CTH has covered the origin of food inflation since we first raised the alarms in the spring of 2020. A confluence of events starting with the fracturing of the food supply chain (shutting down restaurants, hospitality venues, schools, cafeterias, etc), created the initial major problem. Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sold at retail stores could not keep up with demand after 50% of the food supply system was shut down.
Within the U.S. retail food supply chain (350+ million people), manufacturing CPG products relies on a system of staying one to two harvest cycles ahead of demand. However, when restaurants and fresh food venues were closed, very quickly frozen, bulk stored and siloed U.S. food storage systems, the storage needed for CPG products, were emptied.
Long after the time when all food distribution was reopened, the shortages of CPG products continued. You saw the result with empty shelves at the supermarket. It takes a long time (years) for those inventories to refill.
We warned of this in 2020 and then followed the predictable outcome in 2021 and 2022.
When Joe Biden then shut down the U.S. energy production system in early 2021, the massive increases in energy costs -and the shortages of natural gas- became fuel on the inflationary fire of CPG goods. Again, in October 2021 CTH noted that retail prices were going to rise quickly, and they did.
Throughout 2022 food prices have risen dramatically as the food distribution and processing system was now under pressure from all sides. The shortage of inputs (to refill food storage and warehousing needs) combined with the much higher costs to generate those inputs -the direct result of the exploding energy costs- created massive inflation pressure. The pricing result we are seeing now (third wave of food inflation) is exactly what we have stated, discussed and predicted for more than two years.
While all food costs are skyrocketing, the prices for manufactured or processed food are much higher than the price increases for fresh food.
While both fresh and CPG foods have risen in price due to energy costs, the processing of food uses more energy… and that energy comes at a higher price…. so the CPG inflation is much higher than the fresh half of the supply chain.
In essence, the CPG goods carry higher farming costs plus much higher manufacturing costs.
For those who say, ‘fresh food is healthier‘, you are correct. However, let me also remind you that we cannot feed 350 million people with fresh food alone – and simultaneously export billions of tons of bulk food products like grain, corn and soybeans.
The U.S. food distribution system needs processed food for retail restaurants, cafeteria, lunchrooms and grocery stores. [Ex. Italian restaurants will not start making pasta sauce from tomatoes, and if they did you likely couldn’t afford to eat there.]
So here comes Joe Biden, without a clue in the world of what I just described above. And his food inflation solution?…. well, you just have to hear it yourself to see it. WATCH (01:35, prompted):
.
[Wall Street Journal] – […] The personal saving rate, a measure of how much money people have left over after spending and taxes, fell to 3.1% from 3.4% in August. It is down from 7.9% a year ago as consumers tap their rainy-day funds.
U.S. credit-card balances hit $916 billion in September, returning to prepandemic levels, credit-reporting firm Equifax Inc. said. Balances are up 9% from January and about 23% higher than their pandemic low in April 2021.
A closely watched reading of underlying inflationary pressures, meanwhile, picked up last month and remained near a four-decade high. When stripped of volatile food and energy prices, the PCE price index strengthened to a 5.1% year-over-year increase—the strongest pace since March.
Friday’s report comes on the heels of other data showing consumers’ momentum weakened in the summer months. Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of total U.S. economic output. (read more)
Hopefully someone will come out with generic crack for hunter and generic military hardware for ukraine….LOL
And generic strippers and sisters in law.
/s/
We are all already doing what we can to conserve and shop those flyer sales, but I think we all know inflation is way higher then they say. What $100 bought 3 years ago now takes closer to $300.
I went to the supermarket in our small country town which I usually avoid but wasn’t heading to a major centre for a couple of weeks. I filled one small hand basket with the only “luxury” in it being a one kilogram block of store brand cheese, the rest just some cans of lentils and chick peas and 2 loaves of bread. It cost me $89. A year ago it would have cost less than $40.
I check at a small local grocery. It’s down right disgusting what $100 US can’t get these days. Used to be you could fill a regular size cart for that. Now, a hand basket can run to that much depending on what you’re buying.
For reference, I am in Canada, but I feel like it’s the same across North America… I have seen pretty much every item I buy go up between 30-50% or more, or the price goes up 50 cents but the size gets cut. It’s such a joke, as if those of us who pay attention don’t notice these things happening in real time.
what $3 gold bought a 100 years ago, now takes closer to $300.
