How are you handling rising food and energy costs?

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I want to say our alcohol tax is only 10% and from what I could find tobacco being $1.29 per carton. MO which I live next too has a ridiculously low amount for tobacco tax so I'm sure people go over there to buy it as we live right at the border too.

Sorta a funny thing is we just got legalized sports betting last year and MO just recently did legalizing recreational use of marijuana. They geo-blocked a ton of MO residents from trying to place bets. Now MO wants sports betting and I think there's at least some talks about marijuana here but we don't even have legal medical use so not too too sure on that. These days there's that line where you can get some revenue out of it ya know. I don't want our state to become too reliant on marijuana income if it ever passed for recreational usage because I've been reading CO is having issues with funding projects now because basically the well is starting to dry up on just how much income is coming in but it would help.

I think most of our issues in our state is just feeling overtaxed as more of a cumulative thing. I'll take some savings if I can on the grocery part. Groceries affect everyone.

HAHA it's going to be like the Wisconsin/Illinois border. One side goes to the other for pot. The other side goes to the one for fireworks and gas.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

HAHA it's going to be like the Wisconsin/Illinois border. One side goes to the other for pot. The other side goes to the one for fireworks and gas.

lol yeah gas used to be one but MO's gas tax did finally go up. Depending on where I'm at it may still be a bit cheaper but it made more sense when I lived at my mom's and was 6 miles to the border, nowadays it's more like if we're out in MO we'll probably fill up there.

The police in my county did already say they aren't interested in patrolling the marijuana here. Everyone just crosses the border so often right in my immediate area it really wouldn't make much sense either. Drug deals? That's a different story but like they aren't interested in pulling people over for some weed if bought in the other state that is.

 

[barkley]

We buy Great Value brand, in fact Great Value's cream cheese soared in sales last year although we've been purchasing it for years. If we're at the store and they are out of stock we'll make the determination if Philadelphia is worth that high of a cost. Like right now a 2 pack of GV is $3.18 while Philadelphia's 2 pack is $5.24 or more than $2 more.

Same goes for ginger ale (it’s pretty much the only soda we drink). Seagrams or Canada Dry or generic: whichever is cheaper or has the deals we get

for products that you are fine using the generic on you can save money by taking those items off your in person shopping list and setting up a grocery pick-up for when you go to the store. most if not all stores have the option when ordering online to let them do substitutions if one of your products is out of stock, and in the case (in my experience) with walmart or kroger-if the substitution costs more you only get charged at the lower price you ordered at so you order great value cream cheese which they substitute with philly but still charge you great value price, you order generic ginger ale but they substitute canada dry and you get charged generic. i've gotten some crazy values b/c of this-generic brand canned goods on sale substituted out for brand name selling in store for 4x the price but i still get my sale price.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

for products that you are fine using the generic on you can save money by taking those items off your in person shopping list and setting up a grocery pick-up for when you go to the store. most if not all stores have the option when ordering online to let them do substitutions if one of your products is out of stock, and in the case (in my experience) with walmart or kroger-if the substitution costs more you only get charged at the lower price you ordered at so you order great value cream cheese which they substitute with philly but still charge you great value price, you order generic ginger ale but they substitute canada dry and you get charged generic. i've gotten some crazy values b/c of this-generic brand canned goods on sale substituted out for brand name selling in store for 4x the price but i still get my sale price.

Yeah we're seasoned grocery pick up people been doing it for many years now with Walmart (ours had grocery pick up very early on in the U.S. for Walmart). It's a good tip to keep in mind though

We allow substitutions generally speaking unless the ingredient simply cannot be substituted. There's only been a few times where what they substituted didn't make sense but most times it's in our favor like we ordered 2 cups of shredded cheese they were out and gave us 4 cups kind of thing. Sometimes it will go the other way where they are out of the name brand and they'll substitute for GV. Usually that's fine. Biscuits for a bit were really hard to get so that happened more than once although I prefer Pillsbury biscuits after enough substitutions my husband ended up just getting GV brand. Crescent rolls I still want Pillsbury brand. I think Walmart improved the taste of the biscuits because years ago they were not good.

