Food cost

[Independent Voter]

Dave , Just curious , has the price of the items you get from the local farmers markets gone up like the price in regular stores ?.

[Flaco]

i buy from mennonite and amish, yes prices are up.

[Honda]

Grocery prices have risen exponentially. It's terrible.

[Phillbo]

Fuel cost.... I am friends with a couple twin brothers that own a restaurant / bar in our hood and they tell me chicken wings cost to them has gone up 40%...,

[Honda]

Yes restaurants have gone through the roof. I've got a little joint that I go to that makes a really good chef salad for lunch. The price was $8.99 and they have not updated their menu. When I got my bill it was 12.99 still a damn good salad!

[Truckman]

I've all but stopped eating out unless I have a coupon, and know up front what the cost is...Groceries are insane right now......Ben

[Phillbo]

I still tip my favorite server Ally $12.00....

[Independent Voter]

I was just curious . Our grocery bill averaged 95 - 105 per week. We usually [boring I know ] eat about the same meals each week . Now the bill runs between 120 and 130 per week.

[Honda]

I always try to listen to the press conference given by the president's spokesperson everyday before I go to get groceries, gas, pick up food, well just about anything. Once I listen to it I realize that it's just me and that everything is great.

[Dave Grubb]

Our costs have gone up more at the grocery store (also Mennonite owned) than at my more home centic Mennonite and Amish sources. That makes sense since they don't have the same transportation costs added to the base price.

Our total cost runs now about $150 a week. I do my meal planning around the weekly sale brochure and don't buy any meat poultry or fish not on sale. I also look for "managers specials".

My shopping lists for each source are on my phone and I don't buy anything not on my list unless it is a super deal. I could cut costs if I did not use only fresh vegetables. Also, I will only buy wild caught fish which adds costs.

Trying to factor out the influence of seasonal availability I would guess we are up about $15/wk or a little over 10%.

[UTAH]

The majority of our members appear to be Middle Class. And when that economic Class feels the impact of inflation, that means our poorest Americans increasingly struggle to feed their families.

Hunter

[Honda]

You bet they are. And many of them are Hispanics. I don't think the Democrats understand how smart they are.

[Dave Grubb]

A little more on food costs.

My main grocery store is a small (5 stores) local Mennonite owned chain. Their quality is well above the mega chain stores and they are price competitive with them.

Regarding Amish and Mennonite sources---they are in the business of making money---not saving you money. Most of them know exactly what the "english" stores are charging and use that as a guide to their own pricing. Many Amish and Mennonite merchants would make a Jewish merchant stand up and look!

The true value to me is that I know it is fresh (but still look) and I am looking at the people that are responsible for it being there.

[Truckman]

I pay for all items sourced from grocery stores with my AMEX card because they pay me 3% to do so, except for the three months in the year when Discover pays me 5%...When Sam's Club kicked me out of their membership rolls several years ago because I refused to submit to their stop-and-search demands just to exit the building, I started looking around at other sources, and found better and more variety at lower or equal prices from several local sources...I settled on HEB for almost everything grocery related because of high quality standards at the lowest prices...

I recently compared my AMEX and Discover bills from this year to the same period last year and found I'm paying approximately twice as much now without buying anything extra...I've forced myself to cut other expenses to offset the increased spending......Ben

[Honda]

I pay for all items sourced from grocery stores with my AMEX card because they pay me 3% to do so, except for the three months in the year when Discover pays me 5%...When Sam's Club kicked me out of their membership rolls several years ago because I refused to submit to their stop-and-search demands just to exit the building, I started looking around at other sources, and found better and more variety at lower or equal prices from several local sources...I settled on HEB for almost everything grocery related because of high quality standards at the lowest prices...

I recently compared my AMEX and Discover bills from this year to the same period last year and found I'm paying approximately twice as much now without buying anything extra...I've forced myself to cut other expenses to offset the increased spending......Ben

I think the increase in the cost of groceries and household items that Ben is experiencing is much more typical of what the majority of Americans are experiencing. It's certainly far beyond 10%.