Examples of current inflation - add yours!

[karen1972]

I was at the grocery store (Wegmans) a few days ago, browsing, and saw a premade chef salad in a plastic bowl, for $12. So basically one or two dollars worth of food put into a bowl and selling for $12. I wondered who on earth would buy this. I thought maybe it was someone who gets $300 a month free from his or her medicare advantage health insurance plan, to spend on gas, food, and utilities. Or maybe someone who has some company paying his bill for him.

I never understood the draw of Wegmans, lots of fancy overpriced premade stuff... but it seems these days everyone is willing to pay up for convenience and well buying it at the store is better than doordashing it, thats how you get couples on ticktock telling everyone how groceries cost $100 every 3 days for a married couple.

Granted then my honey stops at a co-op (which we don't belong to), is starving after a hike and doesn't pay any attention and proceeds to make himself a $19 salad from the salad bar. I have no words... vs the 2 of us are having shrimp linguine w broccoli tonight that I can whip up for roughly $8 as shrimp was on sale for $5.5/lb...but sure $19 for salad.

 

[DJRR]

I never understood the draw of Wegmans, lots of fancy overpriced premade stuff... but it seems these days everyone is willing to pay up for convenience and well buying it at the store is better than doordashing it, thats how you get couples on ticktock telling everyone how groceries cost $100 every 3 days for a married couple.

Wegmans is cheap on essentials, expensive on high quality like charcuterie, and very expensive on convenience. Your choice.

I just bought fresh Yams there for $.39/lb regular price. Not sure if that is a local harvest or Thanksgiving leftovers but sometimes food is so cheap I just don't understand it

Olive oil, salt, pepper, and 55 minutes in the air fryer and a delicious nutritious lunch for $.25. Pair it with $.99/lb chicken drumsticks or fresh salmon and it is a cheap dinner that is great.

 

[CaptTom]

But that's just not right - You are depriving those businesses of their biggest money-making, highest margin product opportunity /sarcasm

I actually factor that in when figuring the tip. I have no problem depriving the restaurant of their inflated drink prices, but the wait staff shouldn't suffer. I've always preferred water anyway, so I'm glad the high markups are on drinks. Keeps my bill down.

 

[Ronstar]

If you're close to Pittsburgh next time, I have some slabs left over from a tree that fell on one of my rentals. ~1x6x6', bark on, some wider. I keep moving them around the shop, haven't had the time to think of a new project.

I have some cherry that is still waiting for my lazy butt to recover.

Thanks for the offer. Sounds like some nice wood.

 

[JoeWras]

I never understood the draw of Wegmans, lots of fancy overpriced premade stuff... but it seems these days everyone is willing to pay up for convenience and well buying it at the store is better than doordashing it, thats how you get couples on ticktock telling everyone how groceries cost $100 every 3 days for a married couple.

The store down here in NC is more of a "comfort store" for relocated New Yorkers. Memories of home. Hot dogs available no where else.

We tried it and found we agree with karen1972 and won't be going back. We go to Lidl a lot instead.

And that's part of the "personal inflation" thing we talk about. During this recent rise, we've been going to Lidl and Aldi a lot more and trying their house brands. We've been mostly pleased. All at a fraction of the price of Wegmans.

 

[John Galt III]

While that's on the high side, so are Wegman's prices generally. Locally here, grocery stores sell smaller premade salads like that for $5, and sometimes a bit larger one for $8, which will feed two if they're not very hungry. Convenience stores like in gas stations add a dollar. But it's still a lot cheaper, not to mention healthier, than a fast food burger place. So I'm one who would buy the $12 salad if I'm out running around and it's lunchtime.

Thanks for fessing up, Walt! I agree it's much healthier than a fast food place. I could possibly see myself getting the $12 chef salad in a pinch, but it would be a rare 'blow that dough' scenario for me, ha ha.

 

[ychuck46]

A couple blocks from our condo DW and I can get a great roast beef po-boy and fries that we split and can't eat it all. Price? under $20.00 total.
Why go to McD's or BK or Five Guys, etc?

In our town we have a BBQ joint that has, by today's standards, great prices. You can get a massive loaded potato, the largest potatoes I have ever seen, covered in a generous amount of pulled pork and cheese, for $7.99. No one finishes it in one sitting and many oftentimes get three meals out of it, it is that big. He also has the biggest wings I have come across (and we lived in Upstate NY for many years, the home of chicken wings in Buffalo), 10 each, with two large sides for $8.99. There is a reason we moved to a small town that isn't in our former abode.

