Grocery prices

**Richard230** · 04-16-20

I tend to nickel and dime my grocery expenses in order to save up for the next motorcycle to add to my collection. So I am very attuned to grocery prices and sales. As an example, I bought a nice supply of TP last year when it was selling for 25 cents a roll, paper towels were 50 cents a roll and tissues were $1 for a box of 250. I have been buying apples for 80 cents a pound and oranges for 50 cents a pound, along with 24 ounces of bread for $1.59 a package (when I decide not to bake my own bread), eggs for 99 cents a dozen, etc.

But ever since the virus hit and panic buying started, it was not surprise to me that prices for groceries and sundries started shooting up, sometimes as much as 50% in just a week. When that happened I really started to cut back on my trips to the local grocery stores, especially when I started seeing long lines of customers waiting to get in due the social distancing requirements. But what concerns me is that most people seem to be buying just about anything without even looking at the shelf price - which many times doesn't match up with the price you pay at the register anyway, as the staff is reloading the shelves without updating the prices nearly as fast as the people programming the store's computer.

Considering how people are going to be financially hurting this summer when their savings and the stimulus money starts running out, I really feel sorry for people who are going to have a tough time just affording food, especially as the stuff that goes a long way, such as rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, flour, etc. are being bought out as fast as they hit the shelves. Until people start to go back to work again and the economy starts inching upward, I foresee a really tough summer for many people. Already, nonprofit food pantries are being mopped, which is really tough for them as many of their volunteers are being kept away due to social distancing regulations and a reduction in donations due to the drop in the economy.

I am reminded of my grandfather, who worked in Oakland, CA, during the Great Depression and walked to work as he couldn't afford a car. He told me that he carried a pistol with him in case someone tried to rob him. He said that so many people were desperate to feed their families that they would rob and steal if they could, which was something that they would never have thought of doing before the depression. I really hope that things don't get that bad, but I guess it could happen.

**WildWilly** · 04-16-20

I was just emailing a friend about this very topic. I grocery shop every 2 weeks and always spend close to $100.00 + or -
My last trip was $158.00 and I noticed everything I bought was up. A couple of meat packing plants in my area closed and the cost of a strip steak was up $1.00 a pound. If this continues much longer, as you said, things are gonna get ugly. I hope I'm wrong.

**scf** · 04-16-20

This must be one reason the Trump administration says gun stores are “essential” the same as pharmacies and grocery stores.

**steve n rose** · 04-17-20

Geez, I'd better start being careful during my walk to work.

**WildWilly** · 04-17-20

Originally Posted by scf

This must be one reason the Trump administration says gun stores are “essential” the same as pharmacies and grocery stores.

Douchald has to appease his followers.

**Richard230** · 04-17-20

Grocery shopping continues to be strange around here. I usually will shop at my closest Sprouts grocery store, located in an adjacent city about 10 miles away as they typically have a good selection of fruit, vegetables and bulk foods (which they are no longer selling due to the virus scare, for some reason). So I rode my Royal Enfield to the store yesterday as Thursdays at around 10:30 am has always been one of their least crowded times and days. At I entered the large parking lot that serves that store, plus about 10 others, I was surprised to see a long line of people standing around in the lot. I soon became aware that about 200 people were standing in line to enter the grocery store. It didn't take long for me to decide to turn around and give up on that shopping idea - I'll just go back to eating canned fruit and vegetables. On the way home I passed a Target store and cars were lined up for a block waiting to get into their large parking lot, to the extent that the cops had placed traffic cones in the adjacent street to accommodate the waiting traffic. I don't even want to think about what Costco stores must still like to shop at. What in the world is going on? Stores are no longer printing and distributing sale papers and offering coupons anymore, so there doesn't seem to be much reason to spend most of your day waiting to get into a grocery store to get your wallet vacuumed out. I really don't get it.

