Why is food so expensive?

Because you bought stuff to put together a charcuterie plate, OP.

I know OP. Sometimes things go up $2 from one week to the next too.

Price gouging by corporate America.

I paid $5.50 for clay cat litter two years ago. Now it's $7.50- why?

Tom’s Unscented Deodorant was $7.99 when I bought it 2 months ago.

Now $9.99 this evening.

Fuck that.

Fat whores, if you live by the Amish they often have grocery outlets that sells dented and slightly past date foods. Sometimes there are deals to be had. Especially things like coffee, spices, cereal and canned goods. It is hit or miss, but you can save up to 75% on some items.

But what are the six items?

I know eggs were high because of some avian flu and back when bacon was 8.00 a pound it was a disease killing pigs. Gas prices for shipping? It's more complicated than who the president is though people like to blame them.

Market consolidation - If Kroger and Albertsons merge it will only get worse. Things already got worse when Albertsons bought Safeway.

I don't see how Kroger can get any worse. It's worse than Albertsons.

This is not the gay glamour I was sold in Details magazine.

It's total price gouging.

Inflation is way down, but prices aren't going down to match.

It's infuriating.

Biden talked about this today. He must be a datalounger.

A rotisserie chicken at Sprouts used to be $5, as recently as 2021-22. Last year they were 7.99 and now they’re $10

Oh, I don't know, OP. Maybe a little-known aspect of Capitalism known as "what the market will bear."

Also, OP, WTH kind of stupid post is that?! So 6 items = $30. And?

I can buy 1 item for $30. Or 6 items for $15. Or 3 items for.....Etc.

calm down r16, you'll live longer

Go back to 2022 when the U.S. and Europe placed an embargo on Russian oil and wheat. That's when the prices shot up. Fuck Ukraine.

So what were the 6 items then?

Fuck Putin.

[quote]Inflation is way down, but prices aren't going down to match.

You'd need deflation for that...

Stop buyin liquor den OP.

Stop shopping at HyVee. In Flyoverstan, the same analogy can be applied to cars. They’ll drive a 60k pickup truck but the 40k BMW is pretentious.

I went to Aldi today. Oh Lordy most things were 30%-50% cheaper than regular grocery stores. I was hoping for some German brands, but they were all made up looking US and Canadian labels.

People need to boycott nationwide. We did it in the 1970s during the first big recession and it didn’t bring prices down but it resulted in coupons for meat, vegetables, fruit.

Dont buy anything you don’t really need. I was looking at one of those poverty subreddits the other day where people try to be frugal and a woman asked tips for bringing down her grocery bill. She was all, “After staples like paper towels, cleaning prodocts, storage bags…”and I was like “Why are you buying paper towels? You get a pack of 10 wash clothes and some dish towels from the dollar store. You reuse them. Reuse storage plastic bags, aluminum foil.”

They were like, “Eww that’s so disgusting.”

People….wash them. You wash and dry plastic bags, aluminum foil with soap and water. Wash the dishtowels that you use.”

We had a big spill one day and my husband runs to get paper towels. “We don’t have enough to sop it up!”

I grabbed a bath towel from the bathroom and sopped it up. “Ugh, the you put the bath towel on the floor, we have to get rid of it now.”

“No we don’t. We have to put it in washing machine. We dry our asscheeks with bath towels…at least I hope you dry your dick and your asscheeks or there’s going to be a fungus among us. A bottle of cranberry juice and some cat hair isn’t going to be able to overcome the power of detergent, agitation, hot water rinses and the dryer.”

The media though, used to publicize when consumer groups organized things like meatless Tuesdays and Fridays, stop buying cookies, cakes, pastries.

We have the internet and it’s only used for trolling. Everyone’s obsessed with porn, video games, comic book heroes and the actors playing them. Whores like Kardashians, nepo babies, singers talking about guns and pussies.

Nobody can think a serious thought except, “ima git my gun.”

Now only junk food has coupons. Everything is “Buy 3 of these, get 50¢ off.”

I used to ride on the space rocket outside the grocery store for a quarter. Now it costs a dollar. How am I supposed to climax??? Thanks Joe Biden!

Because corporate America kept prices up after Covid hoping no one would fight back.

Putin and middle eastern wealth loves it when you say "corporate America".

Sue Ann Nivens: Have you seen the price of food these days. It's cheaper to just eat money.

The war in Ukraine and the embargo on Russian goods started this spike in inflation. Fuck Ukraine.

Fuck you, Putin-loving R30. That's not the case at all. Your agitprop has no power here, cunt.

Because CEOs are Republican, and they are jacking-up prices so it will (non-sensically) reflect on Biden.

Remember the baby formula fiasco?

The short but correct answer is like everything,

Republican Obstructionism.

Crew dee tay?

I've been gaslit by inflation. I will go to ALDI or something and swear everything I'm getting is so cheap and then I'm still surprised by the total. I don't remember what prices were like before. I do remember being excited about amounts of money that seem like absolutely nothing now not that long ago though.

We still don’t know what the six items were?

If it’s prepared / premade food then it doesn’t count.

guerlains classique fragrances were 50-70% lower last week online than in high street shops. surge pricing folks. chicken may be expensive in one shop and on sale in another. 50% prices differences are common. on amazon a favored model of jeans might be 80 one week and 40 the next

10 bucks for meh deodorant is too high? then dont buy it! there are other good cheaper deos

the same shop will have 3 different prices: brick and mortar, website and app. one store i like slways offers me free delivery but only on the app. on the other hand the brick and mortar will have discounts not offered online

CBS News yesterday:

"Supermarket prices are now 25% higher than in January 2020, while inflation has increased 19% over that same time. That means even though grocery costs are now rising at a slower pace than in the depth of the pandemic's inflationary spike, the same shopping basket still costs more than a month or a year ago."

R25, if ever there is a resurgence of common sense (people say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one), I will give the credit for beginning it to you.

A quart of Publix non-dairy creamer was $2.09 two years ago. It's now $2.89, a 72% increase. At the time, it was blamed on scarcity of paper for cartons.

"Even excluding pricey Valentine’s Day menus, it’s becoming increasingly cheaper for Americans to eat at home instead of dining out, according to January Consumer Price Index data. That’s because prices for groceries are up 1.2% year over year, while the price of food consumed at restaurants is up 5.1%."

R25 Excellent post.

R38 you are stupid and illiterate

After I saw the $9.99 price tag of Tom’s deodorant (or deos as r38 likes to call it) I went online and bought a 3 pack for $19.60 at Amazon. $19.60 / 3 units = $6.54 per unit.

I’ve now realized that the effort to bargain shop is worth it.

[quote]I’ve now realized that the effort to bargain shop is worth it.

Most people realized this more than a decade ago with Amazon and other on-line retailers. Welcome to bargain shopping !

