ECON Report food and grocery price increases/shortages here - UPDATE, new runs on the stores

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abby normal

abby normal

insert appropriate adjective here
psychgirl said:
Has anyone checked milk prices this week yet??

I forgot milk (yeah, my own fault) at Kroger yesterday, but did not want to fool with those lines this morning so ran up to Walgreens real quick. I’ve done that before in a pinch and bought their Prairie Farms brand skim. It’s always 2.79$ , more than Kroger brand but I was expecting that.

Today it was 4.09/gal!!

I know it wasn’t that high three weeks ago and even the checkout gal mentioned it! I did a triple take and asked her why, in horror, but she didn’t know. WTH?!
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I find it varies by location. Aldi is usually cheapest but WM and Kroger aren't too far off. If I run short I'll get it at the little Dollar General in the next town so I don't have to travel farther (further?) to the other places, but it's much more expensive there.

Tuesday is my grocery day so I'll check tomorrow when we go Krogering. Thanks for the heads up! My little boy drinks tons of milk
 
Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
abby normal said:
My little boy drinks tons of milk
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Worth considering if milk starts creeping up to $4/$5 gallon or is in short supply: some households save money with this rule for the kids -- milk is only to be used on cereal and one glass (6 oz) at meals. The rest of the time, drink water (which is kept cold in a pitcher). Some also have a 1/2 glass milk and 1/2 glass juice policy at breakfast.

I'm buying canned milk (stored in the the basement). I use about 1 can every 9 days, mostly for my coffee/tea and a little in cooking. I no longer drink milk as a beverage, but I'm an adult!
 
M

Martinhouse

Deceased
I've read that it is not natural for children to drink milk beyond the age of three or four years, if they are eating properly. And adults really are not made to consume milk at all, although it doesn't seem do any harm except for the lactose intolerant..
 
naturallysweet

naturallysweet

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Martinhouse said:
I've read that it is not natural for children to drink milk beyond the age of three or four years, if they are eating properly. And adults really are not made to consume milk at all, although it doesn't seem do any harm except for the lactose intolerant..
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Not natural for whom? It's perfectly natural for people from Europe who have been drinking dairy for thousands of years. .it's not natural for most other people.
 
C

catskinner

Veteran Member
Finally bit the bullet and returned to the near by West Memphis, Arkansas grocery stores yesterday.

Kroger is apparently going for the barren wasteland look. Very little in the way of canned foods of any kind. Where there wasn't a huge hole on the shelves, was thinly stocked. Produce moderately stocked and giving a good impression of bounty on first glance. Bread was well stocked. Meat department was about the same as before. Still had fresh deli made salads to fill in the holes as best they could. Cleaning and laundry supplies were pitiful.
Of note, there was only one register open along with the self check. No cash accepted, only credit and debit cards. Nobody was restocking the shelves. Very strange to see only one person at a register, one person watching over the self check and one bagger. Prices across the board were noticeably higher.

Walmart was slightly better stocked than Kroger. They were busy and were being hit hard in all departments. No wipes and little paper products. Prices also higher than before.

The smaller mom and pop store had always been very well stocked and this was the first time I have seen any holes in the shelves, other than cleaning supplies and wipes. product on the shelf was noticeably thinner as well. I was shocked.

Made a stop at the rumored to be closing Save A Lot. Lots of canned vegetables. Well stocked on canned fruits, but beginning to see empty areas. On the vegetable aisle, there was a 4 foot section that was completely empty. Not sure what was going on with that. Overall, there were fewer items on the shelves. Not very many people in the store. Credit or debit card only.

I am afraid of what the grocery supplies for this area will look like in another month.
 
4

4RIVERS

Veteran Member
Took mom to the grocery this morning. She usually wants to go to a local grocer, but needed some other stuff this time, so we went to Walmart instead.

I took the list to get groceries and things are looking pretty bad for the basics. They were almost wiped out of lunch meats. TP, paper towels, and cleaners were very low. The fresh fruits and vegetables were pretty low or just poor condition. The canned goods were semi stocked, but mainly the Great Value stuff, instead of name brands.