 

[Fermion]

In our town we have a BBQ joint that has, by today's standards, great prices. You can get a massive loaded potato, the largest potatoes I have ever seen, covered in a generous amount of pulled pork and cheese, for $7.99. No one finishes it in one sitting and many oftentimes get three meals out of it, it is that big. He also has the biggest wings I have come across (and we lived in Upstate NY for many years, the home of chicken wings in Buffalo), 10 each, with two large sides for $8.99. There is a reason we moved to a small town that isn't in our former abode.

That is a good price on wings. Our local Safeway has Buffalo ranch chicken wings but they are $9.99 a pound, what a ripoff.

We don't have anything near the value of what you describe, even though we are in a small town too.

 

[Koolau]

That must be a local thing in Hawaii. Around here that would be about ~$12. Still to high but it beats $18.

I just read that someplace, I think - haven't been to McD's in many months - certainly not in the Islands where prices are inflated over mainland prices.

 

[Koolau]

OMG, You made kids drink water when there were sodas and milkshakes available? I think that might be considered abuse in most parts of the U.S.

That's what our kids always thought - probably still do some 20 years later. Of course, if they DID order a drink, they'd get two sips down and leave the rest. After a couple of times of that, we told them they could have soda when they got home.

We often went out to eat with some friends who let their kids order what they wanted. When all was said and done, their bill was twice ours (with same number of kids) and the kids left half the food and 3/4 of the drinks. YMMV

 

[Fermion]

My mom would always make me finish whatever I ordered as a kid.

I still remember the time I threw a fit (around 6 years old) because I wanted my OWN peanut buster from DQ. I got it and was full with 3/4 left. Had to finish the whole thing then threw up in the car. Have not had one since.

 

[HawkOwl]

My mom would always make me finish whatever I ordered as a kid.

I still remember the time I threw a fit (around 6 years old) because I wanted my OWN peanut buster from DQ. I got it and was full with 3/4 left. Had to finish the whole thing then threw up in the car. Have not had one since.

After you threw up in the family car, I’ll bet your mom has never let you have one since!!!

 

[Montecfo]

That's what our kids always thought - probably still do some 20 years later. Of course, if they DID order a drink, they'd get two sips down and leave the rest. After a couple of times of that, we told them they could have soda when they got home.

We often went out to eat with some friends who let their kids order what they wanted. When all was said and done, their bill was twice ours (with same number of kids) and the kids left half the food and 3/4 of the drinks. YMMV

your kids got soda??

 

[Koolau]

My mom would always make me finish whatever I ordered as a kid.

I still remember the time I threw a fit (around 6 years old) because I wanted my OWN peanut buster from DQ. I got it and was full with 3/4 left. Had to finish the whole thing then threw up in the car. Have not had one since.

That is rich! I wonder if your parents rethought the "finish everything rule" after cleaning the car.

Heh, heh, I always wondered about the "eat everything on your plate" requirement. WE controlled what our kids ordered so we never insisted they eat everything. That went against what both DW and I grew up with. Both DW and I have struggled with our weight - since we were teens. I think it was because we "always finished everything on our plate" at parents' insistence. SO, we simply never insisted that the kids do so.

None of our kids is so much as a pound over weight and they're all in mid to late 30s. I think a bit of wasted food was a good investment in their health. Now, I still hate to see waste of any kind, but I believe we got it right on the kids' food. YMMV

 

[Koolau]

your kids got soda??

Only occasionally. They rarely asked for it at home. But when OUT, they thought we were depriving them (though we NEVER ordered anything other than water for ourselves when eating out.)

 

[JoeWras]

There's nothing like the taste of a Coca-Cola from a soda-water and syrup mix machine, in a wax covered paper cup with clear chipped ice. I think it was addicting.

Today's McD's cola in plasticized cups and a heartless dispensing machine (is there even syrup?) just doesn't taste the same.

 

[Badger]

I always had to finish what was on my plate. Of course the servings were adjusted for my size with another serving if we wanted. In a military family we traveled to different places and cultures so we were expected to at least try something new. I'm glad for that opportunity and have since always enjoyed trying new tastes that many folks would not consider. So far the only exception has been Balut.

Cheers!

 

[DJRR]

The store down here in NC is more of a "comfort store" for relocated New Yorkers. Memories of home. Hot dogs available no where else.

