[z92]

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.

[Broken_Hippo]

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]

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.

[azalemeth]

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.

[DrBazza]

> 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.

[refraincomment]

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.

[aembleton]

Tesco here in Greater Manchester doesn't seem to have been impacted by availability. Where about in the country have you experienced this? Have you tried a different supermarket?

Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons and the local greengrocer all seem the same as usual here.

[swarnie_]

> the number of varieties of vegetables stocked by my local Tesco, for example, has plummeted, and the stock sells out almost immediately after delivery.

Are you in a really shitty area or something? I only saw what you described in the first week of lockdown one. Nothing has noticeably changed in my local Morrisons for the last few months.

[dageshi]

I recall this being broadly the same during the first lockdown as well pre brexit.

[bryanrasmussen]

>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]

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.

[melomal]

> 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.

[Ekaros]

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]

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