The more Biden talks the more Republicans (make America great again conservatives please) will be elected on November 8th.
Yes…but what will they do about Energy Independence/Drilling…utilizing this Country’s resources?
This needs to occur in order to reduce inflation….
Nothing will/can be done without a veto-proof majority. Might as well get used to the dog & pony shows about everything that accomplishes nothing. We really have to stop, “Confusing activity with accomplishment.”
We need to elect a veto-proof congress.
which is truly sad and telling – how was it that his nation has fallen away so far, that it would take the likes of joe malarkey to reconsider?
I look forward to a day and time when we don’t need joe malarkeys to remind us that doing better and achieving excellence is just a normal sop
God Bless America
When my son was young there were two store brand items that he preferred over the brand name items. Pathmark brand cinnamon rolls and Cesar salad dressing.
People are going to buy what they can afford if they are using their own money.
bran is bran
raisins are raisins
costs are costs
running on empty
is empty
#TARFU
Obama during fuel price surge – inflate your tires.
Biden during food price surge – eat generic raisin bran.
As SD shared with receipts (Shop Rite eggs example) – grocery stores/ retailers are also raising the price of their store brands aggressively and enjoying massive direct profits.
Just like Exxon?/s
Last I knew grocery store profit margins percentage-wise were typically in the low single digits.
2-4%
While admittedly small margins, their profits are higher on their store brands than from selling branded products. No trade dollar and other gimmicks.
Another key profit generator for retailers are the $$ “shelving fees” they charge branded product manfs whenever they change product sizes requiring revised data logging for ring up and physical shelf price signage. OJ 64 oz > 59 oz > (now) 53 oz.
There has been a LOT of downsizing going on the last 2 years.
Further, they charge nuisance fees to manfs for various product changes which exceed a set limit.
Agree … our Louisiana 3lb bag of peeled and deveined white shrimp from Albertsons went from$23.00 to $33.99 in 1 week.
AVIFPUA. A very ignorant fool pushed upon America!
Rai$in brain
Sure wish that whatever the good people
are waiting to happen
would hurry up and happen.
Reminds me of when Jimmy Carter told us to put on a sweater when home heating oil prices skyrocketed due to his mismanagement or when Jug Ears 0bama told us to make sure our car tires were properly inflated when that idiot jacked up oil prices with the same type of crap Dopey Joe is doing.
buy plastic and duct tape
was another good one
Yep, there is definitely a theme going on with the socialist elite idiots flustered as leaders
Joey’s sounding a little whistling.
Oh, look, they gave the Biden granddaughters something to do: posterboard signs for Gramp’s presentation.
Lies, lies, lies
JoBama can suck my $&@#
Today!!! When they are finished with Paul Pelosi and Michael Obama of course 🙌🏼🫵🙌🏼
with that tung???? 😱
You sure?
Restaurants not start making pasta sauce from tomatoes. I have long thought that juices, sauces, and pastes from specific fresh fruits and vegetables are probably derived from the, still safe, but not so pretty for the produce section, products.
most of restaurant supplies are purchased from a distributor such as Sysco or US Foods
Is Ukraine getting nothing but generics and store brands?
This lying piece of garbage takes the term gaslighting to a whole new level… My God I can barely stomach a 30 second clip of this meatpuppet without becoming uncomfortably angered!
I haven’t heard but 3 words of the turd ever.same as the kenyan CUT the Cord in 2005
Did I hear it correctly, he said something along the lines of beef not being more expensive?
The guy is clueless. All meat where I am, with the possible exception of pork, costs about twice what it did two years ago.
He is an idiot. Or lying. Or both.
Beef and pork in my local grocery stores are WAY more than twice what it was two years ago. No longer on my shopping list. At all.
We’re buying his groceries and paying his gourmet chefs.
And paying for his electricity, fueling his limo and private jet…
we probably are but he is supposed to pay his own food bills….we pay for the staff either way
While the country maybe paying his chefs, he is paying for their families personal food. Just like every other president
I wonder who supplies the food? Or if someone goes and shops for it and where? Are they paying full retail price?
