ECON Report food and grocery price increases/shortages here: 2021 Edition

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pauldingbabe

The Great Cat
My hay is square bales 40-50 pounds. I get $4 if you get it out of the field, $6.25 out of the barn. It is good mixed grass hay. We have it tested each year. I have repeat customers year after year.

I would pay that. Hay in Georgia is and always has been expensive. Especially if you want it delivered.

I used to be able to buy from a little organic farm about 10 mi away. Found them on Craigslist. Sweet people! Haven't seen them around for a few years :(
 

Jubilee on Earth

Veteran Member
I went to the store a couple days ago. I bought a bag of cheddar sun chips. Upon getting home and putting stuff away, I too noticed that the bag was MUCH smaller than even 6 months ago.
Yeah, I like Sunchips and noticed that as well. It’s almost not even worth buying.

As for variety of products, that’s what has been most noticeable. I used to be able to buy string cheese sticks in pepper jack flavor, but I haven’t seen them in months. There used to be all kinds of artisan/restaurant style tortilla chips or blue corn tortilla chips, and I haven’t seen those in months, either. Deli fresh sweet/hot salsa, haven’t seen that since last summer. My store stopped carrying the brand of feta cheese I liked. My favorite brand and flavors of yogurt are no longer available. The list goes on and on. There was a very noticeable culling of SKUs on the supermarket shelves.
 

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
One that especially frustrates me is yogurt. The shrinkflation involves not just the smaller containers, which are painfully obvious, but also they are only filling the cups about half full. Ba$tards.

Yep! I noticed that, too. I'm told one can make great yogurt with an Instapot. I'm too busy right now to look into that, but that might be of interest to you.
 

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Yep! I noticed that, too. I'm told one can make great yogurt with an Instapot. I'm too busy right now to look into that, but that might be of interest to you.
You can use a dehydrator, too. I had my Amish blacksmith make me a sturdy tray for my Excalibur out of expanded steel mesh. Works great! I can make up to 16 half pint jars at once.

For cultures, try New England Cheese making Supply...

Summerthyme
 

Jubilee on Earth

Veteran Member
One that especially frustrates me is yogurt. The shrinkflation involves not just the smaller containers, which are painfully obvious, but also they are only filling the cups about half full. Ba$tards.
I think they’re going to shrink them even more. The yogurt section of my store was nearly empty. I’ve heard more than once that when something goes out like that, in addition to supply/delivery issues the manufacturers are changing the packaging. I wouldn’t be surprised.
 

Jubilee on Earth

Veteran Member
Tried ordering Preparation H wipes from Sam's Club on line. Totally unavailable. We are on the brink of cannibalism. :hof: :hof: :hof: :hof:
On a serious note I’ve noticed that my Meijer has not had Preparation H in a long while. They did have Meijer’s brand for a little but, and then that disappeared as well. Not sure what going on there. Maybe too many butt-hurt people in this country?? LOL :bhrt:
 

TerriHaute

Hoosier Gardener
One that especially frustrates me is yogurt. The shrinkflation involves not just the smaller containers, which are painfully obvious, but also they are only filling the cups about half full. Ba$tards.
Yogurt is easy-peasy to make, it's only two ingredients - milk and a spoonful of plain yogurt to culture from. I've had a cheap yogurt maker for over 30 years and it still works great, looks similar to this one that's $25 on Amazon:

8182q5N%2B-5L._AC_SL1500_.jpg


 

twobarkingdogs

Veteran Member
I think they’re going to shrink them even more. The yogurt section of my store was nearly empty. I’ve heard more than once that when something goes out like that, in addition to supply/delivery issues the manufacturers are changing the packaging. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Speaking of yogurt and changing packaging.

At my area walmart, n.ga, today the yogurt area was only about 3/4 full. Several full product lines missing. And the great value brand plain yogurt in I guess the 32oz size had a clear lid rather then the normal white lid so that you could see the foil anti-tamper film across the top. I guess they are having trouble sourcing their normal lid for that product line and went to a different type of lid

Spoke to a stock guy in the paper section of walmart and he said TP sales were increasing "like people were preparing for another wave of lockdowns" which is basically a quote of what he said. It happened I was there buy TP myself to prepare for another wave of lockdowns so I understood completely.