On the way back home I decided to stop off at the Grocery Outlet (Bargain Market) store located 4 miles from my home. No lines there and no crowding. Just a limited selection of items, lower quality and prices, and still no paper products. But good enough for me. As I passed by the Safeway store across the street, there was a lineup there too, maybe about 30 customers waiting to get in.

All I can say is that I am happy that I only have to shop for myself and not for an entire family. Grocery shopping seems to becoming a real nightmare if you follow the herd.

**oxytotl** · 04-18-20

Sounds a real nightmare Richard, I'm lucky as my dear wife orders online when a slot is available and my good neighbours get us top-ups and prescription drugs. I've always been a person who sees a bargain and gets 2 or 3 - just in case I might need them one day, if you wait long enough that day always comes round to use them. There were enough signs in January that this pandemic could be big if things went wrong so we loaded up the freezer(s) with food (no guns or ammo), just in case, we already had a very large stock of wine bought in France on one of my many trips. Nothing will be wasted.
Good luck with your shopping and your social distancing.

**WildWilly** · 04-18-20

My local grocery store has an old fogey hour, 7 to 8am, for people 60 and up. They post someone at the door and turn away the youngsters. I shop on Sunday morning, every other week, and have the store to myself.

**Richard230** · 04-21-20

I just received a Safeway sale flyer for the first time this month. It typically is delivered by mail every Tuesday. Instead of 8 or 10 pages, this ad only has 4 pages and nothing is on sale. No coupons, no discounts and no Friday sale prices. So apparently, they don't need to attract customers to their stores anymore. The weekly Spouts ad consisted of only two pages and there was no Target sale paper this week, either. I guess when you have hundreds of customers lined up outside your store waiting to get in to load up their shopping carts, there is no longer any need for a sales, discounts, or coupons. I continue to wonder how much longer people that have lost their jobs can continue to afford to buy food? Maybe the state and local government handouts are helping. But eventually those are going to dry up and then what?

**WildWilly** · 04-22-20

Several meat packing plants in my area shut down and it was the lead story on the local news. Guess what's in short supply?

**Richard230** · 04-22-20

Originally Posted by WildWilly

Several meat packing plants in my area shut down and it was the lead story on the local news. Guess what's in short supply?

And guess what will be going up in price soon - with empty shelves and long lines waiting for another supply to arrive. All this is starting to remind me of the stories we used to see of the people waiting in line for everything in the old USSR.

**Trenton** · 04-22-20

A taste of socialism?

**hammerwoman** · 04-22-20

Whatever’s in the grocery stores, it’s pretty certain that a sizable chunk of the population is going to be in a food-insecurity position soon, if they aren’t already (funny, when it’s me, I call it “going hungry”). I work with a community garden that supplies literally tons of food to a local food bank, one that only asks how many you are feeding, and doesn’t require you to justify your presence or even tell your name. I’m proud of that.

Normally, we supply lots of greens, and beans, summer squash, stuff like that. This year, we’re scrambling for more space to put into white potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, onions. I’m doing the same for my extended family, while laying in flour, cooking oil, rice, beans while I can still afford them... at 65, neither nursing nor massage (I have licenses for both) are looking real good right now, and baby’s gonna need new shoes later this season... if my local dealer (Eurosport Asheville) ever opens again to sell them to me.

**WildWilly** · 04-23-20

"If" grocery stores start running out of food, it's gonna get real ugly real fast. People will be eating toilet paper and, the very definition of socialism, stimulus checks.

**Richard230** · 04-23-20

I heard a news report last night that farmers in Washington state are plowing a million (or was it a billion?) pounds of potatoes into the ground and many will be going out of business due not being able to pay their debts. I think I heard that the reason for that is because there was no one available to harvest them. It is strange that a lot of farmers will likely be going out of business this year, while so many people seem to be "food insecure" and really want to purchase their products.