I am stupid and illiterate R44? You went online and found cheaper. Which is exactly the same recommendation I made in my posts.

Because you're poor, OP

My time is worth more than money r45

R48 listen Madame Mary!, we all make the same calculation. Sometimes the bargain hunt is worth the time, sometimes it is not. You're not special.

There’s no shame in being poor r48

Bargain shop as you find necessary

I was offended at the store’s price gouging, not the price per se

Corporate greed plus a lack of government oversight, because the GOP gutted all of that, plus the fact that corporate greed and 50+ years of consolidation/mergers/moving manufacturing overseas has us unable to stock our stores with local goods, and thus the corporations have us by the balls, and can charge whatever they want, whatever the shareholders want.

r41, At the time, it was blamed on scarcity of paper for cartons.

Really, not the Dairy Lobby dumping millions of gallons of milk down the drain to sustain their artificial prices?

You want to lower the price of Milk and cheeses, do battle with the Dairy Lobby and dairy subsidies.

R30 [W]ar ON Ukraine." FIFY.

Ah, yes. Yet another example of how the initial aggressor is somehow blameless when the retaliations/defense measures/punishments begin.

Before you ask that OP, maybe stop spending all your money on cigarettes!

Diesel fuel used to deliver the food to stores is still high.

Capitalist gouging

Eggs are cheap at ALDIs and the large are about half again bigger than the large at other supermarkets.

It’s just expensive because you eat so much of it, you pig.

Sometimes brands do they ole bait and switch. They make their products smaller in weight and size and then charge you the same price. Then after about a year or two they raise the price on the smaller size as well. That is classic gouging. Corporate profits are at an all time high.

As my 90-year-old mom says, "Everything at the grocery story costs $5 now." Of course, that's not technically true, but every time I get home from Safeway I divide the number of items I bought (thanks, Safeway, for putting that on the receipt!) by the amount I spent, and, sure enough, pretty close to $5/item.

Which I hate. Why is a six-pack of Schweppes ginger ale in the 10-oz. bottles $7? C'mon. It's gouging. If Biden and his economists can somehow get food prices down, he'll have a better shot at winning the election.

r25 is correct. Back in the 70's, we used a dish rag instead of a sponge and other cleaning rags for household cleaning. Then we just put them in the washer. Everyone wants convenience today and fails to think in terms of what is REALLY needed.

I buy the Crystal deodorant and one stick can last me 6 months or longer. It works great for me.

I was buying granola cereal with protein at the grocery store for around $6. Went to Aldi and found almost the exact same product for $2.39. That was an easy switch to make.

Grocery prices are out of control. I can remember going to places like Food for Less where they charged less because you had to bag your own items. Today, every single place makes you bag your own items in self checkout and everything costs more. They can raise prices on groceries because everyone has to eat. The trick is to find foods that you can make into more than one meal. I made chili a few weekends ago in my crockpot and froze my leftover. I got NINE meals from that and it's all healthy, homemade stuff. I get home, pop the frozen chili in the microwave along with the corn bread I made and froze and i have a nice, tasty dinner with no preservatives. There are many ways to be frugal...freeze your bread. It toasts up nicely. I also bought an Areogarden and now grow my own dill, onions, tomatoes, etc indoors.

This won't work for everyone. I do a shake every am with a powder that has 30 g protein; a hearty, vegetable heavy homemade soup for lunch with half a cheese sandwich and a carb--baked potato, pasta, grain, rice, beans--with poultry, fish or sometimes beef for dinner. Fruit for snacks. I like to eat this way but I especially like never being broke in contrast to friends who make far more than I do but are always out of pocket. I also don't do restaurants unless absolutely necessary and ignore brand labels and advertising.

r31 Moron. I don't give a fuck about either Putin or the corrupt little beggar Zelensky. But yes, we are all paying higher food and gas prices because of the U.S. government's meddling in yet another pointless war.

[quote] Russia’s War in Ukraine Is Driving Global Inflation. Here’s How Much.

It wasn't that you were wrong, it was the way you put it. It's Putin that is stopping Ukraine from exporting grain and other crops. I have zero tolerance for Putin apologists or anyone who seems like one, so eat shit.

r64 Juvenile insults is all you got. Uh, there's also a gratuitous embargo on Russian goods. Why the hell are we in the middle of that Neo-Con war?

Stop ignoring the elephant in the room.

You got the tone your deserved. Kisses from the EU.

[quote]Back in the 70's, we used a dish rag instead of a sponge and other cleaning rags for household cleaning. Then we just put them in the washer.

Yes but back then the electric bill were a lot cheaper or people just assumed ruining the laundry every day was just normal blaming the cost on the light bulbs. The facts are today with modern LED lights and other energy efficient appliances the biggest energy hog in the entire house is your dryer. It's much cheaper to buy a big bulk of paper towels at Costco that last months than run the washer and dryer every week.

Wow, you really had to think hard to come up with that one. ^

You don't have to dry them in the dryer. You can hang them up and let them dry that way if you're so concerned about how much energy your dryer might take to do one extra load.

R67, add rags to water, soap, and peroxide in a small bucket. Then give a rinse and hang them to dry in your shower - not that big of a deal.

On February 2, the Australian Federal Government has launched an enquiry into our supermarket sector (including wholesale) doing the same thing. Excessively raising prices and declaring billions in profit. The investigative body will be the federal ACCC - Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. They are investigating pricing, practices and market control from end to end.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers: “I’ve directed the ACCC to investigate pricing and competition in the supermarket sector".

This is great news. Should be very interesting to see the results. This is happening in most western counties.

THe only things I buy canned are canned beans of various varieties, canned tuna,, and canned tomato sauce and paste. I don't use canned goods. Oh. For emergencies I have a few cans of condensed milk, and I have coconut milk for cooking. But my fruit and vegetables are always fresh. I probably spend more money on herbs and spices than on canned goods.

I stopped going to stores that are expensive. I used to get things at Whole Foods, but not any more. I will get stuff at TJ's. and I go to the supermarket. I also make shopping lists now and try to stick to the list. The other thing I've been doing is budgeting. I will allow myself a certain amount of money on any given visit to the store. It has really helped me shop smarter.

Canned sardines are a good option for the economic conscious, They are very nutritious dense, contain the good omega 3 fat, and are more affordable. Try to buy the ones that have olive oil instead of seed oils.

I am fortunate enough where I don't really care about food prices, but I understand that many people have to and I get it. I'm sure it's post pandemic price gouging, but are the prices really that bad or is someone just trying to create an inflation narrative for political reasons?

Crude-ites!