Other then that the normal merchandise holes still exist in both the area walmart and ingles.

tbd
 

TxGal

Day by day
Yogurt is easy-peasy to make, it's only two ingredients - milk and a spoonful of plain yogurt to culture from. I've had a cheap yogurt maker for over 30 years and it still works great, looks similar to this one that's $25 on Amazon:

8182q5N%2B-5L._AC_SL1500_.jpg



I found of one the original Salton yogurt makers not long ago at Goodwill, complete with the original box, instructions, jars, and lids. I remember having the same model decades ago, and it was easy and very good. Got very lucky, and found the Yogourtherm yogurt starter online, I think it was on Amazon. I just keep it in the fridge. I've ready you can use plain yogurt as a starter, I just never did it.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I found of one the original Salton yogurt makers not long ago at Goodwill, complete with the original box, instructions, jars, and lids. I remember having the same model decades ago, and it was easy and very good. Got very lucky, and found the Yogourtherm yogurt starter online, I think it was on Amazon. I just keep it in the fridge. I've ready you can use plain yogurt as a starter, I just never did it.
I use to have one of those, my only attempt to use it failed. A few years ago I bought a non electric yogurt maker, its somewhere around here, maybe out in the bus that I haven't been in several months.

I've also not eaten yogurt in awhile.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

rlm

Contributing Member
Yep! I noticed that, too. I'm told one can make great yogurt with an Instapot. I'm too busy right now to look into that, but that might be of interest to you.
Yogurt in the Instapot is super easy and delicious! I make it all the time. One half gallon of milk, a can of sweetened condensed milk (if you like it sweet), and two tablespoons of starter make over two quarts of fresh yogurt. I figure it's about half the price of store bought.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Was at Fareway this afternoon, no holes. However, I noticed that velveeta, now comes in a very tiny box for almost $4. I see they’re now selling small single serve packages of velveeta sauce for $1.29 they did have the traditional size boxes on the shelf for a good chunk of change. I should have taken a photo.
 

Raggedyman

Res ipsa loquitur
I was in the ASSville SAMS KLUB earlier today - right at noon . MAJOR HOLES in produce and chicken i.e. in the chicken case I saw 2 pks of wings, 3 pkg chicken tenderloins, 4-6 pkg chicken thighs and 2 pkg boneless breasts, there were NO split bone in breasts and only 2 pkg whole chickens. beef and pork seemed a bit low but not at all like the chicken. very few apples, no carrots some celery but not much . . . salad, spinach and broccoli plentiful and with good dates. 5 pkg mushrooms that looked like they should have been tossed the week before. TP and paper products were plentiful but seemed to be moving out pretty quickly.
 

ioujc

MARANTHA!! Even so, come LORD JESUS!!!
I bagged a fantastic deal this afternoon>>>>on the way home I stopped to get gas at a 10 Box store. Don't know if you all have heard of them, but they are like a Cost Cutter or Save a Lot or one of those>>>>they have the groceries at a sale price, but add 10% at the register, so it's not much cheaper than Aldi's.

Anyway>>>>since I like to feed my critters treats, (the rabbits, chickens and goats) I always check the "older" produce.

I must have hit at the PERFECT time>>>>>there were a lot of sacks of sweet cherries, each sack had a pound of very ripe cherries, but they were all still good. Bought 4 of those, each sack also had two bananas in each bag??? The bananas were fine, not over-ripe or bruised or anything>>>>>each sack of cherries + 2 bananas was a DOLLAR!! Each sack had a LEAST a pound of cherries in addition to the 'nanners!! So I got four pounds of cherries and 8 bananas for 4 bucks!!
I had JUST paid $2.49 a pound for cherries the night before!!!

As I looked through the stuff, there were OODLES of AVOCADOS for a dollar a sack>>>>with 6 to 8 LARGE ripe AVOCADOS in each sack for ONE DOLLAR per sack!!

So, now I have stuffed into my fridge, 14 ripe avocados, which I will use in salads, chop some, to freeze, and make guacamole if there are any that are just too ripe!!
AWESOME!

What I am going to do with ALL OF THOSE CHERRIES, I'm just not sure, but I will either freeze them, or snack on them for the next couple of weeks>>>>>

WOW!!

Two weeks of cherries, salads with cherries and avocados>>>guacamole>>>>and yummy stuff!!!

YUM!!
 
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Mushroom

Opinionated Granny
I bagged a fantastic deal this afternoon>>>>on the way home I stopped to get gas at a 10 Box store. Don't know if you all have heard of them, but they are like a Cost Cutter or Save a Lot or one of those>>>>they have the groceries at a sale price, but add 10% at the register, so it's not much cheaper than Aldi's.

