There's no shortage of wieners! "Oh yes there is!"

Hogs are in short supply ahead of this summer's pent-up demand for products like hot dogs. Especially in the South and particularly states like Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. This goes all the way back to the start of COVID when the pandemic forced the closure of meat processing plants (some of which are still struggling to re-open).There aren't enough processing plants operating at full capacity. Instead of processing say 100 percent of the animals they were doing prior to COVID, they're probably at a 75 percent rate right now.

Analysts are predicting much higher prices and a much shorter supply of pork for foods like hot dogs and bacon as restaurants re-open and summer barbecues resume. The whole supply chain has really been squeezed so those Summer barbecues may taste a little different this year. The number of market hogs, piglets, and future piglets, dropped 1.8%, 1.4% and 2.5%, respectively, from March 1 2020 to March 1, 2021.

Many grocery stores are not receiving their normal stock of items like wieners and bologna. Have a look around your favorite grocery store and you'll likely notice that there's not as many packs of pork based meats as you might be used to seeing. A local store manager told us that he normally orders 200 packs of wienies per week. Lately he has only been receiving about 100 packs, because there's just not enough in supply. This is expected to only get worse as the Summer approaches. Grocery store chains like Kroger and Walmart reported that their supply of pork is not as good as it was prior to the pandemic, however it IS better at this time. While they're anticipating possible cut-backs, they're NOT expecting their shelves to be bare.

Suppliers are already warning people NOT to start purchasing large quantities in attempt of hording the wieners. This will only cause the prices to sky rocket even more dramatically and could force retailers to limit their supplies or completely stop selling the product. Further more, freezing wienies and bologna for long periods of time causes it to get stale and dry plus it looses a lot of it's flavor and over all quality so it's not good for you or for the rest of the community.

Many consumers still feel more comfortable with outside dining and gatherings, so I suspect grilling out is going to be a very popular activity this summer," But lets do this the right way by not hoarding and allow everyone to have their fair share. Unless of course you enjoy stale, dry hot dogs.

While prices may be a bit higher, folks are typically very creative in making adjustments in other areas to host family and friends. So instead of making all of those trips for fast food, you could be saving a few extra bucks for those cookouts. This could be the perfect opportunity to learn how to grill more fresh veggies such as corn, peppers, okra, cabbage and even mushrooms.

The first time I made this, I couldn’t believe how good it was! We served it with grilled burgers and our dinner was complete. I never thought I’d skip dessert because I was full from too much cabbage! Here's how you do it and it's super simple and cheap.

1 medium head cabbage (about 1-1/2 pounds)

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cut cabbage into 8 wedges; place on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 24x12 in.). Spread cut sides with butter. Sprinkle with onion, garlic salt and pepper.

Fold foil around cabbage and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over medium heat until tender, about 20 minutes. Open foil carefully to allow steam to escape.

There is nothing that tastes as GOOD as a big piece of grilled corn on the cob, charred just right and dripping with butter.

4 ears corn, shucked

Butter, for serving

Kosher salt

Preheat grill to high and heat for 10 minutes. Add corn and cook, turning often, until charred all over, about 10 minutes. To get the char you won't be wrapping it in foil, just toss it right onto the grill.

Spread butter over warm corn and season with salt. It's really that simple.

As you can see, with a little creativity you can turn a boring cookout into something special and delicious without paying the price of a fine steak for a pack of hot dogs.

Don't forget desert!

If you've ever wondered what a slice of pure, sweet pleasure tastes like, then you'll want to try my mothers grilled apples. Trust me, you're going to love this so you might want to double the recipe because everyone else is going to love it too.

4 baking apples

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp butter (or vegan margarine)

Optional: 1/4 cup nuts (chopped)

Optional: Vanilla Ice Cream

While the barbecue is warming up, carefully remove the core from the apples, leaving the bottom intact.

In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar.

Spoon a full tablespoon of the cinnamon and sugar mixture into each apple, and top each with 1/2 teaspoon of vegan margarine or butter.

Carefully wrap each apple in aluminum foil and place on the grill.

Cook for about 20 minutes, turning a couple times to ensure even cooking. Depending on how hot your grill is, your apples may need as little as 15 and as much as 30 minutes to cook, so pierce with a fork a couple times to see how soft they are.

Always be careful when opening foil packets from the grill as the steam will be hotter than you think, even if you've let the packet cool for several minutes.

Sprinkle with some chopped nuts if you'd like and top it off with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy your grill-baked apples.

I don't know about you but those lame ol' hotdogs just doesn't sound as good anymore.