Grocery Store-What are you paying for food? (1 Viewer)

[MAC_32]

2 lbs bacon - $5
4 containers blackberries - $2

I cheated, this is a new store opening

 

[Ron Swanson]

Corn cob bacon

What's this now?

Sorry to ghost y'all on the corn cob bacon. It's simply thick cut bacon smoked over corn cob as the fuel. Extra smokey and delicious. Similar to Nueske's. I make my own bacon but I'll still buy this stuff.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Just as an aside since we are talking grocery stores and people tend to by them at the stores especially here in Florida

Mega Millions lottery tickets...has anyone bought one of these in the last month?
They were $2 a piece and you might buy 5 random tickets and it was $10 when the jackpot got big enough
Anyone know what these darlings have gone up to now per ticket?

$3 you say, try again
$4 you might guess, double? Nope
$5!!!

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I noticed today at Kroger that a can of black olives was $3.19.

Those things were 79 cents not that long ago. And even just looking after the big inflation boom they were $1.99 pretty recently (which was already up like 150%).

 

[fatness]

Eggs are down $1.00 a dozen here, from $4.99 to $3.99.
And coffee is way up.

 

[Nugget]

I track my restaurant and grocery spends monthly and combine into a "total food" spend. April and May were the two highest months I've had in the last 5 years. My average grocery spend through 5 months is $150 higher than 2024 average, while restaurants are down $60 over the same time frame. I am not noticeably fatter.

 

[Desert_Power]

I track my restaurant and grocery spends monthly and combine into a "total food" spend. April and May were the two highest months I've had in the last 5 years. My average grocery spend through 5 months is $150 higher than 2024 average, while restaurants are down $60 over the same time frame. I am not noticeably fatter.

What percentage of a base is that off of? I have not really noticed similar but buy limited processed food and try to only purchase new meat on sale.

 

[Todem]

Just as an aside since we are talking grocery stores and people tend to by them at the stores especially here in Florida

Mega Millions lottery tickets...has anyone bought one of these in the last month?
They were $2 a piece and you might buy 5 random tickets and it was $10 when the jackpot got big enough
Anyone know what these darlings have gone up to now per ticket?

$3 you say, try again
$4 you might guess, double? Nope
$5!!!

Sucker bet.

 

[Nugget]

I track my restaurant and grocery spends monthly and combine into a "total food" spend. April and May were the two highest months I've had in the last 5 years. My average grocery spend through 5 months is $150 higher than 2024 average, while restaurants are down $60 over the same time frame. I am not noticeably fatter.

What percentage of a base is that off of? I have not really noticed similar but buy limited processed food and try to only purchase new meat on sale.

1st 5 months 2025 grocery - $583.61 vs $430.40. 2024FY grocery was 441.79 average.

Restaurants are at $295.74 vs $356.09

I rough budget $1000/month for food - last two months were both just over and I'd only had one month over $1000 before.

 

[Todem]

I noticed today at Kroger that a can of black olives was $3.19.

Those things were 79 cents not that long ago. And even just looking after the big inflation boom they were $1.99 pretty recently (which was already up like 150%).

Madness!!!

 

[ChiefD]

Sorry to ghost y'all on the corn cob bacon. It's simply thick cut bacon smoked over corn cob as the fuel. Extra smokey and delicious. Similar to Nueske's. I make my own bacon but I'll still buy this stuff.

Love me some Nueske's.

 

[the moops]

I track my restaurant and grocery spends monthly and combine into a "total food" spend.

Just curious. Why do you do this?

 

[kupcho1]

I track my restaurant and grocery spends monthly and combine into a "total food" spend. April and May were the two highest months I've had in the last 5 years. My average grocery spend through 5 months is $150 higher than 2024 average, while restaurants are down $60 over the same time frame. I am not noticeably fatter.

Please don't take this the wrong way as I appreciate you trying to contribute, but your metrics are flawed, IMO.

Mix matters. Combining restaurant bills (were I assume you tip) and grocery spend (where I assume you don't) makes any dollar or percentage increase or decrease meaningless.

Saying your "grocery spend through 5 months is $150 higher than 2024 average" could be driven by eating at restaurants less this year (or any number of other reasons).
I don't think restaurants have gotten any less expensive, so if you're eating the exact same meals the same number of times per month at the same restaurants as last year, I'd be surprised.

Anyway, I don't combine grocery and restaurant spend. For some reason my grocery costs are down 10%+ this year. I've changed very little in what I buy. Actually, I've tried to cut way, way back on sugar, so no $7.50 half gallons of Tillamook ice cream this year. I cut that out.

