Moms' new battle: The food price bulge

[Notmuchlonger]

Originally Posted by Walt34

Reminds me of "The Great Toilet Paper Shortage".

Ya thought I could get by with some leaves in the back yard. Damned if it wasnt poison oak.

[Wags]

ABC News - Food Prices Skyrocket; How to Save at the Market

ABC News: Food Prices Skyrocket; How You Can Save at the Grocery Store

Excerpts from the article

In the past two decades food prices have only increased by an average of 2.5 percent each year, Leibtag said. But from 2006 to 2007, prices spiked 4 percent. And this year they show no sign of easing. The Department of Agriculture is forecasting a 4-5 percent increase in retail prices this year.

The cost of white bread alone was 16.3 percent higher in March than at the same time last year, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks inflation through the Consumer Price Index.

Grade A large eggs were up nearly 35 percent during the same period and sliced bacon was up 4.6 percent.

Sliced bacon rose from $3.46 a pound last March to $3.62 a pound this March, an increase of 4.6 percent.

The price of chocolate chip cookies has increased 2.1 percent in the past year.

The price of all-purpose flour has gone up 37 percent in just one year.

A gallon of whole milk has gone from $3.07 to $3.78, a 23-percent jump.

Tomatoes have gone up more than 18 percent.

White, long-grain rice has seen a 6.6-percent price increase.

End of excerpts.

The article gave one of the reasons for the recent price hikes is the use of corn in the making of ethanol.

Folks it looks as though some of us will have to decide whether we want to put gas in our vehicles or eat a good meal.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[UncleHoney]

Originally Posted by Wags

A gallon of whole milk has gone from $3.07 to $3.78, a 23-percent jump.

I bought milk Tuesday afternoon, regular price is $2.99/gal, got it on store special for $2.50.

I was checking out the price of rice, 69.9¢/pound for 10 pounds. I remember paying 35¢/pound a few years ago.

[Wags]

Originally Posted by UncleHoney

I bought milk Tuesday afternoon, regular price is $2.99/gal, got it on store special for $2.50.

I was checking out the price of rice, 69.9¢/pound for 10 pounds. I remember paying 35¢/pound a few years ago.

This week we got some milk and it was $3.79 on special. The regular price varies from $3.99 to $4.25.

We get our rice at an Oriental Store (70 miles away) and last month we paid $16.99 for a 25 lb bag.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Bimmerbill]

My wife has chickens. They eat just about anything. In the summer they roam the yard keeping the ant and tick population in check.

Feed is 13 ot 14 a 50lb bag of layer pellets. We used to have 18 chickens, which gave us 18 eggs a day. that was a lot of eggs... Down to 5 old ones now, they don't put out and are welchers, but wife considers them pets, not lifestock.

I suffered thru the powdered milk thing when I was growing up. I had two brothers, and we could swill down a couple gallons of milk a day.

Something about sucking down a nice big glass of milk and choking on an unmixed glob of powdered milk... Disgusting! We revolted and mom bought real milk.

[Khan]

Originally Posted by Bimmerbill

My wife has chickens. They eat just about anything. In the summer they roam the yard keeping the ant and tick population in check.

Feed is 13 ot 14 a 50lb bag of layer pellets. We used to have 18 chickens, which gave us 18 eggs a day. that was a lot of eggs... Down to 5 old ones now, they don't put out and are welchers, but wife considers them pets, not lifestock.

I suffered thru the powdered milk thing when I was growing up. I had two brothers, and we could swill down a couple gallons of milk a day.

Something about sucking down a nice big glass of milk and choking on an unmixed glob of powdered milk... Disgusting! We revolted and mom bought real milk.

I grew up on unpasteurized unhomogenized milk from family farms. When I went to school, they gave me packaged milk (I didn't like it). I haven't had milk in years. I do eat cheese and yogurt.

[Wags]

Christian Science Monitor - As food prices shoot up, so do backyard gardens

Gasoline and food price spikes have had what could be called a 'Miracle-Gro' effect on the backyard garden movement.

As food prices shoot up, so do backyard gardens | csmonitor.com

Backyard gardens have caught on.

Hey, is anybody out there doing the backyard gardens?

Last year Mrs. Wags did a backyard garden and this year she is doing one again. Last year we co-op'ed with some of our neighbors and we traded and exchanged the fruits and vegetables from the gardens.

