Good grief, what is up with the price of groceries these days?

I went the grocery store this morning and wow was I in for a shock. In just three days prices have jumped! My naval oranges that I have been getting for 33 cents a piece jumped to 78 cents--in less than three days!!:wow:

And other things are just way over the top price wise. Something has definitely got to give. Many of us are strapped to the limit.:argh:

...and in the meantime, wages stay the same:mad:

What.The.Fuck??? :spank:

$5.89 at Albertson's.
I actually did a double take.

Bush is going to invade Wisconsin!

:rofl:

it is now WAY cheaper than cow's milk. Ridiculous.

I buy West Soy brand (the cheapest at my local grocery store), in bulk, when it's on sale. It keeps in the pantry for, literally, months and months. It's thinner than "real" milk but it works great for smoothies, cereal, cooking, etc.

Saudi Arabia. Having a FABULOUS time, by the looks of it.

this man has many psychological issues, he just loves seeing people suffer.

The prices shouldn't shock you that much! EVERYBODY makes money in Bush's America, especially off the poor and the middle class.

and the DOW is crashing... but the boys at the top cannot make that fucking connection!

people weren't paying their bills last month.

:wink:

guess we know who wins THAT battle! :grr:

They need to move all that food around; they also use oil to run the equipment to grow it.

That's "Peak Oil". And it won't get any better.

--p!

most of which is made from petroleum these days.

The US imports a lot of food from abroad - all those out of season fruits and vegetables, processed foods, etc., and the dollar has lost a lot of its value. Plus, I suspect processed foods used packaging made abroad, or other components.

Thanks a lot, George.

On the good news side, my one cabbage plant from last year is putting out its 3rd head, and the orange tree finally recovered from the massive pruning. Time to think about the spring garden.

Silly humans.

in just a few weeks' time.. :eyes:

eggs are now 3.50 for a dozen mediums at the local albertsons! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now can we :evilgrin:

Make "home cooking" more expensive, and those 99-cent "meal deals" look better and better..don;t they? :evilgrin:

the negative effects from the shit we eat. We will all be slaves to the system when they are done with us, that is if we don't get thrown in a detention camp for saying something they didn't like on a message board.

Gas is at $3.30. How can food stay the same? Thank you FUCKING GWB!

Some chew bone treats that were $2.79 for two are now $3.49.

now costs $3.50

Everything comes back to the cost of energy and the greed of those with the power to control it. EVERYTHING.

Some of it might be greed though.

My grocery discovered that the day old bread they gave away to organizations, could be sold at a discount. As a senior that was a delight to me, because I don't often use the programs that get the day old bread. So I was able to buy holiday cookie packages for $.25 and some of the more exotic breads for $.89 and a regular decent loaf of bread not the cheap air puffed crap I normally can afford, for $.59. It stretched my budget dollar very nicely.

Now the holiday cookie packages go for $1.25 and some of the more exotic breads for $1.89 and regular bread loaves are $1.29. Those are still better prices, but they keep raising the prices in an effort just to see how high they can raise the discount prices.

Puts tomato flavor in every bite of the salad, and, when dried out some, is wonderful topping hot sandwiches and in pasta. The wonderful Desert Glory cherry tomatoes go for $2.50 a bag if I shop carefully, twice that for people who buy them in the luxury stores.

have gone up and why so many people are noticing.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/BUSINESS10/801150331

Food prices increase by 5.4%

this disgusting regime wants to push us into the "Dark Age", which we are marching towards everyday that this stupid man stays in office. He is a menace/threat to society.

Heard on the radio this morning that inflation is up 7 percent or so in one year and meanwhile our SS checks got a big 2 percent boost.

Maybe the Cheney-Bush crime syndicate has decided to solve the Social Security "problem" by starving us to death. I've never applied for food stamps but this go-round may drive me to it.

I didn't catch the name, but a very Arabic sounding voice was on the news this morning saying OPEC will start pumping more oil "when the market indicates this would be a good thing to do" or words to that effect.

Don't we just wish we could still ship foodstuffs by rail instead of by eighteen-wheeler. But no, trains don't use enough oil/coal to keep the BigEnergy guys happy.

The price of gas is factored into everything we buy. Gold is over $900 an ounce. The dollar is in freefall. We can't afford anything we have to import. Seen the price of spices?