Send a request to Penguin 6 to run through Eastern Market again checking prices. The ones I captured during his trip through there a few months ago were eye opening, both the selection and price, the latter of which I thought was pretty reasonable for the belly of the D.C. beast in a historically significant landmark marketplace, just gauging the meat prices alone.
Maybe we’re paying to keep D.C. in cheap food. We’re paying for everything else there.
All I can say is things are weird. Grocery shopped yesterday; dairy ridiculously expensive (here in the dairy state of WI), but things like Chex cereal were on sale cheap. Stocked up on ingredients for homemade chexmix. I buy very little processed food as I enjoy cooking. Stocked up on canned beans and tomatoes which were also on sale, it’s chili season.
Dog food, holy moly, I have three labs, prices are going up on average $10 a month for a 30-40 lb bag, if we can even find it.
“Yes, let them eat the store brands.”
King Joey Louis
Because…
You know…every day that goes by….I am still so disgusted and saddened that a coup was successful against our President Trump and each of us. The coup negatively affects every single facet of our lives.
Vote as late as possible on election day and pray we overwhelm the damn algorithms. 🙏🏼🇺🇸
excellent vote late on election day bring a pen and one for another voter
A BLUE pen. The machine marks them (real and fraudulently) in black. Make yours definitive.
joe malarkey. we all know the man. He is actually many people. malarkey people. desperate fools.
I watched a movie today. It was recommended to me because the writing was spectacular and the subject was not fictional. (it does not matter to name the movie).
the takeaway:
person a: why did you do it?
person b: because no one stopped me.
sociopathy. a sociopath has not limits. they do not respect limits. people who are godless and broken do anything they want and for no reasoning at all. they just do things. animals. No inner discipline. No awareness.
the answer to a society and a “leadership” that is lost is to compel them…to delimit them. they will never give up doing stupid reckless things. that is their very nature. they are sociopathic by SIN.
and by nature, the remedy is to contain them..to restrain them by breaking them.
if a person acts as an animal, and has no sense of intelligence and wisdom, that person must be STRIPPED of any position of power over any other human being. Even a bad mother. Yes, even a bad mother. The CHILD must never be allowed to endure the crazy aimless toxic influence even from a bad dad or mom. RESPONSIBLE MORAL PEOPLE MUST STEP IN and put an end to that madness and correct it.
When we pray for a better society it begins with addressing how to restrain the sociopaths. The wicked and the criminal. We have that responsibility
otherwise…we will always be in a terminal loop hearing: I did it ..because no one stopped me.
We must stop this sociopathic nihilist leadership and put honorable men and women in positions of power. That is the very first order of business. Then we can start to reform a society that has be misled into believing that it is someone elses’ job.
God did not put US ON THIS EARTH TO SPECTATE.
We have a sacred gift. We shall us it.
God Bless America
Sounds like a description of ‘predators’. Sociopaths can be restrained…in prison if having done things against the law.
We are also supposed to ‘admonish’ the sinner…well we saw where that got some people on January 6th. Yes, we need to pray more and be vigilant.
the good nurse. I should not have insisted it was unnecessary to name the movie. it is a movie based on true events.
the writing is very good. moral even. it’s obvious the writers were keen on focusing on a specific kind of crime…
the type of crime that society decides against all reasons, should be ignored for self interest.
but from this chaos, three good people stand up in the end and put an end to the maniac:
the good nurse and the two good police detectives.
it is by far one of the best movies I have seen in the last year.
the acting is well done and I was particularly moved by chastain whom I had decided was only single dimensional. this movies changed my mind about her cred. There are layers here. Something that will more attention could bring many more great artistry and hopefully powerful message to a larger audience.
God Bless America
“People will say….’I’m not getting charged for over-drafting’ (sic) my checks….”
The stupid is so thick with this buffoon, it’s impossible to take it in, even one sentence at a time.
Apparently he believes the bank(s) should just cover overdrafts as a cost-of-doing-business.
If they do, then I could keep buying beef and pork–just write a check for it because my bank will have to cover it.
If only we had a generic President.
It would be a huge improvement.
The guy can help it. Nothing the guy says is anywhere near the truth. Everything the guy says is a LIE and we’ll hear nothing from the media ! He has worn out that Lie about the kitchen table . When the bidens sit around the table they talk about shake downs and money laundering ETC !
People!!
Start reading your labels!!
