A survey by eMeals finds survey respondents were unable to find 40% of their shopping list items from March 18-23, even after visiting an average of two grocery stores.
Seventy-five percent said they had difficulty finding chicken and other meats. Other difficult-to-find food items included bread (31%), eggs (29%) and milk (25%).
Top beverages stockpiled were milk (48%), coffee (44%), bottled water (34%) and soda (23%). In terms of alcohol, 23% of consumers stocked up on wine, 18% on beer and 18% on spirits.
At $253, average grocery spending for the week of March 18-23 was up 55% over respondents’ typical weekly purchases. Significantly, 13% spent $400 or more, while only 1% said their grocery bill is that high in a normal week.
eMeals provides curated meal plans connecting consumers and food brands to the online grocery pickup and delivery services of Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, Shipt and Instacart.
Subscribers have access to 15 food style meal plans, each with new weekly dinner ideas that can be mixed and matched from plan to plan. Based on the selected meal choices, the eMeals app automatically generates a grocery list that can be shopped in-store or, with one click, sent for pickup or delivery by one of the integrated grocery retailers.