CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Coastal Bend food distributors prepared for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday in advance to counter the impact of local food shortages.
Sprouts Manager Justin Trevino said the pandemic has made customers proactive when it comes to grocery shopping, and they are roaming the aisles to grab their Thanksgiving favorites earlier than usual.
"They are starting their grocery shopping early," Trevino said. "Getting all their essentials, their green beans, yams, all the things they can get early. Which is good because it's not too busy when you're coming into our stores."
While other grocers might be experiencing a shortage on shelves, Trevino said they aren't having that issue this holiday season at Sprouts, but they are having to keep an eye on their bread crumbs.
"People are making more stuffing this year," Trevino said. "Trying to create those family meals, last year with the pandemic they couldn't. So this year we have a lot more demand for them."
Bea Hanson, Executive Director of the Coastal Bend Food Bank, said when serving 11 counties, planning ahead is crucial.
"This year that worked out in our favor because now that the prices are going up, we had already placed orders ahead of time. We had been purchasing turkeys and special holiday food and placing orders months ahead," Hanson said.
Due to grocers having problems keeping up with their own inventory, Hanson said the Food Bank is receiving less donations, but with the help of the community they are able to still push through.
"The future is unpredictable at this point," Hanson said. "But with the help of the community as they have been supporting us, I'm sure we will be able to maintain the same amount of donations as we have in the past."
For more information on how you can donate and future food distributions click here.
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