@endso, I grew up behind the iron curtain and shortages of pretty much anything were commonplace. Washing powder, toilet paper, sugar, you name it. They were so common that a mere suggestion of an oncoming shortage of let's say soap was enough for everyone panicking and stockpiling soap for a year. The only thing I do not remember a shortage of was staple food. But things like bananas or oranges? The government had to import those from abroad for hard currency and so they were in shops only for special occasions.

There was even a common joke about it:
A western tourist walks on the street and sees a long queue in front of a greengrocer shop. He asks, "What do they give there?"
"Bananas", is the answer.
The naive tourist replies, "If I had to queue for bananas like that, I would rather buy them."

I remember when the iron curtain lifted in 1989 and western books started flooding in. I read Adrian Mole's Diary and there was a bit where he had a big zit on his face and complained to his mother that she did not feed him enough vitamin C. She just replied, "Go and buy yourself an orange!" It stuck with me for the next 27 years for two reasons:
1) The idea that 13 year olds had disposable pocket money;
2) The idea that you could just go out on a whim and buy an orange!