Greedflation

Between 2020 and 2022, corporate profits rose by 75 percent—five times as fast as inflation

Huggies diapers are up 6 percent while production costs fell by $75 million; Chicken prices are up 20 percent as Tyson has been ordered to pay fines for conspiring to inflate prices

Ground beef has gotten so expensive. I would make a meatloaf and it would last me several dinners. Now I buy it when it's on sale. $2.88 instead of $4.29. a pound. Eating lots of tofu and vegetables. Pasta when it's a dollar a box and homemade tomato sauce. About $2.50 for dinner. People must be making sacks of gold to be able to eat in restaurants.

R74 it really is that bad. I am also fortunate that I don’t or didn’t ever look at prices when I shopped for food. I just bought what I wanted. I have a pretty regular rotation of recipes and meals and a shopping list. outside of splurging special cheeses or cuts of meat , my totals usually came between $280-340 every trip. Last week I went to Safeway and bought my regular list: some veggies fruits and berries, garbanzos, a chicken, oatmeal and it was over $600. It’s insane. I’m going to try Grocery Outlet Bargain Market and see if I can do better.

I'm well able to support myself. That's not an issue. What did it for me is when I did my budget, and discovered how much I was spending on groceries. I'm single. I live alone. It's ridiculous that I would spend more than $70-$80 a week on groceries for one person.

R51- The consolidation started in the mid to late 1980's not the 1970's.

Deregulation during the Reagan administration allowed a lot of this to occur.

Yes, R80. Reagan is responsible for a lot of bad shit. Everything that has gone to hell, Healthcare, Education, the Environment, Food Safety, etc.etc.etc. He was a terrible person. I strongly urge everyone to watch the 4-5 part documentary on Reagan that I saw a few years ago on Showtime. He was a monster.

R81- Nixon was a crook but it was under his administration that the Environmental Protection Agency was started , he expanded other social programs as well. Carter did none of this.

Unfortunately it was someone he hired that changed farming from small family run farms to the corporate farming we have today or Agribusiness.

Reagan started the ball rolling for a lot of the big issues we have today. Anti-union, pro-monopoly, anti-environment, and replacing government run or regulated services to private industries with little to no oversight.

Aldi has packaged salads that are mainly kale or cabbage with other veggies. They seem to last longer than other salads and are great for lunches, steamed as a bed of vegetables, put in soups or juiced. Very reasonable.

Can you imagine today's population in 1930s-40s United States? Rationing, green stamps, food lines, victory gardens, helping your neighbor, soup kitchens? So many people depend on pampering themselves with instant delivery of Special Foods from Doordash, etc.

[quote]if you live by the Amish they often have grocery outlets that sells dented and slightly past date foods.

Dented cans and past date foods must explain their inbreeding. When they get out on Rumspringa and taste real food, they are amazed.

[quote]Reagan is responsible for a lot of bad shit.

Which 8 years of Clinton, 8 years of Obama and 4 years of Biden could have corrected.

As much as your magical thinking may permit it, r88, the 50,000 Americans who died of AIDS before Reagan could even condescend to mention that the word publicly cannot be brought back

And R88 may I remind you we live in a Republic, Democracy comprised of three branches of government, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. If PResidents were authoritarian dictators, or magicians, then yeas they could get a lot done. But alas, they have to depend on Congress. Presidents can only propose laws they have to wait for Congress to act. This is true with Immigration, with Healthcare, with the Environment, With gun safety legislation and a host of other policy issues.

George Bush proposed Immigration reform legislation and was rejected by his own party in Congress. And right now the GOP has demonstrated quite openly that Immigration is a great issue to run on,and not a problem to be solved.

[quote]some veggies fruits and berries, garbanzos, a chicken, oatmeal and it was over $600

That’s bullshit, sorry.

And r90, may I remind you that people like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden had plenty of opportunities to bring legislation into Congress and get laws revoked, reworked, implemented, etc.

Elizabeth Warren is always running her mouth about stuff like this and posters on DL are always saying what a brilliant scholar she is. Well, why doesn't she propose some legislation to fix the problem?

Could it be that all of these people are profiting from Corporate Greed? Say it ain't so!

Now that SCOTUS basically reversed a woman's right to have an abortion, the Republicans need a new wedge issue to run on. Declining to approve any immigration bill and blaming it on Democrats is the Republicans new "abortion" issue.

Why is there war?

Why does shit stink?

Why is snow cold?

Why did the politicals ambush the thread again?

Albertson's 2023 profits: $21.75 billion

OP = pauper

Not one lie was told. Yesterday, at stick store the cashier asked for 20 sticks for 5 mud pies. It’s just crazy out here.

Prices are obviously ridiculous but a lot of these complaints are coming from people who feel the need to buy 3 six packs of Gatorade, pop tarts and whatever else grows in a chemical plant.

I went to the grocery store today and bought: bagels, onions, canned diced tomatoes, pork chops on sale, cauliflower, no name cream cheese, liverwurst, frozen fish and some cold cuts. 35 dollars. It's not the best price but some people are spending that kind of money on 2-3 items.

Learn to be thrifty and budget.

The difference in prices between stores can be surprising. Safeway and other brand giants in urban areas really gouge the customers. Try the discount stores they can be very decent, like cost less. They have great fruits and veggies at half or less than Safeway and great selection too. Trader Joe’s is very decent with prices and good fresh real foods.. The cheaper stores have a lot of more interesting people in them too. They can be great people watching as a Bonus. Even there though foods are high things have gone up.

Many Americans don't have enough good information to make informed decisions on how to shop smarter for more nutritious food, so they just buy what they know and look for bargains, even if it ends up being a cart full of hyper processed with empty calories.

[quote]canned diced tomatoes

Hate their hard, pointy texture. Buy whole canned tomatoes and break them up by hand, or with a meat masher or stick blender. Such a better texture.

R103, I just watched YouTube cook open a can of whole tomatoes and use kitchen scissors to slice them up while they were in the can… sorta genius.

You still have to get rid of the seeds though so I hope he ran it through a food mill or rubbed it through a mesh strainer

r105, no ya don't.

Yeah you do.

r107, I have seen numerous dumps of whole peeled Roma tomatoes into pans for YT recipiea.

I myself have dumped numerous cans of tomatoes directly into sauce pans.

Your opinion is meaningless.

So is yours.

I wonder why certain things are so expensive. Like mayonnaise. Why is a jar so expensive?

I've been cutting up whole tomatoes in the can with a pair of kitchen scissors for years. Dead simple and works really well with none of the splattering and squirting you get if you squeeze them in your hands. (On a Milk Street cooking show I recently saw, they poured the tomatoes into a big bowl, put a tea towel over the top and then squeezed the tomatoes with their hands under the towel to prevent splatters. Jaysis, now you have to wash a bowl, a towel and your hands. Just use the damn scissors.) And, sorry, Italia, I don't strain out the seeds either.