And no, I'm not any skinnier. :(

 

[Nugget]

I track my restaurant and grocery spends monthly and combine into a "total food" spend.

Just curious. Why do you do this?

I track everything. I use the spreadsheet to true up my CC bills against and keep a minumum amount of cash in my checking account.

Plan is to retire at some point and it seemed like a good idea to figure out what I spend. I don't know how else people are confident that they have their 25x annual spend.

 

[Nugget]

I track my restaurant and grocery spends monthly and combine into a "total food" spend. April and May were the two highest months I've had in the last 5 years. My average grocery spend through 5 months is $150 higher than 2024 average, while restaurants are down $60 over the same time frame. I am not noticeably fatter.

Please don't take this the wrong way as I appreciate you trying to contribute, but your metrics are flawed, IMO.

Mix matters. Combining restaurant bills (were I assume you tip) and grocery spend (where I assume you don't) makes any dollar or percentage increase or decrease meaningless.

Saying your "grocery spend through 5 months is $150 higher than 2024 average" could be driven by eating at restaurants less this year (or any number of other reasons).
I don't think restaurants have gotten any less expensive, so if you're eating the exact same meals the same number of times per month at the same restaurants as last year, I'd be surprised.

Anyway, I don't combine grocery and restaurant spend. For some reason my grocery costs are down 10%+ this year. I've changed very little in what I buy. Actually, I've tried to cut way, way back on sugar, so no $7.50 half gallons of Tillamook ice cream this year. I cut that out.

And no, I'm not any skinnier. :(

I track them individually as well, but I feel they are correlated. If my grocery spend is up, it makes sense that my restaurant spend may be down.

I've tried to add more fish and fiber to my diet, so I'd expect costs to go up as I move to less processed foods. I've tried to buy more marked down produce and use it same day to help offset.

I did just check my local Kroger store app - it keeps a 2 year history of your purchases if you really want to check prices.

 

[FairWarning]

The shrinkflation subreddit is very eye-opening these days.

 

[kupcho1]

I track them individually as well, but I feel they are correlated. If my grocery spend is up, it makes sense that my restaurant spend may be down.

That's correct but not really the point. All I was saying was that because of this you can't make valid comparisons in terms of spending between periods.

 

[MAC_32]

The shrinkflation subreddit is very eye-opening these days.

One pound of chicken is still one pound of chicken

 

[fatness]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.
Coffee on the other had has skyrocketed. We use half caff, either Folgers (22.6 oz) or Maxwell House (25.6 oz.). Prices around town vary widely for each and are way up from early this year.
Folgers: $9.99 to $25.49
Maxwell House: $12.99 to $24.19

 

[fatness]

The shrinkflation subreddit is very eye-opening these days.

One pound of chicken is still one pound of chicken

A package of bacon used to be 16 oz.
Now a package of bacon is either 12 oz. or 16 oz.
People buy the 12 oz packages for the price they used to pay for 16 oz.
Shrinkflation.

 

[Zeppelin]

A package of bacon used to be 16 oz.
Now a package of bacon is either 12 oz. or 16 oz.
People buy the 12 oz packages for the price they used to pay for 16 oz.
Shrinkflation.

That **** pisses me off.

 

[Mookie]

Diet Pepsi! Used to get a 12 pack for about $6, and when there were deals, it was $4/each but you had to buy 2. Now the "deal" is $10 for a single 12 pack! I'm going to start making my own iced tea instead as a healthier and far cheaper option.

 

[bcat01]

Diet Pepsi! Used to get a 12 pack for about $6, and when there were deals, it was $4/each but you had to buy 2. Now the "deal" is $10 for a single 12 pack! I'm going to start making my own iced tea instead as a healthier and far cheaper option.

Dollar General and Kroger run sales every few weeks. It can be anywhere from $4.66 to $6 each.

 

[Doug B]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.

Not sure why ... but eggs (default store-brand white large, no organic or fancy brands) aren't really coming down much in the N.O. area.

I mean - yes - they are cheaper than they were at peak a few months ago. But they're still over double what they cost in August of last year.

 

[fatness]

Egg prices seem driven by suppliers, and there are different suppliers all over the country. Some suppliers are hit by avian flu outbreaks, some are not, some suppliers are keeping prices up (whether hit by flu or not), some are not.

 

[BeTheMatch]

I believe in my heart that there is a global conspiracy to just keep raising prices and shrinking packages because we just keep paying it no matter what. I picture these guys all sitting in a conference room smoking cigars and partying with hookers and blow just laughing non-stop in disbelief that no matter what they do, sales just don't drop.

