The grocery store.....Inflation is here!

This week I spent $500.00 dollars on making my house run for a month. There are only two people in the household and three protective dogs.

Food probably took up to 3/4's of the cost. Dog food and their other needs were part of it as was cleaning and personal supplies.

That is nearly a normal payment on a new vehicle!

Personally, I feel that retailers are presenting pricing at an astronomical rates. Food is higher priced than hard goods.

I could have bought a 42" T.V. for less than what I purchased to survive!?

Now keep in mind that my household eats clean food, hardly any processed food at all.

Totally, I feel that there is an artificial pricing determination on food. The packages are getting smaller and the prices are getting higher.

I'm at a guffaw here. Any input here?

My household spent around $250 (4 adults, 1 child, 1 small dog) for maybe 2 weeks of food. In all we spend like $600 at least a month for food. And at the end of the month we are ALWAYS short on food/money when I don't get paid.

Keep in mind that it's not ALL retailers. Smaller ones like myself just have to play the game designed by the bigger ones. The little guy would love to keep those prices down for his friends, family etc. Those big bastards couldn't care less because they pay pennies for that flour and rice compared to dollars spent by the little guys.

We pay more, you pay more. Jeez, I wonder if that's what Obama means by trickle down economics?

Peace

I was just talking to my mom about this as the food bill for my household of 6 + 1 small dog and cat can run anywhere from 700-1000 monthly and that includes cat and dog food and any incidental walks to the local bodega. This is also including clipping coupons, using our market club cards and shopping at Wally World for items like cereal and olive oil. I mentioned ice cream and she remarked about how it wasn't even a half gallon anymore and yet the price had risen. Now a little more than 11/2 quarts of ice cream costs more than a gallon of gas.

At this rate, I can not reply to everyone individually.............but you all seem to be in the same sinking ship I am in! I will start starring your posts now.

OMG...people are clipping coupons and still paying more than I am. We are in major trouble. Currently 15% of the U.S.A. is on food stamps. I can see why!!!!

It is absolutely insane out there.

Gardening helps ...but I dont have time to raise chickens (though im considering it), study aquaponics, make my own flour, and press my own oils. We have been scaling things down and opting for less expensive versions of favorites but I too like to eat a bit clean and the only thing thats still cheap is the processed garbage and even the price of that is creeping ever higher.

reply to post by brilab45


Truly I feel bad for families. Families take the brunt of this "depression and inflation". My heart is with you folks that have to work two jobs, place your kids in care while you work and see your dollars going down the drain.

I'm so glad I don't have children. How harrowing it must be to worry about a family in these times. My heart goes out to you big time.

Originally posted by irsuccubus
Gardening helps ...but I dont have time to raise chickens (though im considering it), study aquaponics, make my own flour, and press my own oils. We have been scaling things down and opting for less expensive versions of favorites but I too like to eat a bit clean and the only thing thats still cheap is the processed garbage and even the price of that is creeping ever higher.

I've also done the same. Sometimes I'm not so great at the harvest however. Used to have chickens....they were great at the time. But, I don't have the acreage for free range chickens anymore. The eggs were galore. Too many and had to give them away. Live in Oklahoma BTW.

You sound smart as hell. Aquaponics is a real interest of mine.

I do a garden and can or freeze alot of stuff - corn, beans, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, jams.

Although I didn't do any this year, I usually raise a few cattle (bucket babies). I keep 1/2, sell the rest. makes a few extra bucks.
I also raise chickens for eggs, even that makes a few bucks. although with the price of chicken feed, it's cheaper to buy chicken on sale (meat chickens that is) at the grocery than it is to raise your own. but doing eggs has a profit.
I know, not everybody has room for farm animals and a garden.
But if you shop at farm stands, local grown stuff, you can still stock your pantry for cheap when the stuff is in season.
consider buying 1/2 side of beef, pork, etc. it's worth the drive.