I saw a video made by a woman who has started doing just this. Listed in the ingredients on a package of Old El Paso chalupa shells was this…”bioengineered food ingredients.
Apparently, a lot of name brand foodstuffs are starting to put “bioengineered” ingredients in their products. The designation is listed well below the main list so it may take some looking. There is no explanation of what the bioengineered ingredient might be..apparently we’re just expected to trust that continued ingestion does not cause ill effects over time.
Example: I started to purchase a box of Rice Krispies, read the ingredients and there was the term “bioengineered”. Same with every other Kellogg’s or General Mills cereal. I put the box down and picked up the generic brand, which did not have that designation.
In fact we now do not know what is being put into our food, and I find this horrifying. I am passing this on in hopes that beloved friends here will start to pay attention to what seems to be an insidious trend in food production by corporations which are all in on the ” Eat Bugs” brigade.
READ YOUR LABELS!!
It is not new. These have been included for a while. It is what is usually called GMO. In January, USDA regulation started requiring that they be disclosed as bioengineered.
Longer explanation here (pdf):
https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/BE_Consumer.pdf
This I know, Vibeman. But things have progressed a little further since that was introduced. We know, thanks to Gate’s shockingly forthright admission that one of the objectives of the WEF and its foul acolytes is a reduction in the world’s population. I’ll assume that nothing good comes from such ingredients with no explanation of what they are.
Now, if they want to elaborate exactly what these ingredients are so I can make an informed personal decision? I trust nothing anymore. I assume the worst from everyone in their Frankenstein labs.
But that’s just me…passing the above along for what it’s worth.
Just passing along the regulation that generated the labeling. If you can’t trust the government, who can you you trust? (Yes, that was a joke.)
The current list of BE ingredients recognized by USDA is at the following web site. There are very few specific items that can get this labeling.
Alfalfa Apple (ArcticTM varieties) CanolaCorn Cotton Eggplant (BARI Bt Begun varieties) Papaya (ringspot virus-resistant varieties) Pineapple (pink flesh varieties) Potato Salmon (AquAdvantage®) Soybean Squash (summer) Sugarbeet https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/be/bioengineered-foods-list
And I appreciate it very much.
Apparently there is an app available for download …YUK. I have no idea if this is true or not. I don’t do apps. But if one downloads the product, it will tell what the bioengineered ingredient is in that specific product and the effects of it.
Again, I don’t know if that is a legitimate app…but all the same might be worth investigating.
(and, yes, 😉… got the joke.)
I have the app. It’s Yuka.
You can scan an item and find the good/bad additives.
I emailed them on the bio/GM ingredients, if they were going to include those in a scan.
To small and to new, but it could be included, in the future.
Mostly gmo,s/bio’s are the seed part of growing.
Extremely hard to find no geo products. We try to shop organic, as much as possible, but the budget allows just so much.
Oh thank you!!! I originally put YUKA, then thought I’d errred, and took the A off.. We’re seniors, so organic is out for us as well, as I’m certain it is for most people.
In the end, it will be impossible to avoid them, I’m afraid. And that is monstrous.
This is why Americans get dick so easily. Health is Wealth. Avoid msg’s
Yes….yes….yes! Am wondering if the “bio-engineered’ food stuffs are in actuality, the bugs they want us to eat?
On a can of del monte carrots….very little vitamin content in the carrots…carrots are the best source of vitamin A.
Canned goods in general have little nutritional value as I have come to see.
Where is Erin Brockovich when we need her?
Fluoride, an element I think, is also an industrial waste that has little value in tooth paste, according to some researchers.
It is prudent, Aggiegirl, to be cautious. I might have been sanguine about this before, but these past two years have convinced me to be otherwise. All information is power. And we are sadly lacking in a lot of it.
Wow, thank you Betsy.
You’re so welcome.
In Australia I have forever been reading labels. It’s interesting, I find a lot of the more natural options are the store brand. A tin of beans will have anti caking agent and stuff like that, but the store brand doesn’t. Not always, but more often.
And then I also check the country where the product is made. One product I like has two options, made in India or made in Pakistan. I choose India.
It all takes a bit of time and effort, but I believe it’s worthwhile, especially to avoid unnecessary additives.
