The price of a quart of milk is now over a dollar. I've heard/read that there's some inflation, and I've noticed that other items are holding steady pricewise.

Just wondering what you're all noticing around the country regarding the prices of things.

My DD keeps close track of what she spends for grocerys for her family. She told me the other day that her grocery bill has gone up almost $100 every 2 weeks in the past 18 months. For us, every utility has gone up as well as taxes. And we won't even discuss gasoline!

I don't even want to think about it. My wages are not keeping up with inflation. What's a girl to do.

I'll have to look tomorrow. Honestly I quit looking at the prices of things when gas went so high.....I figure it is what it is and I just have to pay the price if I want it...but now you've got me curious!

A quart of milk????? I can't even imagine only buying a quart of milk. We go through 3 - 4 gallons of mild a week.
Judy in Ohio

Milk that is.. lol

You are not alone...in the last 12 months our electricity prices went up 23.28%, fuel by about 15%. Food prices are constantly sneaking up and it is cheaper to buy junk food than fresh fruit and veggies. Retirement for us is getting a distant dream!

milk here is anywhere from $2.99 to $3.99 per gallon. the lowest price consistently is walgreen's. the highest is A & P.

My DH is a diabled vet, so our checks haven't kept pace with rising prices either. Discretionary funds are at an all time low. Our grocery tab has gone up at least $200 a month over the last year or so. We don't buy anything different or extravegant. We had a pellet stove installed to offset our gas heating bill. That has helped.

Yesterday I bought a gallon of milk for $1.68; it's regularly a loss-leader at Wegmans. I don't need a gallon, just me and I only use it for cereal for evening snacks every now and again. Would have bought the half gallon, but it was $1.65. For $.03 more, I got double and will.... freeze it? I know I can, neighbors used to when I was a kid (we were way out in the country - no shopping every day then, lol). I can't stand to drink it, unless w/ warm chocolate chip cookies. Grew up 3x per day, bleck. When DD's are home, we go through a lot as they both drink it, by choice. Give me water.

For what it's worth, I can guarantee you the farmer isn't getting any more for the milk. My brother took over the small family farm when Dad died many years ago; he's often getting less per hundred weight (units that farmers sell milk in) than Dad did 40 years ago.

I am a school food service manager. I do purchasing for 2100 lunches a day. We hear all the time that we should be serving fresh fruit and vegetables. Some of which are at an all time high right now. Grapes were 19.25/case when school started. Last week the price was 47.65. Needless to say, we are not serving those.

I'd say something political, as a joke mind you, but I don't wanna get spanked by Admin! :)

Oregon is one of the most expensive places I've ever lived! Our income taxes for Oregon were higher than Federal this year, and yet they keep cutting things...I know that groceries cost the two of us about $350 or more a month...we don't spend much on gas since we live where we work....but even that is going up...

I hadn't noticed prices going up much here in Ontario but today when I was buying evaporated milk, I could not believe the price of it and the sweetened Eagle Brand milk was almost $4.00 a can. I was shocked!! It used to be about $2.79 an can and that was bad enough but this is ridiculous.

I think I'd probably agree with the political thing you were going to say, but we'll let that go! As far as farmers are concerned, I don't know how they make it. This used to be farm country, now there are hardly any. It's such a shame because it is a good way to grow up. I'm not sure how all of this will work out. I just pray that it does, and soon.

try living in new jersey, one of the highest paying tax states in the nation.

Lisanne--My DH and I have been dairy farmers for the past 38 years. The year 2009 was the worst year ever for our farming operation as for all dairy farmers. We had record low prices that would equal just over a dollar per gallon for our whole sale prices. You don't want to know how much money we borrowed last year to stay in business and now have to pay the loan back. It makes one wonder why DH and DS work 14-15 hours a day, seven days a week. If your milk price is going up it hasn't been seen in our business.
Sorry if I'm on a soap box, but kind of discouraging to have such a devastating year as we start to transition our farm to the next generation.

