As the nation faces a shortage of certain products heading into winter, we all may need to get accustomed to the occasional item missing from our weekly shop.
Some favourite supermarket brands have even taken to pinning up notes warning of rationing in a bid to manage customers' expectations.
Eggs are the latest staple to be vanishing fast from shelves - and one Sainsbury's shopper was left with a unexpected replacement in her online shop.
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The punter opened up her delivery to find her eggs missing and in its place, a bizarre substitute. It comes as a UK wide shortage of eggs was announced in supermarkets like Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury's.
Some Asda and Lidl stores have taken tougher measures than others by putting up rationing signs in the hope of making sure there's enough for everyone. Substituted items are more common than ever with online supermarket shops but with an egg shortage going round, if you order eggs online you're not always able to determine what you'll get instead.
This was the case for one woman who spotted the hilarious swap after she ordered a few bits from Sainsbury's on the Uber Eats app. The woman, who is nameless, said she had ordered eggs from Sainsbury's via UberEats as she likes some scrambled eggs in the morning, the MEN reports.
Realising she was running low, she took to the app to do her shopping. But when it arrived, she burst into laughter when she saw what her eggs had been substituted with.
The shopper said: “I usually have scrambled eggs in the morning and was running low on supplies so I ordered some with a few other bits.”
“I didn't receive any notifications to let me know they were out of stock so was bemused when I saw the egg custard tarts and twigged it was a substitute when I realised the eggs were missing.”
“I burst out laughing as I have hated custard since school dinner days. Thank God I didn't need the eggs for something important."
She added: “I have contacted Uber Eats but they haven't responded yet." After sharing her experience on Twitter, users took to the platform to mock the supermarket’s choice of substitutes via their delivery service.
One user said: “Sainsbury’s once replaced a packet of biscuits with chewing gum and freezer bags with cat food (I don’t even own a cat)”. Another added: “I ordered veggie sausages and they were replaced with pork sausages.”
One person suggested that the women should have received six egg custard tarts to make up for the missing six pack of eggs. "They didn’t even try to get close to the same type of item”, said one user.
While another said: “On what planet would this ever be a great substitute for eggs?” However, some saw the silver linings in the situation and said they would be happy to receive the custard tarts as an alternative.
One user said: "Whoo! I love me some egg custard pie." While another added: "At least you got dessert."
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