On topic: Not food, but I recently noticed a single lint roller at Safeway was $7. The hell? It's masking tape and a plastic stick. It cannot have cost more than 50 cents to make in bulk. Gougers...

R71, for someone who doesn’t used canned goods you use canned goods…

There is a lot of price gouging on in the United States. They tend to base prices on what people will put up with and push it a little. It's one of the biggest realizations I had when I moved out of the country, that and how crap and sometimes dangerous the food supply is in the United States. Companies will sell the same product in the US that they sell here, but the US version is full of chemicals - the exact same thing but made differently. It's scary. That is the thing the citizens should be combating FIRST instead of other people's wars halfway across the world.

In the cart below, there is a bottle of wine, a whole chicken, fresh sausage for pasta, milk, eggs and I wasn't done shopping. I'm lucky to get good wine super cheap. That's just the luck of the draw. That bottle would be 5X as much in the states. My total came to about $28. I had a coupon that if I spent 25 euros or more I get 5 euros off. So my total was about $23. And every single item tells you were the product comes from, what region of Italy and when it was packaged.

Quality food that's not poison costs WAY too much in the US. For a country as rich as the United States is, that doesn't make sense. They really put their citizens last - you're just cogs, no matter how big your house is. And they have drummed the will to demand better out of you.

And BTW, that "over the counter" passata above is the quality of which you'd pay $6 at Eataly. I wish people would stop fighting each other and demand better of their food sources - that is one of the most basic things you can ask in a country.

Organic chicken, milk, sausage and eggs are about 35-40 in my area, Forget the wine.

R113 That is because companies put bigger profits ahead of the health of the people.

Pretty assholes

Pretty ribbons of blue

I went shopping this morning for groceries. I ended up spending $113 for stuff at Publix I could have bought at Krogers from about $60. I was pressed for times, but in hindsight it wasn't worth it. Lesson learned.

Pubics?

[quote] I went shopping this morning for groceries. I ended up spending $113 for stuff at Publix

My uncle used to yell at my aunt (his sister) because she would buy my grandmother’s groceries at Publix. 😆

Turn tricks for treats

R59 I’ve noticed so much of that since Covid. Kraft Mac n cheese less volume, ice cream (nothing is half gallon anymore and most cannot say they’re “ice cream” just some variation of dairy dessert like Breyers), cereal….

When Americans finally get hungry they will revolt. We haven’t reached that stage yet.

if we can't get rid of Trump, how do we get major corporations to listen to us?

Corporations won't listen. You need to put in food safety and quality laws and also consumer protection laws. American is built on Dillinger capitalism and it got worse again after Reagan. The power balance was better from the 30s to the early 80s. Gen Z and Gen Alpha might have some impact because many refuse to be respect corporations beyond the minimum to serve their own self interest.

It’s going to take more than just being lazy at work to stop corporate monopolies. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are lazy about everything except anti aging regimens.

[quote]I paid $5.50 for clay cat litter two years ago. Now it's $7.50- why?

Because you touch yourself.

It's not the monopolies. It's the complete worship and impunity of Greed in the USA.

R122- ,That shrinkage ( I'm not talking about the size of your cock when it's cold) has been going on AT LEAST since the 1980's.

*loads cart with champagne, lobster tails, and “what’s this? Truffle oil?” *

You type fat OP.

“The inflation rate is down but prices haven’t gone down” — tell me you got your GED in jail without telling me you got your GED in jail.

Too many young people are unwilling to push back against the greedy corporate pigs, and all boomers care about is their quarterly profit dividends. Just being alive in America in 2024 is a conflict of interest.

You know when the Pandemic broke out we should have imposed laws to stop price gouging. We didn't, because Trump is a greedy bastard, but there were programs with funds for businesses impacted by the Pandemic and the recovery. A lot of undeserving people got those PPP loans, including members of Congress who then had their loans "forgiven. " I believe Jared may have been one of them. Not sure. The lack of ethics and principles is infuriating, and people who get pissed off about it are derided, viewed as quaint because we expect these corporations to do the right thing. But Greed rules. If those fuckers would self-regulate in a responsible way, there would be no need to regulate them. They fuck over us, then get pissed off when we want to regulate them.Fuckers.

[quote]A lot of undeserving people got those PPP loans, including members of Congress who then had their loans "forgiven. "

Barbara Streisand got one and paid her gardener with it. And the two-faced cow publicly complained about how bad Trump was.

I agree with a lot of what R25 says.

We wash and reuse aluminum foil. We use plastic takeout bags as trash bags, and we use takeout containers as tupperware for fridge/freezer storage. We have a couple of spongecloths on the fridge, one is for clean spills (like water on the counter), the other is for dirtier spills (like soy sauce on the counter). Rinse, hang back up. Barely ever use paper towels. We also have a bidet on the toilet (only cost us $250 inclusive of plumbing/electrical contractor help), and therefore don't use nearly as much T.P. as we used to.

But back to the food being expensive. I think it helps if when you go out, you don't get two entrees, plus two sides, and two drinks. We typically share two entrees, and each get one drink, no sides. Or, share one app and one entree.

I comparison shop on line.Before I go to the store. I buy stuff like toilet paper and paper towels four times a year. Same with cleaning products. Although to be honest I don't buy a lot of different cleaning products. Believe it or not I still use Comet Cleanser. There are so many different concoctions to clean toilets. LOL! I also buy generic when ever I can, from cookies to OTC drugs. The other thing that works for me is to absolutely know why you're going shopping. Make a list. But know thyself. I know that I will impulse buy something or realize I need something that I overlooked. So I put it in the budget to be f lexible within a specific limit. Like, maybe I guestimate I will spend $60.But I also allow $20 extra for those impulse buys.

One of the first things a New Super Majority Democratic Congress needs to do is extend the Statutes of Limitation on Crimes committed during the Trump Administration by 10 Years.

Trump released so many Government Criminals into the government that the statutes need to be extended to accommodate all the crime investigations and prosecutions. Mnuchin had a side hustle with the Saudis just like Jarvanka.

R136 don't use take out containers for food storage. It is not food safe for repeated use. Cheap dumbass.

R139 Why curse at him?

Because I'm crabby this morning and the poster was sounding so supercilious about his OCD penny pinching tactics.

If you have to shop at a store that is over charging for food, make sure you steal something.

$12.99 for a package of Oscar Meyer bacon in NYC.

[quote]If you have to shop at a store that is over charging for food, make sure you steal something.

My husband did this all of the time when shopping at the Whole Foods Hudson yards self checkout. You have four croissants ($4 Each!), you put down one. Same for bagels. You get whatever coffee you want but put down you got French Roast. And Burts Bees chapstick never stood a chance in those big buckets by the checkout.

