Anonymous wrote:I find it less expensive to shop sales at Whole Foods and sales at Harris Teeter than to step foot in a Giant.

365 brand has quietly turned into our family's go to brand

Food lion on Rockville Pike in Moco. Worth the drive for price and quality

I suggest starting your own vegetable garden, even on your balcony.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I agree with most of your post, but buying fruits and veggies at the farmers market is not less expensive than the grocery store. We often do it, but it is a splurge and we have to budget what we will spend more on at the market and what we will get at the store.

And a large roll of foil is now $12.99. I buy it less than once a year, but it was never close to that much.

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?

We’ve been shopping at the DC Aldi for about 5 years now. The prices there have gone up quite a bit as well, but it’s still less expensive than Giant.

Aldi is not immune. I did a top-up shop there last week that would have cost me $16 not six months ago. It was $25! Tomato paste has nearly tripled in price, eggs have doubled, snacks are mostly up 33%.

Family of 4 with 2 teens! Our groceries are $1200-$1500 a month (includes paper goods, like toilet paper and paper towels, as well as laundry detergent, aluminum foil, etc.). I limit myself to once a month at Costco, spending about $400 each time

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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)

NP and I think this was the lede that was buried.

OP bought a fair amount of food. It wasn't just a handful of items.

I get that OP must have bought a few fancier versions of things (bread, maybe blueberries, etc.) And I do think $5-10 of this is inflation or supply chain issues (read: reduced staffing d/t COVID).

But this was actually... a fair amount of food.

Yes, I also mostly shop Aldi/Lidl and could get these things for probably $40, and if I shop Giant, I mostly just pick up sale items. But it's not like OP only got enough food for last night's dinner and tomorrow's lunch, unless she has a family of 6 or more.

I mean, I will say it's mostly dinner and lunch (for more than 4 people), but also breakfast plus another $10 worth of stuff. It's not outrageous to think groceries cost about $800-1000 a month for a family of 4 that is not on a tight budget, and this is consistent with that.

Anonymous wrote:

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)

NP and I think this was the lede that was buried.

OP bought a fair amount of food. It wasn't just a handful of items.

I get that OP must have bought a few fancier versions of things (bread, maybe blueberries, etc.) And I do think $5-10 of this is inflation or supply chain issues (read: reduced staffing d/t COVID).

But this was actually... a fair amount of food.

Yes, I also mostly shop Aldi/Lidl and could get these things for probably $40, and if I shop Giant, I mostly just pick up sale items. But it's not like OP only got enough food for last night's dinner and tomorrow's lunch, unless she has a family of 6 or more.

I’d like you guys to go talk to the parents on the college forum who think thst you’re absolutely spoiling your college kid if you give them more than $200 a month to spend on food.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Inflation is real and a problem but there is simply no way you got all of that for less than $20 three years ago. No way.

Oh, I can definitely see it. I only like 1 type of blue cheese dressing. It's always been $3.99, even during the pandemic. I noticed last month that it jumped a dollar to $4.99. The entire pandemic (and prior) Harris Teeter had their iceberg lettuce for $0.99 per head and it's now $2.79 and a sale price is like $1.99 and they are tiny heads.

I used to get my fat free milk for $1.79 and it's now $3.29 and I don't even buy organic milk.

My weekly Costco haul always includes a pack of their raspberries (not organic) and they were always $4.99 and now they are $7.99 with organic being $9.99! A three dollar hike? Really?

We always spent ~$220/week on groceries as a family of 5 and now we are up to close to $400 some weeks if we need staples. I've noticed our favorite local restaurants have all gotten new menus recently because their prices went up.

We just at our favorite local BBQ joint tonight and for 5 meals it was $88 before tip. That's 2 pulled pork sandwiches w/ sides of cole slaw, smoked turkey plate w/ cole slaw & collards, a cobb salad, and a bbq chicken quesadilla. Their prices didn't raise until recently because we eat there a few times a month and our bill was never over $60-65.

When you dump trillions of dollars into the economy . . . Ta da! This is literally Econ 101.

Giant is expensive and poor quality.

I find it less expensive to shop sales at Whole Foods and sales at Harris Teeter than to step foot in a Giant.