Wow, Have Grocery Prices

I think EVERYTHING has gone up. That's why I like ALDI. Especially for produce. BEWARE of the big chain supermarkets--are those "specials" really THAT special? And the regular price items? Insane!

I haven't been out of the house but it seemed to me my husband spent $75 on groceries, but I thought maybe he bought a bunch of junk. I normally spend about $50.

The cheapest gas station to me is $3.26/gal.

Much of the increase cost in things is the increase in the cost of related items such as petroleum needed to transport groceries to your local store, etc. Corn prices have increased becuase ethanol is now being using for fuel and since demand has increased and supply has not the price has gone up.

Don't think that all the unrest in the middle east is going to improve anything. Keep in mind that Egypt has always been our aly and controls the Suez Canal - through which a great deal of the world's oil is shipped. Now that Egypt is tipping towards control by the Muslim Brotherhood - who are very anti-American - expect that costs will go up dramatically.

We are a part of a world economy. Suply and demand are now world-wide. If China needs more oil, oil prices go up around the world. If oil prices go up more people switch to natural gas and then those prices also go up. So gas prices will follow / mirror oil prices even though they are produced differently and by different parts of the world. The markets are connected.

We have very large deposits of oil off our coast, and in parts of Alaska that have not yet been tapped. Until we as a nation can really count on alternate forms of energy such as wind, solar, nuclear we need to drill and gain access to these other petroleum sources or we will be captive to middle east - more than we already are.

Another sobering thing to consider that our national debt is now based on the very low interest rates that are available to all of us. When inflation begins (as a result of increased oil costs) interest rates will also increase and the cost of our national debt will skyrocket. do you knw who holds a huge proportion of our treasury bills / national debt? China.

Ladies, we all want to think that the government can provide us all these great programs and fabulous benefits -but expect that those days must come to an end - and the sooner the better. Begin to grow your own veggies in the summer. Take shorter showers, use less hot water, turn down your thermostat and push for oil drilling here in the US, and push for alternate energy sources. When those sources become cost efficient we won't need oil - but until then we really do.

It's going up alot here also. I noticed some crackers and other stuff had increased by over 50 cents in one week. That's just one item. Groceries - with 2 growing boys and a husband - are going to break me ! Gas here is running about $2.97 - 2.99 a gallon for the lowest grade.

Nope you are not imagining it!!!! It sucks!!! Clothes will be going up 10% because of the shortage of cotton. Food is going up because they can. Gas is just a stupid subject...lol. Here in OR I pay $3.23 for gas...it's going to be $4.00 by Spring Break they say. Yippy!!!!

My advice for the savvy shoppers yes use coupons if you are going to save money on something that you will use. Prime example - we love love bean burritos. We prefer the Taco Bell beans rather than the pinto beans of other brands. I watch the price - it's like buying in the stock market - you buy when low. Somethings you can't get away with..unfortunately you know milk, cheese, bread, eggs and fresh fruit. But for canned food - boy howdy - Watch those prices and buy a few more extra to put in the pantry. For clothes I usually buy at the end of the year in the clearance section for my son for the following year. Instead of paying $19.99 for a pair of pants I usually pay $3.00 or so sometimes even cheaper with coupons (hee hee). Good luck.

here in Cincinnnati, things have really gone up tto. Gas is 3.20, and my bill at Krogers use to be around120 a week. now is 190 and that is with a lot of coup[ons. they do say that clothing is going to go up. But I also have a big garden in the suumer too....and we can and freeze. I have a huge strawberry patch, tomatoes, carrots, cuccumbers, peppers, zucchini, chives, eggplant, ect. I am being creative with spaghetti, and I get it when it goes on sale for $1. It is hard, very scared about this economy. We use to be fine 5 years ago, and have money to save, but now, we are barely covering our bills. Good luck

Yes I've noticed that too. Typically, we have been able to spend $130-$150 a week with sales and coupons and in January, that jumped to $200, $210. I thought it was because my step-daughter moved in with us so I am buying more, but I checked and that increase is really only $25-$30 per week so the rest was price increases at the store. I had to switch to a cheaper store that's a long drive away and even that's not a great bargain. So you're not the only one - the increase is real, and sudden.

