OT are your grocery prices going up every | Arthritis Information

 

Went grocery shopping today. Every week, something we buy,a staple, has gone up again!

My girls only like one kind of apple juice, the store brand. No matter what is on sale, no matter how cheap or BOGO, I can only buy the store brand or they won't drink it. Once, when it was on sale, I bought so much, people were asking me if I had a daycare center!!!

The reg. size bottle went up from 1.49 to 1.59 to 1.79 little by little. Then jumped to 2.19!!!! They chug down one a day, even though I STILL put water in it if I make the cup for them.

Last month, the jumbo size jug was 3.99, so I started buying that. Equal to two 2.19 sizes, so a deal, plus it is so huge my older daughter can't pour it herself, so I get to water more down.

It was up to .49 today!!!! I called hubby right from the aisle, said you better keep adding water like I do, they don't complain!!!!

Also bought one box of Frosted Flakes for 4.19, and one box of store brand for 2.00 (on sale). The store brand bag is going in the Frosted Flakes box once they gobble that up. If they see store brand in that, they will say they do not like it, but in the Frosted Flakes box, they will never know.

Eggs were 2.49 for a dozen at Christmas. Milk was 3.99 today. I swear, it seems cheaper to eat out half the time, if you make anything the requires....ingredients!     

I'm  usually almost crying every time I shop. We have 2 kids and milk is driving me nuts. EVERYTHING is sky high. Meat is especially bad.   Our "adult" son lives here too and I noticed the box of Trix is empty again. Its about 3.50 a box. 

I'm trying to buy decent healthful bread and its almost a loaf.

Grapes are .99 a pound...  that's insane.  Grape tomatoes are .49 a pint.

shopping is hard enough without adding the emotional stress.

Yep...it's getting crazy, Especially if you try to eat organic like I do. Part of
the problem is the price of gas. That food has to get from point A to point B.

Like most of you, the grocery prices are terrible. The only good thing is that the milk isn't too bad, if you buy the store brand. I get a qt. FF for .59 and my bread is almost if I buy it at a certain store.  The roomies and I drive to this new store that we were told about. We only go once every two wks., but it saves us on food. The only trouble is that it's not close by and we have to drive 20 miles one way. It's kind of like a warehouse store but you can buy one piece of fruit if you want to. Most of the time I go to my local store and kiss my money good buy. If, I go to this other store called, Whole Foods, it's whole paycheck gone. I can get rid of a 0 bill very fast in that place. Don't go very often.

Marisa

I have to admit, I don't think I've seen this problem here.

 But its not to bad up here for milk, but we buy Organic soy milk for Kelsay and when I bought it last week for her it was 2/.00.  As far as food, i dont notice to much cause we dont shop at the "normal" grocery stores.  We go to Aldi's and spend about 0 max and it lasts us a good part of a month only having to go to the grocery store that is by us for milk,soy milk and dog food and I'll make another run to Aldi to get some more meat.

Whole Foods is SO EXPENSIVE. I shop a lot at this local yuppie organic chain
called Capers that was expensive already and it got bought by Whole Foods
and now the prices are insane. Last week they wanted to charge me .30
for TWO LEMONS. The only thing is their produce and stuff is so good I still
shop there sometimes, anyway. And they serve really good oatmeal before
11am.Gimpy-a-gogo39463.6334490741is 3.30 in candian?  if thats USD thats CRAZY!Well, the Canadian dollar is worth more or the same as USD these days, but
that was CDN.

Now that i have to try and block most gluten and dairy from my diet, my cereal purchase went from a box to about a box.  Now i am costing so much.

Not only that, but our fast food restaurants went up from the last time we were there and some meals at restaurants went up a or .

I think everyone went up for some reason.

Our store is having tons of BOGOs, too, but I live with three hard-to-please people.  When I am on a cereal kick, whatever is on sale is fine.  But no, hubby gets on Raisin Bran, and will drive to the store at midnight if we are out.  So I stockpile Raisin Bran, then he becomes obsessed with Cheerios.  Same with the girls - we were having "Out of Lucky Charms Meltdowns", until I bought Costco quantities that require adding square footage to your home.  Now only Frosted Flakes will do.   

The last time I priced grapes - .99/lb.  Didn't buy them.  Bought raisins for the kids and wine for me LOL. 

I do pretty good on the food bill. Living in southern California helps. The 99 cent only chain of stores often has organic produce of one kind or another. They always have peppers and avocados but they aren't organic. But I can't afford produce at regular grocery stores most of the time.

I buy organic baby carrots and celery at Costco. I buy chicken parts with no additives (99 cents a pound) and make soup. It is very easy and it tastes really good! I cannot afford organic eggs so I buy five dozen of regular eggs at a time at Costco. I get my onion and garlic, bulk chicken breasts with no added flavorings (they have kosher salt and that's it), ground sirloin prepackaged patties, honey, and frozen organic green beans at Costco.

