Wow! Food Prices Are Through the Roof!

swampwitch

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
7,753
Purraise
158
Location
Tall Trees & Cold Seas Vancouver Island
A few months ago, we paid $9.99 for a jar of Babe's honey; now it's $12.99 for the same 1 kg. jar!

The "store brand" of maple syrup used to be $15.99, but you could get it on sale for a couple of dollars less. Yesterday, the same 1 litre syrup is $21.99!

Those are the only sugars we buy; holy cow!

What are some the big increases you've seen in foods you buy?
 

natalie_ca

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
21,136
Purraise
223
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Everything is so pricey! I can't afford to buy meat anymore so I switched to a vegetarian diet. I mean $23.00 for 7 chicken breasts!!!! OMG! Even lean ground beef has nearly doubled in price from a couple years ago.

I'm also lactose intolerant so I have to have lactaid milk and soy products. Because they are 'vogue' items these days, the price has gone up too. Soy "ice cream" used to be $4.69. Last time I was at Safeway I think it was $5.99. And 2 litres of lactaid milk is $4.64.
 

cc12

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
3,370
Purraise
4
Location
Pacific Northwest
I used to go pick up a rotisserie chicken when I did not feel like cooking. It went up 2 dollars!
I can't get out of the store for under a 100 dollars anymore.
My daughter is allergic to dairy and gluten.
 

tierre0

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 17, 2007
Messages
7,256
Purraise
1
Location
on the shores of Georgian Bay
We get the same thing here as well this time of year..Right at the beginning of tourist season all the stores jack up their prices to make extra during our peak time which runs from May 24th to Thanksgiving...

It is really annoying because in the space of about a week your grocery bill can jump $30-$50. They do go back down a bit in the fall but still it's a big jump for those of us that live here year round..
 

lookingglass

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
11,090
Purraise
4
Location
On the 12th floor
I'm going to be totally honest. We've decreased our grocery bill by almost half buy cooking all of our food from scratch. DH and I eat an Organic, Whole Food lifestyle and it was getting expensive. So with planning and a whole day of cooking we get more food out of buying less. I know it doesn't make sense, but we've been able to make it work.
 

cc12

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
3,370
Purraise
4
Location
Pacific Northwest
Jumps in prices are irritating. I think it is crazy. Because of m daughter's dietary issues I have to buy specialized food. It is highway robbery in my opinion.
 

calico2222

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 9, 2004
Messages
7,731
Purraise
41
Location
Over the river and through the woods...
I agree, it's insane! But, it all comes down to gas prices. It costs more to ship, so the suppliers have to charge more to pay for the gas to ship, and the stores have to charge more to pay the suppliers. Everything seems to be going up....except my salary!

We finally got a garden in this year, mainly because of the cost of food (and we LOVE fresh vegatables) and we're probably going to go in with DH's cousin on half a beef from a local farm. At $1.50/lb it's the best bet, and it's fresh. We're also thinking about raising our own chickens for eggs. The cost of everything is just getting unreal!
 

gailc

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
11,567
Purraise
13
Location
Wisconsin
I made my veg garden a little bit larger this year (and its large already).
One of the local grcoery stores marks down the meat from their meat counter by about half but it has to be frozen within the next day or so. So Wed I stopped by (early morning about 8 am) and picked up quite a bit and I have a food saver thing that sucks out the air and froze about 20#!! Then June is Dairy month in Wisconsin so some great deals on cheese-esp for cooking so the freezer is well stocked. If there is an item-esp non pershible and its on sale I'm really stocking up now.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

swampwitch

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
7,753
Purraise
158
Location
Tall Trees & Cold Seas Vancouver Island
Here's from one of my typical daily shopping trips:

.910 kg royal gala apples\t3.99
.430 kg spartan apples\t1.41
2.175 kg bananas\t6.18
.595 kg red crimson grapes\t3.92
mangoes (2)\t 4.36
oaty bites cereal\t3.99
stash herbal tea\t3.99
peace river honey\t6.29
.160 kg bulk coffee\t4.78
canola oil \t2.99
twinings tea\t6.59
six bagels\t4.59
stash tea\t4.99
fruit spread\t3.29
fruit spread\t3.29
cottage cheese\t2.79
pint ben & jerry's ice cream\t6.79
amy's mac and cheese\t3.49
amy's mac and cheese\t3.49
chicken\t12.59
.175 kg. dried mango\t\t4.36
cheddar cheese\t5.99

credit for bags -.06
credit tare for acss co (?) -.35

TOTAL: $102.38
 

butzie

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 22, 2007
Messages
5,299
Purraise
1
Location
Secret Santa Land
I love to cook and the prices are killing me! I used to plan my menus first before I shopped daily, too - but now I shop the specials. If there are special prices on staples that can keep and they are really much cheaper, I buy them. We have a big pantry.

I stood behind a woman the other day who bought 3 filet mignons. At $24.99 per pound, it was $81.00.


Tonight we are going to the ball game and don't get me started about prices there.
 

tara g

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
5,678
Purraise
96
Location
On the farm
Wow, I haven't noticed any real price increases here. Seems like I've been paying the same since I started cooking more a year or two ago. I guess maybe I'll notice it more when I have bigger shopping lists (we might cook 2-3x / week right now). Everything still seems the same to me though.
 

babyharley

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
25,708
Purraise
2
Location
Minnesota
Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I mean $23.00 for 7 chicken breasts!!!! OMG! .


