Has your grocery bill declined?

[dejr_8]

It doesn't seem like ours has. There are still so many items that seem to be more expensive now than they were a year ago.

 

[Kathi OD]

Ours hasn't declined either. Since the reason that grocers gave for prices rising was the cost of transportation has gone up (due to the rise in gasoline prices), you'd think that since gas has decreased drastically, those prices should have come down too.

Around here, when gas was at it's highest, it was almost $4/gallon. In January, it was around $1.25/gallon. While it's risen since then, it's still only 1/2 what it was. Seems to me that, to some extent, we're being taken advantage of. Can't wait to see what happens when gas goes back to $4/gallon.

 

[swald91]

Ours seems to decline but we are still paying more!

 

[etoiles]

Our grocery bill has definitely declined. However, I have to thank the budget board on the DIS for that.

I never knew before how to get so much toothpaste, body wash, deoderant, salsa, cereal bars, etc, etc for free until now. I also now read Money Saving Mom's blog daily and follow her advice for my shopping at CVS, Walgreens, and Target.

In fact today is my shopping day and I plan on getting sunscreen, toothpaste, apples, salad dressing, sponges, huge bottle of salsa, ritz crackers, sponges, and cat treats for about 2-3 dollars TOTAL.

Thank you budget board!!!

 

[Colleen27]

That's the way the world works, for the most part. Think about it from the store's POV - they had a valid reason to raise prices that everyone understood and accepted in transportation costs skyrocketing. Then those costs went back down, but the general public had already become accustomed to the higher prices. There's just no incentive lower prices and therefore profits to reflect the drop in costs when they can go on charging the high prices without incurring the high costs.

I'm sure when gas goes up again, we'll be in for another big price hike.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Ours have decreased dramatically around here over the past 4-6 weeks. I saw milk for $1.49 a gallon yesterday, eggs were .69 a dozen, strawberries .99/lb, even whole pineapples for .99. Meat prices are way down, bread is falling. Ice cream is now .99 everyday. The only increase I still see is in pasta prices, and even that has been on sale recently.

 

[SCHBR'smom]

no and since the kids won't stop growing, I'm sure it won't

 

[Metsfan520]

Regular prices haven't fallen, but I'm seeing a lot of great sale prices. There is at least 1 brand of pasta on sale every week, bread is on sale a lot more now, soda goes on sale a lot more too. So since I almost always buy on sale & stock up, my bill has gone down.

 

[Kycha]

They have definitely gone down in this area. Food prices fluctuate all the time. So, it is really hard to tell. But the 3 items that I use to gauge grocery prices are milk, bread and eggs. Last year I was paying $4+ for a gallon of 1% milk, $3.50-$4 for a loaf of bread and $2-2.50 for a dozen eggs. Now, I'm paying around $2.89 for milk, $2 for bread and .89 for eggs. As far as everything else, I only buy things on sale and usually combine with coupons. So, I set a price limit on the things I buy and then buy in bulk and then I stockpile. For example, I set a limit of $2/lb for fresh sausage, chicken breasts(boneless, skinless), hamburger, pork loin and for cereal the limit is $1 per box. But I usually pay a lot less than my limit. This week I will buy 10 lbs of chicken tenders for $1.79/lb. That will last DH and me 2-3 months.

 

[Angelhalo]

No!!! In fact many people on here disputed me when i said it is cheaper for us to just eat out. So for 2 months we have been eating in to see which is cheaper, and eating out wins by a mile! We spend so much money at the grocery store, its just cheaper for us to eat out!

 

[Metsfan520]

No!!! In fact many people on here disputed me when i said it is cheaper for us to just eat out. So for 2 months we have been eating in to see which is cheaper, and eating out wins by a mile! We spend so much money at the grocery store, its just cheaper for us to eat out!

That's unusual. Maybe because I live in a suburb of a big city, the restaurants around here are more expensive then eating in. And the supermarkets have really great sales too. I recently made 2 ham sandwiches on fresh rolls for $2.55 each. (the ham was $4.99 a lb., rolls were 55 cents each). No deli would change me that little for the sandwich.

 

[browneyes106]

My grocery bill has down a few times since January. I'm buying on sale more. When it comes to meat, pork and poulty I buy that stuff on sale in large amounts and stockpile. Here in my area the prices of fruit and vegetables have down but they will probably go up soon. Eggs are at good prices but the price of a gallon of milk hasn't really down.

 

[Chicago526]

Yes, I've seen prices drop on many things I buy. I'm also seeing more organics going on sale, also a greater variety of them to begin with.

 

[Angelhalo]

That's unusual. Maybe because I live in a suburb of a big city, the restaurants around here are more expensive then eating in. And the supermarkets have really great sales too. I recently made 2 ham sandwiches on fresh rolls for $2.55 each. (the ham was $4.99 a lb., rolls were 55 cents each). No deli would change me that little for the sandwich.

We are on a STRICT diet so when we go out when end having to sub a million things for other things, or order things ala carte in order to get a full meal that we can eat. We can't eat sandwiches so delis and fast food restaurants are right out. We eat a LOT of salads and buying a salad bar at Jason's or Ruby Tuesday is MUCH cheaper than trying to buy all of those same salad ingredients at the grocery store.

So for us, eating out is MUCH cheaper than having to buy a bunch of specialized ingredients for what we can and want to eat.

 

[minkydog]

Yes, ours has gone down. But only because we are now getting some of our food from Angel Food Ministries. It's not a hand-out, but rather a food co-op where they buy up large quantities of food and distribute it at a location which donates their space.They are able to keep the prices down because there is no overhead. We buy the standard box which contains several meats, rice or stuffing, shelf-stable milk, some vegetables, dry beans,perhaps some corn flakes, and a dessert(last month it was blueberry pie--yum!) We also buy a box full of just vegetables and fruits: cabbage, peppers, apples, grapefruits, oranges, celery. All the food is delicious and top quality. The only disadvantage that we've found is that you can't pick and choose the contents of your box. Everyone gets the same. But that doesn't bother me. I just make my menus around whatever we get.

They say the boxes will feed a family for a week, but since we don't eat a lot of meat our boxes last about 3 weeks. In fact, i still have some meat in the freezer that we got in April! We still have to shop for toiletries, paper products, and things like bananas and salad and yogurt. Since finding Angel Food I bet our grocery bill has dropped by $100 a month just because we aren't going into the store as much.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Not in the least. And as far as some stores putting something on sale, I usually comment to them that they are charging what the usual price "should" be. I'll buy a bunch of something when it's on sale. Outside of that, no savings at all. Prices are still out of whack. Four to five little bags at Walmart are over $100.

 

[Rora]

Ours has declined because I don't let us eat much

We try to buy things in bulk and buy lots of bags/boxes of fruits and veggies. We buy as much as we can on sale and try to not make a big meal for only the two of us.