Am I off my rocker or are food prices going up faster than anything else?

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I was brought up cutting coupons out of every paper we had. I was even encouraged to get coupons from my friends family newspapers (to some discomfort and embarrassment) if they weren’t going to use them. I have always been one for saving a few bucks when I can. My wife actually hounds me about always being so frugal; but lately I’ve been able to state my case a little more.I don’t remember the last time I got out of ANY grocery store for under $100.00. Between my wife, 2 kids, dog and cat, the grocery bills are ridiculous, just see my balance sheet. We spend almost $625.00 per month at the grocery store, and are always out of food it seems. I remember back a few years when I was single and shopping for myself and $100.00 would last me at LEAST a few weeks if not a month!

I like corn, and I know it is out of season, but I went in today to Safeway and corn was almost $2.00 an ear! I was floored! I try to keep my lunch under $2.00 so corn was definitely off the menu. I stick to the basics, and Albertsons usually has good 10 for $10 sales that I buy most of my lunches for work from. I eat a lot of chili and rice-a-roni.

And it doesn’t matter any more what store I go to. Costco, I think, has gotten the favor of everyone else in the 90’s and has conveniently bumped up their prices of food to equal that of their lesser grocery chains, but they’ve got America hooked on buying bulk, so they can still charge the same per pound or per ounce but just offer MORE of it, and America is sold. (I’m actually going to look into that on my next trip there, go to a Safeway or Albertsons, and post back what I’ve found in difference, because it is ridiculous.

But seriously, has anyone else noticed this bump up in the grocery bills as of late? Are they just able to squeeze this one in because people are jumping on big oil for gas being so expensive? I’d switch to being a vegan, but apparently that’ll stick me for more! Am I just dreaming this?

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5 Comments

  • User Gravatar no imageFree From Broke (Who am I?)
    December 19th, 2007 at 7:08 am

    Groceries have definitely gone up. How come milk, which is renewable, is more expensive than gas per gallon? Orange juice has taken a jump up as well. I would guess you nailed it tying grocery prices to oil prices. How much of it is legit though I couldn’t say. It’s more important than ever to watch what you buy and keep an eye out for sales.

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  • User Gravatar no imageSue (Who am I?)
    December 19th, 2007 at 7:06 pm

    Eh, it’s hard for me to notice really. I live in a rural part of Alaska and food has always been expensive. In the bigger cities you can get milke for $3.50 a gallon, but in smaller towns like here it’s about $4.70 a gallon. Anything that spoils and/or is heavy costs quite a lot.

    I think food price increases are almost good in a way. Food prices reflect gasoline prices. In order to cut down on cost we all need to drive less and eat more local products.

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  • User Gravatar no imageNeil (Who am I?)
    December 19th, 2007 at 7:14 pm

    Prices are up. I have still found good deals though. The grocery store had a gallon of milk for $2.49 today. I didn’t need any or else I would have bought one. Me and my girlfriend normally get by fine at about $20-25 a week. I rarely spend over $30 on a single trip to the grocery store. Thats normally when I find deals on meat and stock up for the month. I could get by even cheaper if I had more storage room. I think food expenses all depend on where you live though.

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  • User Gravatar no imagehank (Who am I?)
    December 19th, 2007 at 9:32 pm

    @FFB - no kidding I saw a funny post here:
    http://www.cockeyed.com/science/gallon/liquid.html
    that made me laugh about all the different priced liquids. That dastardly scorpion venom! :)

    @Sue - I actually have a friend that lived in Barrow for a while and mentioned the same things.

    @Neil - Wow, I dream of the day I used to spend on $30 big ones… but with 4 in the fam plus dog and cat, it gets a bit pricey indeed - congrats on the frugality!

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  • User Gravatar no imageRich (Who am I?)
    April 11th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    No, You are absolutely right. Food is WAY more expensive than it was last year. I believe that this would have a bit to do with fuel expenses being so high as well.

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