Many of the huge farms in America - 1,000's and 1,000's of acres, and heads of cattle, are owned by foreign interests. We are already dependent upon some of those same countries for fossil fuels. Others are from countries from which we import many manufactured goods.

Try not to think too much about it, it's scary! My mom says that Americans live too far from the land - meaning that without going to the store to buy milk, eggs, meat, bread, packaged goods, people don't know how to survive. Oh my gosh, I just realized I'm getting old - I'm starting to think my mother is right :shock:

Is there sugar in the Eagle milk--check the price of sugar.

Milk is $3.39 a gallon. I have no clue how much a quart is. Or even if our stores sell quarts.

Gas $2.68 today. Sourdough bread $2.99 a loaf. School required volleyball shoes $90. (Thank goodness my daughter didn't want to play this year.)

I would imagine sweetened condensed milk is loaded with sugar.

for a school to require shoes or anything else that costs $90 is absurd. the pta or the parents of the team kids should definitely oppose this.
btw, here in new jersey where the oil is refined and the ugly oil tanks blot out the sun, the gas prices are still 2.43 today. last week they were 2.53. that's with no cross country trucking.

Thanks for all the replies!

When I gave the example of milk, it was because milk usually holds steady. I wasn't blaming the dairy farmers for the price increase. In fact, that hadn't even occurred to me. Milk is usually a loss leader, so maybe stores have decided to do away their loss leaders. Wegman's seems to be the best price-wise on milk. It's been over a dollar (for that quart - I live alone and rarely use even that much up before it goes bad) for a few weeks now at most places. Today I didn't feel like fighting Sunday crowds at Wegman's, so I got it at Giant for, I think, $1.01. Wal-mart actually has the highest milk prices, like 20 cents higher for the same brand, same size.

Usually I rant about green peppers costing $3.99/pound, but this year the highest I've seen so far is $2.49, and most stores are regularly selling them for $1.69 - $1.99. I still remember the days of 99 cents being the non-sale price. Oh, well.

mcdaniel023, grapes, at this time of year? They're not in season. They're actually on sale for $1.29/pound this week (I know, that's retail), which just astonishes me even if they are imported. They're rarely that low even in the summer.

Honey, that seems to be a huge increase in your DD's grocery bill!

Earthwalker, I just cringe when I look at my utility bills. Did electricity get deregulated everywhere this month, or is it just PA? Anyway, electric bills are supposed to go up 30%, they tell us. And it's not like I can do without utilities.

It's true. If you don't grow up on a farm or with a backyard garden, you're helpless without grocery stores. That's true of me especially, being an apartment dweller.

lisa_wanna_b_quilter, I can't even judge the price of bread. Bread ranges from 99 cents for the store brand version of Wonder Bread, to over $2 for the name brand Wonder bread rivals, to $3.99 for more upscale breads, to $5 and $6 for bakery loaves. Not that there are bakeries around any more. (By bakery, I mean a place that makes the bread that day, from scratch, not the mass produced, pre-frozen dough that the supermarkets heat up on the premises and that has stuff in it to make last a week. Ooh, sorry, how did that off-topic rant work its way in?)

butterflywing, NJ has the lowest gas prices in the nation, somehow related to that no-self-serve law you guys have. Gas is down 4 cents this weekend here, $2.65/gallon at the lower-cost places.

(Tried to add that to my last post, but exceeded the 20 minute editing limit.)

My apartment complex was taken over by the bank and is being managed by a property management company. Funny thing, they're lowering rents! Mine is to go down $125/month, starting in May - if I sign a year's lease. I'm month-to-month now, paying extra for it, and probably won't be able to stay. But we'll see.

