Disguising Price Increases(No Politics Please)

[Danny]

We try to shop the sales, making comps between three stores most of the time. Takes a bit of time, comparing items/prices, making lists, et al.. We do save a bit and allow for some things to stock up on when the prices are really good for those things we use often, such as Duke's mayo on sale this week for the 30 0z jar at $3.99, we'll get 2 jars. The regular price is at $5.99. I suspect the cost of eggs have driven the mayo prices up some. And we can't buy and cook a rotisserie chicken cheaper than walmart offers at $2.97 for a chilled one. 1 of their chickens feeds us for 3 two people and 1 kitty meals, plus the stock afterwards. Can't forget the kitty !

Thinking of the kitty reminds me to pass this on if it helps and you like salmon- Aldi's has very very good quality salmon, both atlantic and sockeye, vacuum sealed packages, fresh, very reasonably priced. Pretty much below everyone else here anyways. Also steelhead trout, same way. Since all 3 of us really like salmon, we get it there. I'll let ya'll guess who likes it bestest !

Not to be political though the whip sawing back and forth in the government's tariffs, along with the climate changes and resulting weather problems, is not helpful in keeping prices down. Many business' don't know which way to jump.

Our local Walmarts are also having the greeter spot check some, especially any unbagged items or TVs and such. Theft has been up at some of the stores, but never had my vehicle broke into yet. I DO like the delivery from walmart, but somethings I just like to pick out myself - like produce, which is best ( and a little higher, LOL) at another store.

[worth1]

The Bastrop HEB is going through a massive remodeling and adding one of those True Texas BBQ things inside.
Now they have the meat butcher counter blocked off.
I got there this morning at around 7:30 to beat the crowd.
Eggs were at 4.18 so I got a dozen.
I'll be so glad when they finish their project.
They shuttle things around and you never know where it's at from one time to the next

I'm one to start at one end and work my way across the store and check out because I know where everything is at.
Not now.
It's been 2 weeks since I went and the only reason why I went was for bottled water and tea.
I get 2 24 packs of the store brand instead of the 48 package.
It costs a bit more but I don't like dealing with 48 pounds of water.
Plus it's huge.
Every time I go in meat gets more expensive.

[Danny]

Dear me, did a grocery /errand day today, was pretty good at the grocery store and stuck mostly to my lists, but the champagne mangoes seduced me into buying 4 of them, so juicy and sweet. Also got 1 large red/green mango (Kent variety?).

The shock I felt was at the garden center with Bonnie plants. Priced at $4.98 and $5.98 for a bathroom sized little bitty cup with some sorry and thirsty looking plants. AND, you will just love this one - Bonnies also had 6 to 8 stalks of corn, sweet corn, in those cups for the $4.98, the corn was about a foot tall !!! Corn hates to be transplanted, specially that tall.Poor little spindly corn, probably never to grow out. They did have a "sale" posted at 3/$12.00 for any of the small cup plants. Lord love a duck !!

[GoDawgs]

...The shock I felt was at the garden center with Bonnie plants. Priced at $4.98 and $5.98 for a bathroom sized little bitty cup with some sorry and thirsty looking plants. AND, you will just love this one - Bonnies also had 6 to 8 stalks of corn, sweet corn, in those cups for the $4.98, the corn was about a foot tall !!! Corn hates to be transplanted, specially that tall.Poor little spindly corn, probably never to grow out. They did have a "sale" posted at 3/$12.00 for any of the small cup plants. Lord love a duck !!

I saw those prices on the Bonnie plants at Tractor Supply two weeks ago and just had to shake my head! Then I had a little laugh when I thought about all the tomato plants and peppers under the lights at home and thought, "Geez! I'm rich!." Even if I didn't grow my own I wouldn't pay that price. They can hold 'em!

What tics me off is them trying to sell those corn seedlings. Some idiot at Bonnie who selects what plants to grow and offer is either totally ignorant about corn or intentionally trying to take advantage of customers who unfortunately don't have any knowledge about growing corn either.

[JayneR13]

There's a reason that historically, land = wealth. I've always felt that anything I could put into my mouth that I didn't have to pay for constituted steps in the proper direction. Fresh produce is expensive! So yes, even with my smaller garden, I feel rich! And very lucky to have accessible farmer's markets. I kept track of the food I purchased from there and put up from there last year: $226, $76 of which was for spices! I'm still eating it, although the Brussels sprouts are long gone. I've taken a serious liking to those, which of course taste MUCH better straight from the garden!