Yeah - Syracuse (Liverpool) for me. Hoffmans made the franks for Heid's, if you know you know. Gotta get me some natural casing white snappy grillers some time Probably bad for me, but takes me back to little league in the park.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I always had to finish what was on my plate. Of course the servings were adjusted for my size with another serving if we wanted. Cheers!

Yes, us too, but we were not spoiled like most of today's kids whose naive parent think they are so "Special" and never want to upset or discipline them.

 

[ychuck46]

Yeah - Syracuse (Liverpool) for me. Hoffmans made the franks for Heid's, if you know you know. Gotta get me some natural casing white snappy grillers some time Probably bad for me, but takes me back to little league in the park.

We lived in Liverpool and Baldwinsville for 31 years of our married lives before escaping to the South 13 years ago. Heid's (or Heidi's as my departed father insisted on calling it when he visited) was a regular stop. For anyone who hasn't had a couple of Heid's white grillers along with a couple of pints of cold chocolate milk, you haven't lived life to its fullest. We had a Publix in a nearby town down in our new abode that carried Hoffman's white grillers and we would buy the whole section when we were there, usually 5-8 packages, and freeze them until needed. Unfortunately they don't carry them anymore; must not have had a enough transplanted UNYers living there.

 

[CaptTom]

Today's McD's cola in plasticized cups and a heartless dispensing machine (is there even syrup?) just doesn't taste the same.

Yes, there's still syrup. Those machines are fed by hoses from multiple syrup tanks, for the different flavors/brands. I never liked Coke anyway, was more of an orange soda kid, so I can't say why it's different today. Unless you're old enough to have had the "original" formula with allegedly had cocaine in it (hence the name.)

There was this one ancient Woolworth's in a nearby town which still had a soda fountain when I was a kid. One summer I was working a renovation job across the street. I'd eat my lunch at the counter and sometimes I'd convince the server to add an extra squirt of syrup in my soda. Pure heaven for a kid! I imagine they must have done that a lot when soda fountains were a "thing."

 

[Koolau]

Yes, there's still syrup. Those machines are fed by hoses from multiple syrup tanks, for the different flavors/brands. I never liked Coke anyway, was more of an orange soda kid, so I can't say why it's different today. Unless you're old enough to have had the "original" formula with allegedly had cocaine in it (hence the name.)

There was this one ancient Woolworth's in a nearby town which still had a soda fountain when I was a kid. One summer I was working a renovation job across the street. I'd eat my lunch at the counter and sometimes I'd convince the server to add an extra squirt of syrup in my soda. Pure heaven for a kid! I imagine they must have done that a lot when soda fountains were a "thing."

I would guess that the "difference" between our childhood memories of Coke and today's fountain Coke could be the substitution of high-fructose corn syrup for sugar. In an effort to reduce costs and because of the relatively wide fluctuations of sugar prices, the switch was made around 1974 IIRC.

 

[Gumby]

I would guess that the "difference" between our childhood memories of Coke and today's fountain Coke could be the substitution of high-fructose corn syrup for sugar. In an effort to reduce costs and because of the relatively wide fluctuations of sugar prices, the switch was made around 1974 IIRC.

If you want the real stuff, get Mexican Coca Cola. It is still sweetened with actual cane sugar.

 

[Koolau]

If you want the real stuff, get Mexican Coca Cola. It is still sweetened with actual cane sugar.

I used to be addicted to Coca-Cola but have switched my addiction to Diet Pepsi. For all its faults, at least DP has no sugar OR fructose. "You name your poison" or "pick the devil you run with."

 

[Midpack]

Unless you're old enough to have had the "original" formula with allegedly had cocaine in it (hence the name.)

The name has nothing to do with cocaine.

The name of Coca-Cola was a suggestion given by Pemberton's bookkeeper Frank Robinson. As the recipe for the syrup called for coca leaf extract and caffeine from the kola nut, the name Coca Kola was easy to come up with. However, Robinson, who was known for having excellent penmanship, thought that using two Cs in the name would look striking in advertising. As such kola became cola, and the brand name was born. Robinson can also be credited with creating the first scripted "Coca-Cola" using the flowing letters that serve as the famous logo of today.

No one here is old enough to have had the original formula. There were very small amounts of cocaine in the original formula, that hasn't been the case for almost a century. Plenty of other sources to confirm if you don't like this one.

According to Snopes, which examined the claim in 1999, there was just 1/400 of a grain of cocaine per ounce of syrup by 1902 and the drink was cocaine-free by 1929, when the de-cocainization process was perfected.