Not that it was a major thing, but my Aunt would always tickle me when she went through produce. If she need something small like parsley, she would break it apart to make it look like "garbage" at the bottom of her cart, then bag everything up when she got to her car.

I'm paying about 30-35% more in groceries in 2024 than I was at the beginning of 2020.

[quote]$12.99 for a package of Oscar Meyer bacon in NYC.

Where are you shopping? I know some stores are charging that, but there are other stores charging much less.

I'd hate to get busted, embarrassed by security, and banned for some fucking Burt's Bees.

[quote]“The inflation rate is down but prices haven’t gone down” — tell me you got your GED in jail without telling me you got your GED in jail.

Don’t tell us you believe every stat the government feeds us, r132. Who do believe, them or your own fucking receipts? in an election year? Please.

R148, one thing that is true, while prices have increased, wages in general have been stagnant. I live in Georgia, and our minimum wage is $7.25. So is the federal minimum wage. That is disgraceful.

A decrease in inflation means that the rate of price increases has gone down, not that prices have gone down. But flaunt your stupidity r148.

Oh, good point r150. We're sure the electorate will enjoy that harmless nuance. Enjoy R win in November.

Some of you can manage to turn anything into a screed about capitalism. 🙄

You’ll still be an ignoramus irrespective of an “R win”

It's not just groceries, although that is where we all feel it most. It's the cost of buying a fucking used car. Or building materials for home repairs and renovations. Or the cost of housing in general. There is "before the Pandemic" and "since the Pandemic." And it isn't just a local problem. Or a national problem. It is global.

[quote]Some of you can manage to turn anything into a screed about capitalism. 🙄

The title of the thread is literally "Why is Food so Expensive?" r 152. It's not that big of a reach to turn a question about the Food Prices in a capitalist country into a discussion about capitalism.

I’m an avid gardener, so I use sources such as Edible gardening from Rosalind C, the square foot gardening book and the permaculture book.

[quote] my totals usually came between $280-340 every trip. Last week I went to Safeway and bought my regular list: some veggies fruits and berries, garbanzos, a chicken, oatmeal and it was over $600. It’s insane. I’m going to try Grocery Outlet Bargain Market and see if I can do better.

R78, the common factor is the shopper, you. I agree with the poster above: $600 at Safeway for veggies, fruits, berries, garbanzos, chicken, and oatmeal sounds unbelievable. Unless you are shopping for a Duggars-type family.

R157 the OP is Chrissy Metz

Shoplifting/shrinkage adds to the problem.

Bacon is cheap in Aldi and there are Aldi stores in NYC. It’s not Oscar Meyer, it’s appleton and it’s fine. It’s not $12.99

R146: Bacon is from midtown Food Emporium. I've not found a cheaper package price in the area.

Thanks, R160, but the cost of traveling roundtrip to an Aldi's doesn't offer any price savings.

R160 There is only one Aldi store in NYC, on East 117th Street, which is South Harlem. I'm glad that neighborhood has a decent supermarket, so many neighborhoods of predominant minority residents have shitty grocery stores.

Sometimes life is about eating Whole Foods while wearing Brooks Brothers. Other times it’s being a fat whore in your Old Navy.

[quote]Bacon is from midtown Food Emporium. I've not found a cheaper package price in the area.

There’s your problem. Food Emporium is overpriced. Wegman’s at Astor Place has Oscar Mayer bacon for $8.99. Or if you want to hop the bus to Secaucus, I think Walmart has it for $7.99.

117th Street has Costco as well as Aldi

Just looked at Amazon Fresh. Many brands of 12 oz bacon for 6.99-7.99. You do pay a 10. delivery fee but try ordering 2x a month. Costco has good prices on bacon.

I love shoplifting

I shop at Whole Foods now.

I used to shop at Publix, but Whole Foods is cheaper and has better food.

Shop at the free food pantry

I love how New Yorkers name streets and places so casually like NYC is the center of the universe. But it is though 😂. I grew up partially in midtown.

I shop at the Piggly Wiggly

Fat Whores who buy but do not shop, deserve to be poor Fat Whores.

The Food Circus has tuna, 4 cans for a $1

R171 = Lived at 623 E. 68th St.

[quote]The Food Circus has tuna, 4 cans for a $1

And the sell by date was just last Tuesday so you may luck out and not get sick.

But if you do get sick, it’s a cheap way to lose ten pounds.

R176 You can eat canned fish safely for about 6-12 months past the best by date. It may not taste as fresh as you may want but you won't get sick. I was going through my cupboard last month and found among my stock of canned fish 2 cans of salmon that had Aug 2023 as the freshness date. I ate both of them for lunch on two dates that week and they were okay and I had no side effects. If they were more than a year, then i would probably toss them.

Last time I was in a Whole Foods was to pick up Thanksgiving dinner last year. It was disappointing.

R139, cheapskate here. There is nothing wrong with reusing heavy plastic takeout containers for food storage. I'm not talking about paper (like the paper cartons used for Chinese food - those we use for compost storage). But if you wash the hard plastic containers, you can certainly reuse them.

I guess I'm "willing" to put up with the blatant gouging (albeit extremely grudgingly) at my big chain supermarket because I do not want to spend the time and gas money to buy four things that are cheaper at this store and seven things that are cheaper at that store and six things at a third store, never mind doing all the research to see which store has what prices. I may not have much of a life, but I do have one. I could be reading and contributing to the What Books Are You Reading thread.

R180 I hear you. But fortunately, the stores I shop at are all near one another, so it is no chore for me to shop at different stores. I've made a decision. I'm going to continue to get some of my produce at Publix. Everything else is going to be Krogers, TJs, and Costco.

Today I bought macadamia nuts and I didn’t even look at the price.

I buy them all the time at WinCo because they are cheap.

R182 Macadamia are my favorite nuts, but the price, which was already too high, is now about 50% higher since 2020.

I wanted some pine nuts for coking and a bag is $30 at Costco. So no pine nuts.

cooking not coking. I do not do coking.

R185 Nah you meant coking you druggie whore.

R179 scientiste disagree with you but go ahead. You are probably too ancient to be harmed by the leached plastic in your limited time left on this earth.

R188 NO MORE PLASTIC CONTAINERSSSSSS!!!!

A lot of microplastics and toxins can leach into the food you are storing. They are especially bad when heating or reheating. It's not as bad when it's a salad or cold food. I don't frequent take-out food, but when I do, I never store what's left in the container they came in. I have a few Pyrex containers I store left overs in, and I warm them up in the over the same way.

It's a similar issue with drinks, especially hot drinks like coffee. The leaching comes from the plastic film that the cups have coated on the inside to prevent the cups from leaking. Years ago they were coated with a wax inside, but plastic is more dependable and cheaper. If you are a regular coffee take-out customer, it['s better to bring your own ceramic or stainless steel cup rather than using those paper cups every day.

