A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Food Prices

Has anyone noticed a big increase in the cost of foods in your area?

The other day I was shocked when I went into the store myself... even at Wal-Mart, I thought the produce was "outta sight!"

$2.98 for a single green bell pepper!

TWO NINETY EIGHT?!

I bought one.

Not all that long ago I used to buy 8 to 10 so I could make stuffed peppers. Who could afford to do that with these prices?

So I'm curious... what seems steep in price where you are?



Merme

I don't grocery shop a lot but I've noticed things are pricey. Cherries $6.00 a pound. Since gas prices have dropped a little let's see if the food prices drop next year.

Gas prices are going up again in my area.A few weeks ago gas was $1.65. Today it is $2.13.

I get a shock every time I walk into a grocery store. And they didn't rise the same as gas prices did. They have been on a slow rise for months. Creeping up a penny or two here and there. A lot of repackaging going on so they can give you a little less product.
I paid $2 for an avocado.

I use to budget with 30 $ a week for meats and side dishes a week a year ago, for Dwight and I, now it's near 55 $ a week,, Bread ~ even the off brand is 1.79 and it gets hard quick ,, we really like Mrs.Bairds bread,, and it's 2.79 a loaf , but that's a thing of the past buying preferred brands. Meat is ridiculously high,, even potatoes, and onions. have you seen the price per pound for a roast, ,?? Fruit is through the roof, one apple is 89 cents, for just one and it's very small
Bell pepper I only buy when they are 1$ a piece then I get five of them and cut them up different ways and freeze them , they last longer and easy to use as need be. Forget about stuffed peppers as you said,
I've been making my own bread goods,, it's just cheaper, though time consuming. To make the food budget stretch we've eliminated a lot of ready made/ package foods and back to baking from scratch.

It is bad here to Merme, I'm doing the same making from scratch most stuff- or not buying it in the first place- use a lot of store brands and my daughter's store is now double,triple and quadrupling coupons depending on coupon value so I use a lot of those when stuff is on sale- I do a lot of cherry picking- buying the stuff on sale with lots of coupons... went last night and spent $157., thats for the month except for fresh stuff... used my coupons and Carrie's discount for store brands use... saved $93.. doing that... had $40 worth of coupons for what I bought... we eat a lot of fish and chicken ... I do buy stuff for the boys to have here too so it's not just feeding the 3 of us...boys eat a lot!
Produce I buy on sale and love it when they do the 10lbs for $10... mix and match .. green peppers were on sale this week but no one in my house but me would eat stuff green peppers- I do buy them and cut them up for stir frys- sauces and such- try to buy lots when they are on sale cheap and use the food saver on them- so the same with onions when they get soft spots... been cooking apples lately when they get a little soft too if they last long enough to do that... boys love apples but Derek has now got 4 teeth missing so he hasn't been into apples lately... Mom loves cooked apples with a little brown sugar and maple syrup... she will eat that at least...she is eating less and less all the time-getting hard to find stuff she will at least eat.
Nana

Food is also really pricey here. White bread is about $2 a loaf, but when the supermarkets have sales here, it really does help. The supermarket across the street is family owned since the 1900s, and they are really big on community (ie: hiring lots of high school students, selling local produce whenever possible) and they have half price sales every other week. I was out with my mom grocery shopping today, and the steak was on sale at $4.99. She told me steak on sale used to be $2.99 and she told me to get what I can "because this is the cheapest you're going to find." Gas has been up, but not as high as late last year. The dollar store is now trying to introduce $2 items (rather pretty glass containers, mind you, but useless to me).

I really think growing your own veggies would help. I'm pretty not all of us (not me at least) have enough land to grow enough veggies to depend solely on your garden, but it will help out. I'm considering planting less flowers and more veggies, or incorporate veggies amongst the flowers. We Chinese have a saying: "Eat only what is in season" which makes sense. If something is in season, there's going to be a lot, and prices would be cheaper (lettuce/radish in spring/fall, tomatoes in summer, turnips/potatoes/squash in winter). My mom goes all out when stuff is on sale...there was local tomatoes sold by boxes of 50lb for $10 and we ended up buying 4/5 boxes. We froze them to make veggie soup every now and then and we can still enjoy fresh pasta sauce (though frozen tomatoes). Meat is up too...as well as dry goods. Rice (the Chinese kind in 18kg bags) is about $15, and it used to be $13 last year. It doesn't seem a lot but $2 each year is quite a bit! Flour, potatoes, onions are all up.