It is worth it, Rach. I’ve been looking at country of origin as well, especially with supplements. I do believe being an informed consumer, as best as we can be, is not a bad thing.
The advice I had with country of origin is to not buy fish from places that would have a filthy water system, such as some parts of Asia. I thought that was excellent advice.
Other advice: buy more natural, so grass fed beef rather than grain fed. Ocean caught fish rather than farmed.
And then with drugs – buy the brand name rather than the generic. The actual drug is the same but the fillers are not. The generic is not as good and it can make a difference with absorption.
But, having said that, it also depends on your budget. Buy the best you can afford because health is important. I certainly can’t buy everything I want, but I try to at least know what the goal is. Who knows, maybe one day I can win lotto.
All good advice. I never thought I’d be so invested in supplements as I came to be when this “pandemic” started. But over the past two years I’ve educated myself, and what I’ve learned has, I believe, kept us as healthy and illness free as best as we can expect to be at our ripe old ages. So far, so good.
And like you, we’ve had to be discerning in what we’ve bought so have a regimen that covers all the bases, no generics.
You never know…I hope you’ll win it, too, Rach😊
I also like supplements, but my retired pharmacist mum warns to not overdo them because it can put a strain on your kidneys. To the best of my knowledge, she takes a daily multivitamin which she says is very low dose in everything, plus 1000mg vit C. For me, I have a variety of supplements, but don’t take them daily. But when I first began I had a sudden burst of energy, and I suspect I was deficient in something.
I look at my mum and she treats food like medication. She is careful to select foods that are good for different things. I am now trying to follow that – she is very wise.
Interesting…thank you for that timely information from your wise mother. Very much appreciated.
Mike Adams has been talking about this for years. My wife has trained me to read labels assiduously.
Love Mike and his site, Eagle61. I read it every day and have learned a lot from him.
Aren’t you glad your lovely wife picked you?😊
For those who bake and use powdered sugar to dust a cake.
I only do this occasionally and so buying a bag seems costly.
My sister told me to put some suger in my nutra bullet and give it a whirl.
In about 15 seconds I had powdered suger.
Worked a treat.
wish i could turn to generics to save a little money BUT we already did last year.guess only way i’m gonna save anything is quit eating.
Makes me sick how easily lies ooze out of his mouth!
When I am eating the cardboard box the cereal came in, I will wonder what joketato is having for breakfast.
Eat generic bugs?
His let them eat cake moment…
This interview tells me that the portrayal of Uncle Joe as having dementia is simply a cover story for his frequent gaffes and untenable policy positions on so many fronts (and possibly an escape hatch if he and/or Hunter get charged)!
He is, as he has always been, an arrogant braggart and liar, but he does NOT have classic “dementia” as many of us who have walked that long road with our loved ones have been saying all along. He is definitely “slipping” mentally, which is not surprising given his age, but he is still able to rattle off preposterous lies to the media like he has done for the past 50 years! The dementia narrative is, however, convenient when he says/does things that are simply beyond the pale and must be walked back as soon as possible, IMHO!
And sadly, the media is even more willing than before to give him a pass when he does it because they are firmly entrenched in the “Orange Man Bad” narrative and nothing is allowed to distract from that…
He has always been a POS and not very bright. Government is full of bandits!
I thought his dementia status was a little bit of a put on myself in 2020.
He didn’t act so looney tunes during the debates. Now, he was probably
fed the questions before hand and the answers during, however, he
didn’t go off script ranting and raving. Heavy drugs? Maybe.
Is the game plan that he acts so goofy, we just go “that’s ole Joe” and
give little credence to what he is actually doing vs. what he is saying?
Not sure.
That is what I suspect has been happening – as he has gotten older, he has become meaner and more prone to ramble but there are definitely times when he is completely coherent and able to follow along with the interviewer, which, as I said, any of us who have/had loved ones with dementia, know is impossible. They simply cannot “pull it together” like Joe seems to be able to do. I think the perception that he is “slipping” is both an easy out when he does blurt out something he shouldn’t and a convenient fallback for when he (hopefully) gets questioned about his business dealings with the CCP via Hunter and Brother Jim!
How can you stomach watching Joe lie? Can’t do. Strong you are. Congrats
Some people think “Joe” is actually multiple people including actors as doubles with masks.
