Food Prices

[99Saturn]

Can't imagine feeding a growing family.

Not complaining but we're in that boat it adds up. Feel for those where it is tight.

We've always been sale shoppers and pretty limited prepared foods so that helps but obviously some stuff has crept up - more noticing sales are not as good as they used to be. I hit a couple of different stores depending on what we need that week, Aldi opened here a few years ago and has helped keep prices down. I don't really see the appeal to Walmart pricing for a lot of stuff, not saying its not competitive on some stuff but at least around here there's a lot better deals shopping around.

 

[64bawagon]

Like everything else these days, we buy when its on sale whether we need it or not. If its something we use regularly it will be stored or go in the freezer. Its kinda like keeping your fuel tank topped off in the winter, cost is the same after the initial outlay to fill it.

 

[eljefino]

Shopping around. More Aldi. Aldi has pounds of butter for $2.49 when everyone else wants $4.49 or so.

Supermarkets want $3+ for a box of Triscuits, getting the 4-pack from BJs for $8. There's like ten cents worth of wheat and salt in the box so the whole supply chain is a rip-off.

"Poor food" like dry beans is more expensive, just because it can be. It's a power move by the supermarkets. I used to use canned beans in my chili but will now cook and freeze dry beans. Benefit is it tastes even better because I over-cook them to a pulpy death.

Chock Full of Nuts coffee, 3 lbs, $10, Sam's Club. Twice that everywhere else.

"They" say grocery chains make a 3% profit. I hardly believe it, at least around here.

 

[PWMDMD]

Try having three teen boys…sigh.

 

[SC Maintenance]

[Typical Small City] Virginia; Forget about dine-in or take-out... 11.5% sales tax added on to already inflated prices.

Yep, my wife likes to eat out sometimes with the family. I hate it now - looking at a plate of slop for 20 bucks, and lunch for a family of four being a c-note, not to mention the crap service and they show up with a bill having expected tip starting at 18%.

But cheaper to eat out and remain married, so I had crap fish and chips for $18.99 yestereday

 

[53' Stude]

Got some loca family farm filet yesterday at $17.89/lb.

I’ll report how excellent it is.

 

[Cropduster172]

I'm a fan of Aldi, dollar goes farther there. There are some things they don't have, so I fill the gaps at another grocery store.

Their fellow German competitor, Lidl, is worth visiting if you have one nearby. Believe they are mostly East Coast.

 

[Escape08]

I am enjoying oatmeal with lots of fruit and bonus fiber bits and nuts most every morning.

WM's Great Value Oatmeal is up $1+ per each container. I guess the pricey Quaker Oats is even much more.

 

[billt460]

Just the 2 of us and it shocks me every week what we spend on groceries and sundries and we don't eat extravagently. Can't imagine feeding a growing family. We haven't lowered our level of food quality but are more aware of sales. We never eat out by choice and can't imagine paying $75 for one meal in a restaraunt like in the fixed price thread.

We're the same way. We eat good food, and I don't mind paying for it. And my wife enjoys cooking. That said, one of the guys at our gun club had dinner in a posh Vegas restaurant a couple of weeks ago, and paid $80.00 for a "petite" Filet Mignon.

Everything on the menu was served al la carte. By the time he finished filling his plate, (vegetable, baked potato, desert), it was over $145.00..... For one single plate of food that didn't fill him up, because the portions were so, "modest". (Read tiny). Insane.

I would have got up and walked out, just as soon as I saw the menu. But if people will pay it, they'll keep charging it. (There is supposedly a backlog of several weeks to get a table at this joint).

And as bad as all of these prices and shortages are, over what we were looking at just a couple of years ago, the people just voted for more of it. So my sympathy meter is sitting right at zero now.

"Thank you sir, may I have another!", comes to mind from, "Animal House".

 

[Vil_Riker]

I'm just now starting to feel the pinch a bit ... I feel bad for those with less than I have. Yesterday, at Costco, I bought some less expensive cuts of chicken than usual, drumsticks instead of thighs.

For example, English Muffins are up 33 1/3%, Rao's Sauce is up 24%, Ground Pork is up 14.5%, and frozen entrees are up 19%... I'm happy that I have many shopping options and can choose sources for purchases. And I can save $$$ because I know how to cook and have no need to buy prepared items even though I sometimes do.

How are you faring during these inflationary times?

"through the roof" is the scientific term for the food prices. Reduced consumption is the key.

It's not even funny that fast food restaurants are now more affordable than cooking at home. Until their long term contracts run out, that is.

 

[billt460]

I just came from Walmart. Softener salt, (Morton 40# green bag), was $7.19 the last time I bought it. Now it's $9.73. Softsoap refill was $4.97. Now it's $6.87.

