Groceries going up in price again...

**peanut** · 02-19-2008, 11:27 AM

I was talking to my Dad as it was Family Day, and he said there had been a news item warning that groceries were going to go up in price in Canada.
I noticed in the store the other day that flour has gone from $5/10 kg. to $8/10 kg.

If that happens I predict a massive shift towards organics. They'll be the closer in price to the imported stuff from the U.S., being as they're local. It'll be interesting to see if the local stuff goes up in price too. I know I picked up the organic flour instead of regular. If I'm going to pay through the nose, I'm going to buy quality stuff.

What about you? What's happening where you're at?

Jean

**PAVallygrl** · 02-19-2008, 01:01 PM

Food here in the USA has gone up too drastically! I noticed that some organic stuff went up along with it. Can't wait for the warmer weather to come in so I can get my veggie patch going.....then it will cost me $1.00 for everything I'm planting from ALL the seeds I bought (10 cents each packet) Cant' beat that. I wish I could have a couple of chickens in my back yard for the eggs, but I don't think the neighbors would be too happy to see them roaming around the place. (it's fine for their dog to sh*t in everyone's yard though, and their visitors to park in everyone's driveways, but that's another thread all on its own

)

**freyadog** · 02-19-2008, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by PAVallygrl

Food here in the USA has gone up too drastically! I noticed that some organic stuff went up along with it. Can't wait for the warmer weather to come in so I can get my veggie patch going.....then it will cost me $1.00 for everything I'm planting from ALL the seeds I bought (10 cents each packet) Cant' beat that. I wish I could have a couple of chickens in my back yard for the eggs, but I don't think the neighbors would be too happy to see them roaming around the place. (it's fine for their dog to sh*t in everyone's yard though, and their visitors to park in everyone's driveways, but that's another thread all on its own

)

Tell them the chickens are a new breed of dog. A sh*t sue.

**bee9984** · 02-19-2008, 11:01 PM

I saw a bit on the news just last night about the flour. In Montreal they were showing a man who owns a pizza business. The man said last year this time he was paying $22 for a 40kg bag of flour, now he is paying $48 to $50 a bag.

He said that he has already raised his prices not to long ago and now that flour has gone up again he will have to raise his pizza prices yet again....twice in one year.

It is really sad. With the flour they were saying something on the news about how some farmers went to growing sunflowers or something opposed to wheat. I think for fuel or something. I would have to look it up for exactly what they were saying.

Also, milk has gone up my stepfather was saying, I think he mentioned an additional .5 cents a litre in Nova Scotia.

It is just crazy how they are making packages smaller and raising the prices, like with cheese among other products.

**rachelMcK** · 02-20-2008, 10:10 AM

This is why I'm trying to find the most nutriciously frugal meals as possible. Last year I spent $30-40 a week to feed two people and we never went hungry. Now I spend $50-60 a week. Its almost doubled!!! I was shocked when I went to buy some pasta the other day. I used to spend .99 cent a package for a good sized package, on sale they were .79 cents. Now, a smaller package is $1.99 and $1.29 on sale...its ridiculous!!!

**catlover** · 02-20-2008, 12:39 PM

hi, last week when i went shoping at wal-mart, the baby formula for my daughter went up 1$ a can, that another 4$ a month for formula only. it may seems a little, but when you are on maternity leave, it adds up. right now i am so upset, but nothing i can do about it.

**imforpeace** · 02-20-2008, 12:51 PM

Everything is going up. We spend 50% of grocery dollars per week on organics and items from the health food store. It's going up there as well. I agree that I can't wait for the growing season to arrive. I wonder if a green house would be worth the expense?

**Hannahs mom** · 02-20-2008, 01:56 PM

There has been a lot of talk around here about farmers growing their corn crops to be harvested for biodiesel. Well, that's good except that the biodiesel companies need much more corn than they thought to manufacture their product. So, in turn there is less corn on the market for other things (feed for cows and products we eat). This scarcity of the product drives the prices up. This leaves other people looking for substitutes (wheat, etc.) which drives the prices of those products as well. Sometimes I hate things being so dependent on each other in the U.S. If I could buy cheaper imported food from Canada, I wouldn't think twice about it. I am sooo sick of paying at least 3.00 for a gallon of milk, 2.00 for a dozen eggs, and at the present 3.19 for the cheapest grade of gas.
For this reason, I plan to have my own garden and am trying to think of other ways that my family can be self-sufficient. I can remember my grandma (major churchgoer) talking about the end of the world where people wouldn't be able to buy and sell goods. They would have to do for themselves. As I have gotten older I have witnessed that is is getting harder for people to buy and sell goods, so it just makes me want to be prepared. Maybe the end of the world isn't coming, but maybe a second depression is . . . .

