Grrr...High Grocery Prices

[Tiffylv]

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[hopemax]

I was quite shocked by the $3.49 for a dozen eggs, during Thanksgiving. I guess $.88 and $.99 eggs are a thing of the past.

Hamburger is the other thing that gets me. I would try to be good, and get one of the leaner choices. But with the prices, nope, it's 80/20 and that's still $5-ish for a pound-ish.

I guess it's Avian Flu for the egg prices, CA drought for many other things, and internationally, there are weather effects (drought in places coffee is usually grown, etc).

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I agree, it's gotten crazy. I try to save however I can. I get different things at different places. It's a pain sometimes, tho. Combining increased costs of everything - without wage increases on the other side - has definitely impacted our budget over the past several years. I worry for our young people just starting out. Hopefully they can navigate these expensive waters.

 

[RedAngie]

I don't pay a ton of attention to the price of things I buy day to day; we're very fortunate to not have to scrimp on food costs and I've only got a 3-person household to feed. But from time to time I'll get to the checkout and almost have my breath taken away by the tally on my basket. Anybody else feeling the same way? Here are some prices on common, national brand products from this week's flyer specials at my neighbourhood location of a national-chain grocery store:

• Top sirloin oven roast - $7.99/lb
• Lean ground beef - $3.97/lb (extra-lean $6.99)
• NY Strip steak - $9.99/lb
• Boneless chicken breast - $6.99/lb
• Pork loin chops - $4.99/lb
• Bacon - $5.99/lb
• 3lb. Butterball Frozen Turkey breast roll - $19.99
• Organic Milk - $4.99/half-gallon
• Kraft Cheddar Cheese - $8.99/1.3lb
• Broccoli - $2.99/lb
• Avocados - $1.79/each
• Jazz Apples (like honeycrisp) - $1.69/lb
• Texas Pink Grapefruit $.89/each
• Wonderbread - $3.99/loaf
• Minutemaid Frozen Orange Juice - $1.99/can
• Eggo Waffles & PopTarts - $2.99/box
• MiracleWhip - $4.29/32oz
• Canned Tomatoes - $1.89/20oz
• Betty Crocker Cake Mix - $1.99/box
• Unbleached Flour - $7.99/10lbs
• Cheerios & Lucky Charms - $4.99/20oz
• Lays Chips - $2.79/8oz
• Purex Laundry Detergent - $5.99/1/2 gallon

Are these "sale" prices? They usually cost more? If so, for the products I buy, most are a little higher than what I'm used to paying, but not outrageously so.

Except the boneless chicken breasts and organic milk. Ree-dic-you-lus!!! I can get the chicken for about $4.99 when not on sale, but I stock up when it's less than $3.50. Sometimes it's even $1.99 lb. I don't buy organic milk; I know it's more costly than regular milk, but $4.99 for a HALF gallon????!!!!

 

[bsblady01]

the price of milk is making me nuts we still go through three gallons of milk a week with three kids

 

[bsblady01]

Those prices are high. We are lucky that we have Aldi's here. I can get 4-5 large recyclable bags full of quality food for $50-60. Fresh chx breasts at Kroger are $1.99. I can find g beef for $2.99/lb. Milk is $1.99 at Aldi. My 45 calorie whole wheat bread is $1.69. I also ad match at Walmart for my pantry stock ups. Butter will soon be $1.99 for 4 sticks and I will buy 20,same goes for frozen veggies,OJ,pasta,sauce etc. We are a family of 3 so I would say we spend about $250/mos on groceries. I live in the midwest if that makes any difference.

we did not like the taste of the milk from aldi

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I try to be careful - buying things on sale, etc. - but I have also noticed prices steadily going up the last few months.

 

[Christine]

I think the $8.99 I paid for 5 red peppers got me today!

 

[mnrose]

One word answer: Costco. Thankfully, we are a large enough family (4 people) that the jumbo sizes don't bother me.

Meat: Buy direct from the farmer who produces it. Known, fixed cost as of January of each year (when I order).

Chicken: Organic legs, $1.99 a pound.

Produce: Either Costco (if I care about "pretty") or a local discounter (who sells things close to expiration date). May not be prettiest fruits and veggies, but the price is right. 14 pounds of pears (delicious) for $8.00, 24 ounces of sugar snap peas, $1.00. I totally don't mind blemished fruits/veggies for that price!

Dairy: Costco or my local discounter. Just bought 12 pack of Quark (like greek yogurt only less tart) for $3.00! That's a deal right there. And, I just picked up two containers of fresh salsa (one pound each) for $1.00. :-D Love that store! Oh, and same store had a half gallon of kosher dills (whole pickles) for $2.00.

I rarely, rarely shop at a conventional grocery store. And, when I do, I'm shocked by how expensive things are.

 

[dotfurio]

We switched almost exclusively to Winco and started saving a lot. We were comparing sale prices of other chain stores and Winco was still cheaper. There's some things we won't buy there, though. We shop once a week and need our supplies to last, so if their produce looks bad we buy somewhere else, Vons or Sprouts. We've also had bad luck with their meat department so we buy that elsewhere, too.

We're only a family of 4 but Costco works for us. We buy all our chicken there and some other staples we can freeze or that keep in the pantry.

 

[ronandannette]

Lord where do you live? Boneless chicken breasts are $1.99 a pound here. Avocados are $1 at the expensive local chain grocery store, and 50 cents at Walmart. I don't think there is a canned tomato product on the shelf over $1 here. I'll have to look at the rest when I go to the store today.