I do get almond butter at Whole Foods, which is expensive, and vanilla extract that has no sugar. I get goat milk at the regular grocery store to make the yogurt for my son's and my diet. Sometimes the regular grocery store has good prices on squashes.

We don't drink any cow milk or eat any grains. So my food bill is more than most for those reasons.

Want to hear something really sad? We have relatives who live in a small Eastern North Dakota City and they ".99 a gallon" for 2% milk. In Fargo or Grand Forks they can purchase it for as little as .26 a gallon. Would you agree this is more than a bit outrageous??

They tell me it's because North Dakota is only one of three states that has a milk board which sets the minimum price a store can sell milk for. Competition doesn't seem to exist in this instance.

I found US prices quite cheap during our trip to New York but maybe that was due to our exchange rate. We tried not to convert but to see it as if we had dollars not pounds. I couldnt believe Starbucks though. We had a large latte, a large hot chocolate, A muffin and a danish and it was $ 8.00. That would be £4.00. over here it costs us £9.80 for the same food and drinks. I did buy oreo cookies and and little bite fudge brownies from a supermarket, the brownies were 2 boxes for .00 and if i was taking that on a one to one rate that would be VERY expensive. M & M' s were expensive there though.

Our food prices seem to have gone up too, especially bread and milk but so has our petrol . I think its a world wide thing

Last I checked, a gallon of WalMart brand milk was still under .....I'll look next time we're there, since we don't buy it anymore I'm probably wrong. LoL Here in my area (Chicago suburbs), milk is about /gallon, grapes are between .50 and /pound.  I haven't really noticed a huge increase in prices.  One thing that I do to keep a lid on grocery costs is I look up the weekly sales ads online, then plan the week's menu around the items that are on sale.  It also encourages me to try different stuff!

I almost always shop at Jewel, which is a regional grocery chain.  It is usually more expensive than Walmart and similar stores, but the employees are all union, they are paid a decent wage (many have been at my Jewel for a decade or more) and they get good benefits.

Coca-cola is the one thing I will buy no matter the cost.
Ooops! Correction required. Went back and read my reply and the price in Fargo or Grand Forks should have read .76 NOT .26.
I live in the south, in Alabama, close to the largest city, Birmingham. We're known for having a lower cost of living than most states but I swear, I don't know how anyone who draws a social security check and that's all survives. Seems like the cost of everything has gone up, even the "sale" prices are higher than the cost of the same item a few weeks ago. I think the drought conditions we've had over the summer are partly to blame. Then, there's always just plain ole greed too.We will not even buy fruit and veggies from a foreign country and the stores put signs on produce that is foreign and uses pesticides.  I am sure that the same items that are grown here are sprayed too, but by law it cannot be ddt, etc. It's just a chance we take I guess as everyone is there for a profit.
We also clip discount coupons and some store offer double at times.  And when the children were home and big milk consumers, we used to mix it half & half with powdered milk and they never knew the difference.  Also good for keeping the weight under control. I also made shakes with skim milk and low calorie instant pudding and added fruit and that made it quite delicious and healthy. Of course the pudding made it nice and thick. 
I can't believe that so many of you are feeding your families sugar cereals and you are paying dearly for that sugar. But ,we as Mom's love and spoil our families.  So easy to do!
Not ALL cereals are sugary. I grew up on corn flakes and LOVED them. Now, I buy all the Smart Heart cereals, and Special K, lots of the good ones. I'm going to try Kashi next. Seems like the healthier it is, the more I love it!




But anyway, I know one thing thats insanely pricey, and never used to be - LUNCH MEAT! We don't really use it that often (not recommended for the Crohns, and it has too much sodium for me) But we like to keep a little on hand to throw a quick sandwich together. You can't buy even a small pack around here for under . Am I the only one who remembers it MUCH cheaper? And not that long ago!

I live in the Houston area and while I do see a slight overall increase in my final grocery bill at the checkout, I think the price increases are being made on the "extras" and only slight increases. Milk is about 3.49 a gallon for Walmarts brand, more for Borden etc, I buy name brand bread for about 1.49 a loaf even though WM brand is still around a buck. Lunch meat and regular meat seems to be the same but being in TX I know that meat is pretty cheap here compared to the natl. avg.

One thing about Walmart is that if they cant bring it to you cheap, they dont carry it at all and lately the produce selection has sucked. I can still get the basics for veggies like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots...and then bananas...but any other fruit is sort of hit or miss. When there isnt much fruit to choose from I get canned fruit, applesauce, and frozen fruits.

We do have a Texas chain called HEB and they are just slightly more expensive overall than Walmart but with much better selection and quality and so we do go there once in a while too. The other nice thing about HEB is they carry more healthy selections and the service is great...they still carry your bags out to the car for you.

For those who are struggling, dont forget about Angel Foods...they arent the healthiest selections but you get about 75 dollars worth of food for 25 bucks.

Sugary cereals - definitely a calculated risk on my part!  Gets the most milk in them, plus those damn Tony Tigers have 25% of the RDA of tons of vitamins!  And many mornings they ask for seconds.  Calculated risk.

