FOOD Report food & grocery shortages / price increases here: 2024 Edition

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bracketquant

Veteran Member
phloydius said:
I'm in Texas. I've bought many bags of ice thru the years.

Around here people buy bags of ice for many things but two of the most common are for going out to work 'in the field' and for BBQ parties & family events. At 100F temps outside while working having a chest of ice water is basic safety.

I would note that a bag of ice price will vary greatly. Some use it as a loss leader to bring in customers on thier way to work, while other places use it as a profit center because of the convenient location. Generally you have to go out of the way a bit to get the cheapest price.

A bag of ice at HEB is now $2.08. They are generally a good average price for the region. I would note that back in the early 2000's a bag of ice was 10lbs and $0.89. Before the pandemic they were 8lbs. And now they are 7lbs.
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I've always had a chest freezer (or 2), plus the freezer part of the fridge. Making ice cubes is for drinks, only. For toting food around outside, freezing in large blocks is better than little cubes. And, it's relatively "free" ice.
 
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bracketquant

Veteran Member
The Easter ham, butt portion, was the cheapest in decades. Usually it's .79/lb for shanks, .99/lb for butts. This year the butts were .89/lb. Most stores were sold out, or almost sold out, of all hams. I didn't see any spiral hams this year, at all.

Also, semi-boneless lamb legs at $4.99/lb, boneless lamb roasts at $5.99/lb, and beef prime ribs roasts at $6.99/lb were decent deals. Anything not on sale...I don't even bother looking at the price. About once every 3 or 4 years, it seems Australia or New Zealand has a surplus of lamb, which makes it here. Otherwise, prices are doubled or more, of the above.
 
von Koehler

von Koehler

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Ghirardelli chocolate has raised prices on it's goodies again. A box of 12 bars is now $42.95!

I searched the web for a coupon and found one for 15 percent off. And there is free FedEx shipping on an order minimum.

The thing that really motivated me was that warm weather shipping charge will kick in soon. That means that all orders can only be shipped by FedEx Express which is very expensive.
 
von Koehler

von Koehler

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Wild Fork foods has Berkshire pig (breed) boneless hams at $6.48 a pound.

It is the best tasting ham I have ever tasted.
 
eens

eens

Nuns with Guns
I hit the jackpot yesterday!! I was at Stop & Shop (grocery store) and saw these huge roasts in the end cap meat case.
There were a few so I looked at them. Holy $#!t! $278.67 for one prime rib roast, $17.99 a pound. The butcher was there so I started talking to him. They were for Easter but apparently they bought too many (ya think?) and had a lot left over. I asked him who buys this big and expensive a roast. He said they do for a holiday, but not enough of them.

Well.... they were on sale for, get this, $6.99 a pound!! Since I can't resist a bargain (you can't even get ground beef for $6.99 a #) I bought 2, got 2 for my daughter and the friend I was with bought one.

The before sale total for 5 huge roasts was $1,215.41!!! We paid $472.25! Saved $743.16!!

My daughter went today and got 4 more. :jstr: She said she left 3.

I asked the butcher what they do with what's not sold, I wanted to make sure they don't throw them out, he said they donate it to soup kitchens, so that's good.

After having said all this, my husband is a beef farmer, we sell 'mostly grass fed' beef. LOL!!! We couldn't even raise it for this price.

I had to take a picture of our haul.
IMG_4871.jpeg
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
I shopped Wednesday and found most of what I needed. Aldi did not have frozen orange juice. Eggs were $2.06 a dozen. I was just looking through my receipt to verify egg prices and they are not on receipt. The clerk must have missed the 2 dozen I bought but charged me for an extra loaf of bread. Aldi had 12 count cartons of Pepsi for $6.99 while everywhere else it is $8.99.

