Fresh groceries are worth it, but shoppers are cutting back everywhere else

Supermarket News ^ | 6/18/26 | Supermarket News Staff

[CaptainPhilFan]

I read this website most days because as a conscientious shopper (prices, health, trends in retail) it's very interesting and sometimes eye opening.

Today's offering confirms what a lot of us are experiencing - higher costs means purchasing fewer items of better quality, and Shrinkflation is pissing us off.

I'm not sure how much I can copy and paste, but here goes. I reformatted for easier reading.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food
KEYWORDS: groceryprices; shoppinghabits

[kaktuskid]

GLP drugs cause people to eat less, they have less appetite for junk food and carbs. Therefore less junk food being bought.

[grame]

My experience is that not many prices are coming down but coupons are getting higher. We use 10-15 dollars a couple times a month. Kroger regularly is giving a free loaf of 3.99 bread. Seems like they are protecting the higher prices but luring customers in with great coupon deals. And we get 30-40 cents per gallon off of our gas with earned fuel points.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Safeway has 10 pound bags of chicken legs for $10. That’s 99 cents/lb. I like the thighs but not the drumsticks. I’ll cut them up at home and repackage them. Restaurants-younger folk work so they eat out more. Standing over a stove just to eat for 15 minutes is laborious and boring. Me-no job so I’ve plenty of time to experiment. Getting pretty good. Preparing duck today for tomorrow’s meal. Spices need to marinate.

[CaptainPhilFan]

Yup.

We are blessed to have 2 big supermarket chains, WalMart in several locations, Sam’s Club, Bj’s, and Chef’s Warehouse.

I am tending to shop the Chef’s Warehouse and Sam’s Club for much better prices. Our diet is mostly roasted meats and veg, salad. Scratch cooking everything - even the salad dressing.

BUT, having access to all of these allows comparison shopping and we do travel between the shops for the best deals.

However, trying to navigate the Coupon system at Kroger’s drives me insane. You can spend an hour at home on the internet just trying to plan. So, I actually don’t shop there very much at all because I’ve found it’s just not worth the time.

[CaptainPhilFan]

I believe you are correct that frozen is better, for a lot of items. When fresh, local farms are the best of.

[CaptainPhilFan]

- A lot of processed food has gone down in quality -

OH MY GOSH, hasn’t it?

Quality and quantity. Fake everything.

Looking at the grocery sales for about or at least a year now, all the packaged, fake, chemical-laden crap is “on sale” for more than their larger and better quality counterparts from before the covid scam.

I’ve learned how to make so many things from scratch.

Shrinkflation and Crapflation are huge factors in people of all ages coming along and realizing how important reading the labels is and leaving things on the shelf.

[Starboard]

For commonly purchased food items Target and Walmart are hard to beat. Moving up in quality for meats, seafood and such generally means spending more at higher end stores, but also generally worth it IMO. Basically amounts to saving money on the staples of everyday living so you can afford the step up to better quality when desired.

[LilOlLady]

Grow your own food if able. I’ve always had a garden since childhood- no pesticides. I now live in a tiny apt yet have 4 indoor hydroponic gardens providing fresh fruit, veggies and flowers. I also built a 5’x1.5’ self watering beauty that I grow many things in. Stained cedar, rolling casters and grow lights.

Be self sufficient if able. Waking up every morning and watching God’s nature is a blessing in more ways than one can fathom.

[CaptainPhilFan]

Chicken Legs are a common ingredient around here for that reason. And I chop them up, too! Save the back bones for stock, and add the other bones to it once eaten.

I feel the same about thighs vs drums. Drums are tough.
But after they’re cooked I shred the meat off and make chicken salad or casserole or whatever.

[Blurb2350]

The British use the term “skimpflation” for the tactic of food manufacturers of replacing traditional ingredients with cheaper, less-healthy stuff.

[Jeff Chandler]

Frozen is better. Fresh means they picked before it was ripened and fully nutritioned and let it ripen during delivery.
.
Frozen is processed when the vegetables and fruit are ripe.

Fresh has been sitting in trailers and warehouses.