 

[QueenIsabella]

for products that you are fine using the generic on you can save money by taking those items off your in person shopping list and setting up a grocery pick-up for when you go to the store. most if not all stores have the option when ordering online to let them do substitutions if one of your products is out of stock, and in the case (in my experience) with walmart or kroger-if the substitution costs more you only get charged at the lower price you ordered at so you order great value cream cheese which they substitute with philly but still charge you great value price, you order generic ginger ale but they substitute canada dry and you get charged generic. i've gotten some crazy values b/c of this-generic brand canned goods on sale substituted out for brand name selling in store for 4x the price but i still get my sale price.

Walmart now charges for the item delivered, NOT what you ordered, like they used to. It changed a few months ago, here, at least.

 

[barkley]

Walmart now charges for the item delivered, NOT what you ordered, like they used to. It changed a few months ago, here, at least.

interesting-i've not seen it done here as yet but i'll keep my eyes on the fine print for the online ordering. thanks for sharing!

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I paid $8 for twelve eggs yesterday. Criminy. I don't think I'm going to let anyone eat them. I think I'm going to have them bronzed.

 

[longboard55]

Gasoline is now about the same price it was 10 years ago

 

[AnnaS]

I paid $8 for twelve eggs yesterday. Criminy. I don't think I'm going to let anyone eat them. I think I'm going to have them bronzed.

wow -

Which state and what type of eggs (organic?)

 

[dvcgirl67]

I paid $8 for twelve eggs yesterday. Criminy. I don't think I'm going to let anyone eat them. I think I'm going to have them bronzed.

That's insane! I just got back from Trader Joe's again for a "three bag" shop. I got TJ's extra large organic eggs for $4.99 a dozen. I would have gotten large for $4.50 but they were out.

At my local grocery store (where I never shop anymore)....here's comparison for a few things between their "store brand" and TJ's.

TJ extra large organic brown eggs: $4.99
Foodtown large white eggs (smaller and not organic): $5.89

TJ finely shredded mexican cheese (12oz): $3.69
Foodtown finely shredded Mexican cheese (8oz): $.5.49 for 12 ounces

TJ 32 oz nonfat greek yogurt: $5.50
Foodtown 32 oz nonfat greek yogurt: $6.99

TJ organic free-range boneless/skinless chicken: $6.99 lb
Foodtown organic free-range Boneless/skinless chk: $8.99 lb

TJ trio of organic peppers (red/yellow/orange 1.5lbs): $4.99
Foodtown 3 large organic red peppers....$6.99lb, so equivalent price would be $10.50!!!!

It goes on and on. I know sometimes it's hard as certain stores aren't accessible in all areas....and I could probably do even better if I went to Lidl for certain things. But for one stop shopping....I'm a big fan of TJ's.

My three bags today was $174.....there's just two of us, but that covers breakfast and lunches for about 9 days...there's another 10 dinners at least. Also some almonds and pretzels for snacks. And I had to stock up on some items like soy sauces, sriracha, olive oil (bottle and spray), two boxes of protein bars ($40 alone for those).....which I don't buy weekly. So, it's higher than usual.

Anyway...just passing on what I'm seeing out there.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

wow -

Which state and what type of eggs (organic?)

New Jersey, and no, they were just a dozen extra large eggs like I always buy. They're usually under 3 bucks.

 

[AnnaS]

New Jersey, and no, they were just a dozen extra large eggs like I always buy. They're usually under 3 bucks.

Crazy. Not too far here - The cheapest I find is $4.99 a dozen.

