I'm going to rant. I'm sorry for all of the people that read this blog to get a good chuckle at some of the stupid things we do. I'm going to rant. (Deep Breath)
HAVE YOU SEEN THE PRICES OF FOOD!!!!!!!!
Me and Hubby went to Kroger's today. Hoping to get a few things. Not a whole buggy full, just a few things. The food didn't cover the bottom of the buggy. IT COST ME $58.57! I know it may not seem a bunch of money for people who pay 100s of dollars a week for food. But the thing is, I don't. I usually get the off brand items, the basics, and if, and only if, something is on sale, I might buy a name brand item. I know how much each item cost usually before I go. Why, because I usually get the same items. Cheese, milk, butter, (you can tell I don't have a milk cow)flour, sugar, you know, basics. I know how much things cost. A 16 slice pack of cheese use to be 1.54, now it was 2.24. Wow, what a jump! It wasn't just one item, it was 70% of them.
So now that I have seen this, I'm planning my garden for this spring. I don't know how to make spaghetti sauce, but I'll learn. I made salsa this summer, but not enough. Never again. Hubby will learn to like summer squash.(okay, I said that because I just wanted to see if he will actually try it instead of snarling his nose at it.) We are going to plant potatoes for the first time. Yep, I'm actually going to PLAN the garden.
Okay, I am done ranting now. I feel better. Pheeew.
So until next time......
Small Farm Girl, ranter.
18 comments:
beautiful blog photo. We have a W.I.N.C.O here food store stands for Wa.Idaho, Nevada Cal.Oregon you bag your own and it's no frills but great prices and they have a lot of bulk and organic food.When food's expensive I become very conscious of wasting any of it, that's a fun game to play-how creative can you be
I know what you mean! And people(gov.) are saying the cost of living hasnt gone up! I use to be able to get all kinds of stuff for a $100 and now it was 2 boxes of groceries!! This was from the discount store! I dont know how people afford to eat with out the discount grocery stores! I also plan on a lot more in my garden. I am going to do potatoes in a barrel or buckets... of some sort.. You just keep adding stuff to the top till they are ready! Then dump and harvest.
Oh and I hit something and published my post to soon.. You know I cant just post pictures!!lol
You might try Walmart. They have a lot of things that are cheaper than Kroger. I quit going to Krogers about 15 years ago. I go to our little neighborhood Foodland and Wallymart. Next summer we are going to cheer you on in your new expanded garden!! You might ask some of our bloggers for homemade spagetti sauce. We had sketty tonight as a matter of fact. Doctored up Chunky Prego. was good...you didn't rant on too badly...not at all. I expected worse! lol ...debbie
Potatoes are easy; you won't be sorry you decided to raise them. I'm sticking with Yukon Gold from now on.
Yes, prices are up HUGELY. Two years ago, Walmart's cheap oatmeal was .99. Now it's over $2.
It's nuts.
Better Homes and Gardens cookbook has a great spaghetti sauce recipe; that's the one I use.
Lorena, I wish we had a store like that around here. No such luck.
Tonia, I've heard of those kind of potatoes. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it though. Your pics were cute,even without words. lol
Debbie, I had spagetti too. It use to be .99 a can of sauce, now it's 1.56. Wow.
Donna, It's awful how things have gone up. Our Kroger's is actually cheeper than our Walmart. It's also cheeper than the discount stores. What can we do but grow our oun.
Thanks guys, for the comments.
sfg
I hear you, completely! It's scary how little you get. Yes, if you want to buy lots of flour and sugar products you can fill your cart more easily, but you'll choke on it. For real food - real dairy, produce, grains, meat, etc... it costs a fortune. Getting pretty painful at the register.
We'll be planning our gardens together. I hope to do a better job in the planning stages this coming year.
Summer squash is a gift! Lots of food, and easy to grow. So are cukes and Swiss chard. I like baked summer squash casserole, with crispy bread crumbs on top and some Parmesan cheese. Yummy!
~Faith
Rant away! I agree 100%.
I was in line at my local Smith's, in the 15 items or less aisle, and the senior couple in front of me had about 25 items. But that's not what bothered me. When they got ready to pay, their total came to $95!
And most of their items were the basics, except for a few brand name laundry items.
I bet they were on a tight budget, too.
I've been doing some of my shopping at the local Family Dollar store and that does seem to help a little bit.
Last year I couldn't grow my own garden because of my injury and surgery, but this year, I've got the seeds ready to plant.
~Lisa
Rant away SFG! It is getting harder and harder to make ends meet thats for sure.
Hello, I do know what you mean. I have been shocked at prices. I used to be anti walmart but with the rising cost of food I could not help but shop at walmart. I have always been a Publix shopper. Due to rising prices I went to every grocery store to compare prices and I save a little over 45 dollars buying the everyday stuff at walmart instead of Publix. I also split the cost of a Warehouse store with my sister so both families have a card and I buy Milk, Cheese, etc at the warehouse store. A 25 pound bag of bread flour at Sam's is 6.75. We save alot of money using the warehouse for toilet paper, Purina Dog Food 50 pounds 21.00 dollars, etc.....With the Big Warehouse stores such as Costco, Sams or Bj you do save money on essentials but stay out of the middle of the store as you do not save money if you shop the middle. I have a girlfriend who split the membership fee with 3 other girlfriends and they all go shopping together and then split it up. With a Sams card you also get really good gas prices so you can fill up before heading back to the country..... I have a homemade spaghetti sauce recipe. You can buy a case of Hunts tomato sauce at Sams warehouse for 5.00.
My recipe is for my husband and I and we have enough left over for several lunches to take to work.