Plant a veggie garden.

And there are people who think adding 10 to 30 percent tax on every purchase is a better idea than income tax.

commodities prices are WAY up, oil is WAY up ( but may come down as the recession locks in ) the dollar is in WAY down and going lower on rate cuts ( witch are not helping ) the credit market is deteriorating at an unprecedented rate and the housing market is STILL 12 to 18 months from the bottom!!! tighten your belt and start learning NOW to get by with less because soon you will be forced to do just that. this is going to hurt!!! ( and politicians CANT fix it! ) ( they created the problem )

That's the worst economic situation to be in. And I still don't hear about federal jobs programs. Not training for jobs that don't exist, but employment itself.

the one who in large part created this mess, sits back and says "recession's coming, suckers".

We've paved over vast tracts of farmland and cut our food production capacity, and now import prices are spiking. On top of that, huge swaths of land are being converted for ethanol production. THat means less food production, and higher prices for the food that is produced.

Where do I start?

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Great method for beginners, as it keeps you from getting too overwhelmed with so much space to take care of.

And the suppliers jack up everything else in response. Welcome to America by BushCo. The rich get richer, and those who aren't get the royal screw. Minimum wage just went up for the first time in years, and is sorely dragging behind the rate of inflation. And let's not even get into the housing crisis. We're in an economic shambles right now.

The oil tycoons take over the government and the piss trickles down your leg.

The PRICE of groceries these days!

x(
rocknation

the amount included in the package has declined! The Corporations think they are being so tricky by keeping the price the same, but cutting the amount. My lemon-essenced prunes went from 12 oz. to 8 oz. I see it everywhere...paper towels, toilet paper....keep your eyes open...everything is getting smaller!

to 45 minutes?


dp

yes, since my consumables have been downsized, I can no longer work an hourly wage...must be a 3/4 hour wage!!! And then the worker bees may actually get to participate in that great 'family value' time at home!

Using old cookbooks must be really hard these days.. Lots of my old ones call for "a can" or "package" of whatever..Gotta know how many ounces USED to be in that can these days :)

I haven't even been thinking about that.

wonder how long THAT price will last? they've already cut the sizes down.

I chose not to raise children.

You've got oil hovering around $100/barrel, gas and diesel prices through the roof. That means the price of producing and transporting the food we eat is also way up. Then you've got the corn-ethanol debacle, which is a great windfall for farmers (and God knows it's about time they got one) but a disaster for everyone else. Prices for corn, wheat and soybeans are at or near all-time highs, and (big surprise) there's also big new demand for acreage for growing all three. The fucked up weather hasn't helped things. There's no perfect solution, but buying local/organic when possible promotes an agriculture that's healthier and less wasteful of resources.

due to crop failures (drought) in australia & elsewhere. Not oil.

The other part of the deal on wheat is that farmers have been taking acreage out of wheat production and shifting it to corn, because the ethanol scam has driven corn prices throught the roof. Less wheat means higher prices. Same's true with soybeans.

Diesel prices are up because of higher oil prices.

Also, farmers this past year planted a record crop of corn on land that used to be planted with wheat and soybeans to cash in on the ethanol boom. And the ethanol boom is occurring because of the high oil prices.

When you follow the arrows, you start to realize just how everything in our society is influenced by our addiction to oil.

A wholesale index was up 6.3% for 2007. I know that's understated; but they usually claim about a 2% inflation.

food is not calculated into core inflation. There is no inflation and they can cut interest rates again!

:sarcasm:

:popcorn:

There was an article on that subject in our local paper today.

is 2 euros for 4 litres here in France. So about 3 us dollars a gallon.

or nearly $8 for a gallon.....Which should have the hair standing up and every American feeling like things aren't nearly so bad. Except, I have to work about 5 minutes to earn the money to buy a liter of milk, and 20 minutes to earn a gallon - after taxes. And while I am a professional with a post-graduate degree, with a salary to match, I'm pretty early in my career, and am at nearly basic pay.

The only way to compare prices between countries is to check how long it would take for an average worker to earn enough money to buy the item. How long would the average American have to work to earn enough to buy a gallon of milk, versus a French worker, or in my case, a Norwegian one.

it takes me 4 minutes for 2 euro at one job to get a gallon, 8 minutes to get it with my other job here, so 6 minutes on average. I am a young teacher. I make 18,000 us dollars a year after tax 12, 500 euro but we pay much less for universities, health care etc. than in the usa.