Lisanne, she thought so, too, so went over it again. She has been buying basically the same things (I think most of us do) and that is what she came up with. She buys all her grocerys at walmart, because they are the least expensive. We don't have a great choice here. Walmart, Copps and to small locally owned grocerys. I can't wait for spring and planting our garden. Not huge, but we get a lot out of it and eat all those wonderful fresh veggies all summer and fall. I also will be canning more this year again. I used to do tons of it, but when the kids got on their own, i kinda cut back. I will start in June with strawberries (yummy jam) and go from there. The problem is that so many young people don't know how and don't have time with both parents working to make ends meet. I try to do enough for all of us. We are also very lucky to have an excellent apple orchard just a few miles away.

Honey, I'm one of the stubborn ones who refuses to pay when prices go up too much. It finally hit me that I just have to accept it sometimes. So I won't just buy those $4 green peppers, or $4 bags of potato chips, but since I can't get either one of those for 99 cents any more, I will pay lower higher prices, if that makes any sense.

I was in Madison last winter, know and love both Copp's and Woodman's. And the people in the area have the best manners anywhere in the country! (And, oh, I so loved the snow!)

I also have very few choices here in central PA. I find Wal-mart is better for many things but it's the highest-priced in my area for milk, cottage cheese, and paper goods.

I think it's wonderful that you garden and preserve some of it.

Canning was something I just did when the kids were little. I was a stay at home mom so did everything possible to cut expenses. When they were all home I canned almost 1000 jars every year of fruit, veggies, pickles, jams you name it, I canned it. It always gave me great pride to see all of those jars in the basement for winter use. We would also get permission and take the kids out to scrabble the potatos that were left after the harvesters went through. We could always get about 500 pounds each year. It made the kids feel good knowing that they contributed. This summer I want to have my oldest GS (12) help some so that he can learn some of the basics.

Yes. they are out of season. But, they have NEVER been this high. We are lucky to have most items at a set bid price. But, I know for a fact that our bid is way under the going rate for milk, bread, yogurt and cheese. We still have to buy some fresh fruit and veggies that are not at set prices. Lettuce, tomatoes, celery and most fruit is really high right now and quality is poor. Tell that to the parents. They would not pay $4.00/lb. for grapes but they sure want us to. :roll:

I agree, how can a school require shoes that expensive!
my DD is a teacher in a grade school..and this year 65 % of the kids are getting free or low cost lunches..the parents are not working, or below the poverty line. so sad.
i was shocked at how much bread costs! a cheap lunch when i was groing up was a fried egg sandwich or peanut butter.
my husband doesn't understand the price of food..or knows. he just says "where did all the money go"? i told him..."your eating ,aren't you"!
i told him CVS has soup 2 for a dollar,limit of six..tomato,cream of mushroom..i ran up there.. in the grocery store, tomato soup is up around $1.30 a can!
i never really worried about the price of food..until my husband got laid off...now i watch everything.

The price of everything has gone up here too, but my husbands wages have gone down.

Regarding volleyball shoes.....

Our local public school district has lost it's mind as far as I can tell. Every sports team purchases new shoes every season. The shoes are picked by the coach and paid for by the parents. This year 8th grade volleyball shoes are $90. This is a very small town so the same kids generally play all the sports. It gets very expensive. The shoes come on top of a $50 fee just for participating in sports.

High school cheerleading uniforms were $600 this year. Drill team uniforms are $200 - 300 every year. I do not know why parents in this town continue to allow this, but they do. Parents don't want to make a fuss because the coaches may take it out on the kids.

I rant on this topic all the time. Both of our local factories have closed. Our coal mine has closed. Our county has one of the highest unemployment rate in Illinois, yet our schools do this. GRRRR!

We buy two kinds of milk in this house, Sasha insists that I drink at least 2% for the baby, and he gets 1%... Milk is sold in bags, and you pay around 7.50/4L. I think a litre is a little less that a quart.
Now, GAS is what really gets us... it's 1.05/litre right now, which converts to 4.20/gallon for you guys across the border. Last summer, it went up to nearly 1.50/litre, which is the equivalent of about 6.00/gallon, if I calculated right. I live in Montreal, not some remote village in the boonies... there's no excuse for these prices, especially since we produce it in our own country, but somehow the Americans get it cheaper than we do...

