Food prices are up

[pat fan]

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

Those are good prices. Looking at my local grocery sale flyer for this week:

Cherries: $2.99 lb
Seedless Grapes: $2.49 lb
Center Cut Pork Chops: $3.99 lb
London Broil: none on sale, but Beef Chuck Steak or Roast is $4.49 lb. or Strip Steak $6.99 lb
General Mills Cereal: $1.88 for 8.9oz Cheerios, 10.7 oz Cocoa Puffs, 11.8 oz Golden Grahams, 12 0z Cinn. Tst. Crunch
Bacon: Store brand is $3.99

Thankfully it's just my husband and I, but it is insane to spend what we do each week and get so little. I used to spend the same amount when our kids lived at home!!!

 

[tarheel618]

We rarely buy steaks anymore, but we used to have them fairly frequently. We like ribeyes when we have steak. I bought 3 ribeyes today to have for my son's birthday dinner tomorrow. $33 for 3 steaks. My husband almost wet himself!

The last time I bought steaks was on Christmas Eve morning. I happen to luck upon them being mark down because the store was going to be closed on Christmas. I got 4 packs of 2. I just can't justify the price anymore so I totally understand your husband's reaction.

 

[TwoMisfits]

The Consumer Price Index for food went up 2.5% between May 2013 and May 2014. Prices in specific locales, or for specific products, may have increased 20% - but that figure does not appear to be true overall.

Stocking up loss-leaders is probably the best financial investment a family can make, if you have space to store it and it does not spoil.

Dan, the CPI is a meaningless, understated figure. It does not include a decrease in package size (going down 8oz in Tide Detergent and staying the same price is a CPI increase of 0%), a change in a product's ingredients to lower cost items (as an example, check hot dogs now - there is more chicken and zero beef in your mainline ones), a downgrade by consumers in the same food category (changing down from ribeyes to sirloins and paying the same prices is a CPI increase of 0%), or the correct %/frequency of purchased items (every product is weighted the same, even though consumers likely buy milk more often than mayo).

As I mentioned before, you may want to try your own personal experiment to see what true food inflation is, rather than buying a government figure designed to understate inflation...then you, and everyone else, could see what the true food inflationary effect is for a typical family, rather than accepting the government's word for it (they haven't been good with numbers lately - see the 1st Qtr GDP revisions this year...

 

[eliza61]

The last time I bought steaks was on Christmas Eve morning. I happen to luck upon them being mark down because the store was going to be closed on Christmas. I got 4 packs of 2. I just can't justify the price anymore so I totally understand your husband's reaction.

Where do you live Tarheel?
I'm on the East coast and beef is always on sale before any holiday. 4th of July was great for ground beef and ribs.

Start looking around the end of August, steaks will drop for the labor day barbeques.

Generally I'm stocking up when prices hit 5.99 and lower.

I got t-bones, 2 weeks before the 4th for 4.99. Now they write Australian beef but very tasty.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Luckily so far the organic prices here (Phoenix) have stayed roughly the same, though conventional prices are up.
This week:
Conventional ground beef (Fry's/Kroger): $4.99/lb
Organic gr bf (Costco): $4.50/lb (paid $4.25/lb in CA but not sure if it's location or general price increase).
Organic chicken breast is still $5.99/lb at Costco.
Organic carrots and bananas are only .10 higher than conventional.
Nitrate-free bacon (not organic) was $5.99/12oz but the regular bacon varieties were also $5.99-$7.99, except the Bar-S brand, which was on sale for $3.

 

[goodeats]

Since I had my first child 5 years ago I started shopping at costco. I remember getting a 3lb bag of almonds for 9.99 and an 18 pack of organic eggs for 4.79 (26.6 cents per egg). I'm now paying over $15 for the almonds and 7.59 for 24 organic eggs (32 cents per egg). Steak/beef prices have also gone up considerably.

I believe most of the price increase (at least in CA where I am) is due to the drought.

 

[disney1990]

What really bothers me is the size of products going down. When I want to buy a quart of ice cream, I want it to be a quart. When I buy a container of yogurt, I don't want it to be smaller. I used to be able to buy an 8 ounce container of yogurt and have it for lunch. Now the containers are under 6 ounces and it's not enough. I would rather see the prices go up than have this.

 

[powellrj]

I have posted my bacon vent before. Last year I was buying it at the meat market for $3.99 a pound and now its $5.99 a pound. Also deli meat is almost double what I can buy the meat itself for. I can buy the roast, ham or the turkey breast for almost 1/2 of what I pay for the deli meat. I understand that I am paying for the ease, but does sliced turkey really need to be $9 a pound?

What I don't understand is why some fruits are so much cheaper and others are so much more expensive. I use to buy apples and grapes without even thinking because they were so cheap, now I can get blackberries and raspberries and pineapples for cheaper.

 

[AquaDame]

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

Heavens where do you live? I was shocked and amazed when I found it for .20 an ear - my mother in law would be so happy to see that! For some reason corn hits her angry button... its usually 4 for a dollar, woo hoo!

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

You know, I had *thought* bacon was spendy but I wasn't sure. We don't eat a lot of it, so we had been getting two here, three there from the butcher when we needed it for recipes. I was shocked that it was $7ish a pound when we decided to just freeze it to have on hand. Good to know (and sad to know) that it is a recent thing. Our shoulder roast was something like $5/lb but it was from Whole Foods. We don't buy a lot of pork aside from tenderloins - was that also insane?

Hey, I totally agree with you, what's killing me is gas, as I drive 40 miles each way for work, oy vey!! Gas prices are insane.

I'm definitely honing my skills because I also want to retire in a few years so I'm trying to gauge how to keep down prices when I moved into a fixed budget

In Jersey, a new (or already at least new to me) trend has been "steer buying". Butcher's are selling whole cows, so they pair you up with 3-4 other families and you split the cost of one whole cow. Haven't tried it, but reading up on it.

We do this and love it but certainly don't get the prices others mention... just be sure to ask how it was raised/what it was fed and what the costs are for wrapping/what you lose between hanging weight & finished weight. We prefer all grass - no grain finishing.

We have county fairs, and the kids try and sell their steers. The Grand Champion will go to the biggest grocery store in town. Then you have the chance to bid on the rest of the steers. We go in with 2 other families and we paid $.69 a lb. last year. We got 1/3 of the steer.

And the amazing shrinking food product? Graham Crackers. Everyone's marsh-mellow was flowing out of the cracker while we made s'mores. I just noticed the shrunk them.

My word that is CHEAP! I think our last one was $3.60 a lb or so fully butchered and wrapped - and that was HANGING weight. A really nice assortment and well done quarter but the jerks tossed the tail too early claiming no one wants it. I'm still mad about not getting it.

I find myself wishing that we could have a few chickens in our backyard for eggs and I could kill them for eating too (I grew up on a farm and was the person who did that).

I also wish that I was able to do my veggie garden this summer but with my surgery, I was lucky to get the tomato plants in with my daughters help. At least we've been able to eat fresh tomatoes.

My daughter also planted peppers but those plants died. I hate paying 2.99 a pound for something I know I could grow easily.

Us too but I could never kill it.. nevermind that around here the raccoons tend to beat you to the punch there.

This has been our experience as well. Bought from a local farmer and the meat tasted gamely. I believe it's because we were used to the grain fed processed meat of the grocery store.

Think I'll just substitute ground turkey for ground beef and catch other meat on sale.

I loooove grass fed and tend to dislike game meats oddly enough (at least rabbit/duck. I had an elk tenderloin in Alaska recently that was OMG good). I've heard avocado mashed in with the ground turkey for burgers is great - I want to try it too!

Those are good prices. Looking at my local grocery sale flyer for this week:

Cherries: $2.99 lb
Seedless Grapes: $2.49 lb
Center Cut Pork Chops: $3.99 lb
London Broil: none on sale, but Beef Chuck Steak or Roast is $4.49 lb. or Strip Steak $6.99 lb
General Mills Cereal: $1.88 for 8.9oz Cheerios, 10.7 oz Cocoa Puffs, 11.8 oz Golden Grahams, 12 0z Cinn. Tst. Crunch
Bacon: Store brand is $3.99

Thankfully it's just my husband and I, but it is insane to spend what we do each week and get so little. I used to spend the same amount when our kids lived at home!!!

Same here - I'm trying to put a stop to spending so much feeding two! You'd think it would be cheaper but I can't imagine raising a family at this point.

What really bothers me is the size of products going down. When I want to buy a quart of ice cream, I want it to be a quart. When I buy a container of yogurt, I don't want it to be smaller. I used to be able to buy an 8 ounce container of yogurt and have it for lunch. Now the containers are under 6 ounces and it's not enough. I would rather see the prices go up than have this.

Yes! I went to make muffins yesterday and had to buy two 6oz containers to make up the 8oz needed. I was livid!

 

[Dakota731]

Since my husband is in the transportation industry, I know that most of the increases are due to gas prices which have gone up 96% since 2009
according to figures from the Energy Information Agency (EIA).

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was $1.838 on Jan. 19, 2009 and now in our area it's $3.79 a gallon today.

 

[aprilchem]

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

Do you have a reference for this? I haven't really seen this in my own grocery shopping.

 

[pryncess527]

Since my husband is in the transportation industry, I know that most of the increases are due to gas prices which have gone up 96% since 2009
according to figures from the Energy Information Agency (EIA).