My gf gets four 1-litre boxes for 1 euro.

$2.00/gal.

http://www.save-a-lot.com/

Just check the labels when your there, some of the stuff is nasty.

Great dairy and egg prices tho.

Maybe this doesn't apply to other parts of the country, but here in California we have some year-'round farmer's markets. I used to pay a little more there, but knew I was getting certified organic produce. Now, I'm paying LESS, while getting freshly-picked, organic, locally-grown stuff. I avoid the supermarket produce now, and I've never paid for shipped-in Chilean produce. I've gone to the Dollar and 99-cent stores for cheap goods, but most of that stuff is from China, so now that's pretty much out. There's still Grocery Outlet and places like that. And the suggestion upthread about growing your own is a good idea, too. Avoid being enslaved by The Man whenever you can.

has raised their prices, and they were the last bastion of economic food. i've been shopping there for the last 20 years and have really noticed it.

My town looks just like this right now. Farmers markets won't open till late May, early June. :-(



The only one with fresh food, is The Man.

Born and raised in New England, emigrated to Cali over 16 years ago. Hang tough, and I wish I could offer you advice other than farmer's markets. But seriously, once they do open for you, I really am finding fresh, local, organic stuff to be a cheaper option now, now that the cost to bring the commercial food to market has increased so much.

I tell you Blue_Roses - when they're cheap and you get a bad one you just say MEH and toss - but when they are a buck a piece it really pisses you off :o

I caught my daughter throwing one in the trash 'cause she thought it was rotten! I freaked out and told her to not do that until I saw it first! Hell, there's always fruit salad or I'll even eat the damn thing, just to keep from wasting it! It's a damn shame it has brought us to this craziness. Next thing you know, I'll be digging it out of the trash!:crazy:

yes - now I very much understand why my dad (enlisted man with six kids) hollered so much when we wasted food or electicity! :o

grown in Corsica or Spain go for 4.50 to 6 dollars a kilo here so 2 to 2.8 dollars a pound

Prior to Bush I used to have folding money. Now all I have left is change.

Looks like we are in for the long haul.

On the brighter side: Thank the Repubs that we are not in a recession! :crazy:

Hear in CT at the local grocery...$6.99 a pd...
sigh...I love grapes...but no can do...

I went to the grocery this afternoon, and was able to pick up another 2 gallons of milk for 4 bucks. The store actually had a sale on white bread @ $1. a loaf.

Oranges here are at 4 for $1.

Don't quite get it. Why has Indiana escaped the ridiculously high prices? (Well, they are ridiculously for high us)

Is it the cost of shipping? Or what they figure the average person would be willing to pay?

Maybe it it advantageous to be in the midwest? Dunno.

the US. I only buy US-grown grapes, and try to avoid all foreign-grown produce.

I grew up eating grapes, but now, forget it! Too much!

2, we have been living on cereal, milk, mac 'n cheese, and canned fruit for the better part of 4 months. I cannot tell you the last time I was able to afford "real" food. The good news is, I have lost weight.

So everything's OK and don't believe your lying eyes.

Now enough questions, just go shopping. :evilgrin:

...a fleecing.

Red bell peppers are $3/pound and tomatoes are $3.50/pound. Lettuce is also getting expensive so I buy the bagged lettuce. The cost of milk is going up too so I buy it less often. I shop at Aldi and Save A Lot most of the time, but sometimes go to Costco for bulk meat purchases. I rarely go to regular grocery stores because the prices are too high. The produce is not very good at Aldi or Save A Lot but fresh produce is expensive at regular grocery stores so I have to take my chances.

its unreal. I expect to start seeing it in restaurant prices now, too.

3.50 in dollars a pound for ungassed local grown here in the Var.

It's costing more to get food from the field to the store.

If you buy meat, feed for the animals is costing more (again because of transport and storage).

:hug: the PRICE OF GAS has skyrocketed & it's going to hit everybody HARD.

& my friends think I've gone batshit.

The increasing price of oil is making everything that involves oil and gasoline more expensive.

:hug:

:pals: :yourock: I think you just made my day, just by being here.

