Food prices are up

[manning]

23 percent year to date and it is only the 7th month of the year.

 

[kymom99]

They really are. Bacon is insane and it isn't even a full pound anymore. Milk, eggs, meat, all of it. I guess the packaged stuff has been going up, as we have noticed due to unit prices increasing. But they can't hide the increase on things bought by the pound.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I know - some people on this very board told me I was nuts 2 months ago when I said it was up almost 20% by May and to adjust planned food budgets accordingly (my area must just have put the inflated prices in faster)...

 

[disney1990]

We've had crazy weather and they told us they were going up.

 

[TwoMisfits]

It's not up just b/c of weather (although that's a part of it). It's also up because of the QE (which in layman's terms, was the government printing more currency added to the existing pool - thus everything will eventually take more $s for the same thing), ethanol regulations (which take more food and turn it to energy - thus animal feed cost rise for most proteins), and other regulations, laws, and taxes/tariffs.

The media blasts all of the "weather issues" to keep the focus off the other things (the things we could probably do something about)...

 

[kymom99]

To top it off, our garden isn't doing that great this year. It has been really dry so my husband has to haul water for it and the cucumbers aren't producing.
We usually can a lot of stuff. Not sure how it will be this year.

 

[pat fan]

it's not up just b/c of weather (although that's a part of it). It's also up because of the qe (which in layman's terms, was the government printing more currency added to the existing pool - thus everything will eventually take more $s for the same thing), ethanol regulations (which take more food and turn it to energy - thus animal feed cost rise for most proteins), and other regulations, laws, and taxes/tariffs.

yes!

 

[tvguy]

I really haven't seen much difference in my total bill, but we always shop based on what is on sale, not off a list.
Just back from my weekly shopping trip, how do these prices compare to where you live?

Strawberries $2.33 a pound
Zucchini $1.40 a pound
Butter $3.48 a pound
12 pack diet Coke $4.38
12 Pack Diet Rite soda $3
12 Pack Ginger ale $2.68
1.75 Liter Orange Juice $2.78
Cantaloupe $3
Cross Rib Steak $5.99 a pound
Skinless, boneless chicken breast $2.98 a pound (however, chicken sales have plunged since the whole Foster Farms mess happened so this may be lower because of that)

 

[jsal318]

I really haven't seen much difference in my total bill, but we always shop based on what is on sale, not off a list. Just back from my weekly shopping trip, how do these prices compare to where you live? Strawberries $2.33 a pound Zucchini $1.40 a pound Butter $3.48 a pound 12 pack diet Coke $4.38 12 Pack Diet Rite soda $3 12 Pack Ginger ale $2.68 1.75 Liter Orange Juice $2.78 Cantaloupe $3 Cross Rib Steak $5.99 a pound Skinless, boneless chicken breast $2.98 a pound (however, chicken sales have plunged since the whole Foster Farms mess happened so this may be lower because of that)

Are these sale prices? Everything but the meat seems expensive to me. I always shop sales too and these prices sound high. Where do you live?

 

[scrapshappen]

I just told my DH yesterday that we needed to stop eating to save money. Now the numbers back me up.

 

[java]

I saw the price of ground beef today an nearly fainted. 80/20% was going for over $4 i had to buy a bulk pack to get it for $3.99. All for burgers! I was going to buy Bubba burgers but those are now at $10 for 6 burgers. Used to be $6. Crazy. And i am watching carbs so fillers like pasta and potatoes are out.

My garden isnt really producing yet. The herb garden is. And i did pick my first jalepeno today but the tomatoes are not ready yet.

 

[CowboyCO]

But we are all better off. Unless you have a family to feed...

We are so much worse off personally. Our incomes are down and prices for everything is up - food - gas, you name it.

It's hard to raise a family in this economy.

 

[eliza61]

I haven't seen a huge spike in my food budget and what I have seen I can probably attribute more to having my sons home for the summer than huge rises in prices.

But like TVguy I tend to shop what's on sale weekly and when some thing else goes on sale I stock up and freeze.
The major budget buster around here is dairy. 3.60 for a pound of butter ***yikes***
This week at my local shoprite.
Cherries are 1.69/lb which I thought was decent
seedless grapes are 1.99/lb
Center cut pork chops are 2.50 lbs
London broil is 2.99 lb if you get the family size of 4 lbs or more
general mills cereal is 3 for 5.64 plus I had a 1.50 off 3 coupon

Acme had Hormel bacon for 4 bucks a pound which I thought was a decent price so I stocked up on that, you can only buy 4 at a time.
They also had Hormel baby back ribs buy one package, get one free
5 12 packs of coke products for 10 bucks. lol what can I say, it's my one vice.

 

[wulfgeat]

I don't think QE is driving the price of food up 20%. Inflation is just not there to support that. A great deal of it is weather. Corn is down this year, but part of that is likely due to the decrease in beef production (from droughts) and the looming issue with PEDv affecting pork production.

I don't know what the problem is but maybe manufacturers are taking price increases because they think the market will stand it now and it wouldn't a few years ago.