Gardening is good exercise/therapy and we get tomatoes! Having to buy meat, milk, and bread is expensive enough! My lying eyes tell me that a lot of that stuff has doubled and the meat, coming from Mexico, has been quite fatty of late. And of course, pesticides illegal in the US for years are perfectly legal in Mexico. But the price of pasture-raised meat is $15-$24/lb! I get that when I can but can't always afford it. I've also been eating a lot less candy/chips because processed foods are insanely expensive, plus the packages are noticeably smaller. Shrinkflation indeed. Sigh.

[bower]

I'm not seeing a lot of movement in grocery prices, other than the prices that went sky high have pretty well stayed that way. Except for beef, which has been coasting into affordable range again since around february. Everything else, the price was nuked and is staying puffed. I think they gave themselves a ton of room when they jacked it up.
Coffee was up last week, then the 'special' this week is a couple bucks less, about where it was before this hike. Bought two anyway. Chocolate has doubled and showing no sign of going down. I did find a slightly better deal, about a month ago, on Swiss chocolate 'mountains' in the Easter area, a buck less for 400g, and darn delicious, I've bought a few of those.

[worth1]

I could eat a kilo of good chocolate along with a giant bag of plain kettle cooked potato chips and a giant coke with lime.
That's why I don't buy either one.
I especially like the salted dark chocolate with the big salt crystals on top.
@bower

[GoDawgs]

Coffee price increases this year are due to weather problems in Brazil and Vietnam. Brazil is dealing with severe drought. Vietnam was in severe drought which took its toll and was then hit with severe flooding from a typhoon. Those two countries produce 56% of the world's coffee. I guess we gotta wait for the next crop, whenever that is.

[worth1]

Coffee price increases this year are due to weather problems in Brazil and Vietnam. Brazil is dealing with severe drought. Vietnam was in severe drought which took its toll and was then hit with severe flooding from a typhoon. Those two countries produce 56% of the world's coffee. I guess we gotta wait for the next crop, whenever that is.

Due to my recent kidney extravaganza I can't drink coffee anymore Worth's orders not the doctor.
It took awhile to get off the strong coffee I made but I'm glad considering the prices.
It used to be so bad I needed coffee to make coffee.

[bower]

In other weather vs food news, I read that Spain got enough rain this winter to be out of the drought.
So I'm hoping that olive crop will be good, and the price of oil go down.
One reason I've been buying the occasional sweet treat, which normally I would mostly stick to baking my own.

[Uncle_Feist]

I've not paid full price for meats in 20 years or longer. I get out early on the weekends and bargain shop. The 2 local Kroger stores always have a bin full of reduced price pork, chicken, beef, and dairy. In the off season I even shop for marked down produce. The 2 local Save a Lot stores are the same way. My freezers are full so I'm pretty picky about what I even buy at this point but great deals are EVERYWHERE.

I found these pork butts last weekend at Kroger- and Save a Lot hadn't sold ANY of the family packs of boneless skinless chicken breast in the display so all 12 packs were marked down to half price as well as 4 or 5 family packs of ground beef. The way I look at it is the higher prices go the greater the opportunity!

I hadn't really planned on apple wood smoked pulled pork for Sunday dinner but when you're handed lemon's make lemonade!

The $4.59 12 pack of fresh buns had been smashed on one end so they were marked down to $1.12. Win Win

[worth1]

Rarely does HEB have marked down meat but when they do and I eat it I'll snap it up.

[GoDawgs]

....In the off season I even shop for marked down produce.

Same here. The local Ingles has a shopping cart in the veg section with marked down veggies. I always give it a look because sometimes there's decent stuff in there. Last week there were a few packs of zucchini, each 4 to a pack for $1. Oh yeah! They were turned into zucchini bread that afternoon plus a casserole for the next day. Marked down tomatoes and Italian type bread are perfect for panzanella salad. I can make a meal of that stuff!

[JayneR13]

Oh yeah! Shopping the sales is definitely the way to go. Meat from Sav a lot is 1/2 the price of meat from Festival Foods, even though it's fatty and likely to contain pesticides. I too browse any value bin I see. Times are hard and getting harder but we do have choices! And if the worst thing that ever happened to me in life is giving up potato chips, I've gotten really lucky!