I can get a bag of about 7 really good sized ones, in a bag, frozen, for $6.97 & I thought that was spendy


Things around here aren't that bad, I've not noticed anything really too drastic, I get all my groceries at WalMart
 

krazy kat2

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 14, 2001
Messages
8,085
Purraise
41
Location
Somewhere in Georgia
Do you shop at Bi-Lo, Tara and Rob? Their main hub is in in Mauldin, SC so their prices have not gone up much in the nearby states. I wish we had one here. The Wal-Mart that is supposed to be so cheap is now the most expensive grocery store in town. they have a guarantee on their meat, and they tried to weasel out of it yesterday by telling me I had to bring back the meat. How in the
do you know th meat sucks unless you eat it. It was gristley, and had a big layer of fat in the middle where you could not see it. I had a fit until I got my $30 back. They were steaks we put on the grill. I eat a lot of chicken quesadillas because Food lion usually has their boneless chicken breasts buy one bag, get one free. Cheese and tortilla are cheap, too.
 

lemur 6

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 5, 2005
Messages
640
Purraise
2
I'm probably gonna get bashed for this, but frankly, it's not that food and gas prices are going up, but it's more that they've been too cheap for too long and they're returning to normalcy. Actually in some parts of the US, it's always been that expensive. Having lived in NYC for the better part of my life and then having moved to the midwest feels like I'm getting a free meal every time I go shop for food.

However, the rate that their increasing I think is absurd. I think half of it is our paranoid regulation systems that bloats the food costs. Regulation upon regulation upon regulation, it all adds cost that in the end has to be paid by the customer. And now with increased costs for energy and raw materials these costs skyrocket and tack onto the overall costs of food. Granted a certain level of regulation is a good thing, but sue-happy customers don't help the situation.

And then partially it's the mentality of US workers especially in upper management and executive positions making 6-7-8 figure salaries who think their salary should never be affected while at the same time they say it's natural to cut worker salaries because prices are increasing or the economy is doing poorly. For example, we have a caterer at work who has increased all their food prices by 10-20%. For them this increase is guaranteed revenue unless all of us that work there suddenly start packing lunch. The normal workers (cashiers, cooks, etc) don't receive even a penny of that increase; all of it goes to the managers, execs, and their company's earnings figures to delude their stockholders into thinking that their earnings are truly showing positive gains.

It's not as simple as just gas prices going up, it's an infrastructure problem.
 

icklemiss21

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Messages
16,465
Purraise
20
Location
in the land of poutine and ice
I noticed that too when I did my grocery shopping yesterday (although chicken is on special everywhere this week if you buy it bone in / skin on and I can live with that for 99c/lb. I got 4 chicken quarters for $3.22 and that helps a lot, it just means changing the actual product you usually buy and a little more food prep time.
 

tara g

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
5,678
Purraise
96
Location
On the farm
Originally Posted by krazy kat2

Do you shop at Bi-Lo, Tara and Rob? Their main hub is in in Mauldin, SC so their prices have not gone up much in the nearby states. I wish we had one here. The Wal-Mart that is supposed to be so cheap is now the most expensive grocery store in town.
We shop at both Bi-Lo (there is one a mile from our house, short trip!) and Wal-Mart (there's like three Super-Wal-Marts in a 8 mile radius!)

Usually we will do our "bigger" shopping at Wal-Mart, when we have a lot to buy, and our smaller "pick this up to go with dinner" shopping at Bi-Lo. Or when we get lazy and don't feel like driving to Wal-Mart
Bi-Lo is more expensive than Wal-Mart sometimes, but other times we find good soda sales at Bi-Lo.
 

gailc

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
11,567
Purraise
13
Location
Wisconsin
Man prices are expensive in other parts of North America. I just bought tenderloin and I thought it was expensive at $4.99/lb.
 

jcat

Mo(w)gli's can opener
Veteran
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
73,213
Purraise
9,851
Location
Mo(w)gli Monster's Lair
It's not just North America where prices have increased so much. Why do you think there have been food riots in Haiti and Egypt?

Higher energy/gas prices are just part of it. Australia, a big global producer of wheat, has been suffering from a horrible drought. Due to the biofuel boom, a lot of farmers everywhere are using their acreage for crops that can be converted into fuel, rather than for food crops. With rising incomes and prosperity in Asia, especially China and India, people are adopting a more Western diet, which drives up demand for meat, dairy products, and grains other than rice.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/wo...yt&oref=slogin
 

momofmany

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
16,249
Purraise
70
Location
There's no place like home
Originally Posted by Lemur 6

For example, we have a caterer at work who has increased all their food prices by 10-20%. For them this increase is guaranteed revenue unless all of us that work there suddenly start packing lunch.

It's not as simple as just gas prices going up, it's an infrastructure problem.
I disagree with the former and totally agree with the latter. I have a friend in the food business who has had to raise her prices just to pay for the cost increase of food, gas, utilities for her kitchen, etc. A 10-20% increase isn't revenue to foodies, it's just breaking even these days. She hated to do it, but there isn't a lot of profit in the food business.

A year ago I could shop for about $100 a week and its up to about $200 today. I can't pinpoint a single item that is contributing to it, as everything appears to have gone up. I buy bulk from Costco (but only stop on the way home from work to save gas) and pick up perishables at the grocery store close to home.

My biggest tip for purchasing food: buy in bulk or only when on sale and freeze it if you have to. I bought about 10 pounds of pork chops yesterday at $1.29 a pound (on sale).
 
Top