Did anyone see the Oprah episode about our food?? It addressed this same thing that it is cheaper to buy junk than healthy items, also the movie Food Inc.


I am the grocery shopper for the family and thankfully at this point we are doing better financially than we ever have, however I have not gotten a raise in over a year (we are on a wage freeze) I notice I seem to never be on budget lately over the last few months. Plus I am trying to buy healthier and buy more organic, but it is rough. I also notice the price of normal food items is sneaking up and almost getting close to the same prices as some organic foods. So why not buy organic if it is only a dollar more than the crap? I stopped paying attention to gas prices forever ago, what is the point you cant do much about it.

mcdaniel023, I agree that kids should have fresh fruits and vegetables. But this time of year, parents shouldn't expect anything more than the typical winter fruits (apples, oranges, bananas), IMO. It is really interesting to read about what you go through to supply nutritious lunches to schoolkids.

Baren* (sorry, typing out your full username always daunts me!), we know what liters are here, at least what 1 and 2 liter bottles look like. Years ago, they planned to go metric and started selling sodapop in 1 and 2 liter bottles. Cans aren't metric, but the bottles still are. Your gas prices are horrifying!

For the milk, is there a difference in the price of the 2% vs. the 1%? Years ago, they all (whole and skim, too) sold at the same price, but in the last year or two I've noticed the price goes up the fat level goes down (or up _ I swear, one week skim is the cheapest, then the next week, it's the most expensive).

samroberts01, I didn't see the Oprah thing about food, but the media has been saying that for years. On the other hand, people who have done the Saving Dinner menu plans constantly testify that they're astonished that buying fresh food has actually cost them less. I guess we just have to check prices and do the math to be sure.

Yeah, skim milk is always cheaper than homo milk here... and it's always cheaper at the corner store than at the grocery store.

I just think it's a sad state when a gallon of milk costs more than a six pack of beer or soda.
All prices have gone up (except my paycheck). I am lucky, the kids a grown so I don't need to buy as much. Still, I spend for two people what I used to spend for a family of four.

I noticed the prices going up. I'm on the verge of trying out a small vegetable "victory garden" at home to hopefully even out the costs a little. Maybe get into canning this year. And making my own bread.

I know exactly what you mean. Good grief, it shouldn't cost this much for DH & I. When my kids were all home I did the canning and baking and everything from scratch. Guess I have to get back into more canning again.

My grocery budget hasn't changed much in several years. I buy whole foods so they seem to stay about the same price. I don't buy any processed foods or packaged foods. I do buy frozen vegetables. I buy 1/2 and 1/2 for milk. We buy half a cow twice a year so I don't buy beef from the grocery store. We don't like pork that much but we do like bacon and I switched to turkey bacon, my one nitrate loaded food. Poultry and fish prices stay about even. My only big cost is fresh vegetable and fruit, especially blueberries and melons. I don't buy chips, sodas, snack cakes, but do buy ice cream, dark chocolate, and pre shelled nuts. Brazil nuts are our favorite. We seldom eat out, the food has no flavor in most of the chain restarurants around here. No good restarurants with a real chef. :?

DH and I are both on SS. We both work a little to supplement our income. We always have a garden. I freeze mostly, but I do can green beans.We ahave two freezer full for the two of us. We grow almost everything that can be grown in GA. Veggies and fruits. We share with our children and some friends. So you would think that we'd have a low grocery bills. I will admit I don't look at the prices of groceries if it's something we need I buy it. We still have to eat. Having said that I do shop as thrify as I can. Coupons, sales food in season. I really like to shop at Aldi's first then go to Walmart for the rest.
We have our gas and electric on a budget plan so we don't get sticker shock. Last time we fill up our gas tank it was almost a $1000.00 and it will not last a year. But all in all we are in pretty good shape. I can still buy fabric and DH buys his toys. I buy something for Olivia almost weekly. Gas prices are what bug me the most. How can gas go up 11 to 15 cents over night :?: :?: :?: