Life happens and inevitably, there will be days when you go to the store and you find out that a few of the items on the shopping list were simply not available at the store you went to. It is usually pretty rare that main ingredients aren’t available at more stores – they are usually pretty stocked up on meats and seafood. However, there are definitely occasions when I have arrived at the store and been surprised that there isn’t a particular fish available. This can happen when a certain fish is out of season, especially if you are looking for wild fish.
It is usually one or two of the other ingredients needed to make a recipe that sometimes goes missing in the grocery store. Personally, I live thirty minutes from a large store with a large selection of organic and fresh foods, so it is not very easy for me to just go back the next day when the produce guy tells me they will have fennel available.