The salt is dead weight. My guess is the price of Diesel to move it. But A LOT of everyday stuff is up 25% to 35% across the board. They had ammo. Winchester AA 12ga. target loads were $12.97 @ box. The cheap target loads were $9.97 @ box.

.45 Colt is over $1.00 @ round.... At Walmart. Even my Internet service has gone up. So now it costs me more to type this.

 

[GON]

I just came from Walmart. Softener salt, (Morton 40# green bag), was $7.19 the last time I bought it. Now it's $9.73. Softsoap refill was $4.97. Now it's $6.87.

The salt is dead weight. My guess is the price of Diesel to move it. But A LOT of everyday stuff is up 25% to 35% across the board. They had ammo. Winchester AA 12ga. target loads were $12.97 @ box. The cheap target loads were $9.97 @ box.

.45 Colt is over $1.00 @ round.... At Walmart. Even my Internet service has gone up. So now it costs me more to type this.

Yes, the weight and labor costs likely strong contributor to the price increase. Yesterday morning I purchased 15 gallons of distilled water at Walmart for 1.27 a gallon. I had been paying .88 a gallon for ages. I figured it was labor and trucking as the reason for the increase in price .

 

[Pew]

It’s embarrassing to admit but we have been using the local food pantry. It’s helped out quite a bit, but over the past couple months selection isn’t as good because there’s so many people using it. But every so often we’ll still get some good stuff like meats and cheeses (mainly ground beef but sometimes steak tips, and bags of shredded cheddar or mozzarella and sliced cheese).

I usually shop at Walmart and buy the great value brand which really isn’t that bad. Pasta and sauce with some ground beef mixed in can feed us for a couple of days, so we’re making more stuff like that and buying less frozen dinners.

I understand how you feel. After the dot-com bubble, my dad got laid-off and we resorted to the food pantry for a lot of things. I also volunteered at the same food pantry that we went to and it's a humbling experience.

Rice is relatively cheap for the amount you get, even the high-end rice from Asian stores. It's largely empty calories and carbs, but you can use it as a filler. I went three weeks on just rice and water alone in tight spots.

 

[GON]

Ha! My mom moved to Sunrise in the early 80s or so. My then-soon-to-be-wife and I drove across the country and paid her a visit. It had to be around 1981,2,3 ...

Shel,

I may have pumped gas for your Mom, or even you! I use to pump gas at the Exxon at Sunrise and Plantation BLVD.

Neat times in Sunrise in the early 1980s. Tons of old folks, they would come to the gas station for $2 of gas just for something to do. I enjoyed talking with them. Soon American Express built a mammoth office complex in the area, and other corps followed suit. I suspect Sunrise area is much more diverse today, than it was in the early 1980s, when rush hour was ten minutes before the early bird specials started.

The old people in Sunrise may have saved/ shaped my life- for a single guy living in Florida at age 17. I lived in a villa and was the only resident under 65. The old people threw me a party for my 18th birthday. It was really nice. Four days later coming home from work, all the old people were waiting outside my door with a look of anger. They confronted me for not sending thank you cards for the birthday party. I was raised by my Dad, and had never ever heard of a thank you card. These WWI and WWII vets were awesome, and had high standards- they were a great influnce in my life.

Thanks for sharing about your times in Sunrise- brought back fond memories.

 

[Dave9]

I buy in bulk when the price is right, almost no prepared foods, snacks, deserts, or soda, eat more legumes and less steak and seafood. I'd be on my way towards a healthy diet, but find it harder to do without cheese.

I grow a modest sized garden but not enough space to grow enough to even take a dent out of my caloric or protein needs... so I don't even try, instead things that stretch over many meals per square foot of garden area, like herbs, hot peppers, tomatoes. It's just too space intensive for me to do spinach, broccoli, etc, though I have in the past and it felt like too little to get back when doing it on a small scale where it is less efficient than doing a 50ft+ row at a time.

 

[Dave9]

Rice is relatively cheap for the amount you get, even the high-end rice from Asian stores. It's largely empty calories and carbs, but you can use it as a filler. I went three weeks on just rice and water alone in tight spots.

You can do a lot worse than whole grain rice and dried beans on a budget. Good ole beans 'n rice... some peppers, herbs, tomatoes, and/or hot sauce will soup it up but in a pinch, a few packets of taco bell sauce would work. The main thing to me is variety, can't eat the same thing over and over too many times in too few days.

There's still some variation there. Rice and beans with lime or lemon and cilantro, cumin and garlic. Rice and beans with tomato and chili powder. Rice and beans with cheese. Make your own tortilla, stuff it with that and a little seasoned chicken... or around this time of year, cheap turkey!