Are Your Grocery Prices Increasing?

[PA Baker]

I just got back from my weekly grocery run and once again feel sick about how much I spent! I'm not buying anything out of the ordinary, but it seems like every week, the bill gets a little higher. This week, I noticed that the cheese we normally buy went up 30 cents from last week, and the pasta sauce I buy when I don't make my own jumped a quarter! Milk, around here, is now over $4 for a gallon of skim. Anyone else noticing this lately? What are you doing to try to keep your costs in check?

 

[Andy M.]

I've seen the same thing. Prices are going up and some container sizes are getting smaller with no reduction in price.

Chuck roast is high for us. I haven't seen a sale on chicken for a while.

I see a big difference in prices among the different market chains.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Miss Baker....I have noticed price jumps over the past several weeks! Other than shopping store ads, and staying away from "convenience" type foods. Buying whole birds, not parts etc, and being creative with leftovers at times is about all I know to do.

 

[Barb L.]

I try to buy meat that is on sale only, watching prices more closely since retiring. Some of our sale items this week are ;
Milk 2.99
Angus tender cube steak 2.99
Fresh pork tenderloin 2.99
Fresh boneless pork sirloin 1.99
Fresh Boneless chicken breast 1.69
How are your prices ?

 

[Callisto in NC]

Oh definitely increasing. I bought staples rice, pasta, cheese, eggs, milk, nothing special, and it was close to $100 by the time I walked out. I looked at lunch meat and it was about 70 cents higher than it was a month ago. Everything is going up with no explanation. They can't blame gas prices because they've stayed relatively steady (albeit high) for the last couple months. It's like they just decided to raise the prices for no good reason.

 

[LT72884]

$4 for freakin milk. dang its like 3$ here. but then again i dont drink milk. WOW 1.69 for boneless skinless chicken is dang good. Normally its like 2.50 here.

 

[CharlieD]

"Prices increasing" - No they are skyrocketing. My credit card bills are piling up higher and higher and when I look at them all I see is grocery store charges.

 

[VeraBlue]

It's not just your supermarket either...I'm feeling it at work, too. What cost me $5,000 a year ago now cost $6500...and then they add a fuel surcharge on top of it.

What to do?? Make more from scratch, waste nothing.

 

[buckytom]

i try to buy bulk packages, especially staple meats, from costco. also, cleaning materials, foil and plastic wraps, garbage bags, and other food or kitchen type items.

otherwise, i pretty much try to make the next few days' menu based on what's on sale when i go food shopping. when i see things we consume a lot of, such as iced tea go on sale, i stock up.

in either case, i'm always wary of the date of expiration to the point of o.c.d.. i tend to check everything, even just to get something a few days fresher.

you can't overbuy too much though, because if it ends up going bad before it's used up, then it's worse than just paying full price on a given day.

i've done pretty well lately, snagging lobsters at 7.99/lb and filet mignon at 3.99/lb.

although, it's gotten to the point where we're starting to look at our pets differently...

 

[Fisher's Mom]

although, it's gotten to the point where we're starting to look at our pets differently...

Just realized your little man is surrounded by parakeets!!!! (I was too busy admiring that handsome boy!)

 

[PA Baker]

Just realized your little man is surrounded by parakeets!!!! (I was too busy admiring that handsome boy!)

And I didn't notice the birds until I read Fisher's Mom's post! Bucky, he's gotten so BIG and grown up!!!!!!! He's as adorable as ever! Thanks for sharing a new picture with us!

 

[Katie H]

I strictly adhere to a set budget for shopping and have been more and more challenged to make my dollars go as far as they used to.

Over the last several years I've noticed the price of a 24-ounce loaf of no-name sliced bread go from 25 cents, to 31 cents, 39 cents, 45 cents, 49 cents, 54 cents and, now 59 cents. This within less than 10 years.

Eggs have gone off the scale. Meats, poultry and fish have likewise climbed in price. And, as someone already mentioned, packaging has changed such that we don't "feel" the pinch of a price increase for many of the products on our market shelves.

Instead of purchasing a 1-pound package of bacon, it's 12 ounces. Sugar has gone from the traditional 5-pound bag to a new 4-pound one. It's unusual to find 16-ounce cans of fruits and vegetables. In their place are cans that are 14- or 15-ounces. No longer do we buy a pound of coffee. Now it's 13-ounces.

One way I try to stretch our dollars is to use coupons, when I actually use a product, buy on sale and buy in bulk when on sale. I rarely buy packaged goods. Unnecessary, because I cook almost wholly from scratch. If an item is on sale, shampoo for example, and the bottle has an extra % of shampoo in the bottle, I search the shelves for only those bottles at the sale price.