He is not old enough to have to walk around or be led by his wife as he does. What about when he goes to shake hands and there is no one there? Strokes? Parkinson’s?
“Not old enough” — The rate of aging is very different from person to person. Look at the aging difference between PDJT and FJB. A way bigger gap than their difference in calendar years!
You and Emma Jo Morris from Breitbart News share the same opinion. It’s true that he seems sharper than normal when he is vomiting his vitriol for the average American. However….. mutterances of the “ID” as what these comments suggest support his inability to constrain the underbelly of his radical leftist nature he has been hiding for 50 years in office.
Lets all show up on election day and vote every one of these jackals out of office.Do your part wherever you can.Talk to people in grocery stores,church,everywhere.A minister I spoke to told me that was not our role to speak out from the pulpit.I told him pastor speak up now while you are able.I asked him if he knew who the black robe brigade was and he said yes . I told him that means we all have to stand up or they will continue on our nations path of destruction.Take a good look at the picture of biden laughing..He s laughing at all of us.Food prices,gas prices,supply chain disruptions don t effect him do they?Lets all do our part and especially pray that Gods hand move against them who hate their own country so intensely
Reminds of when Obama told us to put more air in our tires to offset high gas prices.
Old lunch pail Joe hasn’t been in. Grocery store in decades but I. He’s got a folksy yarn for it. Lord forgive me but I despise the oily bastard even in his declined state. He lives on lies.
Joe Biden and the knee pad media really think we are stupid. Biden seems to think he is an irresistable charmer who can always spin a wad of malarkey.
It is nice to have a mind and verify what we see and experience. Snake oil salesmen are totally unattractive to many of us.
Joe hasn’t priced groceries, generic or otherwise, ever. He and his handlers are too arrogant and lazy to actually check what those price differences are today. The differences have shrunk dramatically of late.
I owned a company that made private label food for grocery stores: peanut butter, salad dressings, mustard, mayonnaise, honey and many more items. We used the exact same ingredients and the food products were the same as our branded products.
It was cheaper because we didn’t have to advertise or do any store work/jobbing etc. . If you are thrifty there is no point in paying 25 to 100% more for the same product unless you like throwing your money away.
Example: Smucker’s strawberry jam $4.50 vs store private label strawberry jam at $2.99
Same here. All we changed was the packaging going through the machines. I would hear people in the stores swear by the brand name items that they were better. Some people even said they preferred the generic. Very few said they could tell no difference. We would run generic, store brand and our trademark. It was all exactly the same.
My MIL worked at a bakery and they packaged the EXACT same bread, muffins, English muffins, etc. into “Name brand” vs generic packaging. She used to get a big kick out of the people who would pay twice as much for the “Brand” name because it was “just better tasting” than the generic!
I never used to believe that until I saw a factory that would take boxcar loads of canned vegetables in from a canning plant and put multiple labels on the cans.
These same cans had national brands and store brands.
All of it the same canned, but now labelled carrots, peas, beans, and corn would then be distributed to the various grocery supply warehouses to be shipped to your local store.
It still blows my mind looking at grocery stores’ shelves knowing that the various canned veggies may very well have come from the same farms, despite the branding.
We had a local radio guy broadcast that dollar store cookies were made at the same factory Girl Scout cookies are made. Same packaging, colors the same but name/design was changed. He was sent a cease and digit letter from the Girl Scouts…..and was sued. Of course he won, and now I know where to get Girl Scout cookies when they’re not knocking on my door(I still buy them when they come around…..I remember all that fun raising crap I did when I was a kid……though paying 6 bucks a box for instead of a buck kinda sucks).
You may want to examine what the present-day Girl Scout organization has become. It is run by rabid leftists. Even Planned Parenthood has a finger in the programs Girl Scouts uses for its members.
I haven’t bought Girl Sco
ut cookies since they went “woke”.
Shame the left ruins everything it touches…
2021: “Inflation is Transitory”
2022: “Buy storebrand to offset higher prices.”
2023: “Bugs are a source of cheap, alternative protein.”
2024: “Synthetic meats are a non-bug source of cheap, alternative protein.”
I have no plans to eat bugs or synthetic meats. I’d prefer to just have more beans and legumes etc.
Actually, I’d really just prefer if we went back to fossil fuels and the options we’ve had before now.
