It's so frustrating to see the grocery prices. Cheese has gone up 50% since early spring. Flour has gone up 50% in less than a year. Eggs went up 50% in the last half-year. Olive oil has gone up 50% in the last year. Apples have gone up 50% in the last two years. The cheapest brand of frozen vegetables went up 50% in the last half-year.
I'm not sure what to do to cut costs anymore. When you're already pinching pennies, when you're already making everything from scratch, when you're already buying the cheapest off-brands available at the cheapest grocery store in the state, what more could be done to cut the grocery bill? Honestly, the only thing I can think of is to survive mostly on potatoes or beans-n-rice. But we already eat less meat than most families. Given that we buy whole hogs and sides of beef from local farmers, the price-per-pound on meat is about the same as apples and eggs, about half the price of cheese, and only twice the cost of flour. So even being vegetarian wouldn't save that much in food costs.
I just have to keep telling myself that food is the priority. Animals spend most of their energy feeding themselves. If most of our income has to go to food, that's okay; it's not much different than most people throughout most of history have done. (But sometimes it's hard when you see the out-of-towners paying $100/hr per person for for the whole family to spend an afternoon jet-skiing on vacation.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I find it interesting that you have noticed such a huge increase in the price of so many things. I have noticed it on a few items (most notably milk and the Pink Lady apples we love so much), but not on as many different things as you mention. Our grocery bill has been steadily rising over the last few years, but I attribute it more to growing kids and changes in our buying habits than to rising prices. But dh keeps telling me it's okay--that as you point out, we are still spending a smaller percentage of our income on food than people historically have.
ReplyDeleteI too have noticed a huge increase in certain prices with dairy products and fruit being the hardest hit here. This is what finally tipped the scale for us in dh getting another job, we knew there was a problem when we were all craving meat and fruit. I wish I had an easy answer for all of us struggling with food costs but I don't. Living near a lake, I can totally understand how hard it is to see so much waste while struggling to eat a balanced diet!
ReplyDelete