Charlie Black / 23 June 2025 / Categories: Shops, Food & Drink

Empty Shelves Again At Asda

Anyone else worried where’s all the food gone?

For the last 12-18 months the press have hammered Asda for everything from dirty and messy shops, empty shelves, growing debts even a buyout and debt restructuring in 2021 couldn’t sort out, basically a supermarket chain in decline inspite of massive investment in TV ad campaigns with price Rollbacks at the centre and pandemic friendly face kids fitness expert Joe Wicks telling everyone “Rollbacks Back” to try and encourage shopper back

in store amidst tough competition from European giants Aldi and Lidl and even competition at home from Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Even if the expensive advertising campaigns are working when you get inside Asda, am I the only one noticing there is little food especially fresh fruit and vegetables which I have given trying to find in any supermarket to be fair. Even in higher priced Waitrose and Marks and Spencer’s if there is anything to pick from the quality is so poor, tasteless tomatoes, unripe sour pineapples, over ripe brown bananas, I’ve started going to my local farm shop instead.

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The empty shelves are nothing new, I think we have just become accustomed to seeing vacant shelf space, supply chain disruption blamed on a whole host of global issues like hijacking of cargo vessels to global trade tariffs imposed by the US to wars in Ukraine, Gaza and now Iran not to mention all the civil unrest everywhere else around the globe and the food shortage issues all these things create.

Put on top of that a big black hole in a company like Asda’s balance sheet and it doesn’t take a genius to work out eventually there will be no food for a small island like the UK as well.

I am not suggesting everyone start going out and panic buying, merely pointing out the way things have been going for about 12-18 months now (shortages during the pandemic were blamed on logistics more so than other global events) it’s not going to be long before the things we are used to having like cheap convenience food from Asda just won’t be available anymore.

I’ve even noticed in my local Waitrose, not once or twice but on going for months, broken fridges and freezers (at least that’s what the staff say) as the explanation why the coolers and freezers are empty. And yet they are not getting them fixed. It doesn’t make sense.

What does make sense is food shortages and rising prices due to war elsewhere which is set to get worse not better as global leaders make matters worse not better spending billions of taxpayer money on blowing people up in the name of keeping us safe.

The way I look at it, a 25kg bag of flour currently costs $500 in Gaza because there isn’t any food.

War costs us all and the repercussions are felt for years sometimes decades later. Food rationing did not stop in the UK until July 4th, 1954 when World War Two ended in 1945 9 years earlier.

For me it’s really easy to see why we are seeing empty shelves in the supermarket as normal. We are used to it.

And unless our global leaders get their acts together, stop bombing everywhere and allow people to get on with their lives in peace it’s not going to be very long unless we are growing our own food here in the UK, the choice, ease, convenience and affordability of food will be a luxury few can even afford.