Thank you.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Eggs were $4.23 a dozen here. Up a bit. So is Chicken, especially wings. Why in the heck am I going to pay $5.29 a pound for wings when thighs are $1.29 and boneless skinless breasts are $2.79? Someone is paying that price or they wouldn't be charging it I suppose. And to be honest, whoever is buying em can have em. HAHA. Makes the chicken I want cheaper. But other things are down or holding in price. Pork is down here. Almost to pre pandemic prices. Beef is mixed. The more popular winter cuts are down but the rest aren't. Seasonal fruits and Veg are down. Unseasonable ones are sky high. But that's par for the course very year. Want Strawberries in January? You're going to pay. No thanks. I'll wait until the first crops come in this season from my favorite strawberry growing regions. They're bigger, they're better, they're cheaper.

 

[mrodgers]

Eggs were $4.23 a dozen here. Up a bit. So is Chicken, especially wings. Why in the heck am I going to pay $5.29 a pound for wings when thighs are $1.29 and boneless skinless breasts are $2.79? Someone is paying that price or they wouldn't be charging it I suppose. And to be honest, whoever is buying em can have em. HAHA. Makes the chicken I want cheaper. But other things are down or holding in price. Pork is down here. Almost to pre pandemic prices. Beef is mixed. The more popular winter cuts are down but the rest aren't. Seasonal fruits and Veg are down. Unseasonable ones are sky high. But that's par for the course very year. Want Strawberries in January? You're going to pay. No thanks. I'll wait until the first crops come in this season from my favorite strawberry growing regions. They're bigger, they're better, they're cheaper.

Because chicken thighs and white meat chicken breast especially does not equate to chicken wings. You can not make Buffalo chicken wings out of thighs or breast and Buffalo chicken wings are awesome. Everyone likes them, thus through supply and demand, the price of wings is up. If everyone was buying chicken wings instead of thighs, why would you price the thighs high and wings low?

 

[RedAngie]

And 40ish years ago most stores couldn’t sell many chicken wings even at 29 cents per pound. They were suitable only for making broth or to use as crab bait. IMO that’s still all they’re good for.

 

[DLgal]

Eggs were $4.23 a dozen here. Up a bit. So is Chicken, especially wings. Why in the heck am I going to pay $5.29 a pound for wings when thighs are $1.29 and boneless skinless breasts are $2.79? Someone is paying that price or they wouldn't be charging it I suppose. And to be honest, whoever is buying em can have em. HAHA. Makes the chicken I want cheaper. But other things are down or holding in price. Pork is down here. Almost to pre pandemic prices. Beef is mixed. The more popular winter cuts are down but the rest aren't. Seasonal fruits and Veg are down. Unseasonable ones are sky high. But that's par for the course very year. Want Strawberries in January? You're going to pay. No thanks. I'll wait until the first crops come in this season from my favorite strawberry growing regions. They're bigger, they're better, they're cheaper.

In CA, the big strawberries have arrived. They are currently $5/lb but totally worth it. I only buy them once a week for Sunday breakfast unless they go on sale.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

In CA, the big strawberries have arrived. They are currently $5/lb but totally worth it. I only buy them once a week for Sunday breakfast unless they go on sale.

They haven't made their way back here yet. Unfortunately. The Florida ones haven't either. But the CA ones are so much better.

 

[DLgal]

They haven't made their way back here yet. Unfortunately. The Florida ones haven't either. But the CA ones are so much better.

I found the big ones hiding among the small ones in the refrigerated case at Albertson's. I was so happy to find them!

We have a local farm that has the BEST strawberries in January. They grow the strawberries in a field 2 miles away and sell them in their pop up roadside stand. Unfortunately, they are also very expensive at $25/flat (4 pounds). They sell out every day by mid morning. But they are really good.

 

[barkley]

and to think i use strawberry plants as inexpensive ground cover in my ornamental planter beds-i should be charging the birds and chipmunks big$$$ for all they consume each year.

 

[TwoMisfits]

One thing I'm finding - it takes longer to shop for less food. You can't just walk in and throw items in your cart, b/c you have to both check the price and the ingredient list (if it's something not straightforward like protein and produce - at least if you have allergies like me). So many product formulation changes and so many price changes weekly that you need to make sure what you're buying is actually the on sale product and not something that got moved into the empty space (which I saw a lot today).