Anyway>>>>since I like to feed my critters treats, (the rabbits, chickens and goats) I always check the "older" produce.

I must have hit at the PERFECT time>>>>>there were a lot of sacks of sweet cherries, each sack had a pound of very ripe cherries, but they were all still good. Bought 4 of those, each sack also had two bananas in each bag??? The bananas were fine, not over-ripe or bruised or anything>>>>>each sack of cherries + 2 bananas was a DOLLAR!! Each sack had a LEAST a pound of cherries in addition to the 'nanners!! So I got four pounds of cherries and 8 bananas for 4 bucks!!
I had JUST paid $2.49 a pound for cherries the night before!!!

As I looked through the stuff, there were OODLES of AVOCADOS for a dollar a sack>>>>with 6 to 8 LARGE ripe AVOCADOS in each sack for ONE DOLLAR per sack!!

So, now I have stuffed into my fridge, 14 ripe avocados, which I will use in salads, chop some to freeze and make guacamole if there are any that are just too ripe!!
AWESOME!

What I am going to do with ALL OF THOSE CHERRIES, I'm just not sure, but I will either freeze them, or snack on them for the next couple of weeks>>>>>

WOW!!

Two weeks of cherries, salads with cherries and avocados>>>guacamole>>>>and yummy stuff!!!

YUM!!

Cutting the cherries in half and freezing them on trays then bagging them has always worked for me. What a bonanza! I used to freeze whole cherries and seedless grapes when my kids were little and called them cherrycycles and grapecycles. They couldn't eat enough to give them tummy aches and it cooled them off on a hot summer day. We lived in Phoenix at the time.
 

Jubilee on Earth

Veteran Member
I bagged a fantastic deal this afternoon>>>>on the way home I stopped to get gas at a 10 Box store. Don't know if you all have heard of them, but they are like a Cost Cutter or Save a Lot or one of those>>>>they have the groceries at a sale price, but add 10% at the register, so it's not much cheaper than Aldi's.

Anyway>>>>since I like to feed my critters treats, (the rabbits, chickens and goats) I always check the "older" produce.

I must have hit at the PERFECT time>>>>>there were a lot of sacks of sweet cherries, each sack had a pound of very ripe cherries, but they were all still good. Bought 4 of those, each sack also had two bananas in each bag??? The bananas were fine, not over-ripe or bruised or anything>>>>>each sack of cherries + 2 bananas was a DOLLAR!! Each sack had a LEAST a pound of cherries in addition to the 'nanners!! So I got four pounds of cherries and 8 bananas for 4 bucks!!
I had JUST paid $2.49 a pound for cherries the night before!!!

As I looked through the stuff, there were OODLES of AVOCADOS for a dollar a sack>>>>with 6 to 8 LARGE ripe AVOCADOS in each sack for ONE DOLLAR per sack!!

So, now I have stuffed into my fridge, 14 ripe avocados, which I will use in salads, chop some to freeze and make guacamole if there are any that are just too ripe!!
AWESOME!

What I am going to do with ALL OF THOSE CHERRIES, I'm just not sure, but I will either freeze them, or snack on them for the next couple of weeks>>>>>

WOW!!

Two weeks of cherries, salads with cherries and avocados>>>guacamole>>>>and yummy stuff!!!

YUM!!
I want one of those stores!
 

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
After seeing the produce posts, I wanted to mention that of you have a Kroger, go to the very edge of the produce section. Sometimes it’s down by the nuts and banana section... but anyway, they always have a small shelf of bagged produce for a dollar/.99 or less.
It’s like the “scratch n dent section” lol.

It’s usually potatoes, bananas, or bags of other produce too small or mishapen to put in the actual produce bins. I usually see:
Oranges
Tangerine
Green /red peppers
Zucchini
Redskin potatoes

It just depends upon the day what’s there but you can get GREAT deals! I go there first to see what’s been put out.
(If it’s bananas, they’re usually the ones I’ll wrap up for banana bread and freeze. Not totally brown but have a lot of dark spots)
 

greysage

On The Level
Interesting morning so far.

Realized I forgot to get more stuff. Pepcid (famotidine) was the main reason. Anyway, I need the stuff, especially if I can't eat fresh food.
Well there was none of the store brand and a couple Pepcid brand. Went to four grocery stores, three Hannafords and one Price Chopper. There were maybe a dozen packs of Pepcid total between all four. Bought three 50ct ones.
Plenty of other over the counter antacids.
Previously the generic would have been $12. This cost me $54.
All the HABA departments were very empty. Only 1-3 items of each stocked if they were stocked at all. A lot of bare shelves.