I hate being right.

handwashing dishes. No drycleaning, everything has to be wash and wear and I don't wash clothes as often. Thermostat is set at 65 day, 60 night. I'm saving pennies and the costs are doubling...

and the same items that, two years ago, cost me around $75, and two WEEKS ago cost me $150, YESTERDAY cost me $209. This is bare minimum grocery shopping for a family of five, and I purchased no meat, and the only dairy was two gallons of milk and a container of cottage cheese.

I LOVE cottage cheese, but it has gone up so much that I can't afford the "extra" right now. It went from $1.99 to $2.90 in what seemed over night.:argh:

It was actually cheaper to burn marks than buy firewood with them.



I'm checking the tires on my wheelbarrow, and investing all of my money in those "Forever" stamps.

it's been going this direction for at least the last 6 months or so, ever since gas started to skyrocket. very very bad for the fixed income person - i feel for them:(

ANd the items which have not increased in price have dropped in size or volume.

Watch for the high priced non-essential impulse buy goods to go on sale. That is when you will know that the buying public has stopped buying them because they have had to do major 'trimming' to their shopping budgets.

my daughter was excited because she found a dollar on the floor, figuring she could buy herself a toy. That is, she was excited until she found out that except for candy bars, $1 can buy hardly anything anymore...even at Wally World. :cry:

putting another 50 cent surtax on gas also. The truckers will never be able to survive.

Wait until they shut down their trucks and nothing moves. That's coming next. Prices we have for groceries now will look like prices from 1955.

Ninety percent of everything in this country moves by truck. I listen to the some of the trucker channels and they are getting ready to revolt. We are on our way to 1929.

sent citrus prices up, even if your oranges came from California or Texas (or points farther south).

Everyone I know says the same thing. Unreal.

A pound and a quarter of stew meat was over $4. It's insane. I had four plastic bags of groceries, and it was $75, and that's for one person. I can't imagine trying to feed a family these days.

Arby's 5 for $5 is now 5 for $7


I have noticed size shrinkage in canned foods, loaves of bread, cereal boxes, etc...all with higher prices.

Off with their god-dammed heads!

Almost a dollar for a fucking cuke - unbelievable...

If navel oranges have doubled in price, it is time to take a break from them. In our part of the country, we grow apples. If I were to buy an orange (navel or not), it'd cost me dearly. We can't grow those here - they're essentially out of season at more than $1/pound. I buy them briefly in the fall when the price drops down to a reasonable level.

One way to help keep the grocery bill down is to buy less processed food. Cook more from scratch. Buy fruit and vegetables that are in season locally. Buy loss-leaders. Use a price book to track prices. Buy in bulk and freeze. Learn how to freeze meals ahead of time (on weekends) and use them like you would a prepackaged meal.

I'm seeing a big increase in processed foods, but not such a high jump in staples. We're not a huge consumer of dairy products in our household - we drink soy milk. The price of a case of shelf-stable soy milk from Costco is still $11.99 and has been for at least three years now. We do eat some yogurt, but not enough to make/break our grocery budget. I still use cheese as well, but buy it in bulk and shred most of the block for future use (freezes well). Things like eggs I get from my small suburban flock, although they're currently taking a bit of a break so I'm simply not using more than about 4 eggs/week. I use them if I have them, but tend not to use them if I have to buy them. A dear friend has several dozen hens on her farm, so if mine don't start popping out some soon, I will ask her for some of hers.

Anyone that has any sort of growing space in their yard and a wee bit of interest can garden during the summer. I plant my plot (square foot gardening, way less space and way less work) in the spring and then tinker around in it a hour or so a week during the summer. It supplies me with all sorts of what would be otherwise expensive vegetables and fruit, which we either eat or freeze or can, depending on the type. I even grow some french market carrots (the size of a small ping pong ball) in carrots throughout the season in containers, because I can't be bothered to devote a lot of space to them and because their soil needs to be pretty fine.

Buying a tomato for $3/pound in the winter doesn't make sense - the tomato is going to be completely tasteless anyway.

Break things up into me-sized portions, bag/food saver it and freeze. I've cut processed foods almost entirely out of my diet, save for crappy fast food (my one vice, though I've been better about that too lately)--I'm healthier, and I'm saving money to boot.

