The new high cost of food is frustrating for families like mine. Food price rises of late are not meaningful, but that doesn’t change the frustration of families like mine. The bottom line is that we are now experiencing a new high cost of food, which will not reset to old prices. Current prices are the new normal.
The purpose of this post is to provide practical suggestions for folks to be savvy food shoppers.
Hacks for Grocery Store Shopping
A big hat tip to Heavenly Homemakers for her post: Grocery Prices I’ve Found that Have NOT Increased. For those of you who eat a healthy diet, her grocery cart of items is an ideal guide for price sensitive shoppers.
Comparing Grocery Stores
I’m a Kroger shopper, and I frequently find the price of organic chicken to hover around $13 a pound. Ridiculous. I won’t buy it. What’s a great swap out? Pork, which you can purchase at half the price. I’m also partial to smoking pork.
With that said, you can purchase organic chicken for $4-$5 a pound at Aldi and Costco. Meanwhile, I have found the price of beef briskets at Kroger to be half the price anywhere else if you keep your eye out for a good sale. Again, I’m partial to smoking a beef brisket.
Here’s the point: if you have the time, consider comparing prices at grocery stores online before you leave for the grocery store. If the price differences are significant, it’s a tax on our time worth paying.
Fast Food Prices
I feel this in my family because I have two teenage kids at home who are always on the go. The bottom line is that fast food prices have skyrocketed far more than CPI and grocery prices.
Click here to access the interactive (image below), allowing you to see the rising menu prices at fast food restaurants!
Food Prices Now and Then
You can access the cost of food over the past fifty years on the USDA website. I saved you some time and downloaded the data from 2020. I took a screenshot of the data and included it below:
More Ways To Save at the Grocery Store
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