I was flipping through Vesey's spring bulb catalogues and prices were up. I wanted to get a mouse plant last year for $5.99/root and this year they're $8.99 a root. The only thing that has gone down would be the more tropical bubs. Potted African Violets were $0.99 on sale before the new year, now they're $1.29. Phal orchids used to be $9.99 on sale but now on sale they're $12.99. It's unbelieveable.

And university...tuition just keeps on going up and up and up. I am considering maybe switching from a science program to an arts program. The difference between arts (languages, history, etc.) and science is about $2000/year. And scholarships are becoming less and less.

milk is hovering between $3.50 and $4 a gallon. and with matthew home, my grocery bill just doubled. we drink a lot of milk here (3-5 gallons a week). other stuff is expensive too.

but, all that said, i'm still glad i'm employed, and can be somewhat cost conscious. i just wish i were going to be able to garden veggies this year.

I try not to notice what things are costing---I just try to stay within my budget. And the sad thing is I do not like to buy generic so much.

But since all of this economy "stuff" has began I find myself not being so picky.--I am so very fortunate that my girls are no longer living at home. I do not know what I would do.

Hmm....Memosa, where are you that a quart of milk costs $3!? That seems awful steep...I pay $3.57 for an entire gallon!

I haven't been really watching the prices for alot of things. Our grocery budget is $50/week....that's it. I get chicken roasters on sale at Sam's when it is .78/pound. Stephen got a deer this year, so that helped stock the freezer, tho we are blowing through that pretty quickly. I do not do much fresh produce at all. Actually in all honesty, the frozen stuff is usually better than fresh when it comes to veggies. For frozen stuff, they pick it all at the peak of ripeness and then flash freeze it. With produce in stores, they tend to pick it early and then hope it ripens while it is traveling. We saw that alot when I worked at the market. This time of year is certainly not the best time to buy cherries, apples, or anything like that. They aren't in season, so of course your going to spend more for them.

I make our bread now...it is cheaper to just buy yeast and bread flour in bulk and Sam's and make it. My recipe makes 6 loaves and I freeze 5 loaves and then keep one out. I combine weekly store sales along with coupons that I've saved. I currently have over 40 pages of coupons in my book right now. I never pay for toothpaste or deodorant...come to think of it, I haven't had to actually pay for shampoo in a while either. Those things are all bought using what I call the "CVS game". I'll teach anyone who wants to learn. The one thing to remember with coupons is that they don't expire in just one week...and alot of times a coupon item will go on sale in a grocery store 2-3 weeks after it is printed in the newspaper. ...beware of "false sales"....like when you see tissues that cost more than $1/box. Alot of times they go on sale 10/ $10 (and you DON'T have to buy 10 unless the ad says you do for the sale) and there will be a coupon somewhere to make it even less. Usually the coupons for those are "save $1 when you buy 4 or 5" type...which doesn't sound that great until you combine it with the 10/ $10 deal.

I bought an avacado for .99 yesterday. I'm ashamed to say we don't look at prices but I need to start. Johnny will never do it so I'm not evening going to tell him too. He went to Harris Tetter tonight and bought a 1/2 gallon of milk, a box of Cheerios and a bag of dog food and it was $17.00. He can't tell me what each item cost but he says he spent $17.00. Wonder how much a box of Cherrios cost.

scott doesn't look at prices either sheri. i don't know why. he used to when he was in the navy. i guess now he thinks since the kids are grown he doesn't have to?

Johnny says if you need it you need it and why look. For the 2 of us it's just as cheap to eat take out.

this is true, but add a 3rd and it isn't true anymore!

That is all true about the needing the food, & what can one do about it.

my problem is I like to buy ahead--if I am going to need it, and it is on sale before I am out, well I buy it anyway----and while I realize doing that will get me to come out ahead in the long run, I sure do tend to spend a lot at the store.--I am thinking I need to send Rod to do the grocery shoppping again, like I did when I could not lift----he just buys what we need & no more.

I guess we could count ToDeTa. Johnny treats her like a child.

I get the store's sales flyer, compare the sales with my coupons, make a list and that is it. If it isn't on the list, then we don't buy it.

Cheerios are usually $3 something/box....if you get the same size box that we get. Tho, I almost never pay more than 50 cents for a box of cereal the way i do my shopping. I bought 15 bags of frozen veggies a few weeks ago for nothing...hmmm...legal stealing, I suppose. I got another 8 bags for 50 cents/bag. I love it when I'm at the store and have just checked out an entire conveyor belt of groceries, give the lady all of my coupons and she says "That'll be $17 please"...the looks that I get from the people behind me are priceless. And then after that when she gives me the receipt I usually hear "You saved $60 today!" (that is with the store card and the coupons combined) and then I usually hear a gasp from the person behind me. Heehee! I know that for most people grocery shopping can be a real downer, but for me, I get a real high out of it. I love to go and see how much I can save.

I love shopping like that too, Jenn. It takes more planning and involvement than I can do right now. But I know the feeling of coming out of the store feeling like a real winner.

when I FINALLY get through with test taking (because YOU guys are praying for me), I'm going to start shopping with flyers and coupons. There are some brand names I can't do without, Tide being one of them. I want to be a smart shopper. We don't eat at home that much so I should be able to buy groceries for next to nothing if Jen can do it for $17.00

If cheerios is around $3 and milk $3 that dogfood must have been $11.00 and it's a little bag. Good grief.

Sheri I have seen cereal for $5 a box in small stores, so it may have been higher than the $3 a box at a grocery.

Don't give up on your Tide.

People make the mistake all the time thinking a generic brand is okay for laundry detergent & think they are helping their budget by not using a national brand.

They aren't.

Generic laundry detergents are terribly destructive toward fabrics and your clothes wear out much faster (and fade sooner) & need to be replaced far earlier than they otherwise would need to be. So you aren't saving anyting... in fact, you are running up a bigger clothes budget!

A national brand may be higher per bottle/box but you'll be saving in the long run.


Merme

I couldn't do without my Gain.....

We do a lot of our shopping at Save a lot though. Ours is pretty nice. I know where my sister used to give they said it was really gross. We get TONS more food there for our money than we do at Walmart or elsewhere. Of course some brand name things I'm picky about---I won't get generic cheese---EVER. Their canned stuff is good though, and much cheaper.

It is interesting to compare prices. A gallon of milk is 4.59 here. That is 2% milk. Groceries are very expensive. I was telling James yesterday how much I spend on groceries every month and he didn't believe me. I told him that I am going to save my receipts for a month and show him. I will admit that I am not a coupon clipper and I should be. I just never think about it. Times that I do clip them, I forget about them when I am at the store and then they expire. I don't pay too close of attention to prices because I too have the attitude...if we need it we need it. There are some things though that I absolutely will not buy unless it is on sale. Tristen likes certain kinds of cereals. This morning he asked me why I never buy a certain kind that he wanted...I said, because it is too expensive and I will buy it when it is on sale. I can't see spending $5 for a small box of cereal. I think that is crazy!!

My mom usually buys generic laundry detergent.No wonder my clothes are wearing out so fast.

my daughter changed from Tide and her daughter broke out in a rash. So Tide it is.

when the giortls lived at home I used Tide pretty much all the time. valarie has sensitive skin, & I could not buy just any detergent.--Now I go between Tide, Purex, and Era--which ever is on sale when I need some.

I only buy my coffee (maxwell house) when it is on sale.--if I can get it for $6.00 on sale why would i want to pay $11.58 for it when it is not on sale....

and yes Jenn--thank goodness for Deer meat----

Did you all know that the manufacturers of laundry detergent tell you to use too much??? You can actually get away with using 1/2 of what they tell you...or even less. When I wash all of my diapers at the same time, it is a large load. I use probably about 1/4 of what they "recommend" for a load that large and I STILL have to rinse them 4 times to get all of the soap out!! With a HUGE load of regular laundry, I will go less than 1/2 of the recommended amount and if I look at the rinse water, I am still seeing lots of soap bubbles and have to do a second rinse. Not getting all of the soap out of the clothes makes them pick up dirt faster and also makes them hold on to the dirt more also. Laundry detergent lasts forever here with me using soo much less than the makers want me to use.....and I do at least 2 loads a day.