No one can convince me that's not happening.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I believe in my heart that there is a global conspiracy to just keep raising prices and shrinking packages because we just keep paying it no matter what. I picture these guys all sitting in a conference room smoking cigars and partying with hookers and blow just laughing non-stop in disbelief that no matter what they do, sales just don't drop.

No one can convince me that's not happening.

Ya think?

Of course this is happening

 

[Cowboysfan8]

I believe in my heart that there is a global conspiracy to just keep raising prices and shrinking packages because we just keep paying it no matter what. I picture these guys all sitting in a conference room smoking cigars and partying with hookers and blow just laughing non-stop in disbelief that no matter what they do, sales just don't drop.

No one can convince me that's not happening.

Absolutely

 

[Instinctive]

I believe in my heart that there is a global conspiracy to just keep raising prices and shrinking packages because we just keep paying it no matter what. I picture these guys all sitting in a conference room smoking cigars and partying with hookers and blow just laughing non-stop in disbelief that no matter what they do, sales just don't drop.

No one can convince me that's not happening.

You're not that far off. There aren't cigars hookers or blow, but there are 24 year olds saying things like "You tell me if there's a problem, but you could charge the same price for this "snack size" and raise the regular one's price and you'll actually increase margins even more than you costs just went up."

And then the SVP of Pricing Analytics says something like "Great, let's get the rest of the team on board but this makes sense to me."

It's less a conspiracy though. More investors/PE putting a bunch of debt on companies and forcing them to increase margins somehow, then hiring management consultants to identify the options, none of which are rocket science and most of which are kind of scummy.

And this, another post leads me to "private equity as a concept is mostly ruining the world."

 

[FairWarning]

The shrinkflation subreddit is very eye-opening these days.

One pound of chicken is still one pound of chicken

Some things like fresh meats and produce, it doesn’t apply to. Now do a bag of frozen chicken nuggets….

 

[Major]

The shrinkflation subreddit is very eye-opening these days.

One pound of chicken is still one pound of chicken

Some things like fresh meats and produce, it doesn’t apply to. Now do a bag of frozen chicken nuggets….

Exactly. Pre packaged products are where you'll find it. Shave off a few milliliters, ounces or just add more water to the ingredients. No one will notice

 

[MAC_32]

The shrinkflation subreddit is very eye-opening these days.

One pound of chicken is still one pound of chicken

Some things like fresh meats and produce, it doesn’t apply to. Now do a bag of frozen chicken nuggets….

...a worse and more expensive per pound product than uncooked chicken. Shop the rim, not the aisles.

 

[kupcho1]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.
Coffee on the other had has skyrocketed. We use half caff, either Folgers (22.6 oz) or Maxwell House (25.6 oz.). Prices around town vary widely for each and are way up from early this year.
Folgers: $9.99 to $25.49
Maxwell House: $12.99 to $24.19

Is there any way we can upload receipts?

 

[bcat01]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.
Coffee on the other had has skyrocketed. We use half caff, either Folgers (22.6 oz) or Maxwell House (25.6 oz.). Prices around town vary widely for each and are way up from early this year.
Folgers: $9.99 to $25.49
Maxwell House: $12.99 to $24.19

Is there any way we can upload receipts?

Walmart has Folgers Half Caff 22.6 oz is $13.96 and Maxwell House is $13.32 for 25.6oz

 

[fatness]

Is there any way we can upload receipts?

The only way I've found is to upload them offsite, then link the image here.

 

[Nugget]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.
Coffee on the other had has skyrocketed. We use half caff, either Folgers (22.6 oz) or Maxwell House (25.6 oz.). Prices around town vary widely for each and are way up from early this year.
Folgers: $9.99 to $25.49
Maxwell House: $12.99 to $24.19

Is there any way we can upload receipts?

Walmart has Folgers Half Caff 22.6 oz is $13.96 and Maxwell House is $13.32 for 25.6oz

Folgers here runs 14.99 at the local Kroger. But I was able to buy 5 last month at 7.99 with their digital coupons.

 

[Major]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.
Coffee on the other had has skyrocketed. We use half caff, either Folgers (22.6 oz) or Maxwell House (25.6 oz.). Prices around town vary widely for each and are way up from early this year.
Folgers: $9.99 to $25.49
Maxwell House: $12.99 to $24.19

Is there any way we can upload receipts?