There is a term in psychology describing Sleepy Joe’s mental condition . It is called,
Can’t
Understand
Normal
Thinking
So now with bidenflation….
the generic food prices are….
as high as the brand name items….
HEY DUMMY….
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ENERGY COSTS.
The campaign slogans they used were first “No Malarkey” which should have been our clue to reject everything he said since it was “Nothing BUT Malarkey,“ and second “Lower Your Expectations.” He lived up to both of them.
And the black media guy did a good job of not laughing in Biden’s face at his ridiculous comments.
Give this man a raise.
Our supermarkets are a fool’s paradise. Buy local from farmers’ markets in big 20 and 50 pound bags and cook like your great grandparents did. Plan meals a week at a time so one day’s leftovers can become part of next day’s lunch. Use one morning a week to make bread, baked beans and a big pot of boiled potatoes, and also to wash and prep the week’s veggies.
That’s the way I raised a family as a single mom, and it will halve your food costs.
A breakfast of scrambled eggs, pan fried potatoes and onions, baked beans and home made bread is fit for a king — just sayin’
We have started buying a lot of dried beans. Not just white beans and pintos, but limas, peas and others. Lots cheaper and better. If you use a digital pressure cooker, you can avoid the overnight soak time, but I think the soaked ones are better. We buy ours from an Amish grocer that buys the 50 pound bags and repackages into zip bags. A 20 or 50 pound bag of beans lasts a long time if stored properly.
I do most of this, but potatoes have been my bane for years. Ideas on how to keep them would be much appreciated. Tried the basement but despite best efforts we get mice over winter (country living); I’d get a basement cat but the dogs would go berserk.
Yes, potato storage is a problem. They can be dried but they are not quite as good. We have started buying the pouches of dried potatoes. Not as good as fresh, but they keep a long time. Ask around and see if there is an Amish grocer in the area. You will be amazed at what they have even in the winter.
Our Montana farm, established in 1926 and where I grew up in the ’50s, had a cave, about 8′ underground with cement steps leading down to the dirt-walled storage area where carrots, onions, and potatoes were kept with no problem.
Now as I have a large garden again (in OR) and am trying to recapture the business of raising and storing spuds–I’m in my third year, slowly identifying what works.
I leave them in the ground for a long time in the fall. Easy storage. There isn’t going to be ground-freeze here.
When I dig them up, I’ve learned a couple of things that seem to be helps: don’t wash them before storing them. Leave that residual dirt on them. Washing them opens them up to moisture-induced mold and is just not necessary. Wash them when I’m ready to use them.
Store them in paper bags — like what used to be considered a paper lunch bag, in smaller quantities. For now, I’m experimenting with these small bags of pleasantly dirty potatoes on the bottom shelf of a tight kitchen cupboard (cool spot) with good solid/tight-closed doors. No mice problems. No mold problems. Now that the fall air has moved in, and it’s considerably cooler, I could probably move them to the pantry/garage cupboards, which are also sealed tight against mice. Up until 3 weeks ago, the garage cupboards were still too warm. Haven’t done that yet. Maybe I’ll just move some of them so I can compare how it goes.
Maybe just getting a tight 2-3 shelf cupboard (for whatever quantity is needed) would work for you? Think small book-case measurements: the cupboard I’m presently storing them in is a book shelf my father built in the early 1950s to hold all of our National Geographics, etc. The hinged doors definitely snap shut–no way a mouse is getting in there.
A root cellar, I want one. Stockman is right, I need to either grow my own (limited space due to trees) or buy from a farmer. Grocery store potatoes are garbage.
If you are in the country maybe you could grow your own. Properly cured they will last all winter. I think commercial potatoes are harder to store because they are injured — the plants are killed by spraying with Roundup (glyphosate) just before harvest, and I suspect the potatoes are artificially “cured” in some way to save costs..
To defeat the mice, I think you might be able to hang them from your basement ceiling in burlap or net bags. Maybe other commenters know better ways.
Potatoes are not sprayed with glyphosate before harvest. They are sprayed with a desiccant diquat or similar, a different product that is approved for use on potatoes. Some farmers flail them to kill the vines, but flailing is often combined with application of chemicals, but not glyphosate. Killing the vines sets the skins and improves storage and handling properties.
carfentrazone-ethyl, diquat and endothall are the ones approved. Glufosinate ammonium is often used with flailing, but that is not the same as glyphosate.