I'll go to Trader Joe's or Sunflower Market (I call the latter Whole Foods without Whole Foods prices) for staples like bread and milk (I can't drink a gallon fast enough by myself).

I'm single and don't have children though. I don't know how families with children are making it.

I do the same thing, Chovexani. I buy bulk whenever I can, even just for me because the cost/unit is much less.

One thing that irritates me about bulk packaging sometimes though is say you buy cake mix and there are three batches in a Costco-sized box. I hate to get the box home and find three smaller boxes inside. x( all that costly, time-consuming packaging. :grr:

I don't get why companies package bulk items that way, except that they think it would cost too much to come up with a separate method of bulk packaging for warehouse clubs. :eyes:

I like the ones that just shrink wrap the smaller packages together. So much less waste that way.

With true inflation being about 10% and Social Security increase at 2%, the price of Soylent Green should be coming down soon.

Anyone have any recipes for eating the rich?

We may have to stop reading the news because we can't afford to:puke: anymore

When I say agriculture, I don't mean Conagra, ADM, Cargil, Monsanto and the handful of other giant corporate agri-business players who are increasingly dominating and controlling our food supply. I am talking about the thousands of small farmers struggling to survive and on the verge of going under.

Agriculture is not some niche special interest for those involved directly in farming, as we are being led to believe. The "special interest" group that should be concerned with agricultural issues is the eaters. The festering and neglected problems in agriculture, all of them caused directly or indirectly by the abuse and corruption of the public agriculture system by corporate players, are now starting to be reflected on the grocery shelf.

I was very impressed the other night to hear Elizabeth Edwards, in an informal give and take, talk very knowledgably about the need for breaking up vertical monopolies in agriculture - control of food from field to consumer by a handful of big players. Edwards is the first candidate in decades to seriously address the problems in farming, and to offer practical solutions.

Edwards is promising severe caps and reductions on farm subsidies to the big corporate players who now suck off most of the public support for agriculture, funding for training the next generation of small farmers, funding for conservation and environmentally sound farming practices, enforcement of the laws regulating food imports, implementation of fair trade policies, investment in the rural infrastructure that supports small family farmers, breaking up of the monopoly control over the food supply by the few, farming related jobs programs, restoration and strengthening of food safety inspection and food research programs and many other progressive and practical steps to protect, strengthen and improve our agricultural infrastructure.

No other candidates, and few politicians are effectively addressing the critical food crisis we are facing, because only Edwards is going to the root cause of the problems - the ongoing destruction of our ability to sustainably and reliably and safely feed ourselves, all for the sake of world domination of food by a handful of big money players.

We live in a unique time in history, with most of our population 3-4 generations removed from the farm, and with a small percentage of the population still involved in agriculture and with moist people deeply ignorant about and alienated from farming. We have been trained to see farming as just another "sector" of the economy, another widget manufacture on the "free market" and to see food as just another commodity, another consumer product. This puts us at great peril, because food is not optional, it is not a discretionary purchase, it is a necessity every bit as much as air and water are. Food production is an essential public resource, and throwing it into the anything-goes "free market" paradigm for the benefit of the few is the most dangerous thing we have faced over the last 30 years or so. We are getting closer and closer to the reality of serious food shortages, and Americans are not prepared for this because we have been taking food for granted for so long.

A small number of big players now control our food supply, and they are driving prices to farmers down, and prices to consumers up - because they can. NAFTA, and a complete lack of enforcement and inspection of the tidal wave of questionable food pouring in from China have crippled the farmers in Canada, the US and Mexico. Keep in mind that it is American corporate interests who are financing and directing the export of Chinese agricultural products into the US. As indigenous people are driven from their traditional agricultural communities in Latin America by US corporate players, they are in desperation heading north and many are hiring on with small farmers, who are in a critical labor shortage situation. I do not want to get sidetracked into arguments about immigration, rather I would encourage people to see all of these problems as interrelated and to not jump to simple-minded conclusions about the problems. All of us are in the same boat: small farmers, eaters, workers, no matter on which side of which border a person happens to be.

Traditional, cooperative and sustainable agricultural communities are under total assault by the corporations, both here and around the world. It is the last frontier for corporations in their drive toward complete domination and control over our lives. If we lose control of food production, we have lost all power and control over our lives.