8 ms·

I don't get how food consumption can increase in a pandemic. Should be constant in or outside a pandemic situation. Possibly somewhere crops are getting rotten

by z92 6y ago

I don't get how food consumption can increase in a pandemic. Should be constant in or outside a pandemic situation. Possibly somewhere crops are getting rotten because of newly imposed export restrictions, or for some other things.

melomal 6y ago
> I don't get how food consumption can increase in a pandemic There are a lot of people comfort eating and generally grazing out of boredom. I'm sure I've been eating a little more than I should with the crappy foods. Plus, people are saving so they are probably buying more foods to stock up on and thus throwing it all away.
Broken_Hippo 6y ago
Food consumption changes: Pre-pandemic, a good amount of meals would be eaten out of the house. School lunches, breakfast on the way to work, lunch break at the work cafeteria or a fast food place (sure, some folks bring lunch, but many places don't offer a break room that is adequate). All of this - and things like toilet paper - shifts to consumer goods instead of bulk goods, which takes different equipment and processing in factories, often at different times. A portion of school lunches in the US are the result of government subsidy foods: Cheeses, potatoes, and so on are very low cost to public schools. In short: Consumer foodstuff demand has increased. Additionally, more folks are spending a bit of time with food, changing the demands. Plus, home and slightly depressed/anxious with newly found free time means you have more time to eat - and many have taken up eating more. And then you do have crops that couldn't be picked, disruption in shipping (food travels far), and disruptions in factories that complicates things.
- mnw21cam 6y ago
  In the UK, last year we had a terrible shortage of bread flour in the supermarkets. Actually, what we had was a sudden reduction in the amount of flour being used by bakeries, and an increase in the amount of flour being used at home. There wasn't a shortage of flour - there was a shortage of small bags to put it in for selling at a supermarket. The industry was all set up for selling a decent proportion of flour in really large bags. Likewise, for simple goods like vegetables, dairy, and beer, some suppliers have suddenly had their customers disappear, because they normally sold to restaurants, pubs, and caterers, where other suppliers have not been able to keep up with demand, because they sold to supermarkets. The obvious solution is for the suppliers who previously sold to caterers to sell to supermarkets instead, but it takes a while for these contracts and logistics to be sorted out.
  - uxp100 6y ago
    Yes, similar in the US. First all flour was sold out, then as it became available again it was bulk bins first, and then brands that sold in 1 and 5 pound bags last. Interestingly (well kinda) the similar yeast shortage is still not back to normal. The shortage was partly related to packaging and the yeast at my grocer is still in the post COVID foil packaging and not in the packages it was before. (Luckily I had yeast in the freezer)
    - mnw21cam 6y ago
      We had a load of news stories on TV about dairies and brewers pouring their milk/beer down the drain, and people spluttering about how they couldn't find any beer or milk on the supermarket shelves. That isn't a supply/demand problem, that's a logistics problem. (Also - seriously, you have 1 pound bags of flour over there? Most bags here are 1.5kg (3.3 pounds), with some specialist flours in 1kg (2.2 pounds) bags. 1 pound seems a little small.)
      - uxp100 6y ago
        The "normal" flour is in 5lb bags. I went and looked, and the specialty stuff I had is indeed in a 1 kg, not 1lb, bag.
  - exhilaration 6y ago
    We had flour shortages in the US as well. I wonder if that was the case across the Western world.
azalemeth 6y ago