The only meat I bought was a package of cooked ham for sandwiches. I'm eating less and less meat due to PRICES. Other than ground beef I never even look at beef. I'm eating more canned salmon and tuna from my pantry and stretching everything. Pork is generally decently priced, and the mobile food pantry gives us chicken legs and/or hind quarters regularly. I try to keep serving size to recommended amount which is about the size of a deck of cards.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
We rarely buy meat, but we do eat meat every day, not big slabs of it, DH grinds it. I was thinking about getting some pork chops but decided not to, don't know what they are fed and how they are raised. We've got pigs, wild pigs that he processes, unfortunately they are fed corn, but other than that we know what they eat.
 
greysage

greysage

On The Level
Not sure what I missed between this week and last. Eggs took a significant jump up. The 18 pack of Hannaford's large-white eggs is now $5.46, I think last time I bought them it was $3.99. An 8oz tub of Philadelphia spreadable cream cheese was $6.49. There wasn't much of choice between the two items, either. 12 ounce pack of thick-cut Hannaford bacon was $6.99. Didn't even look at the chocolate, I've got to lose weight. A sheriff's cruiser and a deputy were still parked right out front. Regular unleaded was down 10-cents from last week.
 
straightstreet

straightstreet

Life is better in flip flops
nomifyle said:
I had 4 four cup glass food containers in my amazon cart. The price literally doubled over night, needless to say I deleted that item. Found three four cup ones for an okay price. I'm switching from plastic to glass in my kitchen. I must say it a challenge to get rid of plastic.
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I placed an Amazon order 8 days ago with 4 items. One item I got the next day. The other 3 I checked to see if they had shipped and they hadn't even been processed or prepared to ship yet and had a new updated projected ship date of a week from now. I just canceled that part of the order altogether.
 
straightstreet

straightstreet

Life is better in flip flops
We did our monthly walmart shopping trip last Friday. As usual, there were several items on our list that were out of stock. But what stuck out to me were the many empty shelves in the food section and many items just pulled to the front of the shelves with nothing behind them. It reminded me of shopping at the height of the covid hysteria. I know stock never really went back to normal but this shopping trip was a little unnerving. This was in KY.
ETA: prices are still going up and up.
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
eens said:
I hit the jackpot yesterday!! I was at Stop & Shop (grocery store) and saw these huge roasts in the end cap meat case.
There were a few so I looked at them. Holy $#!t! $278.67 for one prime rib roast, $17.99 a pound. The butcher was there so I started talking to him. They were for Easter but apparently they bought too many (ya think?) and had a lot left over. I asked him who buys this big and expensive a roast. He said they do for a holiday, but not enough of them.

Well.... they were on sale for, get this, $6.99 a pound!! Since I can't resist a bargain (you can't even get ground beef for $6.99 a #) I bought 2, got 2 for my daughter and the friend I was with bought one.

The before sale total for 5 huge roasts was $1,215.41!!! We paid $472.25! Saved $743.16!!

My daughter went today and got 4 more. :jstr: She said she left 3.

I asked the butcher what they do with what's not sold, I wanted to make sure they don't throw them out, he said they donate it to soup kitchens, so that's good.

After having said all this, my husband is a beef farmer, we sell 'mostly grass fed' beef. LOL!!! We couldn't even raise it for this price.

I had to take a picture of our haul.
View attachment 469762
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Do you sell and ship your beef?
 
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Terrwyn

Veteran Member
I watched a very amusing video yesterday of a cute Asian Anerican girl on a rant over bideninflation. Her use of foul language was impressive to say the least. Anyway she was charged 7 bucks for 1 apple at whole foods.
I still chuckle when I think of it. FJB really needs these illegals to vote because he is losing the 20 somethings and the blacks.
 
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WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Terrwyn said:
I watched a very amusing video yesterday of a cute Asian Anerican girl on a rant over bideninflation. Her use of foul language was impressive to say the least. Anyway she was charged 7 bucks for 1 apple at whole foods.
I still chuckle when I think of it. FJB really needs these illegals to vote because he is losing the 20 somethings and the blacks.
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Haha! Yeah..I saw that one too. I think ZeroHedge, and it was so full of %$^&#@ I thought it was too blue to drop here.
Apples $4.00/lb. at Whole Paycheck? Don't buy them. Guess what? My local/regional plain ol' grocery store has Washington grown apples (Cosmic Crisp, Evercrisp and Ambrosia) for 97 cents/lb. this week. She was one clueless, silly (and foul-mouthed) "influencer" looking for attention. I guess she found it. :lol:

I'm doing a Walmart pickup this afternoon, and everything is in stock. Even on a Monday.
Yes, prices are going up, but given the state of the country and the world, I want to make sure that the shelf stable and canned goods that I used up over the winter get replaced now.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
WalknTrot said:
I'm doing a Walmart pickup this afternoon, and everything is in stock. Even on a Monday.
Yes, prices are going up, but given the state of the country and the world, I want to make sure that the shelf stable and canned goods that I used up over the winter get replaced now.
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I've been restocking my pantry, too, after going for a couple of months using out of it and not replacing as I went. Right now, I'm not too concerned with prices as long as I can get it home and back on my shelves. I have no idea what the prices will be in the near future, or if there will be anything to buy. Get it now.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
rlm said:
I was at Costco last week on Tuesday and nearly fell over when I saw the price for a 2-pack of olive oil was $54.99. Then I had to go back on Saturday, went down the same aisle, and the price had jumped to $57.99. Insanity.
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I've always bought the 2 pack at Sam's, but I've had such a good stock that I haven't bought any in quite a while. "Dang" on that price! Have to break a hundred dollar bill just to buy those 2 bottles.
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
+
Terrwyn said:
I watched a very amusing video yesterday of a cute Asian Anerican girl on a rant over bideninflation. Her use of foul language was impressive to say the least. Anyway she was charged 7 bucks for 1 apple at whole foods.
I still chuckle when I think of it. FJB really needs these illegals to vote because he is losing the 20 somethings and the blacks.
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I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone dumb enough to pay $7 for one apple. NONE. Whenever I run into prices (like olive oil) that are too high, I don't buy. There is almost always a substitute that will work. Will it be 100% what you want, no, but you'll adjust. Survival is the name of the game not having everything you want. That also includes financial survival. Instead of nearly $60 for two bottles of olive oil you could buy two (probably larger) bottles of another oil plus use the remaining $50 for other essentials. Aldi has 48 oz. bottles of canola, corn and vegetable oil for less than $3 each. They also have olive oil for a lower price than $60.
 
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bracketquant

Veteran Member
The boom and bust of eggs at the local WalMart.

From being sold out a week ago, they just stocked the open coolers with those 60 eggs/box monstrosities, over 100 boxes. Also, several dozen of the cello-wrapped 2-pack of 18/carton. For someone just looking for a dozen, checking the contents for broken ones, those people are simply out of luck. Right now, the cost comes out to about $2.50/dozen.

Some day I'll have to ask shoppers buying the bulk eggs, how many inside the tamper-proof packaging, do they find broken.

At another store, whole chickens, thighs, and drumsticks are holding steady at .99/lb, boneless skinless breasts on sale for $1.69/lb. They had increased their price on long white rice to .99/lb, on 20 and 50 pound bags, but it likely wan't selling. It's back down to .66/lb, like at other places. Rice is a huge seller, there, with several pallets (4' X 4' X 4 ' high) in the center aisle. I'll often see customers, mostly young Hispanic families, buying two 50 pound bags at a time. At 100 pounds, a .33/lb difference in price is huge, to them.
 
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bracketquant

Veteran Member
anna43 said:
+

I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone dumb enough to pay $7 for one apple. NONE. Whenever I run into prices (like olive oil) that are too high, I don't buy. There is almost always a substitute that will work. Will it be 100% what you want, no, but you'll adjust. Survival is the name of the game not having everything you want. That also includes financial survival. Instead of nearly $60 for two bottles of olive oil you could buy two (probably larger) bottles of another oil plus use the remaining $50 for other essentials. Aldi has 48 oz. bottles of canola, corn and vegetable oil for less than $3 each. They also have olive oil for a lower price than $60.
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I'll have to stop into the new local Aldi, soon. They've been open for a year, and I've only gone there twice. 48 ounces of various oils, here, are now at $3.99 or higher. It was $2.79 just over a year ago. Cooking oil is just steadily climbing in price.

In Egypt, where cooking oil had government subsidies in trying to keep the cost down, when the subsidies were lifted, they almost had riots.
 
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Taco Salad

Contributing Member
bracketquant said:
From being sold out a week ago, they just stocked the open coolers with those 60 eggs/box monstrosities, over 100 boxes. Also, several dozen of the cello-wrapped 2-pack of 18/carton. For someone just looking for a dozen, checking the contents for broken ones, those people are simply out of luck. Right now, the cost comes out to about $2.50/dozen.