Those “approved” chemicals may or may not be as bad a glyphosate.
Thanks VibeMan. Good information.
Maybe they have been irradiated in order to destroy enzymes in a misguided effort to extend shelf life. I remember reading about that a few decades ago.
thats too much work for the average person nowadays……………until it becomes the only way you will eat, like the “olden days”.
I’m spending at least 4 or 5 more time cooking/baking/canning than I was five years ago. Making everything from scratch. It’s a lot of work but a whole lot cheaper and tastes better besides. At first it felt kind of silly to do so much work when it’s just me in the house, but it’s working well. The reasons for doing it are real.
Wholeheartedly agree. I find it enjoyable, and it’s good to know what’s in your food.
Never did much baking outside of sweet treats but slowly getting into bread.
My husband died Dec. 2020…married 46 years. I found myself making a huge pan of ______ and dividing into one serving plastics and freezing. This allows me to have a meal without using the stove/oven.
I have a nice selection of foods and remove the frozen the night before eating.
Soup/chili/meat loaf/beans/mashed potatoes/ground beef patties/taco soup…lots of things can be frozen and are great when heated.
My local farmers market is more expensive than Publix. So no that’s not an option.
I agree, farmers markets are too expensive. In my area the best prices are to be found in small meat market/grocery stores and fish market/grocery stores who are competing with the supermarkets. They buy wholesale from local producers and often will sell you large bags just as they come from the farmers’ delivery trucks.
In the summer here roadside stands are the best. In winter, Mexican grocery stores.
Yeah, that is my experience too – no price difference.
Same here in Ky.
What if you were already buying generic and store brands? What about when we run out of diesel fuel for deliveries and the railroad workers go on strike?
I was thinking we MIGHT get butter and potatoes on sale for Thanksgiving but I no longer believe that will happen. Menus and Christmas baking will be changing this year.
Sale ads here have butter on sale, 2lbs/$7. Local Sam’s has their generic butter at $3.70/lb, 4 pound pack.. How cheap are you looking for? Maybe we should start grocery tours.
In the past, Aldi has had butter for $2.99 per pound. Three times a year, it would go on sale for a week each before Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter for $1.99 per pound, limit 6 per shopping trip. Occasionally, it might be $2.29 to 2.79 during the year
It’s now up to $3.99 per pound and I’m doubting it will go below $2.99, if it goes on sale at all. We’ll see.
Patatoes were $6 for 10 pounds last time I looked. Sigh…
March, 2022 I bought butter at Aldi for $1.30 a pound. It freezes great.
Because of here and a few other places, when I saw good sales I stocked up.
I bought 50 pounds of local potatoes for $15.
I still have 7 pounds in the freezer from sales this past spring. We never got down to that price, though.
I have never seen potatoes that low in this area. I don’t think they grow that well here. Dedicated gardeners do grow some in their backyard gardens and do okay but I don’t think they get that many due to summer heat. Then again I have yet to turn on the heat like many others have so I save there. If I were to see that many at that price, I would need to dehydrate a lot because I don’t have a basement or cold storage. The water table is too high for that.
I buy butter when it’s on sale and then freeze it.
Biden is a generic president. A fake of a president, made to look like a leader, but having no raisins at all.
Strawberries per pound were $6.98 at Sam’s Club today. This time last year they were $3.49
My Sam’s is out of strawberries. If they had them they are $4 a pound. I could sell them for $3 a pound if I was out.
Buy fresh produce in season, much more fresh and closer to local. Here in WI blueberries and apples are plentiful right now. Cranberries incoming.
Hurricane Ian effect maybe?
Why should all these be getting our tax money?
https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/top-100-parents
Oldest companies in Germany have declared bankruptcy, and BASF is moving China
why they should stay in the land of woke idiots….
And now a diesel fuel shortage is coming very soon:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/diesel-shortage-across-the-us-reports-say-only-25-days-of-supply-left/articleshow/95118597.cms
“Look what we inherited”
Hahahahahaha!
Did the monthly Sam’s run today. Some prices are falling while others are 10% higher or more. The gainers outweighed the reductions.