Being a guy, I'm not really into coupons. What recommendations would you give to a starter? I really need to reign in my spending and give up on my ego. It feels emasculating to me to clip coupons. Anyways, do newspapers exist today? I need help. Tired of paying retail for everything.

reply to post by brilab45


aquaponics and hydroponics both are something I would love to get my hands into but alas...not gonna happen in this house, lol. I am in the early stages of business building so budgets across the board are razor thin. I almost feel as if this is a standoff with whoever is at the other end of all this and its all a question of will we all decline before they all implode. Or perhaps its scarier yet and our decline is a result of an implosion that is already occurring.

reply to post by brilab45


u can get deals all sorts of ways. sign up for your market's club cards and look at the online versions of their circulars to catch deals. learn when the sales start and end and shop accordingly. you can also do little things like buy a whole chicken and debone it yourself rather than buying more expensive breasts. I buy big cuts of beef and run them through a grinder rather than buying ground beef because if you have noticed the cost of that item seems to have tripled.

Chicken almost doubled in price at my local market in the past 2 weeks, and we did spend about 15% more than we usually spend in one trip to the grocery. No worries though, because electricity rates are sky rocketing, and so are property taxes here, but at least my home's value is dropping..... 3 cheers for backwards world!

Originally posted by irsuccubus
reply to post by brilab45

 

aquaponics and hydroponics both are something I would love to get my hands into but alas...not gonna happen in this house, lol. I am in the early stages of business building so budgets across the board are razor thin. I almost feel as if this is a standoff with whoever is at the other end of all this and its all a question of will we all decline before they all implode. Or perhaps its scarier yet and our decline is a result of an implosion that is already occurring.

edit on 7-12-2011 by irsuccubus because: (no reason given)

You know, you are so right. I'm fairly scared about when SHTF! I really feel it is going to happen. Recently I have started to hoard water and other long term food items. To be honest, that is part of my food budget. I've turned my master closet into a pantry. I'm worried.

Knowing your background now, I realize that starting a hydroponic "farm" would be quite costly. However, you would be on my list of survivor-ship should SHTF. Lets start our list now....LOL.

Yes, food has gotten outrageous. I stock up on food when there are sales, and I bought a lot of staple commodities like coffee, flour (whole wheat and white), sugar, olive oil, cocoa powder, powdered milk, etc., when it was cheaper. I grew a garden this year and we had fresh veggies all summer. I have the acreage to have some chickens, we just need to build a coop and a cat-proof yard for the chickens to be in (we have 9 cats).

We are looking into building a greenhouse, a coop and maybe later, a small barn for a cow.

In the mean time, I have stocked up on enough food so that I can pick and choose during sales at the store. We knew it was going to get ugly with prices because the commodity prices six months ago were very high, and commodity prices in the stock market always looks ahead about 6 months.

[color=dodgerblue]I use coupons every week and buy all of our hygiene products, cleaning supplies and laundry supplies with them. I buy 4-6 newspapers every week and use the internet/sales ads to find the best deals.

The other day I got 3 bottles of Aspirin and they paid me 3 cents each to take them.

The coupon people are getting stingier, coupons have a lower value and stricter guidelines now (only 4 like coupons per transaction and a lot less save a buck on any -insert brand name here- product) but you can still save a bundle if you pair those coupons with store sales.

The money I save on those things goes back into the food budget.

It is hard out there but there are definitely ways to save a buck if you know where to look.

Next year we are starting a garden and hopefully starting a chicken coop.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
Chicken almost doubled in price at my local market in the past 2 weeks, and we did spend about 15% more than we usually spend in one trip to the grocery. No worries though, because electricity rates are sky rocketing, and so are property taxes here, but at least my home's value is dropping..... 3 cheers for backwards world!

All meats have gone up several hundred percent. It is absolutely crazy. I lucked out today and bought two smoked sausage items for three dollars. They are in the freezer now. I'm getting desperate to save money.

Of that $500 how much was actual nutritious "FOOD" ??

Your potato chips, ice cream and other crap is a waste of your money and your health.

I eat ONLY the following:

Broccoli
Chicken
Oatmeal
Sweet Potatoes
Egg Whites
Natural unsweetened peanut butter

For sweetener I use Stevia which is a non sugar (the fake sweeteners are just modifications of the carbon chain of sugar and have the same effect on the body)

Thats it I eat only for me and I spend $125 a month on food. And I eat 5 meals a day.

Thats real food, I dont get sick EVER and I feel and look GREAT!

reply to post by daryllyn


I need you on my side to get paid for buying things. Do you live in Oklahoma by chance?