What’s your grocery bill nowadays?

[dvcgirl67]

This winter is going to be very concerning for those of you that live in cold climates. I’ve also read to expect brown outs this Summer across the Midwest and west. If that the case I’d be hesitant to stock up on food in the freezer unless you have a generator.
I expect gas to be 6.00 a gallon within the next month we’re already at 5.60.

I just mentioned this to my husband....that we shouldn't stock up due to a very hot summer and possible brown-outs. We're in the northeast, but it wouldn't surprise me if had some as well.

 

[AprilsZoo]

You're joking right. This is the worst inflation we've had in 40 years. Gas is at an all-time high, credit card debt is off to the moon, savings is at the lowest it's been in 13 years. People's 401k's are on their way to becoming 101k's and this party is just getting started. To answer the original question. Of course, my food bill along with every other bill has gone up. Whose hasn't?

Yeah, that’s what I said… “sometimes it’s worse”. Guess I should’ve said, “sometimes it’s worse, and right now is one of those times.” I figured, given the framing of the overall discussion, it didn’t need to be specifically spelled out.
Mea culpa.

 

[LuvOrlando]

This thread reminded me of my family using food stamps in the 70's when it was a pad of rainbow colored money & we shopped at a big store that only sold this. Later Pathmark bought it I think at first, it was it's own thing, the Iced Tea was such a treat. Anyone else remember?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This thread reminded me of my family using food stamps in the 70's when it was a pad of rainbow colored money & we shopped at a big store that only sold this. Later Pathmark bought it I think at first, it was it's own thing, the Iced Tea was such a treat. Anyone else remember?

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Yes! The early generics. And let’s not forget the orange ‘government’ cheese!

 

[Lilsia]

What do you mean price gouging? Grocery is one of the lowest margin businesses out there. I think most companies have a net profit margin of < 5%.

You are joking right? Maybe the small Mom and Pop places are feeling the squeeze, but the majority of grocery stores are huge, multi billion dollar companies. One of the biggest in the midwest is Hy-Vee. They have an average annual sales of $12 billion a year. Their executives make an average of a quarter of a million dollars each year, plus bonuses. Each store manager makes about 1/2 that, plus bonuses. And they pay out a bit to their employees. They are not hurting for money at all. They have been overcharging for their products for decades. The least that they could do is not raise their priced during this time.

 

[Lilsia]

Yes! The early generics. And let’s not forget the orange ‘government’ cheese!

In Chicago, they handed out the government cheese and the powdered milk to seniors. The government cheese block was not good, until it aged a bit.

 

[AprilsZoo]

I would suggest stocking up on food it’s only going to get worse.

Our church leaders have long advocated having a year’s supply of food and essentials on hand at all times (or as much as you can financially manage, or in some parts of the world as much as is legally permitted). It does take a lot of time to build that up without going into debt. And you have to be organized with rotating products so nothing goes bad.

Much of our emergency food storage was canned product that was part of a kit/system we bought into. When we needed to use our stores for a few months following a job loss & move, we learned the importance of “store what you eat”. We had a lot of dry beans and other stuff that have a long shelf life. But we don’t use many beans in our meals, and I don’t love cooking with them. Until I got my Instant Pot a few years ago, I had a really hard time cooking with beans. So I had to re-work much of our food storage to reflect things I would actually use and we would actually eat.

 

[CdnCarrie]

A lot of doom and gloom here.
Yes our groceries have gone up as has gas but our car insurance and property taxes went down. We got rebates from education taxes and car insurance. My union got me retro 8% raise plus small increases for the next 4 years.
Overall we doing okay.

 

[kanerf]

To the Moon, Alice, to the moon! Seriously, I was looking at breakfast cereal today and while it used be around 3-$4 a box, now approaching $7. Milk too, has approached $10 a gallon.

 

[penn19]

You are joking right? Maybe the small Mom and Pop places are feeling the squeeze, but the majority of grocery stores are huge, multi billion dollar companies. One of the biggest in the midwest is Hy-Vee. They have an average annual sales of $12 billion a year. Their executives make an average of a quarter of a million dollars each year, plus bonuses. Each store manager makes about 1/2 that, plus bonuses. And they pay out a bit to their employees. They are not hurting for money at all. They have been overcharging for their products for decades. The least that they could do is not raise their priced during this time.

Yea that’s not how any of this works. What do you think executives should make? $15 an hour? Is that too much?

 

[CdnCarrie]

To the Moon, Alice, to the moon! Seriously, I was looking at breakfast cereal today and while it used be around 3-$4 a box, now approaching $7. Milk too, has approached $10 a gallon.

Woah!
My husband bought large box of Special K yesterday and it was $4.77!
4 liters of milk $4.99.

 

[JaxDad]

This thread reminded me of my family using food stamps in the 70's when it was a pad of rainbow colored money & we shopped at a big store that only sold this. Later Pathmark bought it I think at first, it was it's own thing, the Iced Tea was such a treat. Anyone else remember?

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It just reminds me of the movie Repo Man.

 

[Lilsia]

Yea that’s not how any of this works. What do you think executives should make? $15 an hour? Is that too much?