In the UK at least, it's very much due to new-found export (and import) restrictions. The price of food has slightly increased since brexshit, whereas its availability has plummeted: the number of varieties of vegetables stocked by my local Tesco, for example, has plummeted, and the stock sells out almost immediately after delivery.
- refraincomment 6y ago
  How does Brexit even matter if border checks are suspended for imports? Just the usual scaremongering. I also shop at Tesco and the stocks haven't changed at all.
  - simonh 6y ago
    Oh I agree, what limitations on stock there are, are probably down to Covid and it being winter. Still, why even have brexit if we're going to do our level best to pretend we're still in the EU as hard as we can. Is being subject to full export restrictions, hammering British businesses, while allowing many European goods to flow in un-checked really the brexit you signed up for?
    - refraincomment 6y ago
      Brexit UK is a startup EU is Oracle
- dageshi 6y ago
  I recall this being broadly the same during the first lockdown as well pre brexit.
- DrBazza 6y ago
  > The price of food has slightly increased since brexshit, whereas its availability has plummeted: the number of varieties of vegetables stocked by my local Tesco, for example, has plummeted, and the stock sells out almost immediately after delivery. Zero problems in any of the major supermarkets in my area in the South East. My food bills haven't increased notably either, if anything, looking at my bank statement right now, they seem lower over the past 4-5 months than the year before. The only anecdotal thing I have noticed, is that there a few new brands on the shelves that weren't there previously, but that's probably just observational and confirmation bias, because I was looking for something, I saw it.
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
>I don't get how food consumption can increase in a pandemic. depression spurs eating binges. being inside what to do, oh lets make more advanced food. lets bake cakes with the kids instead of sending them out to play with friends. etc. etc. so increased consumption in combination with other, probably more important, pandemic problems.
- alexf95 6y ago
  But with most restaurants closing your will also have to subtract the food that would have been used there. Obviously most of them tried to change to a takeaway service, but I am pretty sure their overall customers went down by alot during all of this.
  - herbst 6y ago
    If i cant go to a restaurant i still have to eat. I dont think this would lead to a huge difference. At least not for me.
  - gremlinsinc 6y ago
    Restaurant supply chains are a totally separate beast. Bulk foods being supplied were mostly sent to landfills. Tons of potatoes for example that were only ear-marked for restaurants went straight to the dump. Supplier A only supplies to restaurants it's normally a safe bet, so that's all they do. No restaurants buying - holy shit - my entire crop is excess... I'm not a farmer but this is what I've read. There's also the fact a lot of panic buyers might buy too much, then end up throwing a bit away because of fear that when they need it - it won't be there, but then it just spoils at home, etc. Also food banks are taking a lot of the food. More people actually have money for food (one thing the govt does do is make sure people don't starve (usually) maybe more if you have kids). TLDR: You can't just move all restaurant food to consumer/grocery like it's a commodity in Factorio... it takes a lot to shift global supply chains and get new contracts on how deliverables are received, etc...
Ekaros 6y ago
Not to forget availability of labour. Which travel restrictions affect. Also processing has challenges. When your line worker might be out of service for week or two it can affect output, same goes for increasing the hygiene standards. And those also involve costs which will be moved to consumers.
- tomp 6y ago
  It only took a global pandemic for the fake argument “immigration doesn’t suppress wages” to finally be cancelled.

