Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Price Of Groceries
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.
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Wednesday, October 5, 2022 - 16:13:20
You certainly aren’t the only one struggling through these higher prices in food. Here in Saskatchewan, Canada, not only are the prices going up, but as you’ve noticed, packaging sizes have decreased. For as long as I can remember, milk has always come in cartons of 250ml, 500ml, 1L, 2L, and 4L. Last month, as I was walking by the coolers in the grocery store, I notice all of those sizes have dropped, yet the prices have been increased. I know, over the years, this has been happening with most everything… but I don’t remember when a liter of milk wasn’t always a liter. “Shrink-flation” is being executed across the board, out here.
Dairy, meats (especially beef), and fresh produce seems to be the hardest hit with price increases and shrink-flation. And with what I’ve heard from farmers in our little corner of the world, with this year’s pitiful harvest, it’s going to get worse for many grocery items in the new year. If you can afford to do it, stock up on what you can now!
Wednesday, October 5, 2022 - 17:39:53
Evidently, this price gouging is happening everywhere…I thought for a while that it was happening just in California as we are also dealing with high gas prices. Not that it makes it better knowing that it is happening everywhere.
Thursday, October 6, 2022 - 06:59:59
Unfortunately, things don’t look much better in Germany either. While groceries have “only” increased by about 30%, energy prices are going through the roof. Electricity +120%, heating (gas) +300-400%, petrol and diesel +40-100%
Delivery bottlenecks make matters worse. I am an electrician by profession. It’s hard to buy fuses and the like. The supply chains in particular have collapsed here.
I’m afraid it won’t get any better anytime soon. I’ll be happy if at least the winter is over - I hope I don’t need the heating that often. These are ugly times.