One thing I’ll say is the local grocery is better stocked than Walmart, but it tends to be much more expensive, unless they’re running a sale. I’ve used the virus as an excuse to get her pantry stocked up, so if we get sick, or things get worse, she’ll have something there until we can get back to the grocery.
 
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Terrwyn

Veteran Member
I did an order at Vons this morning and they had the cubed steaks and horseradish cheddar and all the other misc items were in stock. However they had no coke so was happy I got them from Costco.
Hugely expensive! Leanest ground beef 8.09 lb, and what cracked me up was DH wanted shite on a shingle and the little jar of dried beef was also 8 bucks. My Mom made chipped beef and white sauce all the time when I was a kid because it was so cheap. The better breads were all close to 5 bucks. I have no idea where these prices are headed but I would imagine most around me will be shopping Walmart now they are with Instacart.
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
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Martinhouse said:
Hah! I agree it's a lot more natural than soda and a great many other things we all think it's perfectly okay to eat!
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I'll only add this... the anti-dairy folks try to say that "milk is only for babies"... most are coming from an "animal rights" POV, and believe that keeping cows or goats for milk production is cruel or "exploitative". The face is, milk is a nearly "perfect" food... in peopke who have always drunk it from childhood, it's easily digested, it's high in protein and fat (a needed component in a healthy diet, despite the stupid demoniztion of "fat" these days) and it has natural sugars. It can be made into cheese which can be stored without refrigeration.

The Bible mentions it as a desirable food... the Promised Land is described as "full of milk and honey".

Definitely, adults who haven't drunk it habitually may have trouble digesting the lactose component, and certain genetic groups handle it much better than others. IMHO, it's worth consuming frequently enough throughout adulthood, so you don't develop lactose intolerance... in hard times, a dairy animal can be a valuable source of renewable, quality nutrition.

Summerthyme
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Since I get the boxed shelf stable milk in commodities, that and powdered milk is what I have and only use milk in cooking. Personally, I think the milk you get in the grocery store is not healthy, some milk has added sugar. ST I'm sure the milk your farm produced was a healthy milk.

A month or so ago I made a small pan of corn bread. I crumbled some in a glass and poured the boxed milk on it and was like a childhood memory.

God is good, all the time

Judy
 
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WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Had an errand running morning, and on the way home stopped at the meat store. (N MN) Household bacon supplies were getting low, so had the guys slice up 10lb for me ($4.99/lb - hand cured and smoked) - it freezes great. All that company I had for the past 3 weeks was real appreciative of good bacon and fresh laid eggs...and they sure made it disappear. Haha.

Meat store also had their bacon wrapped pork ribeyes (5/$10) and bacon wrapped beef ribeyes (4/$12), fresh ground lean 10# burger bags at $2.99/lb, country style ribs $1.49/lb, bulk Italian or breakfast sausage, $1.99/lb., T-bones, $7.99/lb, and chuck roasts, $3.49/lb.

This week, local/regional grocery chain - 85% ground round $3.49/lb, chicken quarters $.99/lb, semi-boneless beef ribeyes $7.97/lb, boneless porketta roast, $2.69/lb.
 
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Terrwyn

Veteran Member
20Gauge said:
Went back to the 2nd home today (home depot) and needed some 2 1/2 in deck screws..... it looked like a hurricane hit the place.... almost no screws or nails or any bulk fasteners....
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We had to get a hose repair thing on Amazon. HD up here is out of all kinds of stuff.
 
R

ron341

Contributing Member
For the folks here that are on a fixed income or having trouble finding fresh fruit vegetables, dairy product. Check out this program. USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program- GoFresh. This program started late May and has been extended to the end of August. Rumor is that the program will be extended to the end October.

USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program - GoFresh

This program was part of the first stimulus package. The food is purchased by the USDA. This food was originally scheduled to go to schools and restaurants. Once the “ Virus“ hit and schools and restaurants were forced to close. Farmers were faced with a surplus that was scheduled to go to these organizations. The Trump administration came up with this program. And it has helped Millions, from the farmers, processors, trucking industry and the non profit organizations that distribute the boxes. This has helped keep people employed, plus created new jobs.

The link above covers Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. There are different regional areas. Check out USDA.GOV. for your area.

There are normally two boxes given out. One contains fruit and vegetables. Potatoes, corn, lettuce, apples, watermelon etc. Contents varies. Also there is a dairy box. Normally it contains cream cheese, half and half, heavy whipping cream, yogurt, and butter. Etc. Plus 1 gal. Milk.

Each distribution location is a drive through operation. Volunteers load your vehicle for you. Some locations limit to one family box set per vehicle. Others have different amounts.

My wife and I have helped directly or indirectly 13 different families through this program. This includes folks who lost their jobs. Got the virus. Old folks like us. Folks that we give the boxes to share the contents with other family members and neighbors. Paying it forward.

Remember folks this is not Charity. YOUR TAX DOLLARS PAY FOR THIS PROGRAM.


Note: First come First served. I get there at least 1 hour early
 
lonestar09

lonestar09

Veteran Member
Surprise surprise today. Finally found aerosol disinfectant spray at Walmart. It is microban brand. Will see how it works out now. Was surprised to actually see about 50 or 60 bottles of different types of spray cleaner today. It's been a while since seeing that much.
 
4

4RIVERS

Veteran Member
lonestar09 said:
Surprise surprise today. Finally found aerosol disinfectant spray at Walmart. It is microban brand. Will see how it works out now. Was surprised to actually see about 50 or 60 bottles of different types of spray cleaner today. It's been a while since seeing that much.
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I forgot to post it last week, but our WalMart had about 100 cans of their generic lysol disinfectant. The most I've seen since this mess started. They had no limits posted nearby, so I bought 4 cans for my mom. She sprays her apartment down everyday, so I grab it when I can. After checking out, I decided to go back and get some for us too. Almost every cart I saw coming from that area had a few cans in it. There was still a lot there compared to normal, but I doubt it lasted an hour.
 
S

SackLunch

Dirt roads take me home
catskinner said:
My sister went to our local Kroger store this afternoon. While shopping she saw a stocker that she is on friendly terms with. My sister was commenting on all the holes in the canned foods and her friend looked her in the eye and said to get all the canned food she could. Said they couldn't and wouldn't say any more, just get all the canned food you can. Very strange and ominous.
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Several grocery chains and independents in the area have "stock up" sales or "case lot sales" in the spring and fall.

Last March, I was getting doughnuts for the office and wondered why suddenly there were lines at 7:30 a.m. The staff were bringing out pallets of canned goods and staples as quickly as customers depleted them.

I wonder if there will even be case lot sales this fall.

Our local Wally world has been stripped of canned beans and corn for weeks.
 
rafter

rafter

Since 1999
Went to Sam's Club today. Don't get there often since it is 80 miles away. The store actually was better stocked than it was a month ago. The steel shelves were full above the product. Lots of rice, beans, flour. Canned goods weren't as full. Canned veggies were only a single layer on a pallet of green beans. Half a pallet of corn. No peas. Plenty of canned tomatoes in a variety of flavors.
Spices were on the thin side and quite a few holes.
In the frozen food, no peas, no green beans....only broccoli and corn and mixed veggies. Everything else looked pretty normal.
Meat was well stocked. 90% lean hamburger was $3.50. Chuck roast $4.95. Got some real nice ribeyes $9.99 a pound.

The one thing I noticed was they had gotten in a lot of Christmas toys.
 
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workhorse

Veteran Member
They aren’t getting in Christmas toys early we always get them in this time of year but store them to the middle of October. Their is nothing else to put out on the floor. You can’t have empty spots or aisles it makes people shop somewhere else. That is why when there’s a seasonal change like lawn and garden getting smaller they condense and fill the empty aisles with plastic totes. Christmas toys and Halloween candy are out now to fill those empty spots. They can’t even get plastic in to fill the empty spots. I mean when was the last time you saw candy corn out in the middle of August? The supply train is not just behind time it’s jumped the rails. I have worked retail for over 20 years part and full time.