**suki** · 02-20-2008, 02:17 PM

There's a lot of misinformation in the media about biofuel and the impact on our food supply.

Biofuel is often made of organic materials other than corn... such as switchgrass. There's a lot of information on the topic and one can easily find it in a quick search.

The fact is all food must be processed. It must be harvested by tractors (fueled by oil) and transported to processing plants (in trucks or trains), processed (plastics, aluminum, tin) and transported to distribution (in trucks) to be transported to your local market (in trucks).

Oil prices averaging over $90 a barrel consistently and hitting over $100 a barrel has more than a little effect on your grocery prices. I would certainly hazard to say that it's a far greater impact than biofuel.

As for shortages, I would want to research the USDA commodities program and the production control programs. Did you know that the USA is known to pay farmers not to grow crops? Yes, it's true. Do you know that big corporate farms get big paychecks from US? So... I'd have to see the current status of this system before I believe whether the shortage is real or created.

**suki** · 02-20-2008, 02:23 PM

"During the past decade, livestock producers, slaughterhouses, and grocery manufacturers benefited from artificially low corn prices but did not pass these savings on to consumers; now, food and meat processors are using the "ethanol smokescreen" to justify grocery price increases that are unlikely to decline when corn's historically volatile price falls.

Whether the price of corn rises or falls, the price of meat and milk has generally trended upwards. This reflects the sticky pricing of retail food products - prices may rise when costs increase, but they do not fall when the cost of inputs falls.

Processing, packaging, and transportation make up 80% of the real cost of food."
ethanol.org

**Hannahs mom** · 02-20-2008, 03:21 PM

Suki - I agree with what you said about the real and created shortages, however there are biodiesel plants here in KY and they use corn as a major component of their product. Numerous corn farmers are selling their corn straight to these plants. (There are even areas that biodiesel can be purchased close to my house.) That leaves our hometown feed mills searching to buy the corn from farmers farther and farther away. I'm sure that this isn't only happening here in KY.

I'm not trying to start a debate . . . sometimes I hate the way typed messages come across so don't take this the wrong way

**suki** · 02-20-2008, 03:43 PM

Nope, not taking it the wrong way from you. It just gets old hearing biofuel blamed when the price of oil is at record prices... and record profits for oil companies.

**IntlMom** · 02-20-2008, 03:48 PM

suki~ I'm not entirely sure what I think of your post. Agree? Disagree? Somewhere in the middle? I'm not sure. I do have one question for you.....and it't not a smart-alec question, but a real one. If you don't think that the whole biodeisel/ehtanol situation has something to do with skyrocketing prices, then what? What is causing our grocery/transportation etc costs to skyrocket out of control as quickly as they have?

**suki** · 02-20-2008, 03:54 PM

How much have your fuel costs gone up? Diesel is even more expensive. Look at my first post... there's a lot of expense in transporting our nation's food supply. A lot. The oil it takes to get that stuff from field to market... is significant.

Oh, and let's not forget that fertilizers and insecticides are also petroleum based. As are all of the plastics and a lot other packing material for transporting.

And, haven't we had terrible drought hit America's farmland? We've had several significant weather events which have effected crop production. But, our memories in that regard tend to be short.

There are several aspects to the crisis and I'm sure biofuel plays a part. But, from everything I've seen... oil prices are far more responsible for our rising food costs than the price of corn.

**shortstack** · 02-20-2008, 04:46 PM

Have you signed up for formula checks/ coupons through the company? BTW you can stack 1 coupon with a 1check off of 1 can.
Andrea

Originally Posted by catlover

hi, last week when i went shoping at wal-mart, the baby formula for my daughter went up 1$ a can, that another 4$ a month for formula only. it may seems a little, but when you are on maternity leave, it adds up. right now i am so upset, but nothing i can do about it.