Good gawd almighty! Pardon me but I'm really angry.

[Paper Roses]

We have another big storm coming tonight and tomorrow. Since I am alone, I don't tend to grocery shop as often as I used to. Thought it would be a good idea to go yesterday AM, before the milk and bread crowd.

I have never seen such price increases as I have since my last visit. I didn't need much but was amazed at the prices on what I bought. Coffee $12.99 for Folger's 32 oz can? What? Dumb celery 1.69?, butter$2.99, all through the store, it was the same. I don't buy junk food or things like cookies so I can't comment on that.

The only thing that was reasonable was the sale price on boneless chicken at $1.99 in large packages. Today I will split that up and freeze it.

I would like to challenge those who say there is no inflation. Come to my house with me once every 2 weeks. We'll write down everything I buy and see where it is on the next visit.

How in the world are middle class families with children supposed to feed them or themselves, for that matter. I don't even know about clothes prices as I am a thrift shop shopper. As long as it fits, is washable and in good condition, I don't care. Added bonus is that if the jeans or whatever were going to shrink, they already have during someone else's washings.

Heating fuel yesterday? $3.42 a gallon. I have requested that my dealer stop automatic delivery and deliver only 100 gallons upon my phone call. This way, my delivery will be for just the 100 gallons and not the full tank which would be $1000.00. Like so many others, this is getting so difficult. I was fortunate all my life that we, as a family were able to pay our bills and have a little left over. Now that I am alone and on SS, the little check does not go far.
Next week, house taxes. Never mind the fact that your house is now worth far less, the taxes have gone up. Even if there was someone to blame, I doubt there is a way in the world to correct this gawd awful situation.

This rant was supposed to be about food but I got a little sidetracked with thoughts of other necessities.
Phooey.

[Inchworm]

1. I feel ya Paper Roses!

I've noticed increases BAD over last few months.

I'm gonna get some new girlfriends.. err.. some chickens in a month or two to adjust costs. When it gets to the point I can't afford food I can at least have egg fried rice :)

I won't even discuss my "heat" situation. .. .3 months to go...

:hug:

[tigereye]

2. I think there are mild increases in the prices of necessities

but I agree that some foods are now incredibly expensive. The price of fish is outrageous compared to a year or 2 ago, as well as the price of hand cream and other products using whatever component creams are based on - prices in general.

Here we have a homesteading exemption that leads to value reduction (never quite figured out why this is the case) on our property taxes and that helps somewhat. I can see that seniors or others on fixed incomes would have difficulty with the changes in property tax rates.

[trud]

3. yes

And my property taxes have gone through the roof. I appealed last week and should hear this week if it did any good. I make $2000 too much a year to qualify for the low income reduction.

No more coffee drinking in this house, and I feel better for it, once I got adjusted. The fact that it took a few weeks to do that says to me that caffeine is an addiction.

Vegetarian, so no costly meat or poultry or fish.

A few months ago I stopped buying anything optional, and I don't miss it. Okay, I pay 50 cents for used paperbacks at the library, but I could even skip that. I do it because when I was in the hospital they had almost no books, so I accumulate used books I like myself and when I have a grocery bag full I take them there and fill in their shelves. Thinking ahead I'd put in a smiley here, but it doesn't show up.

Veggie garden, this year I learn to dehydrate and can.

[japple]

12. Have you been over to the DU Gardening forum? There are

a lot of experienced vegetable growers who will be happy to share their experiences. As far as canning goes, there are some folks here on this forum who have trove of knowledge to share with you! BTW, welcome to this place! :hi:

[trud]

13. thanks, japple

No, I haven't been there. I will visit as soon as I finish shoveling snow :-(

The regular snow I can handle. It's the giant piles of ice and snow the town snow plow leaves across my driveway that look like Everest about now.

[grasswire]

4. I'm seeing big price increases in food too

Many many items that were $1.19 or $.99 or so before the new year are now $1.59, $1.39, $1.79. Frozen vegetables (which have shrunk from 16 oz to 12 oz) are an example.

Of course it is still possible to shop the weekly sales. But hard, still, for someone living solo.

Doubling up seems to be the way to solve the housing and heating costs. Remember in the old days when people would take in boarders? That can solve the problem for a lot of those who still own a house with rising costs.

PR, I hope this next storm passes on without too much trouble for you. I hope you have good neighbors. I'll be sending good vibes.

[Denninmi]

5. You certainly don't need to apologize.

I agree that the middle class is being "squeezed" very hard, and I can only begin to imagine how hard it would be for someone on a small fixed income or someone making low wages with no benefits.

I am a paralegal for an attorney in private practice. I make the same base pay I did 2 1/2 years ago when I started with him, after a career change. He doesn't offer any health insurance, so I pay my own BCBS of Michigan. Even so, I frankly feel very lucky, in this state, and especially in the Detroit area, just to have a job, when I've seen so many people lose jobs, homes, and hope. I have "intangible" benefits -- I really like my boss, he's a really great guy to work for, the schedule is regular with enough flexibility, my co-worker is a sweet young lady with a husband and young child, so it's nice in that respect.

At least I saw the writing on the wall. I previously worked as the manager of a flower shop. I knew THAT was going down the toilet with the economy. Where I was, I saw business drop about 1/3 in 2006 due to the closing of one Ford plant a few miles away. So, I knew it wouldn't be pretty.

