Anonymous wrote:We find it less expensive to shop at Whole Foods and we get fresher produce.

Exactly this.

Giant has always been overpriced. Even Trader Joe’s is a lot less

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're late to the game. Everything, I mean EVERYTHING went up in price while our salaries relatively remain the same. They're all added up.

Whose fault is that?

It’s totally not the Biden admin. It’s all about the vodkaman in Russia.

I think it was caused by a combination of factors but primarily three things:

Supply shocks due to covid and ukraine
Loose monetary policy from the Fed
Stimmy/Bidenbucks


Anyway, OP no judgment for doing what you need to do to feed your family. I’ll share that I cut my grocery budget in half by shopping at Costco and Aldi/Lidl.

NP. Great for you if you want to live in the 'burbs where Costco and Aldi/Lidl are located. It would take me an hour and a quarter of a tank of gas to get to any of these from DC.

DC has both an Aldi and a Costco. Where have you been PP?

I live in Montgomery County and the nearest Aldi is 10 miles and the nearest Costco is 12 miles. Both of these places are a 30 minute drive.

Also, there are studies published in peer-reviewed economics journals that show shopping at these warehouse clubs causes you both the spend and eat more.

Where in MoCo do you live? I live like 3 miles from Wheaton Costco and 1.5 miles from Aldi. And another 3 miles to two other ALDIs. If you live further out, there is a Gaithersburg Costco and many ALDIs out that way.

Anonymous wrote:We find it less expensive to shop at Whole Foods and we get fresher produce.

+1. I alternate weeks between Giant and Whole Foods and get similar items, and weirdly the Whole Foods week has been consistently less by about $40 - $50 lately. Over the past couple of years, Whole Foods has gotten a little cheaper and Giant has gotten a lot more expensive.

At my company we had a credit card fraud alert up to a few months ago to flag if more than $100 spent on gas.

People would use a stolen card and fill up multiple cars gas.

Now a Chevy Silverado blows through $100 on a single fill up

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and bought basically nothing. A few staples that we were out of (sugar, flour, butter). A pound of ground chicken for dinner tonight. A gallon of milk. Some fruits and vegetables. And that was it. Skim milk is now $4.55 a gallon!

Is anyone else getting really concerned about this?

butter=$4 (plugra baking=$3.69)+flour=$5 (King Arthur organic=4.67)+sugar=$4(Domino=3.59)+milk(4.79)+fruit(mango, orange, blue, straw, blackberry=$12)=~$30. How are you getting $68? If you run a pastry shop, try restaurant depot.

OK, we have a literalist here. For you, friend, I will recreate my receipt:

Loaf of whole wheat bread - $4.89
Eggs - $3.19
Kefir - $5.00
Butter - $6.49
Skim Milk gallon - $4.49
Cheese - $4.49
Sugar - $2.99
Flour - $2.79
Ketchup - $2.25
Ritz crackers - $5.39
Ground chicken - $4.29
Sliced ham - $5.49
Blueberries - $6.99
Raisins - $4.29
Bag of spinach - $3.29
Bag of arugula - $2.49
Bananas - $1.06

Total - $69.87

This is a standard grocery shopping list for me, give or take, for the last 5 years. Two or three years ago it would have been $20 less. That is my point.

I do almost all my shopping at Trader Joe's. The prices about about $1 cheaper than Giant and $2 cheaper then Whole Foods on almost everything, particularly fresh produce.

Aldi's is good too, but it's hard to find organic produce there. Costco is good if you're careful and only buy what you'll actually eat. I bought a huge box of crackers I like there six months ago, and it's still half-full.

Cut back on processed food. Cook as much as you can. Shop at farmer's markets, which are going to be overflowing with produce in June/July/August. I buy lots of berries, and freeze them for the winter.

And eat less, if you can. We're Americans, so most of us are a bit overweight, and some are a lot overweight. Eating smaller portions is good for us.

Giant and Safeway are so expensive!! I almost never shop there.

And yes, OP, prices are going up, up, up. It will level out, but it's painful at the moment, and it's going to get worse. Tighten your belts, folks. And don't buy that GOP crap that Biden's to blame.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and bought basically nothing. A few staples that we were out of (sugar, flour, butter). A pound of ground chicken for dinner tonight. A gallon of milk. Some fruits and vegetables. And that was it. Skim milk is now $4.55 a gallon!

Is anyone else getting really concerned about this?

butter=$4 (plugra baking=$3.69)+flour=$5 (King Arthur organic=4.67)+sugar=$4(Domino=3.59)+milk(4.79)+fruit(mango, orange, blue, straw, blackberry=$12)=~$30. How are you getting $68? If you run a pastry shop, try restaurant depot.

OK, we have a literalist here. For you, friend, I will recreate my receipt:

Loaf of whole wheat bread - $4.89
Eggs - $3.19
Kefir - $5.00
Butter - $6.49
Skim Milk gallon - $4.49
Cheese - $4.49
Sugar - $2.99
Flour - $2.79
Ketchup - $2.25
Ritz crackers - $5.39
Ground chicken - $4.29
Sliced ham - $5.49
Blueberries - $6.99
Raisins - $4.29
Bag of spinach - $3.29
Bag of arugula - $2.49
Bananas - $1.06

Total - $69.87

This is a standard grocery shopping list for me, give or take, for the last 5 years. Two or three years ago it would have been $20 less. That is my point.

To claw back some of that 20 I would do better on the butter and crackers and bread....you can find those cheaper or on sale and $7 blueberries I would just say nope.

Also in DC. My grocery bills are higher because I have kids, but I shop based on what produce is on sale. I also stock up on staples like pasta and cheese when on sale (and bread if I have freezer space). Pre-COVID, I went to the grocery store almost every day on my way home from the office, so I didn't need to plan meals too far ahead or worry about whether my lettuce would last until the end of the week. When I drive to stores and buy a lot at once, I have trouble cooking everything before it goes bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and bought basically nothing. A few staples that we were out of (sugar, flour, butter). A pound of ground chicken for dinner tonight. A gallon of milk. Some fruits and vegetables. And that was it. Skim milk is now $4.55 a gallon!

Is anyone else getting really concerned about this?

butter=$4 (plugra baking=$3.69)+flour=$5 (King Arthur organic=4.67)+sugar=$4(Domino=3.59)+milk(4.79)+fruit(mango, orange, blue, straw, blackberry=$12)=~$30. How are you getting $68? If you run a pastry shop, try restaurant depot.

And you can cut that significantly if you're not too precious to buy store brands.

Same. $70 at teeter for a lb of Turkey, a loaf of bread, a package of rolls, some cans of soup, applesauce, Doritos, bananas and a bagged salad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since when has Giant and Safeway ever been an affordable place to shop? Unless the items are on sale, it's overpriced.

Where exactly do you recommend shopping?

NP. Walmart. I just checked my grocery app since I frequently get delivery. Boneless chicken breasts are still $1.88 per pound.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're late to the game. Everything, I mean EVERYTHING went up in price while our salaries relatively remain the same. They're all added up.

Whose fault is that?

It’s totally not the Biden admin. It’s all about the vodkaman in Russia.

I think it was caused by a combination of factors but primarily three things:

Supply shocks due to covid and ukraine
Loose monetary policy from the Fed
Stimmy/Bidenbucks


Anyway, OP no judgment for doing what you need to do to feed your family. I’ll share that I cut my grocery budget in half by shopping at Costco and Aldi/Lidl.

NP. Great for you if you want to live in the 'burbs where Costco and Aldi/Lidl are located. It would take me an hour and a quarter of a tank of gas to get to any of these from DC.

DC has both an Aldi and a Costco. Where have you been PP?

I live in Montgomery County and the nearest Aldi is 10 miles and the nearest Costco is 12 miles. Both of these places are a 30 minute drive.

Also, there are studies published in peer-reviewed economics journals that show shopping at these warehouse clubs causes you both the spend and eat more.

Anonymous wrote:and bought basically nothing. A few staples that we were out of (sugar, flour, butter). A pound of ground chicken for dinner tonight. A gallon of milk. Some fruits and vegetables. And that was it. Skim milk is now $4.55 a gallon!

Is anyone else getting really concerned about this?

that is more than nothing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and bought basically nothing. A few staples that we were out of (sugar, flour, butter). A pound of ground chicken for dinner tonight. A gallon of milk. Some fruits and vegetables. And that was it. Skim milk is now $4.55 a gallon!

Is anyone else getting really concerned about this?

butter=$4 (plugra baking=$3.69)+flour=$5 (King Arthur organic=4.67)+sugar=$4(Domino=3.59)+milk(4.79)+fruit(mango, orange, blue, straw, blackberry=$12)=~$30. How are you getting $68? If you run a pastry shop, try restaurant depot.

OK, we have a literalist here. For you, friend, I will recreate my receipt:

Loaf of whole wheat bread - $4.89
Eggs - $3.19
Kefir - $5.00
Butter - $6.49
Skim Milk gallon - $4.49
Cheese - $4.49
Sugar - $2.99
Flour - $2.79
Ketchup - $2.25
Ritz crackers - $5.39
Ground chicken - $4.29
Sliced ham - $5.49
Blueberries - $6.99
Raisins - $4.29
Bag of spinach - $3.29
Bag of arugula - $2.49
Bananas - $1.06

Total - $69.87

This is a standard grocery shopping list for me, give or take, for the last 5 years. Two or three years ago it would have been $20 less. That is my point.

How long does this last you and what are you making? Personally I see 3 meals here and some staples. Today I just spend about $40 on 3 packages of ground 99% fat free turkey ($6.99 each), 2 cans of pumpkin puree (3.49 each) a bag of spinach ($4), can of tomato puree ($1.99) pita bread ($3.25) plus tax. This will make a meal and 2 days of leftovers for 3 people (pumpkin turkey meatballs in pita)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and bought basically nothing. A few staples that we were out of (sugar, flour, butter). A pound of ground chicken for dinner tonight. A gallon of milk. Some fruits and vegetables. And that was it. Skim milk is now $4.55 a gallon!

Is anyone else getting really concerned about this?

butter=$4 (plugra baking=$3.69)+flour=$5 (King Arthur organic=4.67)+sugar=$4(Domino=3.59)+milk(4.79)+fruit(mango, orange, blue, straw, blackberry=$12)=~$30. How are you getting $68? If you run a pastry shop, try restaurant depot.

OK, we have a literalist here. For you, friend, I will recreate my receipt:

Loaf of whole wheat bread - $4.89
Eggs - $3.19
Kefir - $5.00
Butter - $6.49
Skim Milk gallon - $4.49
Cheese - $4.49
Sugar - $2.99
Flour - $2.79
Ketchup - $2.25
Ritz crackers - $5.39
Ground chicken - $4.29
Sliced ham - $5.49
Blueberries - $6.99
Raisins - $4.29
Bag of spinach - $3.29
Bag of arugula - $2.49
Bananas - $1.06

Total - $69.87

This is a standard grocery shopping list for me, give or take, for the last 5 years. Two or three years ago it would have been $20 less. That is my point.

I find it very difficult to not spend $800-$1000/month on groceries for a family of 4, shopping at Safeway and Giant and wasting little food. What I have discovered lately is just making simpler recipes and doing without certain ingredients or items.

Also I do think there are cheaper version of items on your list. The blueberries must have been organic or they would have been at least $2 cheaper. Likewise, you can get a loaf of whole wheat bread for about $1 less, though it may not be as good.