Alarming Food Prices

[olbriar]

No kidding. Talk about cornering the market. That's the worst consumer news I've ever heard.

 

[AugieTN]

No kidding. Talk about cornering the market. That's the worst consumer news I've ever head.

What news are you talking about?

 

[olbriar]

What news are you talking about?

Treb's post about Kroger and Albertsons merging.

 

[AugieTN]

Treb's post about Kroger and Albertsons merging.

That merger will be hard to stop using antitrust laws because there is still a large amount of competition.

If the merger happened by me Jewel-Osco (Albertsons) and Mariano's (Kroger) grocery stores would merge, but I still have Target, Tony's, Walmart, Amazon, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's grocery stores to shop at within 10 miles.

 

[joe71]

If you think you're typical grocery store prices are outrageous, you should try dealing with truck stop prices. Yesterday I stopped in a town with a dollar general right across the street. I picked up three of these paper towel rolls for $1 a piece. In a truck stop for the same size $2.69-$5.79

 

[AugieTN]

If you think you're typical grocery store prices are outrageous, you should try dealing with truck stop prices. Yesterday I stopped in a town with a dollar general right across the street. I picked up three of these paper towel rolls for $1 a piece. In a truck stop for the same size $2.69-$5.79

I drive from northern Illinois to southern Tennessee a lot and I know what you are talking about. I basically just get coffee at truck stops now. I even downloaded the Love's app and watch for specials.

 

[olbriar]

Today I found the 85% lean ground beef had increased from $6.49 to $7.49 per pound. I bought three packages of 90% lean that was marked down to $ 5.29 a pound. The meat counter was pretty sparsely stocked and a dude had his chart out and was changing prices. I'm pretty certain the prices weren't being decreased.

 

[joe71]

In truck stops they sell these two bottles for $4. Sometimes you find the buy two get one free. I have seen prices as high as $3.25 per bottles. I got this six pack at Walmart for $3.78

 

[joe71]

Today I found the 85% lean ground beef had increased from $6.49 to $7.49 per pound. I bought three packages of 90% lean that was marked down to $ 5.29 a pound. The meat counter was pretty sparsely stocked and a dude had his chart out and was changing prices. I'm pretty certain the prices weren't being decreased.

Last year I stopped at truck stop that had an actual grocery store . The prices were decent. Produce was fresh. As I was walking around I noticed a 75%-90% off sale on meat. I see signs for ribs, t-bone steak, porterhouse, chicken drum sticks, New York strip steaks. I am thinking I am going to grab a couple of steaks, throw one in the airfyer , have a microwave bake potatoe, maybe a vegetable or salad, I am all excited planning out my dinner
Until I reach the refrigerator/freezer section and I Started looking at the meat . Some of the meat is grey, some is purplish/red, some is a strange shade of blue and then there is the meat that is green with little black dots
some of the stuff had been expired for almost a year. Needles to say I didn't have a steak dinner that night

 

[AugieTN]

There are a few larger gas stations I have stopped at in southern Tennessee that only seem to have expired snack for sale.

Something else that is being abused is the Best Buy Date, rather than an expiration date. I read an article where someone brought the Best Buy Date up and someone responded that the FDA said food safety for Best Buy Date was for 2 months past the Best Buy Date, not 6 months or a year.

 

[AugieTN]

Last year I stopped at truck stop that had an actual grocery store . The prices were decent. Produce was fresh. As I was walking around I noticed a 75%-90% off sale on meat. I see signs for ribs, t-bone steak, porterhouse, chicken drum sticks, New York strip steaks. I am thinking I am going to grab a couple of steaks, throw one in the airfyer , have a microwave bake potatoe, maybe a vegetable or salad, I am all excited planning out my dinner
Until I reach the refrigerator/freezer section and I Started looking at the meat . Some of the meat is grey, some is purplish/red, some is a strange shade of blue and then there is the meat that is green with little black dots
some of the stuff had been expired for almost a year. Needles to say I didn't have a steak dinner that night

I would be tempted to report that place to the local health inspector

 

[olbriar]

We went to a local food mart along the entertainment strip of Hochatown last weekend thinking it would be best to eat at the cabin Monday after the eclipse. We bought hot dogs and associated goodies, meat platter, cheese platter, chips, dips, and a desert. Everything was way over priced. Our meal and snacks cost the group around $250 LOL. It was far better than fighting the crowd after the eclipse but was pricy. A package of Bar S hot dogs was over eleven bucks!