Everything has gone up. It's insane. Gas here just went from $3.69 per gallon to $3.75 for regular unleaded. Milk is $2.49 for a half gallon. Fruits and produce? Dispicable.
We are in a very economically depressed area and people are really struggling.

I keep praying for things to get better, but I don't know.

Things just keep going up.

The only thing that has really gone up remakably here is gas. Meat may be a 10c a lb higher or so. Milk is still 1.99 a gallon. But gas is closer to $3.00 a gallon after getting down to 2.70 recently. My cost per killowatt hour for electricity just went up .8 after going down consistantly over the last 2 years. I can imagine in the Northeast you have to deal with supply and demand being out of whack, 1st of all. Consumption went way up due to the storms, but supplies were hard to get due to trucks being grounded and not able to deliver the goods. Plus, a lot of businesses have had added overhead due to the storms, and they are passing the increased cost of doing business on down to the consumer.

Price have gone up here too. Gas is up to $3.19. They say the crisis in Egypt puts up gas prices. Gas prices effects the cost of shipping for the groceries. We have our normal months of rain, no snow to blame here, so they put it on to Egypt.
Milk seems to be cheaper at 1.99 a gallon, but that could be a lost leader to make you think you are alright. Cereal is up to $4 to 5 dollars a box. Most people know the price of a gallon of milk and gas, not a box of cereal.

I have heard the price of corn going up is affecting the price of alot of other foods....they use corn to feed many of the animals we eat, chicken, beef, also effects eggs and milk, of course....We have recently ( last 3 years or so) had lots of too-wet summers here in Illinois, and the corn yeild has decreased so that prices have increased enough that we didn't even run our corn-burning fireplace insert this year - it was cheaper to just heat the whole house with natural gas!

Gasoline is $3.19 a gallon for the cheap stuff at Caseys, here in Central IL. Lots of other produce has gone up because of all the "weird weather" in all different areas of the globe - one grocer on the news last night said cucumbers have doubled in price.

One thing I have done to help with our grocery bills is I found a Bread Maker machine ar Goodwill for $9 and I make all our bread at home - WAY WAY cheaper - under a dollar a loaf for wholesome whole grain breads...normally $2-4 a loaf, plus we get them fresh, no preservatives! I also use reconstituted Dry Milk powder for milk in cooking recipes....much cheaper, just as healthy. We do buy in bulk where it is advantageous. We raise a garden in the summer, we can and freeze lots of our produce. My Mother in Law has acontact who gets her and us blueberries and peaches from Minnesota in the summer - we order lots and then freeze them, so we have healthy fruit through the winter without the higher prices.

Good Luck, it definitely makes it harder, especailly for people with lower incomes.

Gas where I live is $3.45 for regular. It would be great to be paying $3.15. And gas has not been below three dollars for longer than I can remember; seriously like over ten years.

Yep I just heard today that Sysco has announced that the majority of its suppliers have invoked the God clause because in some cases 80-100% of their crops were destroyed by the cold weather. Expect prices on frozen produce to go up even more very soon and stay that way for at least a few months while the producers try to recover. Read about it here: http://preparingyourfamily.com/frozen-vegetables-bring-tr... and here: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xA_ZJ2kMDQ0/TVcyucmXERI/AAAAAAA...

I grow a small garden every year but this year I am going to look into square foot gardening.

You can still find gas around here for $2.87 per gallon if you look. In town it's over $3.00.

Prices in the southwest, (where we pull the gas and oil of our ground) is 3.29. They pull it out here, and ship to Texas, then pipe it back.
Insane I tell ya.

Yesterday morning the gas station close to my house had gas for $3.06 per gallon - on the way home yesterday it was up to $3.11. Wonder what it will be up to when I go home today.

I went grocery shopping a couple days before Christmas to stock up on a lot of staples that I hadn't bought for a while that we started to run out of and I was in shock. I couldn't believe how much money I spent just on the necesseties. I've also heard that prices on just about everything will continue to rise this year. :(

Here is an article on this topic ...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Companies-Raise-Prices-as-n...

It doesn't help when we just keep printing money . . . the more money in circulation the less valuable it is.

More and more will buy less and less.

PS: I'm sorry I went off topic. Yes, our grocery prices are up in my area too.

AND... They're getting skimpier with the coupons in store.

I'm with ya! I went grocery shopping on Saturday and spent almost $200 on what I used to buy for $150 (sometimes even less)!! UGH.