Rising cost of food

Mhays wrote:Even so, I think food prices are rising more slowly at the independent places.

On March 13, 2008, the average price for an entire food basket was $57.53, which is a decrease of $4.36 from the previous week.

Reuters wrote:Tensions rise as world faces short rations
Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:03pm EDT

(This is the first in a series of stories on rising world food prices and their consequences)

By Russell Blinch and Brian Love

WASHINGTON/PARIS, March 31 (Reuters) - Food prices are soaring, a wealthier Asia is demanding better food and farmers can't keep up. In short, the world faces a food crisis and in some places it is already boiling over.

Around the globe, people are protesting and governments are responding with often counterproductive controls on prices and exports -- a new politics of scarcity in which ensuring food supplies is becoming a major challenge for the 21st century....

Multimedia

Pie Lady wrote:I just heard about this website called www.thegrocerygame.com. You can join for a 4-week trial for only $1, otherwise it's $10 per month. You enter your zip code and the name of the store chain you shop at, and a list comes up with all the sale items and coordinating coupons that come in the paper.

www.thegrocerygame.com wrote:Most areas offer only one store list. But if you happen to be in an area where more than one list is available, for each additional store list you choose, you'll be billed an extra $5 every eight weeks.

Associated Press wrote:Food Price Inflation Changes How We Shop

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
Steadily rising food costs aren't just causing grocery shoppers to do a double-take at the checkout line — they're also changing the very ways we feed our families.

The worst case of food inflation in nearly 20 years has more Americans giving up restaurant meals to eat at home. We're buying fewer luxury food items, eating more leftovers and buying more store brands instead of name-brand items....

Record-high energy, corn and wheat prices in the past year have led to sticker shock in the grocery aisles. At $1.32, the average price of a loaf of bread has increased 32 percent since January 2005. In the last year alone, the average price of carton of eggs has increased almost 50 percent.

Ground beef, milk, chicken, apples, tomatoes, lettuce, coffee and orange juice are among the staples that cost more these days, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Overall, food prices rose nearly 5 percent in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That means a pound of coffee, on average, cost 57 cents more at year's end than in 2006. A 12-ounce can of frozen, concentrated orange juice now averages $2.53 — a 67-cent increase in just two years.

And a carton of grade A, large eggs will set you back $2.17. That's an increase of nearly $1 since February, 2006....

Associated Press wrote:Less Corn Could Mean Higher Food Prices

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — From chicken nuggets to corn flakes, food prices at grocery stores and dinner tables could be headed even higher as farmers cut back on the land they're planting in corn this spring.

Corn prices already are high, and a drop in supply should keep them rising. Combine that with the huge demand for corn-based ethanol fuel — and higher energy costs for transporting food — and consumers are likely to see their food bills going up and up....

Pie Lady wrote:Also, I noticed that Dominick's is still higher than Jewel, but both are overpriced.

Pie Lady wrote:I just heard about this website called www.thegrocerygame.com. You can join for a 4-week trial for only $1, otherwise it's $10 per month.

LAZ wrote:Well, if you do sign-up, Kim, I hope you'll post about what you get here.

Even at $5 per month, I can't see how it can be worth it for a list of specials for one store/chain.

Pucca wrote:I went to Trader Joe's last night, and was about to stock up on King Arthur's AP flour. omg, it's now $3.99! I bought for $2.79 back in Jan. Does King Arthur's AP flour ever go on sale anywhere?

Cathy2 wrote:I was talking to a baker recently whose former firm had contracts to supply baked goods to Trader Joe's. He commented those contracts have no allowance to increase in price if your cost of materials goes up. He predicted they must be sweating blood over the losses they are enduring as they deliver goods to Trader Joe's below their costs.

Of course these types of contracts are not exclusive to Trader Joe's.

Katie wrote:This thread reminds me of something I've been thinking of asking. I'm not sure if this is a topic better suited to its own thread or no. I've been wondering about when it's cost-effective to make something yourself from scratch versus buying it premade. Leaving aside what you think your time is worth, has anyone done any comparisons of ways to save money by making something (e.g., bread) versus buying it made?

I realize there are a lot of obvious cases where you can save money by doing it yourself -- homemade French fries versus bags of frozen fries. What I'm wondering about are cost comparisons where the winner is not so obvious. I'm particularly curious about things involving ingredients that have been rising a lot in cost lately.

PKramer wrote:You can wash and shake dry your parsley and cilantro and place them in a plastic bag. For best reslts, purchase some of the Evert bags or the Debby Myer ones. They really do work in keeping produce fresh much longer.

Pucca wrote:[quote="Katie"Big fresh bunches of cilantro and parsley always go to waste. If anyone has tips on how to prolong their life or how to use them up quickly, please share!

Katie wrote:Bread, for example, is something I wonder about. No doubt the smell of home-baked bread is a treat in itself, not to mention tearing into the home-baked loaf. But I have no experience with baking, so I envision there'd be some duds on my way to learning how to make some decent bread for dinner.

And if I improved my bread-making skill... then what? Even if the costs of wheat and bread are rising, a loaf of good bread is still a third or fourth or fifth of a gallon of gas ... can I do better than that? I'm willing to try: I've got the bread flour and the yeast and the KitchenAid mixer ... but can I do any better than buying it at the store?

And I wonder, where else can I do better? Pizza dough? Biscuits to go with dinner?