As luck would have it, my wife went to Target about 1 1/2 weeks ago, and went ahead and picked up a 48 (?) pack of TP just because we were close to needing some, not because of CV. It’s just us - no kids - so we should be good for awhile. Especially since we also have the seat-top bidets (seriously - greatest invention the Japanese ever gave the world).
And I normally go shopping early Sunday morning (7:30) while everyone is at church. Usually fairly empty - maybe a dozen or so shoppers at that point. Anyway, because its seems like some of the grocery stores around the US (reading here, anyway) were starting to run out of stock on some things, I decided to go first thing this (Friday) morning, when they opened at 6 AM. I’ve done that before when I needed to pick up some stuff when the wife was sick, and it is pretty much always empty. Maybe one other person, and of course the various workers stocking shelves for the day. Today, it wasn’t packed or anything, but there was a little bigger crowd than when I go Sundays - maybe 15-20 - and it seemed that baskets were a little more filled than normal.
Having said that, other than sanitizer (both hand and the stuff in cleaning supplies), I didn’t really see anything they were completely out of. I meant to look for TP, but forgot - however, walking up/down aisles I didn’t notice a large section of empty shelves, and did notice they had a fair amount of napkins, so I assume there was still some TP to be had. Of everything else - there didn’t seem to be anything you couldn’t get, but you may not get your normal brands. Bread was down about 1/3 from normal. Dried beans seemed hit fairly hard (probably down 80-90%), but canned beans were still normally stocked. Pasta was down maybe 20%, but I had no issues finding whole wheat pasta, which is what I eat. Rice looked OK - at least in the Asian section. The one thing they were just about out of - the cheap Ramen noodles (at 19 cents a pack). I saw a few packages left of the low-sodium version, but everything else was gone. However, you could still get the Ramen packages they sold in the Asian section of the store - that looked to be still pretty fully socked (albeit at 99 cents a pack). And most means looked available, but the ground beef was very picked over. Had to go to the meat counter to get that. Although other ground meats were fine (pork, Italian sausage, turkey, etc). And chicken breasts were still plentiful.
So yea - got a little more than normal just in case - if the store were hit hard all over and I couldn’t get food there, I think we have enough for about a month. But I plan to keep going every week and keep those reserves as a ‘in case’ need. Plus, it’s not like most produce lasts. Same with dairy.
Also - I quit going to my hockey games. Didn’t want to, but being a type 2 diabetic, I figured the extra chance wasn’t worth it (although ironically, the exercise is good for me). I hope to get back into it by the summer league (if there is one) or the fall, and still hope the national tournament in June is still on (we’re defending champs, so have an auto bid). But we’ll see.