Jessica, I'm going to take a few pictures of my coupon binder for you. It is in the truck with me whenever I go out. ...I keep ALL coupons in there...even restaurant coupons. The only time I bring the binder in is on a Sunday after I get the paper and when I'm doing my shopping list. With the binder, it doesn't take long at all to compare the coupons with the sales flyer. Oh....and the store brand cereals are pretty good. Tho, I find if I am doing coupons on a good week, I can get brand name cereal for even cheaper.

I agree Jenn- the detergent manufactures "recommend" way to much per load... I use All liquid- we are allergic to Tide here so I buy the free All.. use about 1/4 cup per huge load in cold water and our clothes are really lasting way longer that way... I do soak stained stuff in oxyclean ... Mom spills a lot so her stuff is always soaking... and when I used to do the kids I did the same for theirs... I do extra rinse when I use it...
Nana

I use half of what they say to use! That's what I love about my Gain, no matter how much or little you use it makes a TON of bubbles. I've been getting the small bottles of it too, the concentrated stuff. Much better than lugging around a huge bottle.

I stopped doing as advised on the detergent bottles years ago also. I too use only liquid.---but I must say I often have to double rinse the towels.

I would love to see it and hear how your system works!!

I too use less detergent and I buy the concentrated stuff. I have a front load machine so I have to buy the HE detergent too. Some of it is a bit more expensive. I only use Tide.

I also use less detergent than called for and cold water only. I don't even have the hot water turned on to my machine.
When you use coupons in stores these days it is so much nicer than the 'olden'
days. They can scan most now. Before it was hand punched and took forever. I always felt sorry for the people in line behind me. And if I was in a hurry, I always felt sorry for me when I was behind someone using a bunch.
My mother kept track of all of the coupon savings; every 2,3,4 or 10 cent one and totaled them up. That savings went into a special bank account. We went to Disneyland on coupon money every year.

I am obsessed with my couponing :) Jenn is absolutely right,you get an incredible "charge" when you shop. Once you learn how to save $100 or more at the grocery store,you'll never go back to not couponing. We have had to buy a second deep freezer to handle my "stockpiling",lol.

I use a binder systen too,Jenn,with trading card pages for the coupons. I also have pockets front and back of my binders and they come in soooo helpful.

I went to Publix the other day,paid $36.xx and had a coupon/sale savings of $167.xx.

I don't know how I could get by without my coupons.............

OK---Jenn---GMom--I need lessons so I can do what you do.

Please???

The only thing I have found with coupons is that many times I'll buy stuff I don't normally buy---just because I have a good coupon.

I think that I'd be a good couponer, the only problem is that our Sunday paper coupons aren't very good. Not much in them that I'd usually buy.......

Our paper stopped carrying much in the way of coupons too. Very depressing. But you can get coupons online if you are willing to spring for the ink.
Coupons often led me down paths to unusual foods because the coupon was so good, Loz. But that added some fun variety to our diet. And actually still does. There are some things I would probably never buy but I run into a good coupon. And the good stores here that doubled coupons and things are cutting back on what they will double or accept.

Well, I will show you what I do with coupons and sales...but maybe we should start a different thread for it since it could get photo heavy. I will start the thread itself after I'm done with this post and tomorrow I will go out to the truck to get my binder and take pictures.....maybe even a short video with the camera if I have time. :) I'm always glad to help people with this stuff. I turned my mom into a CVS fanatic. She called me a few weeks ago and told me she got nearly $100 worth of stuff for $23 by playing their game.

What is CVS? Did I miss it?

CVS is a drug store. Maybe it's not on the west coast?

We have one a few miles away and I know they do the extra care bucks or something Jenn but it confuses me........maybe you could explain how that all works too.

Ok, i went back and found "CVS game".