And I have never seen it this bad. Caned goods from 3 tier providers whose label is one step above generic but cost is more than what it replaces and that is even after they lowered their profit margin as low as they can. Normally companies pay to have their stuff in an aisle or end cap. Not now just please ship us enough stuff to cover it. Seeing store brand in prime retail space or even strange items like charcoal or small appliances. Soda display where you never saw one before. Extra space around the pharmacy for social distancing. No not really they just don’t have the stuff. Check out back to school most areas school has started remember the deals coming soon on the extra stuff there is not much at all.

After every one got stuck with pallets of stuff from the Easter that never happened and all the little league and t ball seasons that got canceled inventory has been cut way back. How much Halloween stuff do you think you will see with no trick or treat or even school activity when you can’t see kids in another class. Going to be cut way back. They think hunter’s will be big this year just like canning jars and lids because are concerned about food. I see the tension every day. Sporting goods is selling out of low end game cameras not for hunting but to find out who is messing around on my property and outbuildings and in my garden.

Some people come back and say so glad it was a blank getting in my garden and not my neighbors. The tension is real something or someone is gonna light this fuse and it won’t be pretty. Try to stay calm and carry on. Sorry for the rant but many people are just wondering around like it’s a little inconvenience and I see the cliff ahead.
 
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Millwright

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
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straightstreet said:
I just checked online and milk is currently $3.35/gallon. I love milk! Normally I would drink a glass a day but we've been shopping once a month and I only get 2 gallons a month. I bought shelf stable milk last month but I haven't tried it yet.
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Freeze milk.

It thaws out perfectly normal.

In fact, I'm thinking it might last a little longer after freezing.
 
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parsonswife

Veteran Member
I found one nursery store in Grants Pass Or that still had seeds....scored $100.00 worth. They told me that the seed reps wanted to come and collect their displays and the left over seeds like they do at the tail end of summer every year but the store manager refused saying he wanted to keep selling

. Went to another small chain store and and just yesterday they took down the seed display, destroying the left over seeds (mostly flowers they said). Two more grocery stores had taken down seeds and either distroyed them or Sent them back. (These where Ferris Morse, Burpee and Livingstone Brands).

3 nursery managers have told me not to expect fall seeds....only thing orderable are microgreens and sprouting seeds and not very hopeful about getting seeds in January....might be till late spring (saw lots of microgreens for sale)
 

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Marie

Marie

Veteran Member
straightstreet said:
I just checked online and milk is currently $3.35/gallon. I love milk! Normally I would drink a glass a day but we've been shopping once a month and I only get 2 gallons a month. I bought shelf stable milk last month but I haven't tried it yet.
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Do you know anyone that has Milk cows? I dried my cow out to breed her and have several friends who are still milking. So I buy from them.
 
ginnie6

ginnie6

Veteran Member
psychgirl said:
Has anyone checked milk prices this week yet??

I forgot milk (yeah, my own fault) at Kroger yesterday, but did not want to fool with those lines this morning so ran up to Walgreens real quick. I’ve done that before in a pinch and bought their Prairie Farms brand skim. It’s always 2.79$ , more than Kroger brand but I was expecting that.

Today it was 4.09/gal!!

I know it wasn’t that high three weeks ago and even the checkout gal mentioned it! I did a triple take and asked her why, in horror, but she didn’t know. WTH?!
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2.57 a gallon at Aldi this past week.
 
naturallysweet

naturallysweet

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Marie said:
Do you know anyone that has Milk cows? I dried my cow out to breed her and have several friends who are still milking. So I buy from them.
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You don't need to dry a cow out to rebreed. You have to dry her out 3 months before she calves again.