Paid .85 for Trix at an airport recently.  The cashier warned me, before she rang it up.  I was like, "It comes with milk, too, right?"  and she said yes.  Worth every penny.  My daughter ate every bite.  We had thrown out and wasted minburgers, pizza, etc., during this trip. 

And from today's paper - source is Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Basic goods cost more/ change from 2001 to 2007

eggs up 57.2%

milk up 30.3%

produce up 25.5%

bread up 24.5%

chicken up 16.9%

gas up up up up 91.9%

energy up 32.5%

My wife and I have the same budget we had for food when all 3 of our kids (lived)at home, and they have only been gone for a couple of years.
Three children grown and married with families of their own. Yet, as each child left the nest we found our grocery bill remained pretty much the same.

Tend to be a traditionalist in that I still cook/bake most foods from "scratch." However, the "scratch ingredients" aren't inexpensive. In checking prices there are times when buying frozen, canned or take-out would be less expensive BUT when reading the labels I still choose to be a traditionalist.


My hubby and I thought we could save some money by using coupons, but all we did was cover the difference between what the food cost us the week before and the higher price! Everything is going up--but not our pay!
Did everyone hear about what the President is proposing?? A stimulis for the economy----sending out checks to everyone. 0-800 for singles and 00 for couples!   I HOPE SO!!!! We sure could use that right now. I hope it gets passed.
Being disabled and living off that ( which isn't enough ) and my hubbys income--we can barely get by. And I have a son that will be ready fro college in 3 years!   YIKES!!I so wanted to respond to this at work yesterday but cannot logon.
Anyway, for the first time in years, I am starting to look at price labels. I
never paid attention to the prices as I figured I needed the food so why
worry. Well, I'm shocked at egg and milk prices. Really, everything.

I did want to add that bread is really cheap to make. But I cannot knead
dough with my crappy RA wrists but I do own a bread machine so that
does help.

And there are things we can do to help such as buying in bulk and
making more from scratch.

It is more time consuming to do this but it is healthier and way cheaper.

I make my own cleaning products which are a huge saving so I can now
put more of my dollars into food.

I would love to hear suggestions from people on how everyone else
saves. This could be a great thread.I save by using the commissary for dry, canned, frozen.  I realize that I'm lucky in that respect.  I use a small, neighborhood grocery store and meat market for meat.  The meat is the best and it's usually a little cheaper than the larger grocery stores.  I don't use boxed, already prepared foods due to ingredients.  Most meals are from scratch.  I also have access to very good fresh fruit and vegetables and I take advantage of the local produce.  By using the commissary I save about 20% over what I would pay at the grocery store.  We eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables so I probably blow that 20% savings there.  LindyLindy, you sound like me. But then, I don't have a bunch of mouths to feed
so we don't have quite the food expense as some families. I always shop
the periphery of the store. And...I buy ALL my spices in bulk as they are so
much cheaper, pennies compared to dollars. I am definitely watching prices
now and trying to hit the sales. a penny saved is a penny earned and that is
so true.

I have three teenagers in my house with large appetites. I also feed their friends if they are here (at least 3times a week). I go to our grocery outlet and buy whatever they have that we eat a lot of. I never know what they will have on their shelves. If they have a brand of cereal my family eats, I will buy 10 boxes of it. When they get balance gold bars in, they are 3/ while at reg. stores they are .79 apeice. I buy them by the case. Most of their foods are from costco and other neighborhood grocery stores and are getting close to expiring, so I am careful to look at dates and get things that can go in the freezer. I go to a reg. store for staples. One of my boys will not eat anything from a can or box, it has to be homemade.

Gotta run and throw a chicken in the oven....

I am sure it's a worldwide thing, the major increase here has been fuel. I had to pay £4.71 for a gallon of petrol/gas which I think equates to .42 a gallon.

We do however make our own bread which is loads cheaper but use a breadmaker. I also do our weekly food shop over the internet and have my groceries delivered, I actually find this works out cheaper as I plan my meals and you also resist the temptation to add extra items into the basket when out shopping.

On average we spend about £40.00 (.00) per week for all groceries thats food, toiletries, cleaning products etc for 2 adults and 2 cats.

Cooking from scratch is also loads cheaper and it's even cheaper when you can grow your own vegetables.

wouldn't even get me down the first 2 aisles of the supermarket.  There are 5 adults in the house (and 2 cats).  I do my fruit and veg shopping at a great discount shop and usually spend between -60 there.  About on meat next door.  And at the local NQR (Not Quite Right--- over productions, near useby dates, etc) another -40.  Then it's off the the supermarket for the bits that I couldn't get at these previous shops, another -80. 

I've taken this book I've read really seriously and plan on making a lot more of my cleaning things and cooking from scratch again and freezing extras.

I hardly take hubby shopping because he freaks out at the prices....even though its all stuff we need to eat and run the house.  It's better if he just sees the food in the pantry and the fridge and thinks the Grocery Fairy brought it.
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