 

[joe71]

Yesterday I went to Walmart and found a great deal on cereal. The Kashi and honey bunches of oats where two dollars each. The chocolate keto was $2.78 and the fruity keto was $3.00. I have the keto cereal go for as high nine dollars and change

 

[joe71]

I Picked this up yesterday at a Walmart. $6.97 ($7.00 basically) l can easily turn this into three or four meals. Last night I had the drum sticks with bake beans and potatoe salad.
Later today when I stop for lunch I will probably make a couple of chicken sandwiches and I will probably finish it off for dinner tonight night

 

[joe71]

Truck stop prizes. Back during the pandemic in some places the noodles were going as $3.25-$4.25

 

[olbriar]

We intended to make a Costco run Friday but I'm ill. The wife was going to go today but we had thunderstorms and dangerous weather. We are completely out of our coffee beans so the wife piced up a pound of something at the local market. My wife and our youngest daughter plan to run to Costco tomorrow. By the time they look at everything in the store it will likely cost me a small fortune.

 

[AugieTN]

This is comical. My local Albertson grocery store has Cheerios at $8.49 for a 12oz box. Nobody is going to buy it at that price

 

[olbriar]

Being retired and my local market being very close, I've been shopping the meat counters a few times a week. I often find bargains that have been marked down to sell because they are close to being at their sell by date. This week, following the holiday weekend, I found a number of bargains. They obviously over stocked or people simply refused to pay that sort of price for the items. First I found a package of KC strip steaks marked down from $34 to $14. Buying a good cut of steak for $6.39 a pound is right up my alley. Today I bought bone in chicken thighs that were buy one get one. I haven't grilled skin on bone in thighs in some time. They sound good, especially at half price. I also bought a pork butt to smoke out Sunday. It was marked down from $24.72 to $ 11.67. A nice looking shoulder for $1.27 a pound is difficult to beat. There were two shoulders marked down. I almost bought both.

 

[AugieTN]

I noticed a lot of cereal prices today were half price or buy one get one free today. Cereal prices have been outrageous

 

[olbriar]

I don't ever eat boxed cereal so I haven't paid any attention to the prices. I'm glad their prices are falling some. I wonder what has caused the price to be high and then decrease? I have noticed that one side of an entire isle at the market I shop is stocked with breakfast cereals. They must be a big selling item for there to be so many different products. A big increase in price would have to effect a lot of consumers.

 

[AugieTN]

I don't know exactly what cause the spike in cereal prices, but it does show laissez faire capitalism works, all the prices dropped.

 

[olbriar]

Cereal would not be like meat and have a short window to be sold. I would think that dried cereal would last a while on the shelf. Without a need to sell quick, something else must have created the fluctuation in prices. Most all cereals are grain based. There hasn't been a shortage of grains that I'm aware of.

 

[AugieTN]

Sure cereal has a much longer shelf life, but at $8.49 for a box of Cherrios it doesn't sell, they either have to lower the price so it sells and keep the factory open, or layoff everyone from the factory and hope it sells at $8.49, but it won't sell at $8.49

 

[ozonetrooper]

I eat a bowl of cereal anytime, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack ... I would guess the way food prices are going, a box of cereal is preferable, over the cost of meat and potatoes.

btw: Cheerios is my cereal choice.

 

[Clementine_3]

I love cereal but it is out of control expensive, on sale it's $5.99 or more for name brands. The only one I buy now is store brand extra raisin raisin bran. It's honestly the best I've had and it's $3.49 for a big box. I do like multi-grain Cheerios and Frosted Mini Wheats and others but refuse to pay that much.