I used to have no problem finding 99 cent five pound bags of potatoes. Now they are usually two bucks.
Chicken legs? Now I usually have to pay .69 cents on sale when it used to be easy to find them for .49 cents. Some foods are flat - I can still often find split chicken breasts for .99 cents (the best buy for chicken AFAIC) - and pasta can be found for .89-.99 cents a box - have a nice stash of whole wheat pasta for .99 cents a box.
But my larger point stands that there has been significant spot inflation in many low-end staples.
I am a very price aware shopper, too. I have bought foods by using a list, and have been the list maker and budgeter for nearly twenty years. I remember when deli ham was $0.99, or just a few years ago (5 years to be exact), when I moved to this area Ham was about $2.99, London Broil was 99 cents a pound, and petite sirloin steak was $2.29. Today, that london broil is over 3 dollars a pound, and petite sirloin went up to over 7 dollars, but is now back down to around $5, $4 or so on a good sale.
Milk in this area used to be $0.99, at most $1.69 (for whole), just last year, and is now over $2.89 most of the time. Cheese has nearly doubled in the last two years, even at the bargain store (We only have Sam’s, not Costco, here).
I wish I could find whole wheat pasta at that good of a price, every once in a while, it’s about $1.19. Sauce is through the roof, too. Either the price goes up, or the price goes up AN the package size decreases by 20%. I remember shopping with my dad in the 90’s, an hundred dollars would fill 2 carts. Now $200 may not even fill one cart.
A 5lb bag here is already $3.99
I used to buy a package of shredded cheese for my tacos, earlier this year it was $1.86 a package, now it is $2.36...same package, same size, etc.
Then there’s downsizing of packages to hide price hikes. Canned tuna has gone from 7.5 oz cans to 5 oz cans with more water. Toilet paper rolls have less paper on them and the size of the cardboard is shorter making for smaller squares. Coffee containers are smaller. Cereal boxes are smaller, etc. Many items that used to be a standard pound package are now 12 or even 10 ounces.
Peanut butter and peanut products will rise in price. Corn, corn products and oil will go up. Shrimp is going up. If you haven’t been stocking your pantry or prepping, it’s almost past time to start. Remember, peanuts and cooking oil will go rancid so don’t over stock.