We went grocery shopping the day before yesterday at my neighborhood grocery (Fry's/Kroger) and they were completely out of distilled water (which I use to make soap and B&B) and also the 1 and 1.5-gallon quantities of bottled spring water and drinking water. They did, however have a small assortment of multi-pack and individual liter-sized bottled waters in stock, one package of which I put in my cart. They were limiting things such as water, paper products, sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, isopropyl alcohol, otc cold medicines to only one package per person.
No surprise- they were also still completely wiped out (no pun intended) of toilet paper, tissues and paper towels, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.
Other things that were completely gone from their shelves: eggs, potatoes, bananas, almost all the onions (only 3 onions were left, one of which I put in my cart), all poultry, almost all the ground meats, and almost all the cow's milk (although other kinds milks were in normal supply).
They happily had an abundance of corned beef in the meat section, so I was able to buy a package of my favorite flat cut of corned beef for St. Patrick's Day. They also had plenty of bacon, so I got a package of that, too.
Except for the potatoes, bananas and onions being gone or down to the last bits, the produce section was otherwise well stocked, so I was able to buy some vine ripened tomatoes, spring mix lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, asparagus, carrots, apples, strawberries and blueberries.
The pre-packaged sandwich-type bread section was pretty wiped out except for the white breads and cheaper brands of wheat bread that have only a small % of whole wheat in them, although I was able to find one loaf of a whole wheat & oat sandwich bread, which I put into my cart. The fresh bakery breads (i.e., crusty French-type breads, artisan loafs) looked nicely stocked up.
The pre-packaged food aisle (pasta, rice, Hamburger Helper, mac & cheese-type products) was looking mighty sparse, as was the canned soup aisle and the canned tomato sauce aisle, but they weren't completely wiped out (yet).
The breakfast cereal aisle looked normal as always, as did the baking aisle and the oils/fats section.
The liquor aisle looked fairly normal, too. I searched for the 190-proof Everclear that I normally buy for various handmade stuff (perfume, aftershave, vanilla extract, etc...) and was able to buy the last bottle. They normally stock only small quantities of it compared to their other grain alcohols, so it wasn't too unusual to find only one on the shelf....but I was very happy to have it because I was getting rather low. I was surprised, though, that they had any at all- what, with the crazy, recent spate of YouTube videos showing folks how to make their own hand sanitizer.
The soap aisle was looking much more empty than usual (people are finally catching on that soap is actually better than sanitizer), but there was still a somewhat respectable amount to be had. I'd be curious to see what it looks like today, though. The laundry detergents were starting to look a little sparse, too.
For what it's worth, the cashier lines were actually not long and the store was not overly crowded at all when we went. It was as normally populated as any other shopping day, and everyone was polite/friendly as as normal.... no weird fights breaking out over the last can of whatever, or anything like that, thankfully.
Hubby went to Walmart this morning to see if he could find potatoes, bananas and distilled water......of the 3, he only came home with bananas- a really lovely bunch of organic ones!
IrishLass
