the $1.50 - $2.00 savings could be another grocery item.

I understand margarine is not the healthiest or even tastiest choice but it's a decent substitute for butter vs nothing at all and for some people their choice is margarine or nothing at all. Or maybe they're like me and it's less of a condiment and something that you could also substitute for cooking oil (which is $3 to $6+ depending on the quality). And again, if you consider a period of time you have a small budget, it's much better to buy a multipurpose item that week than splurge on butter or a bottle of cooking oil and then have potentially nothing to use the butter with.

(Sorry if that seems stupid to explain but I think there might be some folks who might find it enlightening).

I did learn when I got older that the most likely reason I hated the taste of milk was that my parents froze it. I'm Canadian so we have our special bags of milk and they would buy two bags (you get three smaller bags in a larger bag because we like plastic) and freeze them. There was always a half frozen bag of milk in the fridge. You should not do this. Instead, although pretty unhealthy but in short term, do what the Newfies do and switch to Carnation or canned milk in the baking section for cooking and coffee/tea.

In recent years I've discovered one of the few reasons I used butter was actually, in my opinion, less superior than Crisco - which is less expensive than butter and lasts longer because it's not a condiment. Cookies are way, way better with Crisco. Flour and shortening were in hot demand during the toilet paper shortage.

Oh and if you learn how to make a basic soup, you can just throw a mostly random mix of things into a stock and say it's some special beloved soup recipe you invented. Helpful for when there's only random items left on the shelf. In fact, you can pretend you're on Guy Fieri's Grocery Games (which is also, to be totally fair to Guy, a fun reference to learn about ingredients and their uses + you can make fun of Guy).

 

[Lorne Armstrong]

I never had butter as a child unless we went to a restaurant. We only had margarine because it's about $1.50 for a small container. My family usually had 3 or 4 in the freezer, along with 4-5 loaves of white bread. My parents being older seemed to stock pile food for "just in case" moments. As an adult I rarely buy butter because I don't want butter sitting out (even covered in a cupboard, it just weirds me out) and it's generally $3 - $4 if not on sale and if one has maybe a $30 budget for the week, the $1.50 - $2.00 savings could be another grocery item.

I understand margarine is not the healthiest or even tastiest choice but it's a decent substitute for butter vs nothing at all and for some people their choice is margarine or nothing at all. Or maybe they're like me and it's less of a condiment and something that you could also substitute for cooking oil (which is $3 to $6+ depending on the quality). And again, if you consider a period of time you have a small budget, it's much better to buy a multipurpose item that week than splurge on butter or a bottle of cooking oil and then have potentially nothing to use the butter with.

(Sorry if that seems stupid to explain but I think there might be some folks who might find it enlightening).

I did learn when I got older that the most likely reason I hated the taste of milk was that my parents froze it. I'm Canadian so we have our special bags of milk and they would buy two bags (you get three smaller bags in a larger bag because we like plastic) and freeze them. There was always a half frozen bag of milk in the fridge. You should not do this. Instead, although pretty unhealthy but in short term, do what the Newfies do and switch to Carnation or canned milk in the baking section for cooking and coffee/tea.

In recent years I've discovered one of the few reasons I used butter was actually, in my opinion, less superior than Crisco - which is less expensive than butter and lasts longer because it's not a condiment. Cookies are way, way better with Crisco. Flour and shortening were in hot demand during the toilet paper shortage.

Oh and if you learn how to make a basic soup, you can just throw a mostly random mix of things into a stock and say it's some special beloved soup recipe you invented. Helpful for when there's only random items left on the shelf. In fact, you can pretend you're on Guy Fieri's Grocery Games (which is also, to be totally fair to Guy, a fun reference to learn about ingredients and their uses + you can make fun of Guy).

You have to shop around, and wait for sales if you want butter for cheap. I bought a lb for $1.99 today but that’s because I waited. I agree that $3-$4 a lb for butter is a hard price to justify paying when you’re on a tight budget and that $1.99 margarine is sitting right there next to it, but if you’re cooking from scratch IMHO there’s really no substitute.

BTW, when you find butter on sale, stock up and stick the excess in the freezer for when you need it.

 

[George Lucas]

What’s going on is that the New York Strip was the big sale item they advertised that week. The Loss Leader for the week to get folks into the store. That was the time to stock up on that item, before it’s back up to over $10 per lb. It’s usually 6-8 weeks between sales on items like that. You don’t have to go crazy, just buy a Value Pack or two, and put them away in the freezer for when you want steaks.

I bought some, but it’s weird because it’s the end of the week, it’s all going to be binned soon (sell by dates were around Monday), and there were a ton of them (value packs of three). As if nobody wanted it. Meanwhile all the other cuts were rather scarce.

 

[Jimjamflimflam]

Kerry Gold Butter Crew checking in. Though safeway sells this big roll of butter called Amish Butter. I like it,though the last couple of trips I've been seeing empty rows in butter and milk.

 

[Lorne Armstrong]

I bought some, but it’s weird because it’s the end of the week, it’s all going to be binned soon (sell by dates were around Monday), and there were a ton of them (value packs of three). As if nobody wanted it. Meanwhile all the other cuts were rather scarce.

Folks who don’t shop sales aren’t even going to take a look at ribeyes unless they really want some for that weekend and figure that they’re “lucky” that they found them on sale the day they were at the store. Most folks would just pass them right on by without checking them, assuming they’re full price and way too high.

If you know the “best by” date, you can take a chance and go by the store the morning of that date, see if they’re marking the excess down to sell, (not all stores handle markdowns that way but some always do and it pays bigtime to figure out which stores in your area those are. Talk to folks in the butcher dept., you’re not the only one doing this, (their friends and relatives most certainly do plus a lot of other folks that want to save money). Odds are, though, that they’ll grind the excess up to sell as “fresh” ground beef.

 

[Hippopatumus]

Carve your own steaks. I spend like a hundred bucks every two months on a beef loin and get about 10-15 steaks out of it. Vacuum seal them and make chili with the trimmings. Ends up being 5-6$ per pound.