My point is that grocery stores are not just "getting by". They make plenty of profit that they don't need to charge such exorbitant prices. If you have ever left the Country, you will see that Americans pay a lot more for their groceries then many other first world Countries do. They have been price gauging us for decades. The same way that they do for medicine. And yet you have a bleeding heart for these poor grocery stores. Maybe we should set up a go fund me for Walmart, they just have to be hurting right about now.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

It's a LOT now, I don't track it because I don't want to know. I live in a small town, we have a little grocery store, like a mom and pop place, and then if I want to go to a bigger store it's about 30 minutes away. Our little store is charging $4 for a can of progresso soup! Lol, everything has gone up but for some reason I got serious sticker shock over the soup. My son and I love Progresso Minestrone (don't make fun of us, we don't exactly have sophisticated palates!) and it's a staple in our house. I literally always have Progresso minestrone soup in my pantry and we eat a meal of minestrone and grilled cheese at least once a week here. But there was no way I will pay $4 for a little can of soup. It's $2 at Target.

 

[pigletto]

It's a LOT now, I don't track it because I don't want to know. I live in a small town, we have a little grocery store, like a mom and pop place, and then if I want to go to a bigger store it's about 30 minutes away. Our little store is charging $4 for a can of progresso soup! Lol, everything has gone up but for some reason I got serious sticker shock over the soup. My son and I love Progresso Minestrone (don't make fun of us, we don't exactly have sophisticated palates!) and it's a staple in our house. I literally always have Progresso minestrone soup in my pantry and we eat a meal of minestrone and grilled cheese at least once a week here. But there was no way I will pay $4 for a little can of soup. It's $2 at Target.

For me the shock was the family sized box of Cheerios at our regular grocery store. $10.29. For Cheerios. I didn’t buy them of course. They are on sale for $6.49 at another store we frequent this week. That’s better but still high.

I use a zero based budgeting system and have tracked what goes in and out of our account to the penny for years, so I know exactly what categories have increased. The short answer is, almost all of them.

 

[ronandannette]

another factor will be increased property taxes for many homeowners-our area just received our newest assessed valuation notices. 35% increase in assessed value on our place which will result in a noticeable increase in taxes come 2023 (not even considering any increased taxes or new levies that get implemented by then). i'll still count myself as lucky on this though-my home's assessed value is 275% higher than the one we sold in california in '06 but we still pay less than 50% of the property taxes we were paying there as far back as 1999.

My gut has clinched a little the last two years when reading our Tax Assessment. We live in a condo and the multi-family market here isn't near as robust as single-family. Seeing the valuation currently lower than what we paid 8 years ago at the very peak of prices is unsettling. Really winning at tax time though! Even though rates have gone up in our city, my bill is only $200 higher than it was last year. Praise the Lord!

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Oh so true and I simply DO NOT understand why official sources refuse to acknowledge the real-life situation we're dealing with.

Woah!
My husband bought large box of Special K yesterday and it was $4.77!
4 liters of milk $4.99.

That's a good deal. I just bought the larger box of Red Berries (700g instead of 620g) last week for twice that. Whole milk at the Superstore here is $6.10 for 4l.

 

[CdnCarrie]

My gut has clinched a little the last two years when reading our Tax Assessment. We live in a condo and the multi-family market here isn't near as robust as single-family. Seeing the valuation currently lower than what we paid 8 years ago at the very peak of prices is unsettling. Really winning at tax time though! Even though rates have gone up in our city, my bill is only $200 higher than it was last year. Praise the Lord!

Oh so true and I simply DO NOT understand why official sources refuse to acknowledge the real-life situation we're dealing with.

That's a good deal. I just bought the larger box of Red Berries (700g instead of 620g) last week for twice that. Whole milk at the Superstore here is $6.10 for 4l.
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My husband got the cereal (570 grams) and milk (1%) at Safeway.
I checked the receipt after reading this thread!

 

[DCLMP]

Our church leaders have long advocated having a year’s supply of food and essentials on hand at all times (or as much as you can financially manage, or in some parts of the world as much as is legally permitted). It does take a lot of time to build that up without going into debt. And you have to be organized with rotating products so nothing goes bad.

Much of our emergency food storage was canned product that was part of a kit/system we bought into. When we needed to use our stores for a few months following a job loss & move, we learned the importance of “store what you eat”. We had a lot of dry beans and other stuff that have a long shelf life. But we don’t use many beans in our meals, and I don’t love cooking with them. Until I got my Instant Pot a few years ago, I had a really hard time cooking with beans. So I had to re-work much of our food storage to reflect things I would actually use and we would actually eat.

I'll have to look into purchasing an Insta pot. I have a crock pot which I love. I'm going to have to learn to do more with beans and rice, more casseroles, and such things. You know stretch the meat. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and my mom was a master at it. My kids are spoiled when it comes to eating. It's not something we've ever had to be concerned about.

 

[DCLMP]

Oh so true and I simply DO NOT understand why official sources refuse to acknowledge the real-life situation we're dealing with.

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They don't care about us peasants.

 

[DCLMP]

My point is that grocery stores are not just "getting by". They make plenty of profit that they don't need to charge such exorbitant prices. If you have ever left the Country, you will see that Americans pay a lot more for their groceries then many other first world Countries do. They have been price gauging us for decades. The same way that they do for medicine. And yet you have a bleeding heart for these poor grocery stores. Maybe we should set up a go fund me for Walmart, they just have to be hurting right about now.

I've left the country and that hasn't been my experience at all. What out of the blue grocery stores just decided to gouge everyone... because why again? You do realize that the USA is not the only country with rampant inflation. It's happening everywhere. I think you really need to spend some time studying economics and geopolitics.