Don't know if a panic button got pushed somewhere or somebodies decided to stop distributing OTC famotidine or what.

Another weird thing was, there was minimal traffic. I did a lot of driving and it only took an hour to visit 4 stores around the city area. During morning rush 715 to 815.
 

inskanoot

Veteran Member
Yogurt is easy-peasy to make, it's only two ingredients - milk and a spoonful of plain yogurt to culture from. I've had a cheap yogurt maker for over 30 years and it still works great, looks similar to this one that's $25 on Amazon:

8182q5N%2B-5L._AC_SL1500_.jpg


Would half and half work?
 

Jubilee on Earth

Veteran Member
Interesting morning so far.

Realized I forgot to get more stuff. Pepcid (famotidine) was the main reason. Anyway, I need the stuff, especially if I can't eat fresh food.
Well there was none of the store brand and a couple Pepcid brand. Went to four grocery stores, three Hannafords and one Price Chopper. There were maybe a dozen packs of Pepcid total between all four. Bought three 50ct ones.
Plenty of other over the counter antacids.
Previously the generic would have been $12. This cost me $54.
All the HABA departments were very empty. Only 1-3 items of each stocked if they were stocked at all. A lot of bare shelves.

Don't know if a panic button got pushed somewhere or somebodies decided to stop distributing OTC famotidine or what.

Another weird thing was, there was minimal traffic. I did a lot of driving and it only took an hour to visit 4 stores around the city area. During morning rush 715 to 815.
Wasn’t that one of the OTC meds that were reported to help reduce the symptoms of COVID?
 

xtreme_right

Veteran Member
THANK YOU for this link/tip!
BukYbGF.gif


We love avocados (understatement) but have cut back on getting them as often as we did because we hate waste and invariably one or two out of a bag of 7-ish would slip by us. This is great news for our house! :)
Just remember they need to be frozen at the amount of ripeness you want to eat them at. Don’t freeze a hard one, expecting it to thaw and mash at a good consistency.
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Stopped at Aldi and the meat store this morning. (N MN) The meat store...always stellar, though their prices were up. I usually only shop the weekly specials. Their custom, on-site smoked and sliced bacon was 4.49/lb this week, so I got some for the freezer. Bulk breakfast or Italian sausage, 2.49/lb., porketta steaks, 2.49/lb. and country style pork ribs, 1.99/lb. Definitely a week to cook with pork again.

Aldi was a bit off. It's late in the week...have noticed that they used to start their ads (and restock) on Wednesdays, but lately have changed to Sunday like everyone else. Have to keep that in mind. Anyway, they had everything I was there for, but fruit and produce seemed down. One guy was looking for organic strawberries...well heck, there weren't any strawberries as far as I could see. No skin off me...I'm flexible, but even in the canned goods, seemed like gaps. Definitely in the baking aisle with the mixes, and the cheese cooler was a bit sparse, though I found my latest, bestest favorite...wedges of white Stilton with blueberries. Yummm. :)
 

thompson

Certa Bonum Certamen
Just remember they need to be frozen at the amount of ripeness you want to eat them at. Don’t freeze a hard one, expecting it to thaw and mash at a good consistency.
Gotcha!

This will also be very helpful when buying them. Sometimes they're almost all to the point of ripeness that we enjoy, so we pass on getting any because we know even we won't be able to eat them all in time. We can throw some in the freezer when that happens.
 

coloradohermit

Veteran Member
I went to our local Kroger with a short list this morning. Everything looked well stocked. As I passed the toothpaste aisle I decided to grab a tube of Fixodent Free denture adhesive because I hadn't checked to see if I needed any. It had a big sign saying Discontinued and the price was marked down to $2.74 from $5.29, so I grabbed 2. This could be a local thing and may continue to be available elsewhere, but if you use it for your dentures you might want to check out your local availability.
 

et2

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Been off all week. Just went to Kroger we always go to. Was shocked at the bare shelves. These are just a couple isles. There were a number like this. Noticeably canned goods, dry pasta etc. Canned soup almost nothing. What they did have was moved to the front of the shelves and not much behind it. Bottled water almost out again.

A1C20D23-A66E-4CFA-AC14-C9A221AE9C10.jpeg
74F4F5B1-BB6C-4DBC-83AB-E0433458B721.jpeg
 
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