I'm wondering if a meal service like Hello Fresh or one of the others would help me not spend so much. My problem is that even if I subscribed to one I'd still shop for "extras" and that defeats the purpose.

[quote]6 items in the supermarket came to over 30 dollars.

I've come that many times for less than 30 dollars.

[quote]Polls suggest a huge chunk of Democrats and independents (so people who aren’t reflexively opposed to Biden) are skeptical they are living in boom times, despite the president’s supporters constantly telling them that they are.

Here ya go r132. WaPo columnist Perry Bacon (speaking of which) agrees that simple metrics like unemployment and job creation don’t mean a healthy economy and an optimistic electorate; he worries correctly that Dems' relentlessly cheery economic messaging is at odds with voter insecurity about the future.

R188, your link clearly states that those plastic takeout containers are just fine for food storage, as long as you don't put them in the microwave or dishwasher. DUH.

R193 and he'd be right. First of all complaining about the economy, and how expensive everything is, and about inflation (real or imaginary) is a win, win. Bill Clinton knew this. Remember "It's the economy, stupid?" People are always worried about their jobs. People never think they're being paid enough to support themselves. People always think everything is too expensive. Always. It is easy to exploit people's fears by using the economy. They do not want to hear how great things are. They want to know what you are going to do to make their lives better. So the message needs to be revised. Yes talk about how things are "moving in the right direction..." but we have a lot of work to do. People deserve better..."blah, blah, blah. The part where the Dems win is when you emphasize the do Nothing GOP Congress, and highlight their messes. Their voting records matter. And please use tax cuts. PLEASE! By the way. The money Biden is asking for and the House is blocking, for Ukraine and Israel, most of it would go to factories here in the USA to build weapons systems, and other shit. Someone needs t o say that outloud repeatedly.

Food in UK supermarkets is very cheap especially the basics like fresh veg and salad, bread, pasta, chicken and fish.

Food in the US is cheap for basics like potato chips.

[quote]Food in the US is cheap for basics like potato chips.

Because chips and crackers and those heavenly Hot Chips and Cheetos are only inexpensive if they do not make up a majority of one's diet.

At Publix you can get a 6 ounce bag of Snyder's Gluten free pretzels, Honey mustard, for "only" $4.99. That's right. $5 for a fucking bag of pretzels and it's not even the big bag. So if you're complaining about snacks and other non essentials shame on you. I like corn chips with my chili. So I buy the $2,00 generic brand. They're just fine.

[bold]Consumers are tired of price increases. Big brands are paying attention.[/bold]

Until recently, Brooke Benson considered herself a Panera Bread loyalist. For the past 12 years, the 40-year-old Orlando, Florida, resident said she’d make three to four trips there every week — an estimate her husband said was closer to four or five — to get her favorite soups.

But after the outpost of the restaurant chain near Benson’s home raised its price to $8.79 for the same bowl of soup that had cost $7.09 three years ago, she said she was done.

“I actually have been looking at soup at all these different places and comparing the prices,” Benson said by text. “I can get better soup in larger portions for cheaper” elsewhere, she said.

more at link

Nearly $7 for the small jar of Dijon mustard at my Safeway today. C'mon. Did Macron hand-deliver it?

R201 was it a brand name? I'm avoiding them because the generic, store brands are the same damned thing just cheaper.

[quote] At Publix you can get a 6 ounce bag of Snyder's Gluten free pretzels

You don’t need gluten free anything, let alone pretzels, fatass.

[quote] Food in UK supermarkets is very cheap especially the basics like fresh veg

Prices have skyrocketed in the UK thanks to Brexit and war. WTF are you talking about? And it’s vegetables, not veg. Are you a child or merely an English retard?

R176, that was a Mama’s Family reference.

Crap! Somehow my r23 about Tik-Tok migrated to here!

This interesting new episode of CBC's consumer affairs tv show, The Fifth Estate, does a good job uncovering how big 3 Canada's supermarket chain CEO's are lying when they say the increase in prices is not increasing their profits. And you should see how badly the First Nation consumers living in remote areas of Canada's North really getting screwed over by supermarket prices. That's because they are screwed by the only chain, Northmart/Northern with retail outlets up there.

Whatever happened to price fixing and price gouging laws?

[QUOTE] Prices have skyrocketed in the UK thanks to Brexit and war.

It's barely made a difference. Only the truly impoverished would complain about paying £1 for a bag of mixed lettuce or £1.30 for a loaf of brown bread. Mustard is £1.50 for a jar in Tesco's. Crisps £1.50 for six (Walkers).

R209, Let them eat biscuits!!!

Chicken is expensive due to Avian flu.

Weekly update from your local expat. I love grocery shopping here. I bought two ossobuco today, asparagus, limes, oatmeal, sea salt, some sour cream and a couple of other items and my bill came to $23. I am not saying to leave the country. But to all my Gen Xers who can, this is not the only reason to seek a better life elsewhere. Something to consider while you're old enough to know who you are right now but young enough to dream of becoming a a new version of yourself. Oh, and safety and not worrying about getting shot, and civility - to name a few other things.

Expat from where, living where?

From NYC, living in Florence, r213

because of price gouging

I could buy everything except the ossobuco, which I would never eat because it's veal, at Aldi for about 12. Short ribs are 9. a lb at Whole Foods this week and a whole Branzini is 11. so I'd probably sub that. If you don't live in NYC and have the time to comparison shop and cook from scratch, you can do okay. If you have a large family with varied preferences, it's more complicated.

I grew up in a large-ish family and we ate whatever our mom cooked.

Sure, she knew it would be a waste of time to make liver and onions on a weekly basis, but we just ate what she cooked.

"I listen to singers. I very rarely listen to people who ... cannot sing."

All I want to say is, we're almost in Pandemic mode again. So if you see something on sale, buy extras of it. Anything that you can. I'm talking canned tuna, or fruit. Dried beans, tomato sauce in jars and cans, flour, sugar, vanilla, Oatmeal. Any non perishable.s And cleaning products.I'm telling you to stock up. Take advantage of sales.

R216, $11 from Branzino is almost half of the entire bill of what I spent. I think the two ossobuco came to about $6, $3 each. And yeah you couldn’t survive here if you’re afraid of veal. The Lidl here has horse. And the Esselunga has packaged whole rabbits on the shelf.

And even though Aldi and Lidle are kinda the same I can’t even imagine where Aldi discount meat in the States comes from - what condition the mass produced meat is raised in, what hormones are in it. if you want to buy good meats in the States, you have to pay a lot more for it. Here they tell you exactly where it’s from and I usually opt for meats born and raised in Tuscany. There are no hormones in cattle in Italy at all. And it’s all about the same price.

