this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

When gas prices skyrocketed, grocery prices rose as well. Clearly every area sees different grocery prices, so this is only my experience with food prices where I live.

Milk is now regularly under $2 per gallon at one store. Another store often has it on sale for $2 or slightly less per gallon. It wasn't too long ago that $2.50 was a steal!

I used to always snatch up pork loins when they'd go on sale for less than $2 a pound. Then for a very long time that just wasn't happening and about $2.29 seemed the price to beat. Now, they frequently go on sale for about $1.89 a pound and last week I even picked up one for $1.29 a pound! Chicken seems to be going on sale more frequently as well.

Last week, I got 1/2 pound of cheese for $1. Though this is usually about what I pay when I buy shredded cheese in bulk at Costco, it's been years and years since I've seen it that low at the grocery store.

Staples such as flour and sugar seem to be still steadily rising. Since baking season is just around the corner, I've been catching a few nice sales here and there, but the regular price seems pretty high.

I know one "trick" that manufactueres use to keep their prices steady and low is to change the packaging size. I know that ice cream comes in smaller packages and tuna seems to be as well. However, I saw on a news show within the last few months that companies are doing the opposite as well. Instead of lowering prices when their costs decrease, packaging size is increased and you see something to the effect of "25% more free" on the packaging. Chips were the example given in the news report.


Overall, though, it doesn't appear to be enough to actually lower my grocery bill (but could it if I were a bit more disciplined? Maybe), but I'm not finding myself feeling like I have to make any increases to the grocery budget to account for rising food prices.



What about you? What are some trends you are seeing where you live?