**WildWilly** · 04-23-20

,

**WildWilly** · 04-26-20

My bi-weely grocery shopping trip was a mixed bag. 1/2'the employees were wearing masks, 1/2 were not. At the 7 am old fogey hour I had the store to myself. They had the good stuff, Charmin, and lots of it. Ribeye steaks were $17.98 per pound. Told the guy behind the counter that I usually got dinner and a movie before I let someone do that to me. Had a pork processing plant shut down in the area. They employ 2800 people and supply 5% of the nation's pork. Look for a price hike. In and out in 35 minutes and got everything on my list. Won't have to do that again for 2 weeks. WOOHOO

**Lag** · 04-26-20

Our little Safeway store in our neighborhood has what a I refer to as a very civilized shopping experience,,. It took them a few days however they moved fairly quickly to put safety controls in place and currently have everything on the shelves in good supply, not a lot of sale items and meat prices are definitely on the higher end however I'm not quibbling over prices and reckon I'm saving significantly on bar and restaurant meals which all remain essentially closed,,. I think the grocers have done a fairly responsible job of maintaining a fair & responsible service in these trying times especially when you look at what some of these medical suppliers have done,,.
I wonder where the US Attorney General is doing with his commitment to deal harshly with price gougers, with some charging 5 and 10 times more for ventilators and hospital PPE while the individual states compete for supply,,.

**WildWilly** · 04-27-20

Another pork producing plant closed in the area. Stock up on ribs . . . .

**notacop** · 05-04-20

Costco was a joke a few weeks ago, the markets were being raided too. Then comes the reduced number of any item you could buy. So rationing is a good thing and keeps the hoarders from doing so.
Still not a lot of flour and dried beans on the shelf. The Campbells' soup rack has been raided too. I don't bake bread, only cookies, so the bread shelf is full.
I shop the 99 cents only first because they have a good selection of produce, eggs are cheaper as are most other items I want. They have all 4 colors of Cauliflower for a buck a piece where the Vons is 2-3 times that much. Same with bell peppers. I've stocked up on meats over a period of time so the freezer is full. Costco supplies seem to be stable now so getting what I want and need is easier. Oh, and the old fart special time is from 9-10 am.
Basically the average American is a non thinker and this stay at home has messed with it's tiny brain. Look at what is presented on telly and it speaks volumes to the intelligence level. All these people clamoring for the sports to start again so they can go cheer on over paid pseudo athletes in great throngs not caring that they could meet someone who isn't well and be dead in a few weeks.
Well, when they are all properly paid for stupidity housing will be available, jobs will too and and social security will be in the black again. Think ahead to the happy days!

**Richard230** · 05-05-20

Here we go again. The news this morning is reporting that meat is becoming scarce and shoppers are rushing to clean out the store meat locker shelves because slaughter houses in the mid-west are closing due to COVID-19 virus infections. Prices are doubling, purchases are being limited and people are trading stockpiled TP for meat. So far my local grocery store is cleaned out of bottled water, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning and sanitation supplies, baking supplies, rice, eggs, Spam and now real meat, like bacon and ribs. What will be next? Canned beans? Fortunately, I still have a supply of military MRE meals and powdered eggs left over from the year 2000 panic.

**Richard230** · 05-06-20

I saw my first roll of TP today during a trip to the local Walgreens pharmacy. They had six rolls on the shelf, each roll individually wrapped and selling for $1.98 a roll. The last time I bought TP was a couple of months ago, before the became worth twice as much as the U.S. dollar, at that time a 4-roll package was selling for $1.98. There was not a single type of disinfectant in the entire store and the "complete" pancake mix that I wanted, which was advertised in their weekly sale paper, was nowhere to be found, either.

**WildWilly** · 05-10-20

Grocery shopping this morning = No Beef No Chicken. And customers were limited to 4 fresh meat items. Coming to a supermarket near you . . . .

**emlevy** · 05-11-20

I live in a community of 10,000 people. We have two national-chain grocery stores and a Walmart. I’ve not seen any lines of people or stock outages, though meat is limited to 4/trip and there’s no Clorox or Lysol to be found. I guess all the MAGA’s bought it for their Kool-Aid.