Walmart has Folgers Half Caff 22.6 oz is $13.96 and Maxwell House is $13.32 for 25.6oz

Folgers here runs 14.99 at the local Kroger. But I was able to buy 5 last month at 7.99 with their digital coupons.

Ha, I stocked up at that sale as well but opted for Bustelo instead. Better coffee especially if you like a darker espresso flavor. Love those Kroger weekly sales and digital coupons

 

[Runkle]

Not the grocery store, but, pizza places....

Large pizza, $30

Extra Large, $35

Prices before delivery.

We used to be a proper country. What is going on? Bread dough, tomato sauce, cheese. A topping or two. What is happening here?

 

[BeTheMatch]

Not the grocery store, but, pizza places....

Large pizza, $30

Extra Large, $35

Prices before delivery.

We used to be a proper country. What is going on? Bread dough, tomato sauce, cheese. A topping or two. What is happening here?

It is soooo stupid.

 

[Ridgeback]

Not the grocery store, but, pizza places....

Large pizza, $30

Extra Large, $35

Prices before delivery.

We used to be a proper country. What is going on? Bread dough, tomato sauce, cheese. A topping or two. What is happening here?

I'd tell you but then I'd get another time out.

 

[New Binky the Doormat]

local Kroger ribeye - "choice" grade - $19/lb

**** me

 

[fatness]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.
Coffee on the other had has skyrocketed. We use half caff, either Folgers (22.6 oz) or Maxwell House (25.6 oz.). Prices around town vary widely for each and are way up from early this year.
Folgers: $9.99 to $25.49
Maxwell House: $12.99 to $24.19

Is there any way we can upload receipts?

Walmart has Folgers Half Caff 22.6 oz is $13.96 and Maxwell House is $13.32 for 25.6oz

Folgers here runs 14.99 at the local Kroger. But I was able to buy 5 last month at 7.99 with their digital coupons.

Specials for $7.99 ended a couple months ago here. Now only a few stores have it for $9.99 on special. Meanwhile the non-special prices have exploded from $11.99 to up to $25 which is crazy and depends on enough people not checking prices. I do like you did --- wait until one kind or the other is on special and stock up.

 

[Major]

Eggs are down again here, to $2.99/dozen for store brand.
Coffee on the other had has skyrocketed. We use half caff, either Folgers (22.6 oz) or Maxwell House (25.6 oz.). Prices around town vary widely for each and are way up from early this year.
Folgers: $9.99 to $25.49
Maxwell House: $12.99 to $24.19

Is there any way we can upload receipts?

Walmart has Folgers Half Caff 22.6 oz is $13.96 and Maxwell House is $13.32 for 25.6oz

Folgers here runs 14.99 at the local Kroger. But I was able to buy 5 last month at 7.99 with their digital coupons.

Specials for $7.99 ended a couple months ago here. Now only a few stores have it for $9.99 on special. Meanwhile the non-special prices have exploded from $11.99 to up to $25 which is crazy and depends on enough people not checking prices. I do like you did --- wait until one kind or the other is on special and stock up.

Yeah, I've been stocking up on items that will surely be effected by these stupid tariffs

 

[FairWarning]

Not the grocery store, but, pizza places....

Large pizza, $30

Extra Large, $35

Prices before delivery.

We used to be a proper country. What is going on? Bread dough, tomato sauce, cheese. A topping or two. What is happening here?

Labor, everyone is looking for back of the house help.

 

[MAC_32]

local Kroger ribeye - "choice" grade - $19/lb

**** me

Just picked up a buncha strips for $7.99 / lb!

 

[the moops]

Can't believe some of y'all are buying Folgers and Maxwell House.

 

[Nugget]

Can't believe some of y'all are buying Folgers and Maxwell House.

I usually go with the the store brand unless these are on sale.

 

[Major]

Can't believe some of y'all are buying Folgers and Maxwell House.

Maxwell House is actually quality for the price but Bustelo is my go to. I do agree that Folgers is trash. I go through a lot of coffee to get my desired strength/taste so a 10 oz. bag of premium lasts less than week and not worth the cost.

 

[Major]

Can't believe some of y'all are buying Folgers and Maxwell House.

I usually go with the the store brand unless these are on sale.

Krogers store brand is awful imo. I tried it once when the 25 oz jug was on sale for $5.99 and

 

[Nugget]

Can't believe some of y'all are buying Folgers and Maxwell House.

I usually go with the the store brand unless these are on sale.

Krogers store brand is awful imo. I tried it once when the 25 oz jug was on sale for $5.99 and

Once you add the coconut milk, it all tastes the same.