I’m one of the few guys out there that actually enjoys grocery shopping.  Amy and I usually leave the kids home for an hour and go for the peace and quiet.  I love checking out fresh produce, finding choice cuts of meat and looking for a good deal anywhere I can find one.  I have been absolutley blown away by how much grocery prices have JUMPED in the past six months.  It’s obnoxious!  It’s getting so a guy can’t afford to get good meat for the grill and that is where the line gets crossed!

So I did a little digging and here’s the main excuse “the man” is giving for the high costs: “Food manufacturers, under pressure for months from higher costs for everything from product ingredients to the packaging, are increasing prices. It started in the ceral isle and it’s spreading.  Sara Lee Corp. will raise prices by 20 percent later this year for its meat products. (That’s Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park Franks).  Overall grocery prices are expected to rise 5 percent to 6 percent this year. But some categories are projected to post higher increases, such as eggs, fats and oils and cereals.

Items made with wheat (breads and crackers) and soybean oil (cooking oil and fried foods) are expected to rise so much next year that they’ll boost the cost of cooking at home by up to 4.5 percent – half a percentage point more than predicted just a month ago. So pinched consumers thinking they can cut back by eating at home more will find little relief there. Home cooking remains less expensive than eating out, but the gap is closing.”

This year could go on record as having one of the largest increases in food prices since 1990. For many people, rising food costs plus the high cost of gas is leading to tough choices. Some families are going without meat because of the high prices.  For sure many shoppers are trying the generic products to save money.

It may be time to start clipping coupons.  Ther are many great sites on the web you can Google to get started.  I got an email from someone recently singing the praises of http://theshoppersedge.info.  [THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT!] I have not personally checked it out other than briefly scanning the site, but it could be a way to save you some money so we can all get back to the grill…

where we belong!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 3:53 pm and is filed under family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.