[Jeff Chandler]

When we were in Hawaii we visited a few "farmers markets" that were selling pineapples. My brother walked me around to the back of their stalls. The shipping boxes were the same as the supermarkets. The pineapples were grown in Costa Rico.

Then he showed where to get Hawaiian-grown pineapples on the island: Walmart. They were the best pineapples I've eaten in my life!

[oldtech]

I don’t buy much in the way of fresh foods; just onions, strawberries, potatoes....the top 3 I can think of & not that much of those anyway. The other stuff I get is either stuff I really like, or diet-restrictive(which is quite difficult) & I do maintain a low budget as much as possible. Much of this stuff costs more now, but not as much proportionately as many othe non-grocery items. When you are on S.S. as your only income, you have to cut down as raises are few & skimpy.

[Georgia Girl 2]

We go to multiple stores to buy certain items that are cheaper or of better quality. The organic cream at Aldis is the best cream we ever tasted and its the same price as lesser cream elsewhere. Also they have a $2.50 aged white cheddar cheese that is good.

[Jonty30]

That as well.

[Organic Panic]

“Salaries haven’t moved much in 20 years”

I paid my way through college as a certified welder at $25 an hour over 30 years ago. Today a certified welder makes the same. When I hear people say “go in to the trades” I laugh. The pay is garbage and you can make about the same in an air conditioned grocery store as an entry level clerk without slag dripping on you in the hot sun.

[woodbutcher1963]

I just got back from going out to lunch at The 99.
A New England chain similar to Applebee’s.

They had a $7.99 cheese burger special with a side.
Add a drink, 8% tax and it was $12 and change.
Add a three dollar and the change = $17

Which is about as cheap a lunch that you can get at a sit down restaurant these days.

I typically only go out for lunch on Fridays.

[CaptainPhilFan]

True enough, Walmart at least has good prices on very basic staples. Unless Amazon can beat it.

I make laundry soap and toothpaste, and dog food.
Scott’s TP is the cheapest at Sam’s Club - same goes for most other paper products.

As for meat, if you have a Chef Store near you go check it out. For produce, meat, dairy. They sell in big bulk at very reasonable prices. If you don’t have the room or the budget split it with anyone you can find.

Chef Store has 50 pounds of potatoes for $14. Similar prices on other produce.

But their meat prices cannot be beat. Ground beef for under $5.00 in 10 pound tubes. Steaks and roasts under $10 and $15 mostly. Pork, chicken under $3.

They usually have in-store specials that are not advertised. I got a whole brisket the other day for 50% off. $55 for 20 pounds of fresh brisket. But the regular price is between $5.69 and $6.29 a pound.

https://www.chefstore.com/

Anyone reading this, go have a look.

[CaptainPhilFan]

I live in a small city in SW Va. Our Main St has been filling up with crappy chain restaurants where other crappy chains used to to stand. We do have a small college here and many sporting events, but people who live here are not going out nearly as much as they used to.

Besides, it all sucks.

In April I had family coming in to visit but I was not well and could not host or cook like I normally would.

I ordered catering trays from an actual Italian restaurant.
Meatballs, Eggplant Rollotini, Chicken Parm, Garlic knots,
Extra Pasta.

Over $300 and most of it ended up in the garbage. Just horrible. I believe it was nothing more than mass produced, frozen, buy it from a truck, product.

Eateries have cut back on quality so much, while giving extra prices to the point it’s ridiculous to even think about a night out.

It wasn’t that great before covid but it’s so much worse after.

[CaptainPhilFan]

Oh, that is nice.

I was attacked by allergic contact dermatitis this spring, right in my face. Since early March, it’s finally going away - please God make it be going away.

Point is, I don’t know what it was from but going outside made it worse. My garden plot is in terribly sad condition. The weeds are doing extremely well in my cultivated and well-fed soil.

If I knew how to post a picture here I would show you the only volunteer that managed to grow this year. It’s in my compost tumbler barrel and growing out of a loose seam. It’s the funniest and saddest thing I ever grew.

Enjoy your harvest!!