Fred's Ramblings

I’m sure I’m not the only one that has noticed that grocery prices are going through the roof. To make matters worse for me, I have Celiac Disease which means that I can’t eat anything with gluten in it…flour, wheat, etc. The cost of gluten free items were much higher than normal before grocery prices went up and have now increased exponentially.

I just got back from Costco this morning and bought 13 items which came to just a hair over $230. The only non food items were a 3 pack of nasal spray and a stack of paper plates. Granted, those two items amounted to $68 plus tax, but that means that the other 11 items cost me over $160 plus tax. One other thing I have noticed lately is that the packages/containers are smaller in size than they were before the prices went up, but the current cost of those items has not decreased…they have increased.

I understand that the pandemic put some of the businesses in a bad situation since no one could go and buy anything, but the population still needed to eat and therefore, the grocery stores were not as hard hit as other businesses. And yes, the inflation that is rampant these days is also playing a big role in this situation but I can well imagine, that for some people it comes down to a decision of “do I eat dinner tonight, or is breakfast and lunch going to have to do”? The older folks who are on a fixed income must also be feeling the brunt of this surge in prices and I’m sure that the anticipated increase in Social Security benefits slated for 2023 will all go towards their grocery bills, more than anything else.