Something to remember for next year.
 
ioujc

ioujc

MARANTHA!! Even so, come LORD JESUS!!!
Terrwyn said:
I did an order at Vons this morning and they had the cubed steaks and horseradish cheddar and all the other misc items were in stock. However they had no coke so was happy I got them from Costco.
Hugely expensive! Leanest ground beef 8.09 lb, and what cracked me up was DH wanted shite on a shingle and the little jar of dried beef was also 8 bucks. My Mom made chipped beef and white sauce all the time when I was a kid because it was so cheap. The better breads were all close to 5 bucks. I have no idea where these prices are headed but I would imagine most around me will be shopping Walmart now they are with Instacart.
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Have you tried Goldenrod Toast?? It is the same white sauce, but instead of the dried beef, you use boiled eggs. After you peel the eggs, you cut them into little cubes and stir into the white sauce. Pour it over the toast and take one boiled egg yolk that you saved and crumble it on top of the white sauce on the bread>>>>>>BEAUTIFUL>>>>>AND DELICIOUS!! My family loved it even more than SOS!!
 
T

Terrwyn

Veteran Member
ioujc said:
Have you tried Goldenrod Toast?? It is the same white sauce, but instead of the dried beef, you use boiled eggs. After you peel the eggs, you cut them into little cubes and stir into the white sauce. Pour it over the toast and take one boiled egg yolk that you saved and crumble it on top of the white sauce on the bread>>>>>>BEAUTIFUL>>>>>AND DELICIOUS!! My family loved it even more than SOS!!
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I've had the eggs Benedict which is similar. Forgot all about it since I no longer do fancy brunches. Thanks for the reminder. Eggs do taste good in a homemade white sauce. And very easy to make. I use the recipe in my old Betty Crocker cookbook.
 
ioujc

ioujc

MARANTHA!! Even so, come LORD JESUS!!!
Millwright said:
Freeze milk.

It thaws out perfectly normal.

In fact, I'm thinking it might last a little longer after freezing.
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At one point, when I was unemployed for two years after being laid off, I worked at KMart. They would put all the unsold milk that was within two days of the expiration date on sale>>>>this was a number of years ago, but Iw ould buy up to 10 gallons at 75 cents a gallon and freeze them>>>>AWESOME!!
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Millwright said:
Freeze milk.

It thaws out perfectly normal.

In fact, I'm thinking it might last a little longer after freezing.
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I keep a gallon in the freezer but it turns out chalky and kind of nasty using skim. I’ll drink 2% but hub won’t because of the fat. I think he’d drink any milk if that’s all we had though... but anyway, yeah, mom always kept gallons in the extra freezer when we were kids. I never noticed it being weird !

But the last time I thawed out milk it had to be shook up every time we took it out to use. Almost like it had separated. Hub thought it was too gross, but he used it.
 
T

TorahTips

Membership Revoked
My rather large neighborhood grocery store is getting more and more really strange brands. A lot of name brands are no longer on the shelf. One is Premier Peanut Butter. Never heard of it. I talked with the manager and he told me that it is getting harder and harder to get name brands. He said it's like a big puzzle just to fill the shelves.
 
ambereyes

ambereyes

Veteran Member
We made a store run last week, Del Rio, Texas. WalMart was that I could tell only low on progresso soups and frozen blueberries. Everything else was pretty full, including meat and fresh vegetables. Paper and cleaning products well stocked, some different brands that were new though. As far as we could tell prices were back to pre-panic numbers. Decided to go by the HEB too, needed some fresh shrimp for grilling and was able to get the frozen blueberries and Progresso soups, prices good and well stocked. Got everything home for the people we were shopping for, long day!
 
Jackpine Savage

Jackpine Savage

Veteran Member
TorahTips said:
My rather large neighborhood grocery store is getting more and more really strange brands. A lot of name brands are no longer on the shelf. One is Premier Peanut Butter. Never heard of it. I talked with the manager and he told me that it is getting harder and harder to get name brands. He said it's like a big puzzle just to fill the shelves.
Click to expand...

My DW was shopping at a local grocery store (not national or regional) and noticed Kirkland (Costco) chips prominently displayed
 
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