Some day I'll have to ask shoppers buying the bulk eggs, how many inside the tamper-proof packaging, do they find broken.
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We got chickens last year but for several years before that we bought the 5 dozen boxes at Walmart or sometimes Sam's and while I wouldn't swear on a stack of bibles that we never got a broken egg out of a box I can't remember one.
 
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connie

Veteran Member
I read an eye opening study about the dangers of plastics and food in a journal about 15 years ago and got rid of all plastic containers. I do have some glass Rubbermaid in various sizes with plastic lids but the lids rarely touch food. They are heavier too but overall an easy transition to glass. I do use the occasional plastic bag especially in freezer. All you can do it your best.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
connie said:
I read an eye opening study about the dangers of plastics and food in a journal about 15 years ago and got rid of all plastic containers. I do have some glass Rubbermaid in various sizes with plastic lids but the lids rarely touch food. They are heavier too but overall an easy transition to glass. I do use the occasional plastic bag especially in freezer. All you can do it your best.
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ziploc bags are safe enough, no bpa and they are working on getting phithalates out of them.

I'm stocking up on ziplocs for hunting season. DH vacuum seals the ground meat in sealing bags but this year I'm going to put that meat in ziplocs first and that bag in the vacuum sealing bag.

I don't use seed oils either, just coconut oil and olive oil.

I got my order from amazon today with a big box of glass food storage containers. I'm tossing the plastic.

Not trying to live forever, just want to be healthy on my way.
 
B

bracketquant

Veteran Member
Taco Salad said:
We got chickens last year but for several years before that we bought the 5 dozen boxes at Walmart or sometimes Sam's and while I wouldn't swear on a stack of bibles that we never got a broken egg out of a box I can't remember one.
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Mucho thanks for the info.

If I checked 5 individual cartons of a dozen at once, I'd likely find a minimum of one broken egg every time. It looks like I'll now be buying the big white box. Most of the eggs that I eat are scrambled, so I actually can scramble a few dozen, and portion them into freezer zip bags, and freeze them for use at a later time.
 
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WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Just a "head's up" for some LTS, as this morning I was filling in some of my "wish list" of #10 cans.

For some reason, Emergency Essentials is having a sale on two items I was looking for - #10's of cornmeal and #10's of tomato powder. The tomato powder was $24.49 down from $37.99/can and the yellow cornmeal was $11.99, down from $17.99. I only ordered 3 of each, so made up a full case of cans, and shipping (to MN) was $12.99.

I did a quick look at the rest of their offering of #10's, and looks like almost half have substantial savings from list price. Yep - it's ALL expensive now, but this sale was unexpected. I wonder if activity has dropped off as people continue to struggle more and more. Claim no affiliation. Just call me a cheap-azz. ;)

Link:
www.beprepared.com

Emergency Essentials® Yellow Cornmeal Large Can

Emergency Essentials Yellow Cornmeal is a useful addition to your emergency food storage. Packaged for long-term storage, so you can use it now or years from now.
www.beprepared.com www.beprepared.com
 
Signwatcher

Signwatcher

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Hadn't been to the grocery store in a couple weeks. Had to go today.

The prices at Kroger are up again... anywhere from fifty cents to a dollar or more.

I spent just under $300, but saved $56.33. DH eats a lot of meat and cheese. I try to get the bulk of it on sale, but I am wondering if stores are upping their game of increasing prices and then putting the items on "sale," so people that aren't paying attention don't realize how much they are being robbed.

Gotta watch the stores...I have to go back and see why I didn't get my $ savings on a couple of items. Those dirty dogs.
 
Reasonable Rascal

Reasonable Rascal

Veteran Member
Aldi's on Floyd Blvd in Sioux City is showing increasing holes and fill-in. They are resorting to putting regular products in holes where they usually have specials and seasonal items. I also noted that that particular location still does not have ghee, though we have seen it returning to shelves in other locations.

One thing that was not in short supply so much so that they were practically giving it away is the Weinachten Gluhwein (literally: Christmas mulled wine) which they were blowing out at $0.60/bottle. Umm, that would be 90% off. No Apfel punch though, or cherry. Wife told me to buy at least 10 bottles, so I did. Now I have enough to last me until December at current rate of consumption, with a couple left over.

RR
 
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