this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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I remember grocery shopping as a kid filling the cart completely full and when we went through the register it was over $100 and my mom was going jeez that's a lot of money for a lot of food. It took 3 people several trips to unload the car.
Today I go through the self checkout, get a few frozen meals, some store brand cookies, and a case of cheap beer for $80. I can carry the two bags and beer with one hand.
I’ve been going to Costco every week for several years. Pre Covid my big trips were around $350. Yesterday I went and got some beer, wine, and some beef jerky and it came out to $350
My big cart days are a lot closer to $700 too now. Certain items I remember being $10 are now $16-18. It’s insane.
We just had a $595 sticker shock at Costco a few days ago. I'm pretty sure the same amount of stuff would have been $350 a couple years ago.
Just a note here, I bet your mom wasn't buying "dinners," she was buying "ingredients." Ingredients take up a lot more space in the cart per dollar spent. Sometimes that's because you pay a premium for prepared foods, (flour vs cookies) and sometimes it's because there's inherent waste, like onion skins, and both ends of that head of celery, and the bones of the whole chicken, and the stem, seeds, and vacant space inside a bell pepper. Also, not judging the beer, but in my childhood Dad bought all the alcoholic beverages from the liquor store in a separate trip. So it wouldn't have been in the grocery bags, nor on that receipt.
Inflation is real. But it's important to:
A. Make accurate comparisons
B. Value the work that went into turning those ingredients into dinners.
I'm really weirded out because I strongly remember averaging $100/week grocery trips as a kid, and now that I have my own family we're averaging $100/week. Checking a CPI calculator I should be spending ~$180/week with the exact same spending habits
They're raising the prices because we're buying "frozen meals, cookies, and beer". All of that can be made at home for cheaper. Well, the beer and cookies may cost the same but they will be twice as good.
Figure out what is your biggest purchase and find the recipe for it. Pasta, Indian food, cookies, and even beer can be made at home if you know what you're doing.
Prices were lower before because everyone knew they could probably whip up something similar. If you have a bag of flour, some butter, and some sugar you can basically make half of the things at the grocery store.
I guess I don't buy frozen "meals" I buy frozen prepared meat. I eat meat everyday as my main meal. It's a lot of work to keep meat in daily servings frozen and then prepare that everyday as well. There are a few things I make that I can freeze in daily portions like shredded beef or pork, or just chicken thighs/breast that I'm just going to fry and sauce.
Premade cookies are my vice. I like switching things up and there are a bunch of different ones. Plus they're my snack that can just stay in the unsealed package so I can grab a couple anytime throughout the week. The Walmart brand are only $2.50 per package and the knock out thin mints are a good as the "real" one. 100% worth it, I can't make those. Or many of the others like store brand oreos. I occasionally get a craving for real chocolate chip cookies. So I make a huge batch and consume it in an unhealthy amount of time.