Thread: Food and Water Scarce Around Thailand?

I have been talking to various people around the country and am getting feedback that bottled water, rice, and all sorts of other food is becoming scarce in the stores.

We have heard reports of shelves bare in Cha-am, HuaHin, Chonburi and of course BKK.

But I am hearing Saraburi, Korat, Buriam, Sisaket, Nakon Pathom, Kanchanaburi, Chachoengsao, Phichit, Phetchabun etc have bare shelves in the stores and 7 - 11's.

Any reports from Teakdoor members around Thailand would be appreciated.

Going to Makro later today - will let you know. Since last week there has been no bottle water available in Makro or any of the stores. Noodles are gone from most stores. We plan to stock up on bath soap, laundry soap, alcohol, proxiside (sp) and such today. Many of my wife's friends are on the way here from Bangkok and I know they are not bring food and such. We already have house guest.

What province?

I said on another thread to plant a garden and I am serious. I was born poor and was a kid during the second world war. Every back yard I can remember in New Orleans had a victory garden and many times what we harvested was all we had to eat. Even up country people should plant - you will soon see why if people post on here as chitown requested.

Originally Posted by chitown

What province?

Korat, Nakhon Ratchasima

Here in Pattaya you can get what you want at the Thai supermarkets, both Friendship and Best supermarkets have more than what i have seen in normal times at Foodland. in fact it is amazing.

Puts Villa in normal situations to shame. All the water, noodles and rice you could want, plus all the western goodies,

But the big ones like Big C and Tesco are hurting. Seems they dont have as resourceful buyers.

I suspect someone is playing with supply or making delivery too expensive,

Chumphon.

Macro has a huge amount of empty space where it is normally packed to the rafters. Still has fruit and veg.
Tesco and Big C are difficult to gauge. Neither have cheese, but they seem to only re-order when they run out. The meat shelves are bare, but they still have fish.

In the local shops, bottled water is definately becoming more difficult to find, and that includes the 7 elevens.
No problem down the markets for availability of fresh produce, but the Mrs. is complaining that everything has increased in price. When she queeried the price with a stallholder who she knows well, she was met with a shrug of the shoulders.

Tesco have fuck all of anything in Udon and elsewhere.

All the local markets are full to bursting in Udon, but some items such as flour and beer are just starting to run short in some suppliers.

Makro is rubbish at stocking at the best of times and they are showing their usual ineptitude.

I'm in Korat town and have so far only seen marked shortages at Tesco. I've read somewhere, perhaps here on TD, that Lotus' wharehousing facilities are in Ayyuthya and Bang Bua Thong; both places have been badly hit by the flooding.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

I suspect someone is playing with supply or making delivery too expensive,

Why are people like this not shot dead?

Out here in Ubon, the supermarkets are just replacing the emptying shelves with loads of bloody fizzy drinks, to make it look stocked. No real hardship though- we've got local markets and stuff- but the big supermarket chains are increasingly threadbare.

I'm off to buy 14 boxes of beer tomorrow to hoard for a couple of weeks.

Will be around to help you do a stock take.

Phuket the same, was no milk the other morning, shelf's are empty.

The prices are going up I went to get a box of beer the other day 350 baht on top of what i usually pay.

Also in the bar Happy Hour prices have gone up

In Bangkok Foodland is coping pretty well but you have to hit it at the right time. Eggs were in short supply last week but now they available, Milk is always in stock, rice is in stock but the assortment is limited, Tipco juice is completely out of stock. Meat and produce are plentiful. 7-11, Family Mart and Tesco minis are pretty grim.

Eggs, fresh milk, and yogurt are hard to find around Mae Jo. Tesco has been bare but now getting in meats, bread, and some fruit.

Just been into town for fresh milk.
None anywhere, so had to make do with UHT.

I had the last "spicy footlong" from 7/11 earlier. Plenty of Mustard though.

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

Just been into town for fresh milk.
None anywhere, so had to make do with UHT.

the good thing about fresh milk is that new stuff is made every day, and you cannot hoard it

in hua hin, tesco has no water and not much in the way of soft drinks.
no toilet paper, low on soap and toothpaste etc. and plates, cups, glasses and kitchenware all gone. no shortage of rice, fruit and veg.
bread sporadic.
the hua hin tesco is a mismanaged disorganised badly stocked dump at the best of times, so not much change there.

the yamazaki bakery shop is empty, they cant get flour to bake with.

villa supermarket is well stocked with almost everything including (expensive) bread.

the thai supermarkets have most things, but are, and have always been, pitiful regarding decent bread.

the open markets and the wet markets are very well stocked with fruit, veg, fish, meat and chicken, in fact everything except eggs.

dont know about 7.11 as i hardly ever go in there. i've heard that they have a wonderful selection of thai crisps though.

we are certainly inconvenienced by the huge influx of people, and food shopping involves multiple stops and fighting awful traffic. but seeing what those who are flooded out are having to put up with makes our inconveniences seem very trivial indeed.

all the restaurants, from the 30 baht street fryers through to the expensive european places have everything.

my diet has improved markedly over the past 2 weeks and i have lost nearly a kilo in weight.

I think threads like this, gossip, rumour and fallacies, all make the situation worse with people panicked into mass buying

there is no real shortage outside the flooded areas, merely local temporary shortfalls

if you want food, go to your local market, if you want water, go to any tap

just like the old days before supermarkets

I remember the sugar shortage in the UK a few years ago; mu ma-in-law of then went to the Makro and bought a pallette load!! 500kilos...she could never use it, of course, and had to give it away for months after

the next year a few chaps started a rumour that there would be a toilet paper shortage and boom, within a few days it had all gone