 

[Loprraine]

" Fresh Boneless chicken breast 1.69 "

I think I'm getting a bargain if I can get them for $3.99 a lb!! Eight years ago, I could feed the 3 of us for $75.00 a week. Now, I'm lucky if I can do it for $100.00 to $125.00. ( that includes lunches for 3 every day). I buy in bulk, I cook from scrastch wherever possible, I buy whole chickens etc and cut them, I make ahead and freeze etc. Not much more I can do. I refuse to cut down on the fresh veggies , fruit etc, so, I pay for it.

 

[kleenex]

I have seen milk prices go up to 2.21 for a half gallon.

Orange Juice up as well.

Have not seen it up much on some of the basic items I buy each week.

 

[David Cottrell]

Are Your Grocery Prices Increasing? Asks P A Baker

Oh my yes, everything seems to be on the rise but groceries are a leading contender. Corn is being diverted to this fuel nonsense which will drive up the price of beef, well it is already. The Chinese are buying more food with our dollars which we are desperate to send them for junk, etc. Yes it finally hit me when you asked the question. I'm going to go back through this thread carefully for all the good ideas.

 

[Callisto in NC]

Katie you mention eggs. While they have gone from 79 cents to a dollar here, that is still sooo sooo sooo cheap from what I got them for in California. Eggs and milk are the only thing cheaper here. Meat never seems to really go on sale and I miss chicken sales. I've gone to buying the "fresh frozen" because I can get that on sale but I can't get fresh chicken on sale. I guess there was just more competition for your grocery dollar in California than there is here.

 

[Katie H]

Katie you mention eggs. While they have gone from 79 cents to a dollar here, that is still sooo sooo sooo cheap from what I got them for in California. Eggs and milk are the only thing cheaper here. Meat never seems to really go on sale and I miss chicken sales. I've gone to buying the "fresh frozen" because I can get that on sale but I can't get fresh chicken on sale. I guess there was just more competition for your grocery dollar in California than there is here.

At this point, Callisto, the markets here are charging $1.49 for dozen "large" eggs. Makes me crazy. Not that Buck and I use a lot of eggs, but it seems totally out of line percentage-wise. Just doesn't compute in my book.

 

[Callisto in NC]

At this point, Callisto, the markets here are charging $1.49 for dozen "large" eggs. Makes me crazy. Not that Buck and I use a lot of eggs, but it seems totally out of line percentage-wise. Just doesn't compute in my book.

They were $3 a dozen in my area of California before I left. I never understood people saying how they lived off of eggs and white bread when eggs were so expensive. I would stock up when they went on sale and learned to ignore "use by" dates. I got lucky to never get sick from 3 month old eggs. It was like a party when the 99 cent store got half dozen packs.

 

[Barbara L]

Katie you mention eggs. While they have gone from 79 cents to a dollar here, that is still sooo sooo sooo cheap from what I got them for in California. Eggs and milk are the only thing cheaper here. Meat never seems to really go on sale and I miss chicken sales. I've gone to buying the "fresh frozen" because I can get that on sale but I can't get fresh chicken on sale. I guess there was just more competition for your grocery dollar in California than there is here.

I noticed the same thing when I moved to South Carolina from California. I was shocked at how much produce is here, not to mention many of the grocery check-out people here don't know what half the vegetables and fruits are. I was buying avocados once and one girl (trying to figure out the price) asked if it was asparagus!. Meat is high here. James was even more shocked about the meat prices than I was, since they were evidently even lower in Iowa. However, we pay much less for gas than in California (at least the area I was from), so things even out a little in other ways. But, to the original question, yes our groceries have gone up quite a bit lately.

Barbara
P.S. Callisto--where in California did you live? I am from Vista (in San Diego County) and originally from San Diego. In South Carolina 11 years as of next week.

 

[Callisto in NC]

Hey Barbara, I know Vista. I was in Anaheim/Cypress area (dad and SIL worked at Disneyland and Tiger Woods family shopped at the same butcher I did), I practically lived at Sea World on the weekends when I was there. I've been here four years and gas was okay when I got here but now OUCH. Meat prices do still freak me out. I miss VONS. I would be happy to have a Safeway here.

I agree about the produce here. I laugh when I see California strawberries at $5 a pint. I used to get them from the roadside vendor for $2 and they were fresh. But on the plus side, my rent is half of what it was in California ~ I keep telling myself that and I remain happy.