**WildWilly** · 05-12-20

Local restaurant raised the price of a hamburger 50%.

**Richard230** · 05-12-20

Originally Posted by WildWilly

Local restaurant raised the price of a hamburger 50%.

Ouch!

I tried placing an order for baking goods with King Arthur this morning and was told that they didn't have any of the products that I wanted and would not be accepting anything that was on back-order.

I then headed for my local Grocery Outlet this morning to buy my $20 worth of weekly groceries and was amazed to find that they had Krusteaz "Professional" instant pancake mix. Now I know how restaurants make their pancakes. They just add water.

The store even had many sacks of rice, both large and small. I guess I got there just at the right time and beat the rush to clean out the shelves.

**WildWilly** · 05-13-20

Due to increased beef prices, McDonalds announces the McPickle

**Lag** · 05-13-20

So far still pretty civilized shopping experience where I live, for lines and prices,,. Hope what you guys are reporting does not become contagious,,. Ive stopped looking at prices and shopping for bargains as I reckon I'm saving a fist full on restaurants and bars,. Don't really miss the $8.00 beers in the noise packed bars either,,.

One thing I realized the other day is I still carry the same 45 bucks in my wallet that I had 3 months ago,,. Who would have believed that paper money would be rendered so useless so quickly!!

**WildWilly** · 05-16-20

Same here on paper money. I haven't used any because I don't want any change back. One greatest spreader of germs is paper currency.

**WildWilly** · 05-17-20

,

**WildWilly** · 05-21-20

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**WildWilly** · 05-22-20

My first take out meal since this Democratic hoax started. Skinny's BBQ in Muscatine, Iowa. Full rack of ribs, hot from the smoker, home made slaw and tangy sauce = $26.00 & worth every penny. Ribs are fall off the bone good, juicy, thick and tender. Washed down with a cold Spotted Cow (Wisconsin Tea).

**WildWilly** · 05-23-20

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**WildWilly** · 05-24-20

,

**WildWilly** · 05-24-20

2 weeks of vittles for $187.00. They had plenty of high priced beef to sell. Go figure.

**WildWilly** · 05-24-20

Thank goodness

**Richard230** · 05-24-20

I can still do a week's worth of grocery shopping at the Grocery Outlet (Bargain Market) for under a total of $25. But I still haven't seen any toilet paper on their shelves. The store typically sells what the big chains don't want. No gate guard at the store entry either to keep overcrowding in check.

**WildWilly** · 05-24-20

Under $25.00 for a weeks worth of groceries? My pet turtle eats more than that. With 21 meals in w week, that's about $1.20 per meal, without snacks. Add in non food staples and you're under a buck a meal. Do you have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale?

**Richard230** · 05-24-20

Nope. I am just really cheap when it comes to buying food. I don't buy anything that isn't on sale and buy things like rice, potatoes, spaghetti and almost ready to expire canned food and soup.

**WildWilly** · 05-24-20

Wow, more power to you. I buy high end steaks and Iowa pork chops and never check the price. I was put in the impulse buyers hall of fame.

**WildWilly** · 05-26-20

Grilled a $13.00 T-Bone steak on Memorial Day. Worth every penny.

**WildWilly** · 05-30-20

**Richard230** · 05-30-20

I saw Clorox and toilet paper for the first time in months at the local Grocery Outlet. The Clorox was $1.78 for a half gallon and the TP was $5 for a 12-roll package. Not bad prices, but still higher then they were before the virus hit. Things are slowly coming back to normal - at least at the grocery store.

**Richard230** · 05-30-20

This afternoon the CBS national radio news reported that grocery prices have increased over the past two months more than they have since 41 years ago.

**WildWilly** · 06-01-20

.

**WildWilly** · 06-05-20

A weeks pay?

**WildWilly** · 06-06-20

A recent trip to the grocery store found the shelves fuller and the prices much higher. Another shut down at a huge meat packing plant will have beef prices jumping AGAIN.