 

[eliza61]

corn is ridiculously cheap, 10 cent an ear. I brought 20 ears and will freeze some.

 

[JanaDee]

They really are. Bacon is insane and it isn't even a full pound anymore. Milk, eggs, meat, all of it. I guess the packaged stuff has been going up, as we have noticed due to unit prices increasing. But they can't hide the increase on things bought by the pound.

Bacon prices are crazy because of a virus that killed off millions of pigs, so supply is lower than normal.

 

[TwoMisfits]

When you look at (true) inflation, you have to look at a basket of products at the same size over a certain term. There is no denying that the food product basket has outpaced the current "inflation" rate of the past 15 years (and there is also no denying that the government definition of inflation has changed repeatedly over the same term - if anyone wants to truly learn about why the government normally understates true inflation and why it is in their interest, just ask, but that's another topic). There is also no denying that, on the whole, food inflation is WAY, WAY up this year (too high to hide - thus the Fed "noise" comment).

Yes, you will find loss leaders weekly (like $.10 corn or in my case $.33 cucumbers), but you also won't spend your whole week eating only those two items. You will buy a basket of goods - these goods will cost you more OR you will stick to a sale ad and trade down from what you used to buy to stay in your budget (if you bought all beef hotdogs, now you are buying ones with no beef, if you were buying ribeye steaks, now you are buying sirloin, if you were buying beef burgers, now you're buying turkey burgers). Those of you who shop the sale ad are likely having the trade down effect happen to an extent, so you aren't having 20% inflation. That doesn't change what the true inflation of the food products are (although it will change the government's #s)...

I don't buy steaks or all beef burgers anymore - I have traded down to equivalent $2.99/lb meats, so my bill is not up 20% (yet), but I understand the changes to my own shopping habits and why.

 

[TwoMisfits]

If anyone wants to experiment on computing true year over year inflation for yourself, pick a market basket of 30 products you normally use from 1 grocery store today (noting the regular price, the size of the package, and all key info) and then go back 1 year from today and compare those same products to the regular price (and recheck all sizes to make sure the packages did not shrink). That will give you the best data for yourself on what the likely true food inflation rate is...you may not want to do it again after you see the results, but it will be educational...

 

[edk35]

If anyone wants to experiment on computing true year over year inflation for yourself, pick a market basket of 30 products you normally use from 1 grocery store today (noting the regular price, the size of the package, and all key info) and then go back 1 year from today and compare those same products to the regular price (and recheck all sizes to make sure the packages did not shrink). That will give you the best data for yourself on what the likely true food inflation rate is...you may not want to do it again after you see the results, but it will be educational...

That is a very interesting experiment to do.

 

[eliza61]

When you look at (true) inflation, you have to look at a basket of products at the same size over a certain term. There is no denying that the food product basket has outpaced the current "inflation" rate of the past 15 years (and there is also no denying that the government definition of inflation has changed repeatedly over the same term - if anyone wants to truly learn about why the government normally understates true inflation and why it is in their interest, just ask, but that's another topic). There is also no denying that, on the whole, food inflation is WAY, WAY up this year (too high to hide - thus the Fed "noise" comment).

Yes, you will find loss leaders weekly (like $.10 corn or in my case $.33 cucumbers), but you also won't spend your whole week eating only those two items. You will buy a basket of goods - these goods will cost you more OR you will stick to a sale ad and trade down from what you used to buy to stay in your budget (if you bought all beef hotdogs, now you are buying ones with no beef, if you were buying ribeye steaks, now you are buying sirloin, if you were buying beef burgers, now you're buying turkey burgers). Those of you who shop the sale ad are likely having the trade down effect happen to an extent, so you aren't having 20% inflation. That doesn't change what the true inflation of the food products are (although it will change the government's #s)...

I don't buy steaks or all beef burgers anymore - I have traded down to equivalent $2.99/lb meats, so my bill is not up 20% (yet), but I understand the changes to my own shopping habits and why.

I haven't traded down at all, although I do believe food prices haven risen ridiculously. Yes I shop sales but I shop sales on the products I normally by, rib eye steak and roast were on sale in May for 4.99, I stocked up. Once again 100% beef burgers were on sale Every where last week because of the 4th of July. I've got enough ground beef and burgers to last through the summer. Took a ton of it and made pasta sauce, the rest is for meat loaf.

So on some weeks my basket will be up or down, my monthly output has been pretty steady this year. Now this week they had General mills cereal as a loss leader, so I brought the maximum allowed (10 boxes). That will keep my average basket cost over the long run below the spike.


Poultry products like chicken and Turkey tend to go on sale big time around labor day. I stock up.

So no, I haven't traded down, as a general rule that doesn't work in my family tends to like for specific stuff (I refuse to drink any thing but coke, lol so you should see my trunk when I can get 5 12 packs for 10 bucks).

I have traded down to generic Listerine and paper products.

Don't get me wrong my budget is higher than last year but no where near 20% thank god.

I will also add that one of my kids goes to college out of state, so I have one less mouth to feed 7-8 months of the year.