God Bless Us All

[bbbamI]

Nah...I live in TX. It would cost $2k to buy "good dirt" and $1k for water. All this for 2 tomatoes.

[Khan]

Originally Posted by Wags

Christian Science Monitor - As food prices shoot up, so do backyard gardens

Gasoline and food price spikes have had what could be called a 'Miracle-Gro' effect on the backyard garden movement.

As food prices shoot up, so do backyard gardens | csmonitor.com

Backyard gardens have caught on.

Hey, is anybody out there doing the backyard gardens?

Last year Mrs. Wags did a backyard garden and this year she is doing one again. Last year we co-op'ed with some of our neighbors and we traded and exchanged the fruits and vegetables from the gardens.

God Bless Us All

I have been increasing backyard gardening, and doing a sort of sharecropping with a neighbor in exchange for labor.

[FIREdreamer]

Originally Posted by Wags

Hey, is anybody out there doing the backyard gardens?

Yep doing a backyard garden this year, though not really by necessity. We have started to harvest the radishes, salads, cilantro, parsley, basil and strawberries. The potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and zucchinis are blooming. We also have beets, onions and swiss chard.

[Walt34]

No garden here - tough to grow anything in shale rock with some poor soil mixed in.

[Wags]

NBC News - High costs land on school cafeteria trays
Rising food, fuel to drive up student meal prices by as much as 50 percent

High food costs hit school lunch trays - Consumer news - MSNBC.com

Excerpts from the article

When America’s schoolchildren return to class in the fall, they will learn a painful lesson in economics: Higher food and fuel prices are forcing up the price of school breakfasts and lunches across the country, by as much as 50 percent in some districts.

The cost of staples that make up the backbone of school meal programs has soared in the past year, far outstripping federal subsidies. While inflation has driven up the price of milk by 12 percent, cheese by 15 percent and bread by 17 percent, the National School Lunch Program has increased what it pays local school districts to feed 30.1 million schoolchildren by only 3 percent.

And pricier ingredients aren’t the only culprit.

Even at $8.2 billion a year, the federal subsidy “hasn’t kept up with rising food costs, with rising labor costs, fuel costs, benefits costs, even,” said Erik Peterson, a spokesman for the School Nutrition Association, a nonprofit foundation representing school food workers nationwide. “All those costs are adding up.”

The math is plain: About half of schoolchildren receive free lunches. On average, the cheapest of those lunches now costs $2.66 to prepare, the School Nutrition Association calculated. But the federal subsidy for a free lunch is only $2.47. That means schools lose at least 19 cents on every one of the 15 million free lunches served every day.

Counterintuitively, schools lose even more money when students pay full price. The average charge for a high school lunch is $1.90, the association found. The federal government kicks in only a 23-cent subsidy for those students, meaning a loss of at least 53 cents on every lunch sold at “full
price."

End of excerpts.

Folks things are getting bad all over.

God Bless Us All

[Purron]

I know there are a lot of animal lovers on this board so I'm surely not the only one noticing how much pet food has gone up. Fancy Feast cat food is now 50 cents a can at discount retailers up from about 35 cents last year. Here's a recent article on the subject: Inflation Gnaws at Pet Food Companies

[Wags]

Originally Posted by Purron

I know there are a lot of animal lovers on this board so I'm surely not the only one noticing how much pet food has gone up. Fancy Feast cat food is now 50 cents a can at discount retailers up from about 35 cents last year. Here's a recent article on the subject: Inflation Gnaws at Pet Food Companies

We have a dog, a cat and a rabbit and the food, the cat litter and the bedding have all gone up. The toys for them have also gone up.

We also have 3 children is school so the increase in the school lunches will be felt come September.

We are kid lovers and animal lovers.

God Bless Us All

[Marquette]

I told the dog that if he keeps shredding his toys then he's going to need to get a job to support his habit.

[Marquette]

Originally Posted by Walt34

No garden here - tough to grow anything in shale rock with some poor soil mixed in.

I highly recommend this book:

Amazon.com: McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers: Rose Marie Nichols McGee, Maggie Stuckey: Books

I'll see if I can find the plans again for a very simple cedar stand for growing a wonderful salad mix.