And the dam breaks...

[OAG]

Interesting Numbers and, in some cases, scary: Commodity NewsCenter - Food Inflation

[Delawaredave5]

Guy I know lives in both US and Germany - just spent a month in Germany - he said food pricing has dramatically "flip flopped" - US used to be cheaper, now his food budget for the month was much cheaper in Germany versus US.

He felt Germany was cheaper even "after" the currency impact.

Don't have any "hard examples" to post - the food products are different and less directly comparable.

[uncledrz]

I've noticed that the price of chicken breast, boneless and skinless has risen in the past 6 months from $3.69-3.89 a pound to $4.69. That's quite an increase. Milk is up from $2.69 to $3.49. Yet salmon, farm raised, is still about $6-8 and wild (when available here-I'm in the Midwest) is $12-18. So prices are up.

One thing I don't really understand is the price of gas. Still around $3 a gallon, where it was when oil was $60 a barrel. Go figure.

[cantlogin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helena I just paid $2.30 for a medium jar of Jif peanut butter... the last time I bought it [several months ago]... I paid $1.69. How much corn goes into a jar of peanut butter ?

It need not contain any corn to be effected. Agricultural production has been shifted to corn on the speculation of high demand for ethanol. Other commodities rise in price to offset the opportunity cost of NOT switching to corn production. Sunflower acreage has been shifted to growing corn. Birdseed prices have increased dramatically because of the reduced supply of sunflower seed.

[Maneiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddythebeagle Quite a few people around us selling horses since the cost of hay is up, also....more land being used for corn

Oh Goody.....DW is a Teacher so she will be glad to hear the price of glue will be going down

[OAG]

When will MacDonald's introduce the "Horse Burger"?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Who says they havent already?

Fast food has really taken a dive in the last 6 months. Maybe its just my bad perception, but except for Carls Jr/Hardees, I havent had a decent burger in a fast food place lately. Seems the meat is skimpy and gristly, the toppings are skimpy and of poor quality, and they just dont taste that good. And the prices are up.

I had been a big fan of jack in the box's "big cheeseburger", which is about quarter pounder size. It had been 99c, then $1.29, now its up to $1.69 and the last two I got werent that palatable.

[Spanky]

I am glad that the polish sausage + drink still costs $1.50

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats almost gotta go. I did the math on just buying the same hotdogs and buns in the store and it was getting in the range of a buck fifty.

[barbarus]

Sit-down restaurants in the Midwest are obviously feeling the pinch.
Prices are rising, food quality is declining(sometimes precipitously), portions are shrinking and the fewer waitresses are serving at the doubletime.

This deterioration has been ongoing over the past several years and is likely to accelerate in '08.

In a few places the food has become so bad that it's literally unpalatable.

By the way, last week I started a preliminary reconnoiter of the amply stocked pet food aisles at the big W. Interesting to watch the old couples debating which brand to choose for supper. Think I ask the for some pointers so I'll be prepared for Clinton/Huckabee miracle of 2009.

[DJRR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny Costco has always had roast chicken for $4.99, pizza for $7.99-8.99, and of course the venerable hotdog and a drink for $1.50. The chicken just went up to $5.99 and the pizza to $9.99. So far the hotdog is safe from a price increase.

You are getting ripped off In VA I just bought the chicken yesterday for $4.99. Also, the pizza went up but they introduced a new "meatsa" pizza with about a 1/2 pound of sausage, beef, pepperoni, canadian bacon, etc.

I think that counts as a hedonic adjustment - probably lowered inflation by .1%

[Lsbcal]

Personally I believe in the hybrid approach. Just sat down with an appetizer consisting of Whole foods French goat cheese ($6) served on seseme seed water crackers ($1.50) and BV Cabernet Savignon ($7 at Costco, great deal!!!). I don't worry about food inflation -- that's why I purchased all those 10yr TIPS when rates were high .

[audreyh1]

New record at Whole Food Market a couple of weeks ago - $390!!!

Previous record had been just a wee bit over $300.......

Audrey

[free4now]

The other day I set a grocery record at Trader Joe's... $150 for six very heavy bags of groceries (I walked three blocks with them and had to take a few breaks). That's $25 per bag. I remembered that when I was growing up my mom used to divide the grocery bill by the number of bags to get a "cost per bag" which was helpful for her in budgeting. I'll have to ask my mom what it was, but I think I remember her saying $20 per bag from the local independent grocery store. According to my CPI inflation calculator, today's $25 would have been worth between $10 and $15 around that time, so by that measure the real inflation is less than the CPI. I think there is something to that... Trader Joes is able to offer better deals than grocery stores of the past, by using economies of scale that local stores of the past couldn't touch. On the other hand my local grocery store is now an upscale Whole-foods-wannabe that costs me around $40 a bag. We have a wider range of choices today.

Anyone else tracked inflation via the average cost of a bag of groceries?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJRR You are getting ripped off In VA I just bought the chicken yesterday for $4.99.

The price change happened 2 days ago, so maybe its regional or just hasnt hit you yet. It does now come in a nifty package thats hard to open, so no more spilled chicken juice in the back of my car.

Quote:

Also, the pizza went up but they introduced a new "meatsa" pizza with about a 1/2 pound of sausage, beef, pepperoni, canadian bacon, etc.

Yep, that was my lunch while watching football. Darn good pizza.

[Maurice]

Forgive the ignorant city boy, but does Costco have a restaurant of some sort? I always thought it was a big-box store.

Does it have a restaurant on the side like the Woolworth stores of yore?

[clifp]

The rotisserie chicken in Hawaii was still $4.99 this week. Althought, I am pretty sure that the Costco whole Pizza are still $9.99. Not that I care since Kirkland Pizza I think sucks, well at least compared to my made-from-scratch pizza.

[Mysto]

We eat out at least twice a week and my inflation indicator has been going off. I watch for new menus. Almost every place we go to has issued a new menu (with of course new prices)

Also the loss leaders - example Chiles has eliminated free chips and salsa at happy hour and has raised the happy our drink special prices.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Costco has a little food court thing that sells (with several regional differences) pizza, hotdogs, polish sausages, chicken bakes (chicken, a sauce, green onions, bacon, etc in a pastry), ice cream, frozen coffee drinks, pretzels and the like. In the southwest, they also sell churros. They offer poutine in the northern ones.

I've noticed the "invisible inflation" on food products served in restaurants for some time now. Our former favorite fish and chips place went from thick pieces of fish to thin ones, with twice as much batter on them (yuck), the barbecue joint started charging 50c for extra sauce instead of giving it away, and a lot of places have taken their soda dispenser from "help yourself" to back behind the counter and dropping the free refills. Our former favorite mexican restaurant used to give a big scoop of guacamole with each entree and that disappeared. Our former favorite thai place started reducing meat and increasing unusual vegetables you wouldnt commonly find in thai food...then they went out of business.

Clif - the cooked pizza at the food court has been 9.99, but the take-and-bake has been at 7.99 and 8.99. You might try it again...they just reformulated the crust and its a lot better. It was very good some time ago, then they changed the crust and it wasnt as good, then they tried square pizzas for a while but it was the same so-so crust. The new stuff is pretty good. Still quite a bargain for this size, well topped pizza.

[bright eyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyclingInvestor Pizza at Long Beach,CA Costco have been $9.99 for a while - years, I think

mine too...

oh, i see, the take and bake...