Shoppers will have noticed that there are a growing number of empty supermarket shelves across Wales.
A combination of the heatwave, Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic are being blamed for the shortages, which you can read more about here.
But just how bad are the empty shelves and food shortages? And what items are out of stock? We went along to several major supermarkets across Cardiff and Swansea on Thursday, July 22, to find out. Although there were plenty of empty shelves across the capital, Swansea appeared to be holding out much better.
Cardiff
We checked out the shortages in Asda in Pontprennau, Lidl in Pentwyn, Sainburys's on Colchester Avenue, Tesco on Western Avenue and Aldi on Western Avenue.
Asda in Pontprennau
The fruit and veg aisle of Asda was probably the worst hit throughout the supermarket. The salad bags were pretty sparse on the shelves and several of the baskets holding small fruits - like summer berries - were completely empty.
Noticeably, baby potatoes were also thin on the ground - probably because lots of people are making potato salad to go with their BBQs in the glorious heatwave. Shelves that would have usually contained bread rolls were also empty, probably for the same reason.
As expected, the aisle containing bottled water had lots of shortages - again, almost certainly down to the hot weather.
But other than that, the Asda was pretty well stocked, all things considered, and the store was full of customers nabbing items off the shelves.
Lidl in Pentwyn
The shortages at Lidl in Pentwyn, on the other hand, were far starker - probably because it has far less stock than Asda in the first place.
The entire aisle of bottled water was virtually empty and the few shoppers milling around had to make do with the few packs of sparkling water which were left.
The section containing frozen meats, like chicken nuggets and fillets, was also alarmingly vacant. Understandably, ice creams and lollies were also pretty thin on the ground.
As I turned the corner of the frozen section, I was confronted with another set of completely empty shelves - this time the wine section.
This particular section proclaimed the signs 'The Summer Wine Tour' and 'When it's gone...it's gone' - messages which have clearly enticed Lidl's regular customers.
Sainsbury's on Colchester Avenue
Sainsbury's faced such severe shortages in some sections that it had resorted to putting up signs stating 'Please bear with us - we're experiencing high demand' across the store to reassure their customers.
We spotted these signs in the water section and the aisle containing beers and lagers. Customers had to make do with the few six-packs that were left and there wasn't any sign of staff replenishing the empty shelves.
Opposite these aisles was the most vacant aisle throughout the whole store - the chips and frozen veg section. This was completely empty, apart from some bags of frozen vegetables at the very end - so if you're looking for oven chips for your dinner tonight, it's probably best to try somewhere else.
Elsewhere in the store, there were shortages in salad bags, ice cubes and prepared fruit. One of the staff members told WalesOnline the shortages were "crazy". Unexpectedly, cat food and litter was also in high demand in Sainsbury's.
Tesco on Western Avenue
Like Asda and Sainbury's, there were also shortages in the fruit and veg aisles in Tesco. Staff had resorted to turning the baskets that were empty upside down - presumably because they weren't going to be refilled anytime soon.
The water aisle yet again was pretty empty, with just enough packs to possibly last for a few more hours of shopping.
The coleslaw aisle had also been struck by shortages, no doubt because BBQ season is in full swing.
During my trip to Tesco, I noticed the entire store was swarming with staff refilling shelves and taking stock - so it seems they haven't been hit like Iceland with lack of staff availability due to self-isolation.
Aldi on Western Avenue
Our final stop was Aldi, which admittedly did not have as many empty shelves as the rest of the supermarkets we'd visited. It also didn't have many customers, unlike Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's which were swarming with mid-morning shoppers.
We weren't surprised at all by this point to find that the water aisle of the small store was virtually empty.
But we were more surprised to see that they had run out of light olive oil. They had run out of salad potatoes, as well as mixed baby tomatoes and rocket salad leaves.
Putting two and two together, it seems summer salad is all the rage and supermarkets like Aldi just can't keep up.
The fruit and veg aisle had some other shortages in general - like grapes - but this wasn't as bad compared to the other supermarkets.
Swansea
We went along to Tesco in Swansea Marina, Sainsbury's in Swansea Marina and Marks & Spencer in the town centre to see how their stock measured up
Tesco in Swansea Marina
Almost every section in the Tesco in Swansea was virtually full. A few products had a few less but that’s what you might expect on a daily shop in the summer holidays. It was certainly nothing out of the ordinary. People were shopping as normal.
Sainsbury’s in Swansea Marina
The aisles were a little more empty than Tesco but the striking difference was the water aisle. “It’s bloody nuts”, said one passerby.
The water and drinks section of ASDA in Gorseinon was also reportedly lower on stock than usual, suggesting that the heatwave has had an impact.
The biscuit aisle in Sainsbury’s in Swansea was also fairly empty but everything else in the supermarket seemed to be pretty much normal.
Marks & Spencer in town centre
The food hall in M&S, although a smaller shop, was the most normal of the three supermarkets on Thursday morning. It was just as full as when I went on the weekend to do some shopping there.
Sign up to the CardiffOnline newsletter and stay up to date with everything going on in the city here