I'm actually lucky even though I'm the low wage earner in a relatively high income household. I can always rely on the fallback position of getting others to subsidize things I can't afford, or at least front me the money if need be. Not many people have that safety net. Our government, or at least the radical right, would like to make sure that none of us, except the uberwealthy, have a safety net.

I certainly have noticed big price spikes in groceries. I keep it pretty simple, because in my household we pretty much cook from scratch on most items, don't buy a lot of pricey things, use the basics, don't go out to eat, and grow a lot of our own food. But, that's not easy for many people, either. The other thing that helps me is that the suburban area where I live has a lot of competition in the grocery business, so it's possible on a Saturday morning or even on my lunch hour to hit a number of stores and pick up just the best specials and bargains. I also watch for clearance items if applicable.

Really, the only things I can suggest are what I said above -- cook from scratch, use staples, avoid the expensive things except for a rare treat once in a while, shop the sales, pick up bulk and clearance items if possible, grow your own food if you can.

[Tesha]

6. The "What passes for News" had a story...

this morning - well, not really anything more than the price index is going up

for commodities and oil

of course there are very few reasons for that, except someone wants more money.

[Warpy]

7. Usually the ones who say there is no inflation are males

who push the grocery shopping off on the wife and don't notice that the credit card debt keeps expanding even though they're not making any large purchases.

The Teabaggers have every reason in the world to be angry. I'm angry, too. The problem is that there are a handful of billionaires hiding behind pious sounding organizations with platoons of admen pointing at all the wrong people to blame and the teabaggers are just stupid enough to buy it.

I'm not back to living on beans and rice yet, but I can see it coming. And soon.

[Denninmi]

8. Well, we're not all ignorant.

I've been a guy since, well, before birth! Really.

And, I shop, and cook, and clean. And, I know what a gallon of milk costs, a pound of butter (yikes, Land O'Lakes was $4.19 a LB the other day at Kroger!), and a package of TP.

I also think it's a crock that "inflation" doesn't include either food or fuel in the "official" indicator. As if neither of these thing are of significance to average people.

One of the ironies of America, though, is that affluence has resulted in a lot of health problems for our society. Rice and beans are MUCH healthier than a diet based on hydrogenated oils, red meats high in saturated fats, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, artificial flavors, and highly refined white flour. Cheaper, too.

[Warpy]

11. You're right about not including food or fuel

because that's how they've hidden inflation and avoided raising Social Security for so long. Two years ago I saw a estimate of 40% as the amount of inflation that had been hidden in order to keep robbing social security overpayments and stiff retirees.

I also expected knees jerking from men who do shop and cook but of course I specified a certain type of male as denying inflation, not all males.

There has been a class war against 95% of the American people since liberals went out of power in 1969. It is ongoing, thanks to the Goldman Sachs economic team of the present administration plus all the conservative dead wood in Congress, all resisting the idea that demand side economics are the only thing that will save this country after 30+ years of supply side idiocy dictating depressed wages, vanishing services, crumbling infrastructure, and now offshored manufacturing.

I have no idea what it will take to turn things around. I do know it's not going to happen over the next 2 years thanks to the turnover in the House and the stinking, reeking cowardice in the Senate.

[mike_c]

9. warpy, warpy, warpy....

:popcorn:

[hippywife]

10. I'm hearing you!

I've really started cutting back on grocery store purchases and extending the things I do make as far as I can.

I still buy my meat from our local coop and while it started out more costly, I'm just not seeing the increases that are mounting in the store. I buy coffee through the coop, too, and pay $10/lb for whole, freshly roasted organic beans, and it's really lovely coffee. The Folgers stuff smells and tastes like crap in comparison. Literally! When Bill used to make Folgers coffee it smelled like a really dirty cat box. Yuck!

We ran out of propane a week or so ago and had to have our 250 gallon tank filled. Since he was nice enough to come out, off route, on the coldest night we've had so far, since it was an emergency and late, I wasn't going to have him just put in 100 gallons, but it was tempting.

I too wonder how folks with lower income than ours, and we don't make much, and a family to feed make it these days. It's really very vexing. The best we can do is try to watch out for and help those around us when we can, and that's not too often.

Hope the storm isn't as severe as predicted and you make it through okay. :hi:

[Beacool]

14. Yes, food has been going up progressively since last year.

I read that fuel and food are 2 of the things that were going to go up substantially in 2011.

I hope that you manage to keep the belly full and the house warm. These are tough times indeed.

Off topic, some storm we had last night (I'm in NJ). I'm home, all my immediate coworkers couldn't get to work. NJ Transit suspended buses all morning. This is one crazy winter!!!

:hi:

[Vinca]

15. Everything is going sky high. I'd love to buy more fresh fish,

but all I can do is wave as I pass the display. Who can afford scallops at $13 a pound? Our electric bill has gone through the roof along with the fuel bill. Two weeks ago I had a medical crisis and went to the ER for the first time in 40 years. Uninsured. Got the bill and it shakes out to $1,000 a hour. I don't know how we manage to keep the bills paid. It's a good thing we never had big "retirement" dreams because it's not going to happen.

[Lucinda]

16. We live in a tourist town and that happens to us a LOT

Prices are always boosted pre-weekend around here. And seasonally as well. It's VERY frustrating.