Food prices

[BeTheGoddess]

The Russia Ukraine conflict drove prices through the roof. All by design of course.

No, it didnt.

[BeTheGoddess]

We have these stupid things called emu's, and they are pretty tastey, and they consume less water that pretty much every other eadbal bird, thew are the big weird chickens of the post apaclypse.

Then there is selling no-meat  emugoods, the leather is nice.

Its worth having a alook if you have the space for them.

[quintessentone]

Walmart pushed to its breaking point with the new financial reality from Trump's tariffs.

[Chiefsmom]

Sorry, this has been going on long before the tariffs.  Nice try though.

We buy at least half a steer every year, so that is about 175  a month.  Then for storebought goods another 300 a month.

As others have said, making big batches and storing the rest can go a long way.  I freeze a lot for lunches for myself.  (Hubby has no way to reheat stuff) I also keep things like boiled eggs on hand.  Easy to eat!
 People don't seem to want to eat leftovers anymore.  I just made goulash and ate that for 3 days!  (It does NOT freeze!)   It was rough, but I wasn't going to waste it!
If you spend a little extra on a larger roast, you can do a lot with it.  Make the roast meal.  Then sandwiches.  Beef and noodles.
Homemade pot pie.

Also, and it sounds crazy, but eat raw veggies with a boiled egg in the morning.  You will feel fuller.  It helps me not snack all day.  (which saves money.)

I realize I am lucky to have the space for a big garden and chickens.

I'm going to go re-look at the receipts.  I have been keeping a few for a couple years, just to see the main items we always buy.

[quintessentone]

Sorry, this has been going on long before the tariffs.  Nice try though.

We buy at least half a steer every year, so that is about 175  a month.  Then for storebought goods another 300 a month.

As others have said, making big batches and storing the rest can go a long way.  I freeze a lot for lunches for myself.  (Hubby has no way to reheat stuff) I also keep things like boiled eggs on hand.  Easy to eat!
 People don't seem to want to eat leftovers anymore.  I just made goulash and ate that for 3 days!  (It does NOT freeze!)   It was rough, but I wasn't going to waste it!
If you spend a little extra on a larger roast, you can do a lot with it.  Make the roast meal.  Then sandwiches.  Beef and noodles.
Homemade pot pie.

Also, and it sounds crazy, but eat raw veggies with a boiled egg in the morning.  You will feel fuller.  It helps me not snack all day.  (which saves money.)

I realize I am lucky to have the space for a big garden and chickens.

I'm going to go re-look at the receipts.  I have been keeping a few for a couple years, just to see the main items we always buy.

Pushing Walmart to not be able to offer affordable prices now has not been going on before tariffs. 

Your government is pushing people to poverty or an alternate lifestyle where everyone will need to plant your own food and farm chickens. What about apartment dwellers or those without land?

But look over here, not over there.

[sahgwa]

How does someone feed a family of 3 or 4 nowadays - My wife usally does the food shopping I decided to looks at some things I wanted and wow it's almost cheaper to go out to eat then buy the ingerdients I never really noticed it but I just made a batch of salsa and added up the cost it's just about the same as store bought "But way better". Me and my tiny Wife just us two cost $150 a week just for basics nothing exstavagant per week now, Just can't believe how much stuff cost now.

Greed indeed.
We only try to get organic/non GMO and if possible, local. and just for us 2 and a cat we are at like $250 a week average. very ridiculous.  It's often close to $300. And the smallest is like $190 or $200.......
This one supermarket had no rolls. No crusty rolls of any kind, in their bakery. Actually both supermarkets were out. So I had to buy prepackaged rolls and it was fricking $10 for 4 rolls. . . .

[UltraBudgie]

I'm going to go re-look at the receipts.  I have been keeping a few for a couple years, just to see the main items we always buy.

Here is a conspiracy: have you noticed that receipts are often printed on a type of paper where the ink fades after about six months? I wonder if that's to prevent exactly what you're proposing: comparing food prices over the years.