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was $1.838 on Jan. 19, 2009 and now in our area it's $3.79 a gallon today.

That $1.838 figure was kind of an anomaly even for 2009. In 2008, it hit a peak of over $4.00/gallon before plummeting to the price you quote. For most of 2009, the national average hovered around $2.50 - $2.75. So still cheaper than now, but not quite as drastically as the Jan 19, 09 statistic leads one to believe.

 

[pryncess527]

I must be lucky, our grocery bills have not seen a significant increase in the last 12 months. I'm not sure if that's because we do so much of our shopping at BJs and are perhaps insulated by their pricing model, or if we benefit from the high amount of agriculture in my area (lower travel costs for food). I do compare based on unit size too, so am not fooled by smaller containers.

 

[manning]

There's more to it than just the drought. It is also energy cost.

Energy (petroleum) is used to plant, harvest and transport food.

And, (surprise surprise) commercial fertilizer and pesticides are made from petroleum.

 

[Jaime4004]

That's crazy! I just paid 2.49/lb for ground chuck (and stocked the freezer because I know that's a good price).

My garden isn't doing much this year either. The one really hot spell we had seems to have stunted my cauliflower and broccoli, the latter going to flower without ever forming real heads, but the consistently cool nights seem to be playing havoc with the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Only a couple of plants have even started flowering and the only thing I've picked so far is a half-dozen cherry tomatoes. I'm drowning in peas, though - normally they've died back from heat by now and I'm thinking about when to plant the fall crop but my spring plants are still producing like crazy. Too bad we can't live on peas and lettuce alone!

Deer have killed my garden. This is the first year they've found it but they're having a great time. Almost cried earlier today when I went outside to find all of my green bean and wax bean plants eaten down to nubs. Why won't they go for the lettuce? I planted way more of that than we can possibly eat, and no good way to preserve it...

I noticed a crazy price of milk when we went on vacation. It's been $2.49 here for as long as I can remember but was over $4/gal on Cape Cod. Ouch! I appreciate NH more now...

 

[pat fan]

I noticed a crazy price of milk when we went on vacation. It's been $2.49 here for as long as I can remember but was over $4/gal on Cape Cod.

Yes, not drinking milk is a lifesaver for us! The only dairy we get is yogurt and 1/2 & 1/2. The yogurt isn't bad at BJ's with their coupon, but 1/2 & 1/2 is nuts, but I figure it's healthier than the fake powder stuff.

 

[manning]

Deer have killed my garden. This is the first year they've found it but they're having a great time. Almost cried earlier today when I went outside to find all of my green bean and wax bean plants eaten down to nubs. Why won't they go for the lettuce? I planted way more of that than we can possibly eat, and no good way to preserve it...

I noticed a crazy price of milk when we went on vacation. It's been $2.49 here for as long as I can remember but was over $4/gal on Cape Cod. Ouch! I appreciate NH more now...

About the deer,

My aunt has this repellent recipe. I have no idea if it works but you may want to try it

http://www.food.com/recipe/deer-repellent-160849

 

[Nztara]

I've noticed the bacon increase as well. Meat in general is higher. The $1.99 chicken breast sale is very rare here. It 's B1G1, which is more like $2.49/lb. We used to get whole rib eyes on sale for $3.99 or $4.99/lb and have it cut for free. I haven't seen anything lower than $6.99/lb in a long time.

Other increases I've seen are in the produce department. I rarely see grapes lower than $1.99 on sale. Peaches haven't been down to the 99 cent price I'm used to seeing each summer and we are in an area that produces lots of peaches. Cucumbers seem to stay at 69 cents or higher.

I have become an avid couponer to keep our grocery bill manageable. I could save more if I bought more processed foods, but. I still save $20-30 a week with coupons for frozen veggies, household goods, baby items, etc.

 

[Dakota731]

Still a budget buster for most families especially those with long commutes. It's costing our family another $400 a month in gas than we paid a few years ago (we have 2 college daughters whose gas we provide as well). Not to mention the extra cost added to everything when the price of gas goes up such as heating oil, food, clothing, furniture, anything that is shipped (which is everything!).

 

[ellone]

Other increases I've seen are in the produce department. I rarely see grapes lower than $1.99 on sale. Peaches haven't been down to the 99 cent price I'm used to seeing each summer and we are in an area that produces lots of peaches. Cucumbers seem to stay at 69 cents or higher.

Do you have a local farmer's market or farm stands? Farmers generally vary prices based on what they have too much of. Pickling cakes were 2.29 a lb a couple of weeks ago but now that the big part of the crop is in they are 1.49 a lb. I think they have way too many big slicing cukes since those are .50 each or 4/$1.