by z92 6y ago

melomal 6y ago

> I don't get how food consumption can increase in a pandemic There are a lot of people comfort eating and generally grazing out of boredom. I'm sure I've been eating a little more than I should with the crappy foods. Plus, people are saving so they are probably buying more foods to stock up on and thus throwing it all away.

Broken_Hippo 6y ago

Food consumption changes: Pre-pandemic, a good amount of meals would be eaten out of the house. School lunches, breakfast on the way to work, lunch break at the work cafeteria or a fast food place (sure, some folks bring lunch, but many places don't offer a break room that is adequate). All of this - and things like toilet paper - shifts to consumer goods instead of bulk goods, which takes different equipment and processing in factories, often at different times. A portion of school lunches in the US are the result of government subsidy foods: Cheeses, potatoes, and so on are very low cost to public schools. In short: Consumer foodstuff demand has increased. Additionally, more folks are spending a bit of time with food, changing the demands. Plus, home and slightly depressed/anxious with newly found free time means you have more time to eat - and many have taken up eating more. And then you do have crops that couldn't be picked, disruption in shipping (food travels far), and disruptions in factories that complicates things.

mnw21cam 6y ago
In the UK, last year we had a terrible shortage of bread flour in the supermarkets. Actually, what we had was a sudden reduction in the amount of flour being used by bakeries, and an increase in the amount of flour being used at home. There wasn't a shortage of flour - there was a shortage of small bags to put it in for selling at a supermarket. The industry was all set up for selling a decent proportion of flour in really large bags. Likewise, for simple goods like vegetables, dairy, and beer, some suppliers have suddenly had their customers disappear, because they normally sold to restaurants, pubs, and caterers, where other suppliers have not been able to keep up with demand, because they sold to supermarkets. The obvious solution is for the suppliers who previously sold to caterers to sell to supermarkets instead, but it takes a while for these contracts and logistics to be sorted out.
- uxp100 6y ago
  Yes, similar in the US. First all flour was sold out, then as it became available again it was bulk bins first, and then brands that sold in 1 and 5 pound bags last. Interestingly (well kinda) the similar yeast shortage is still not back to normal. The shortage was partly related to packaging and the yeast at my grocer is still in the post COVID foil packaging and not in the packages it was before. (Luckily I had yeast in the freezer)
  - mnw21cam 6y ago
    We had a load of news stories on TV about dairies and brewers pouring their milk/beer down the drain, and people spluttering about how they couldn't find any beer or milk on the supermarket shelves. That isn't a supply/demand problem, that's a logistics problem. (Also - seriously, you have 1 pound bags of flour over there? Most bags here are 1.5kg (3.3 pounds), with some specialist flours in 1kg (2.2 pounds) bags. 1 pound seems a little small.)
    - uxp100 6y ago
      The "normal" flour is in 5lb bags. I went and looked, and the specialty stuff I had is indeed in a 1 kg, not 1lb, bag.
- exhilaration 6y ago
  We had flour shortages in the US as well. I wonder if that was the case across the Western world.

azalemeth 6y ago

In the UK at least, it's very much due to new-found export (and import) restrictions. The price of food has slightly increased since brexshit, whereas its availability has plummeted: the number of varieties of vegetables stocked by my local Tesco, for example, has plummeted, and the stock sells out almost immediately after delivery.

refraincomment 6y ago
How does Brexit even matter if border checks are suspended for imports? Just the usual scaremongering. I also shop at Tesco and the stocks haven't changed at all.
- simonh 6y ago
  Oh I agree, what limitations on stock there are, are probably down to Covid and it being winter. Still, why even have brexit if we're going to do our level best to pretend we're still in the EU as hard as we can. Is being subject to full export restrictions, hammering British businesses, while allowing many European goods to flow in un-checked really the brexit you signed up for?
  - refraincomment 6y ago
    Brexit UK is a startup EU is Oracle
dageshi 6y ago
I recall this being broadly the same during the first lockdown as well pre brexit.
DrBazza 6y ago
> The price of food has slightly increased since brexshit, whereas its availability has plummeted: the number of varieties of vegetables stocked by my local Tesco, for example, has plummeted, and the stock sells out almost immediately after delivery. Zero problems in any of the major supermarkets in my area in the South East. My food bills haven't increased notably either, if anything, looking at my bank statement right now, they seem lower over the past 4-5 months than the year before. The only anecdotal thing I have noticed, is that there a few new brands on the shelves that weren't there previously, but that's probably just observational and confirmation bias, because I was looking for something, I saw it.

bryanrasmussen 6y ago

>I don't get how food consumption can increase in a pandemic. depression spurs eating binges. being inside what to do, oh lets make more advanced food. lets bake cakes with the kids instead of sending them out to play with friends. etc. etc. so increased consumption in combination with other, probably more important, pandemic problems.

alexf95 6y ago
But with most restaurants closing your will also have to subtract the food that would have been used there. Obviously most of them tried to change to a takeaway service, but I am pretty sure their overall customers went down by alot during all of this.
- herbst 6y ago
  If i cant go to a restaurant i still have to eat. I dont think this would lead to a huge difference. At least not for me.
- gremlinsinc 6y ago
  Restaurant supply chains are a totally separate beast. Bulk foods being supplied were mostly sent to landfills. Tons of potatoes for example that were only ear-marked for restaurants went straight to the dump. Supplier A only supplies to restaurants it's normally a safe bet, so that's all they do. No restaurants buying - holy shit - my entire crop is excess... I'm not a farmer but this is what I've read. There's also the fact a lot of panic buyers might buy too much, then end up throwing a bit away because of fear that when they need it - it won't be there, but then it just spoils at home, etc. Also food banks are taking a lot of the food. More people actually have money for food (one thing the govt does do is make sure people don't starve (usually) maybe more if you have kids). TLDR: You can't just move all restaurant food to consumer/grocery like it's a commodity in Factorio... it takes a lot to shift global supply chains and get new contracts on how deliverables are received, etc...

Ekaros 6y ago

Not to forget availability of labour. Which travel restrictions affect. Also processing has challenges. When your line worker might be out of service for week or two it can affect output, same goes for increasing the hygiene standards. And those also involve costs which will be moved to consumers.

tomp 6y ago
It only took a global pandemic for the fake argument “immigration doesn’t suppress wages” to finally be cancelled.