In a pickle ~ and menu plan for the week of May 3

 We ran out of pickles.  We actually ran out of pickles a few months ago, but I didn't put pickles on my grocery list when we ran out.  As a general rule, we don't go through all that many pickles, and also, I believed us to not be out of pickles, because we had two jars of pickles sitting on the shelf that houses our home canned food.

About three weeks ago, I decided I wanted pickles, so I opened one of the jars.  And that's when I discovered that we were, in fact, out of pickles.  They tasted bad.  The tasted so bad, in fact, that I fed them to the compost--not even to the chickens.  Just, you know, for future reference, do not substitute dry herbs when the pickle recipe calls for fresh.  You can thank me later.

So about three weeks ago, I wrote pickles on my grocery list.  And when I went to the grocery store, there were no pickles*.  I didn't think much of it, just made a mental note to carry pickles over to my next grocery list.  And the next time I went to the grocery store, there were also no pickles.  The next week, there were still no pickles.

Three weeks without pickles, y'all.  I mean, I've definitely gone more than three weeks without eating a pickle, but always I have known that I could eat a pickle if I wanted to eat a pickle.  And it seemed strange that every** store would be out of pickles. So I asked the universe (aka the google), "why can I not find pickles?"

And it turns out, there is an actual pickle shortage that people of the universe (aka people on the internet, which is, technically, a part of the universe) have been talking and writing about.  In fact, one of the national fast burger joints delayed the release of a new sandwich because of the pickle shortage.  

Of all the things I thought would never be in short supply, pickles is, well, not at the top of the list, because it's not on the list of all.  Who thinks pickles*** are going to be in short supply?  Anyway, I just thought I should let you know, so that if you do happen to spot pickles, you can stock up.

And I'm crossing my fingers (but not holding my breath) that I'll be able to find some pickles tomorrow.  In the meantime, here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Cheese, crackers, and summer sausage, raw veggies
• Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli
• Italian beef sandwiches, buns, green beans
• Leftovers
• Hamburgers, buns, green stuff, raw veggies, chips
• Hot dogs and brats, buns, green stuff, raw veggies, chips
• Cilantro lime chicken with avocado salsa, salad

Other:

• Mexican quinoa with grilled chicken
• Taco bean soup
• Chicken broth

* Of the variety which I wanted to purchase, which was dill slices.  There were bread and butter slices, and dill spears and whole pickles, but no dill slices.  

** Every store that I went to, which included 2 different locations of one grocery store, one other store, and as many local stores as I could think of that would tell me online whether or not they had any pickles.

*** It sounds like it's not actually pickles that are in short supply, but glass jars, which is affecting pickle storage and transport, although why that would affect a fast food chain?  I do not know.  I feel like national restaurant chains do not buy their pickles in glass jars.