It’s crazy HOW serious Italians take their food sources. Crazy in a good way. There are about three different certifying food agencies that guarantee food quality and production.

No one is disputing that Italy has better food. I mentioned buying Branzino or short ribs from Whole Foods, not Aldi, which would cost me a total of 23. for the entire order.

Eating veal is disgusting.

I read your post r221. I was just commenting on various facets of it. Veal is delicious. And Italy yes has better food. But it’s not that Italy, or Europe has better food. The point is America has horrible food, like really bad food for the most part AND it’s on purpose - which is scary.

I looked for sliced turkey breast in Costco yesterday. They no longer carry it. They only carry turkey breast. The only place I can find sliced turkey breast is Trader Joe’s. Supermarkets have disgusting turkey roll that they sell as turkey breast. Costco had sliced roast beef but it was $14 for a few slices.

I really like sandwiches but I don’t want to cook a turkey breast. I miss delis. Actual free standing delis where they cooked turkey, ham and roast beef and sliced it right there in front of you. And they made their own potato and pasta salad. Supermarket potato and pasta salads are disgusting. They use a gallon of watered down miracle whip or drench pasta salad in cheap oil and dried oregano. .

My Costco still has oven-roasted sliced turkey breast. Call their help desk.

My Costco also has it. But they changed the location of it. Now it's where all the refrigerated and frozen stuff is. It used to be out in the middle of the cheeses and prepared packaged foods section.

The also changed the location of the butter and other dairy so it's all together now in a separate refrigerated room. I don't like it when they change things. Did the same with the sheets and towels too.

Beef clits are soo high.

Yeah, my Costco still has sliced turkey breast.

[quote] It's ridiculous that I would spend more than $70-$80 a week on groceries for one person.

Hu? I spend about $800 a month for just two people. Not buying lobster or filet or anything most would consider extravagant food. And I don't shop at Whole foods or any of the higher end markets either.

I spend more than $70 to $80 per week for one person and I consider myself frugal. Depends on the cost of living in your area.

I spend around $350 to $500 per month on food.

Just put in the trolley… 🍾

I think I described sliced turkey breast the wrong way. I wanted thick slices that actually came from a turkey breast like this

As opposed to this which they call slides turkey breast but appears to be sliced turkey roll.

They’re raping my wallet

Costco sells whole oven-roasted turkey breasts. Buy one, heat and slice.

I bought something recently from Costco that looked like thinly (3/8 inch) sliced turkey breast, not sliced turkey roll.

If you are looking for natural sliced turkey breast and your deli doesn't offer it, you can find Applegate Organic Turkey Breast which is basically just organic turkey, sea salt, chicken broth, potato starch and rosemary. It's on the pricey side, about $9.00 for 6 ounce pack , which comes to about $22.0 a pound. I look for sales where I can get them around $7.80 a pack.

Costco isn’t the only store on the planet

Yeah, but for stuff like that Costco is maybe half the price of supermarkets.

[quote] Costco sells whole oven-roasted turkey breasts. Buy one, heat and slice.

I do not need or want a 4lb turkey breast. I’ve made one. I tried slicing and freezing it and it didn’t work.

I'm sincerely sorry for your misfortune and hope you find a solution.

it's about the same in my area as it was a couple of years ago.

I was going to buy Aldi version of cinnamon toast crunch cereal for snacks but they only had a huge box of it. It would go stale before we could eat it. Then I went to supermarket and the small box of General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal was on sale for $1.99

I don't buy boxed cereal

I can't shop at Aldi. I've tried. The two Aldis in my area are both dirty and the vproduce looks beaten up. I have a feeling some of the pantry items like no brand f lour, etc. have vlittle mealy bugs crawling around in them.

R236 At Costco? It's $4.99 in my local supermarket. I bought some Sunday.

I really hate the discount stores/warehouses that leave their ceilings open exposing inadequate lighting. It’s telling you “This is why our food is more affordable. Because we don’t waste money with things like a presentable drop ceiling or sparkling tiled floors and bright ambient lighting that helps you see everything clearly.”

I’d rather pay a few cents more for better lighting, cleaner looking tile and a ceiling that doesn’t make me feel like the roof caved in.

But let me tell you if you have a yard/lawn/garden…if you see the Gardenline rotating telescoping wand for sale in Aldi in spring, buy it. I think I’ve mentioned it here before but it’s amazing and I’ve been using one for years. I always try finding a new one but my Aldi kinda sucks.

[QUOTE] Why is food so expensive? 6 items in the supermarket came to over 30 dollars.

That's some cheap vodka, dog.

[quote]I’d rather pay a few cents more for better lighting, cleaner looking tile and a ceiling that doesn’t make me feel like the roof caved in.

that's nice, then you shouldn't be posting on a thread about the expense of comestibles

That sounds disgusting. I've shopped at three in my area and all were clean although one has a messy aisle of promotional products

Aldi saved me 30 years ago as a broke student. There's a limited list of items I buy there--not meat, fish or eggs, Yes to chocolate, coffee, cheese, steel-cut oats, Pranza bronze-die cut pasta, packaged salads, herbs and spices and produce that I can inspect and use up quickly, organic preferred. That leaves Whole Foods for chicken, pork, beef and fish on sale. At Costco, I buy organic eggs,canned tuna, smoked salmon, certain cheeses, canned Italian tomatoes and whatever else I can use up before it goes bad. It works out to one trip every week and a half to Aldi, which is speedy because I know just what I'm looking for. Then once a month for Whole Foods and Costco. I buy bread at Italian bakeries and bagels at a Jewish deli and freeze. I sometimes shop at the grocery that's a block away or order from Amazon Fresh when the savings is on a par with the delivery costs.

If freezing hasn't worked for you, invest 100. in a vacuum sealer. It will pay for itself inside of a year. I almost never eat out unless I want ethnic food and that greatly reduces my expenditures.

I realize that my tips won't work for everyone and appreciate we all have different budgets and tastes.

If you buy turkey lunchmeat at Costco you will be getting a double, 2 Lb. package, I think.

Double the 6 ounce package shown @ R236 is 12 ounces, not two pounds.

I’m going to see my dr Wednesday who’s a 3 hour round trip away. I’ll go to Trader Joe’s and buy toffee. I will eat it all in one day, after i get my blood drawn. I don’t gain weight by doing that anymore. I only do it 4x a year. Thanks, Ozempic.

R246, so what, though, if the store isn’t as sparkling and cornea-frying like Target?

As long as it’s reasonably clean and I ferl safe in the parking lot, i’d rather save the money.

I think when people shopped using cash, corporations were a lot more reticent to jack up prices. Now that everything is on a card, it doesn't feel as big a deal to pay incrementally more

If a store isn't clean it is wide open to infestation. Mice, roaches and god only knows what is back there in the stockroom or warehouse. Clean is important.

It all goes back to the colonies.

Tonight I made risotto with steel-cut oats, frozen butternut squash, pecorino, garlic, etc with sauteed spinach on the side. You might be saying yuk but it was delicious, easy to make, economical and will freeze well. Everything came from Aldi, but I could have spent a few dollars more and gone to my local grocery.

I think the topic at hand requires national, political solutions but there are ways to cope.

It's economical to make a large batch of a meal, freeze or refrigerate the portions you are not going to eat the same day, and have several days of that meal. I do that every Sunday, I make a different recipe for a minimum of 4 -6 meals, I put the remainder of what I know I can eat over the next few days in containers in the fridge or I put some of it in the freezer in separate ziploc bags or plastic containers for the following week. You'd be surprised how much further your money can go towards food when you make larger batches.

I don't do really large batches but I make chili and spaghetti sauce and maybe roast a chicken or pork loin or a pot roast. Sometimes I make stew, both beef stew and chicken stew. Always make enough to freeze so I can get several meals out of it. It's great if you work because you just get a serving portion out of the freezer and when you get home from work just nuke it in the microwave and eat. If you're exhausted it works out well.

Vegetable prices seem to have dropped considerably in Switzerland over the last few months. Quite a number of items seem to be almost half as expensive as peak Covid. Everything is pretty high priced here so this is a big change. I think there may be supermarket wars or something. I presume the imported food is wholesaled at the same price across Europe, say bananas. But they were always marked way up inside Switzerland for retail. But now the markups must have fallen. Or something! I would be curious to know. Italian Arugula was 3 bucks a bag for years and now it's 1. Avocados, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, peppers, pears, lemons really so much produce - the price has gone down.

Switching from Erewhon to Bristol Farms has saved me a bundle.

R291 Arugula here in Italy is .99 cents for a huge batch. Mixed greens are the same. I shop at Esselunga, which is an Italian grocery chain. You can see the size tucked under the orange there. That's not arugula but the arugula is packaged the same and the same amount.

It's ridiculous. I used to spend 10 % of my salary on food. I now spend 15 %. I buy the same things.

One frozen pizza used to cost 40 kr, it now costs 60 kr. Minced meat used to cost 40 kr for 400 g, now it costs 70 kr for 400 g. Meat, fruits, vegetables and milk products have increased by a minimum of 50 % in a year. Insane stuff. I can tell you my salary has NOT increased by the same. I got 5 % pay increase last year. The inflation was at 6 %. Fun stuff. I haven't had an actual pay increase in 10 years, due to inflation and increased prices on everything.

It's made me healthier because I always used to add one treat during my weekly food shop. My favourite was a bag of Maltesers - but the larger bag is now £3 and I use the phrase "larger" very loosely because they keep shrinking it.

I know chocolate is far from an essential, but £3?! They used to be £2 fairly recently and I used to think that was steep. So I've cut all that out.

The problem is the same pattern is being repeated across everything else I buy and I obviously can't cut everything out. I can't help but think there's profiteering going on here. I know inflation has always been there, but I think some suppliers are taking advantage and thinking that people will just grudgingly accept it because they have to eat.

I regularly get the Kirkland frozen cauliflower pizza Supreme with both ground beef and pepperoni. They're $12 for two large. They're very good as is, but I like to add my own mushrooms and extra grated parm and extra seasonings now and then.

Prices, Schmices! I'm sitting here in total envy of the DLers herein living in Switzerland, Italy, and Norway! (Been to all three.)

The UK, too!

All lucky buggers.

I’m eating frozen corn from Birdseye. Sprayed I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter on it and a couple dashes of salt

Try plant based butter from Country Crock! It's addictive.

I do come here to brag just a bit. Not because I think I am better or anything, it just helps validate the major decision I made to move out of the country as a right decision for me. Life is life anywhere and the jury is always out. So it helps to see what I not missing and what I am getting. But I an alcohol order just to replenish some bottles. This is a 1L Bombay Sapphire and 1L Cointreau. I had to through in a bottle of 3.99 chianti to get free shipping. So all three of those bottles came to exactly 50 euros, about $53. I think it would have been over $90 in the US.

Yes, alcohol beverages have always been pricier in the USA. Not sure it qualifies as "food", unless you're an alcoholic.

High grocery prices are now nothing but corporate greed. Companies have gotten used to their record profits while they gouge the customer.

High grocery prices are not Biden's fault, and Trump cannot fix it.

Well here is another receipt for you R273. It's the most recent trip to Esselunga. It might be hard to read, but you get the idea by how many items don't even come to 1 euro. Vegetables are cheap and accessible, as they should be. 33 euros is about $35. America is suppose to be the bread basket of the world. It can produce probably 100X the amount of food Italy can. All the farmland in the United States probably equals five Italies. Yet it's so expensive, often contaminated and tasteless. I know we feel helpless in the face of big business, but still this is what Americans should really be fighting for. I can't think of another issue that affects more people. It affects everyone.

It's primarily due to the monopolies and price fixing and gouging by the corporations for bigger profits. The inflation is global, but it's the worst in the US because of little regulation and oversight.

R275, except of you live in the UK which brexited. There, inflation is kicking peoples' asses.

[quote] 6 items in the supermarket came to over 30 dollars.

Buy the 12-pack of Ramen. It's only $2.98

I love shopping while not paying attention to prices.

R277, that receipt is in Italian.

Aldi to open 800 more stores nationwide.

That’s amazing considering how many other stores are shutting down locations,

Please, please, PLEASE open one near me! I live an hour north of San Fran and while we do have Trader Joes here, I would LOVE an Aldi nearby.

Not just Italy, r280 but Florence!

Siamo gelosi, r275. Your decision to move to Europe seems to have panned out, so far.

It was a big step r283. But we lived in NYC for 26 years. Then covid hit and it was time for a change. Plus we figured NYC is not a place to grow old - us being 40s/50s. We weren't multi-millionaires. And there wasn't any other city in the States we could see ourselves living in. Living in Italy, you feel like you can live like an adult compared to life in the states - nice apartment/house, great food that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, eating out at a restaurant for two people, full courses, with bottle of wine for less than $100 and go on vacations to the rest of Europe. Last summer we went to Barcelona one month then France the next.

Today's haul - To be honest, the quality of the Conad brand is literally what you'd find at Eataly. 24 month parmigiana reggiano, almond milk, arborio rice being among the items I know that would be expensive in NYC. But All the other items included yogurt, eggs, milk, sunflower oil all for $30.

If anyone is curious about what it takes to move to another country, I can start another thread.

I just stocked up and it was only 100.00 at ALDIs. No frozen meals helped.