I live in Calgary, just like my profile says. Please feel free to have your Canadian cousins corroborate my flyer prices! (ETA: I converted the metric quantities to Imperial so the Americans could more easily make an accurate comparison. For some bizarre reason though, local meat prices are almost always advertised as a per pound price although it's packaged and sold by the kg. )

Are these "sale" prices? They usually cost more? If so, for the products I buy, most are a little higher than what I'm used to paying, but not outrageously so.

Except the boneless chicken breasts and organic milk. Ree-dic-you-lus!!! I can get the chicken for about $4.99 when not on sale, but I stock up when it's less than $3.50. Sometimes it's even $1.99 lb. I don't buy organic milk; I know it's more costly than regular milk, but $4.99 for a HALF gallon????!!!!

Flyer prices; it's debatable whether or not they're really deals or just what's "featured" this week. I don't buy organic milk either but I used that example because it was listed in the flyer. Regular 3% (whole) milk practically never goes on sale and costs about $6/gallon.

Poultry and dairy are both commodities controlled by a national (government) marketing board so the prices are kind of "fixed" for lack of a simpler explanation. Fresh poultry and liquid milk are not permitted to be imported. Sucks for us though.

 

[powellrj]

We found Fresh Thyme yesterday and were surprised how much cheaper their produce was. .49 for green peppers, .49 for green onions, .49 for cucumbers, 3 for $1 kiwi, 3# of carrots for $1 and celery for .89 just to name a few. They were also cheaper on eggs, butter, sour cream and cottage cheese. Its not a place I would shop every week, but once a month or so would be great!

I remember when grapes were .19 a pound! We only eat them now if they are on sale.

I started buying meat from a meat market who do their own butchering and their meat is higher, but its so much better that its worth the extra price. I usually buy my staples at Kroger. If you watch what you get, I find them the cheaper.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't enjoy shopping in "Club" stores. Sizes are way too big and go to waste in our house. Plus, I never got out of there for under $200 it seemed, even years ago. So not helpful to me, I don't go anymore.

 

[tvguy]

I live in Calgary, just like my profile says. Please feel free to have your Canadian cousins corroborate my flyer prices! (ETA: I converted the metric quantities to Imperial so the Americans could more easily make an accurate comparison. For some bizarre reason though, local meat prices are almost always advertised as a per pound price although it's packaged and sold by the kg. )

I never look at profiles, sorry, I feel like a stalker doing that. Yeah, only thing I found in Canada that was cheaper was long distance phone calls from Canada to the U.S. If my Aunt in Saskatoon called my mom here, it cost her $4 for a 60 minute call. If my mom called, it cost her $40.

But pensions and severance pay seem better. My lone cousin still living in Calgary works in the oil industry as an engineer. Every time a company he is working for downsizes and he gets laid off, they pay him 2 years pay as severance, and give him is company car. As he put it, "those severance checks paid for my house". Couple of months later he has another job, and the cycle resume.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I'm always amazed at how price increases in bursts. During the summer, a 4 pack of bell peppers went from $2.99 to $5.99 in a month. Boneless turkey cutlets went from $5.49 to $7.99 per pound in a two week span. That was at the grocery store. At BJ's, I just bought a three pound pack of butter for $12.99 last time it was 9.99. There are tons of examples.

I was really dismayed a while back I was able to easily carry an $80 food order from the car to the house in one trip.

Lately, I found that Amazon subscribe & save has better prices for shampoo, toothpaste and soaps.

 

[Meriweather]

I buy a lot at Costco.....and there are just 2 of us. I share the red peppers with DS because he likes them for a snack.
The rest we use.....fresh or we freeze meat and such.

 

[EastCoastCdn]

I stock up when boneless, skinless chicken breasts go on sale for $4.99/lb. The regular price where I live is $8.99/lb. - and it's local chicken. I'd be thrilled if it was $1.99/lb.

 

[Christine]

I stock up when boneless, skinless chicken breasts go on sale for $4.99/lb. The regular price where I live is $8.99/lb. - and it's local chicken. I'd be thrilled if it was $1.99/lb.

I can't think of the last time I've seen chicken for $1.99. I'm speaking of chicken breasts though. I have gotten bone-in thighs or drumsticks for as low as .99 cents a pound on sale. Generally those pieces are $1.99 a pound but I never eat them (cook them up for my dog). Boneless breasts are running about $3.49 a pound. I've been buying organic at $7.99 lb lately because the taste and texture are 100% better IMO.

 

[Skippy918]

Our HEB has great prices plus in store coupons. I can buy the pre-seasoned chicken legs for $1.50/lb. The small avocados are usually $.50 each, but I've seen them as low as 4 for $1. Red meats are around $5-6 per lb. I buy the bag of frozen chicken breasts and it comes out to slightly over $1/lb. Apples are currently running between .70/lb for sale and $1/lb for non-sale. Specialty apples like Honeycrisp are more expensive. I get whatever apples are on sale. The 5lb box of cutie oranges are usually $7 non-sale but I've seen as cheap as $5 for on sale.

 

[KateP85]

I managed to spend $160 at the grocery store today and I'm still not sure how that happened. We don't eat a lot of red meat, but I seem to spend a fortune on organic chicken, it's something like $12.99 for a package of 3 breasts. I also noticed avocados were $1.79 each today, which irritated me. I swear they were 2 for $1.50 a few weeks back.

I do most of my shopping at Target; I have the debit card that gets you 5% off everything, and I use the cartwheel app, but I know I could save more if I put a little more effort into it. I go to the local farmers market when I can because the prices are so much better on produce, but I often completely forget. I go to Trader Joes for specific products I love, and I usually find that to be pretty reasonable. I love the shopping experience at Publix, but my grocery bill goes up noticeably when I shop there.