I noticed the price of wheat go way up when the war in Ukraine started, back in 2020 or so. But food prices in general started going up with the pandemic, as I saw. They rarely trend down. Things like eggs will oscillate but then settle back slightly higher than before. I think I last paid $14 for 2 dozen organic grade A—not the extra-large variety, those don't peel well when hard-boiled for some reason.

I usually keep my receipt on the counter for a week or so until I'm sure there's not anything to return, then toss it. Why live in the past? What am I going to do about it, anyway?

[sahgwa]

Price gouging and ramped up profiteering began with global lockdown and the suppliers, retailers and various food industries all have the obliging press telling us how this conflict and that rising temperature are why the price of a cheap loaf of bread has to rise in lockstep at 18%. 

Other basics, half-gallon of milk up 65% over five years. In the last year, cocoa up 50% and coffee up 30%. 

Breakfast cereals (processed crap) up 100% since summer 2020. Dairy, all up, funnily enough, not be the same 65% margin as milk. 

And don't even get me started on the price of olive oil and co-commitant increase in other, more affordable oils. Following Israel's strategic and deliberate bulldozing of ancient olive groves across Palestine, expect to see retail cost of olive oil further increase.

Apparently, weather related negative impact on wheat harvests (cannot remember the details), actual  shortage of flour on UK supermarket shelves. Cannot prove a negative but I think there be some stockpiling going on.

Should any of us trust the veracity of anything those with the most to gain have to say on the whys of price increases when there is very little evidence to support local shortages?

Olive oil really is insane now.  And for comparison, we were in Portugal, an olive oil producing country, and because of EU/globalist policies, regardless of Portuguese wage, the olive oil there was about 15 to 20 euros a bottle for the liter, which is basically the same as here in a Western US state. Totally nuts.

[Maxmars]

But.... How wrong am I?

Tarriffs are implemented.... (for whatever reason)
Masters of Commerce... 
"We're NOT paying that...."

Consumers suffer.... 

That's how this works, right?

Consumers... cannot say....

"Since ALL prices are being 'adjusted' upwards... you have to 
provide VALUE for the increased cost."

Consumers cannot demand anything....
Tariffs round out to be a bullshit remedy....
It's a gift for the BANK.

Consumers are a captive victim audience.
Just like the money hoarders designed as their take on "capitalism."

[sahgwa]

I vacuum pack a lot of stuff and cook things like curry or pasta sauces for the week, prep time can be an issue with cooking from scratch but bulk cooking can save lots of time in the long run and you can never underestimate the time saved by things like a cheap food processor, blenders or juicers.

A big issue I see these days is the fact you need money to save money, too many people have slipped into the "hand to mouth" phenomena, space can be an issue too when it comes to storage. Generally a small fortune can be saved buying in bulk and dividing it though.  I've started doing that with spices too, compared to those spice rack jars I'm saving 80% plus by getting 1kg of paprika, salt & pepper or garam masala etc.

It's that initial investment to get the ball rolling that a lot of people struggle with, decent tools save most of my time as I'd struggle doing any of this if I was prepping everything by hand. Instead it's usually 5-15 mins prep + cooking time for on average 10 portions of whatever I'm cooking. The quality is night and day as you'll know yourself which is quite important, people are paying over the odds for convenience now and it doesn't just hit the wallet.

I know too many people claiming poverty whilst they eat frozen meals or takeaways every night, it costs more usually, in terms of health and finances. That said, being prepped can be a bit of an addiction in itself. If someone made a thread about "cheap ass food that doesn't taste like ass" I'd happily contribute bits and pieces I've learnt over the years, always figured I'd be preaching to the choir round these parts since a lot of what I've learned is from here and there (ATS) since our community has a lot of forward thinking fellows.

Yeah, for sure about the frozen stuff. Besides meat, the priciest thing in general is frozen lunches : about $6 per