1 to 1 1/5 pound of ground beef. (We use sirloin) but you can use what you can afford.
1 onion
3 bulbs of garlic or a heaping spoon of chopped garlic. (I buy the huge name brand at Sams and use a heaping spoon.)
Cook the ground beef with the onion chopped and add garlic, salt and pepper.
When meat is done, drain if needed. If not then add just a splash of olive oil and the add 3 cans of sauce.
I then add about 1 teaspoon of Basil and about 1/2 teaspoon of Oregano. I use it out of the garden during summer and use dry during the winter. You can buy spices cheaper in the Mexican food section of your store if you need some. Let the sauce heat up and then serve over your choice of pasta. If I don't save for lunches I then have enough sauce for Baked Rigatoni just adding once can of sauce to what was left over.
When I first shopped the Warehouse store I could spend 200 dollars shopping because I had nothing stocked. Now that I am stocked up I spend a lot less just buy what needs replaced. The Sams (Marks Member) brand toilet paper is a great buy. Pennies on the dollar compared to what you pay at the grocery store.
I belonged to a Costco here but gave it up this year. There's just two of us and the amounts were too huge for us to use up before everything went bad. If you have a large family it's great though. If you have a Big Lots near you check it out and the Dollar Stores also but you have to watch cause sometimes the prices are lower but the sizes of things are smaller too! We planted potatoes last year and boy are they ever good when you harvest them and they aren't shipped hundreds of miles. We are going to try something new this year with them though. We saw where you take cardboard and just put it on the ground (no digging) and put the potatoes on top of it and then layer straw on top of that about a foot deep and then when the straw starts to decompose you put another layer of straw on top. When you harvest it is so easy just to pull the straw away. Don't use hay though you will be putting weed seeds into your garden and you dont want more of those lol. We even spent money on a greenhouse and will be setting that up next month to start seedlings and we will grow our tomatoes in there also. We had soooo many june bugs and japanese beetles last year and they loved our tomatoes.
I also have a pantry and get things on sale and keep a stock of most used items in there.
It's the same here in Austrlia too,everything goes up and up! We have an Aldi in our town and they have great prices!! We grow our own veg ,so that keeps the cost of living down too.Good luck with the gardens :0)
I moved from AK to WI. I still can't get over how cheep the food is. Butter for under $2.00 a lbs? Milk for under $3.00? I am just buying for myslf though. I have a friend that buys for her family of 5 and I don't see who they do it.
Faith, I hear you on the summer squash. I love it. Hubby on the other hand....well.
Lisa, I also have gotten a few things at the dollar stores.
Thanks for agreeing with me Feral.
Barbara, thanks for the recipe. I'm going to try it.
Denise, we have a Sam's Club around here, but it is 45 mins out of our way. Gas or food?
Granny, thank you for your comment. I can't hardly wait to get in our garden.
Aunt Krissy, I can go 2 hrs north of her to Columbus and food is 1/3 lower. Go figure.
Thanks guys.
Looks like you touched a nerve with everyone! we're all frustrated over the price of things! Just a thought, but a dairy goat is smaller than a milk cow, and goat mild is much easier to digest than cow milk is. I'm looking forward to getting a couple one day...years from now, lol! And of course you can make cheese with the milk. Not sure about butter, but I don't see why not! I'm going to give it a whirl anyway. I look forward to hearing all about the garden as you plan it. We're in sunny California today and its 56 and sunny. Giving my serious spring fever before we head back to the arctic!
I know what you mean. for quite a few years, my husband stopped at the store on his way home for work. I didn't go buy essentials for a long time. couldn't believe the prices. I also shop at Sams and freeze extras. I think I'll start a garden this year - I haven't had a garden in 10 or more years.
SFG,
I don't always notice price increases, as we don't shop much in reg. grocery stores( loss leader items only) but..... let me tell you about the increases in the wholesale bulk food market. We hadn't ordered bulk items, for almost a year and the other day I went on to work up my list and WOW! I about died! Honey bought in April 09 was priced at $19 a gallon and now it's $29-$32. Kelp granules, we use as a suppliment in our poultry feed in winter, 50# bag back in April 09; $35 and now $48, plus it's on back order until who knows when,*rolling eyes* thankfully we have 50# yet*sigh*
If you use Cocoa or Choc. products, stock up quickly, the crops were damaged and the price is going to keep on climbing on this item. Sugar and flour are going to keep edging up, even though in our part of the country the crops were fantastic in their yields. We have grown our own wheat, but harvesting it and getting it ready for use is labor intensive, but at least we know we can if we absolutely need to.
Meats are going to keep climbing in price too because feed costs are so high and with all the drought ridden areas it's getting tougher and tougher for farmers and ranchers to make ends meet, so they are having to downsize to afford to live themselves.
Thankfully you have the working knowlede of how to raise you own produce, meat and eggs. We've been living a sufficient life for decades and let me tell you, we're STILL learning new skills.
Blessings,
Kelle
We buy a lot of staples through our local buying club. Order once a month from the monthly catalog. Although we try to grow most of our food, we don't grow it all yet. So, the buying club is a blessing. You might find out if there's on in your area.
Just came across your blog and had to comment. I try diligently to avoid Walmart because of their ethics..destroying and throwing away products so no one can use them. My son-in-law has taught me a lot! He markets generic products for grocery stores. We, too, have Krogers and HEB (which I love) but he has taught me that generic store products must meet or exceed national brands. That's why some are more expensive than name brands. And there are different levels of generics. You can ask Kroger which is the top of the line. I have found that a lot of the generics are better than name brand and cost less.
Berte in Texas
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