Every trip to the grocery store is an exercise in "do I really need that?"
I do my best to not buy anything for which I don't have a coupon to help offset cost. Fruits, vegetables and dairy are exceptions since the grocery store chains in my area don't offer coupons for them.
A few examples of how prices are here as of yesterday:
- Eggs used to be @ $1.29/doz. Now: $4.97
- 1 Gal Whole Milk used to be $2.49. Now: $4.29
- 1 Green Pepper used to be 69 cents. Now: $1.29
- 1 pkg Roma tomato's used to be $1.09/lb. Now: $3.49/lb
- 1lb Turkey Lunchmeat used to be $5.99. Now: $10.49 (I no longer buy this.)
- 1 can Progresso Soup used to be $1.69. Now: $2.49
- Bananas used to be 43 cents/lb. Now: 79 cents/lb
- Chicken breasts used to be $1.69/lb - $1.99/lb. Now: $3.99/lb
- Beef: so expensive I stopped buying it at all.
- Junk Food: non-existent in my home since losing 70lbs I needed to lose.
I'm an empty nester and live alone. I can minimize my costs as much as possible and choose alternatives where necessary.
As much as I can say my heart goes out to those raising families and having to pay these prices, I do remember growing up in the 1970's and how hard my parents struggled to put food on the table with the skyrocketing STAGFLATION we lived through back then.
We ate a lot of spam, mac 'n cheese, peanut butter and jelly and would only get one very thin slice of meat on our sandwiches for lunch at school. (We didn't have school provided lunches back then, mom & dad were responsible to feed us breakfast, lunch & dinner.)
There were often times meals at home weren't all that palatable for a young man during his high growth years and being hungry all the damn' time either. Still, I learned to be grateful for what I had and ate it.
There are so many parallels between what happened then and what's happening now, for many of the same reasons. In so many ways, history is repeating itself.
I am with you on that post 100%
I totally agree with your post. I also live alone so I can keep my costs lower than whole families can but even on my tight budget these prices are ridiculous.
In the 50s and 60s I remember we ate what seemed iike a lot of mac and cheese with franks or tuna. At the grocery store it was strictly Italian Dressing with Catalina as a treat bc of cost difference. We would butcher a mid-size calf once a year and until that ran out things were pretty good. Never went hungry, never on short rations but sometimes plain food. Snacks and sodas were a treat always.
I see a lot of what I think is price gouging and greed. Once they found they could sell for a higher price created by what were shortages or difficulties in acquiring stuff in ‘20 they stuck with it. Better to sell half as much at twice the margin and a whole lot better to sell all the stuff at the new found resistance point of MUCH greater margin.
They are counting on that resistance point continuing to be high. Isn’t that unrealistic? Won’t the run out of buyers who are rich enough to absorb the change? When the guy making your product can’t afford your product don’t you run out of a lot of buyers eventually?
I read the other day car makers had a great year in the shortages. They hope to create the same by making fewer units and more tightly controlling inventory. I see that same trend across the board for many things.
There is a fellow on yousetube about the cost of college. Here are some total changes since 1980:
1200% College
425% Housing
570% Cars
235% General Inflation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n0OTyU50cY&t=550s
Converting to a CAGR:
6.3% College
4.03% Housing
4.63% Cars
2.92% General Inflation
Why shouldn’t profits be on the rise? The money isn’t going to wages for the people making the stuff so it some is going to the share holders and more to the sr. management. Between 1978 and 2021 CEO compensation increased 1,460% over inflation and that of typical workers increased a paltry 18.1%.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/ceo-pay-inequality-inflation-federal-reserve
Capitalism is great. For some it is astoundingly great.
Out of curiosity I looked these things up this morning:
The price of beef on the hoof has moved very little, below the rate of inflation. The cost of The price of beef in the market has increased above inflation. Since 1980:
$1980 to $2022, %Increase, CAGR, Comodity (source)
$65 to $165, 153%, 2.23% Live Cattle Futures (Investing.com)
$280 to $360, 28%, 0.6% Corn Futures (Investing.com)
$340 to $720, 111%, 1.8% Wheat (Investing.com)
$190 to $320, 68%, 1.25% Soybean Meal (Investing.com)
$70 to $180, 157%, 2.27% Feeder Cattle (Investing.com)
$1.34 to $4.90, 265%, 3.13% Ground Beef (St Louis Fed, BLS)
Not as bad as I thought it might be but still, the money gain is in the end game. If you want to see price shocks in commodities look back to the obama years. You never have to look very far or hard to see that democraps have always done a number on us.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000703112
In another little tidbit, for as long ago as you care to look you will see that the majority of inflation for a given year is in the first quarter or half of the year. The exception in the last many years was 2020 and ‘21.