Food Price Hikes Changing U.S. Eating Habits

[Purveyor]

More people say they are eating at home, buying food in bulk

Melissa Marks didn’t used to give much thought to her trips to the grocery store — if she needed a gallon of milk or a carton of eggs, she’d just hop in her car and get it.

These days, Marks, a single mom with three kids, is tying her grocery store trips to the day she gets her paycheck. Instead of making a run for just a few items, she’s thinking up menus and compiling a list beforehand. The kids are eating more generic brands and getting fewer luxury items like sweets. She’s also clipping coupons and choosing which store will get her business based on who has milk on sale that week.

With both gas and food prices rising, Marks, of Brownsburg, Ind., also is cutting back on restaurant trips, sending her kids to school with pre-packed lunches and eating last night's leftovers for lunch the next day.

"Things have been tight before, but we’ve never seen it like this," she said.

Steadily rising food costs aren't just causing grocery shoppers to do a double-take at the checkout line — they're also changing the very ways we feed our families.

The worst case of food inflation in nearly 20 years has more Americans giving up restaurant meals to eat at home. We're buying fewer luxury food items, eating more leftovers and buying more store brands instead of name-brand items.

Record-high energy, corn and wheat prices in the past year have led to sticker shock in the grocery aisles. At $1.32, the average price of a loaf of bread has increased 32 percent since January 2005. In the last year alone, the average price of carton of eggs has increased almost 50 percent.

---EOE---

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23882299/

[Jim__]

1. Yet, they claim food prices rose "nearly 5%" in 2007. Is that credible?

From the article:

Overall, food prices rose nearly 5 percent in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That means a pound of coffee, on average, cost 57 cents more at year's end than in 2006. A 12-ounce can of frozen, concentrated orange juice now averages $2.53 — a 67-cent increase in just two years.

And a carton of grade A, large eggs will set you back $2.17. That's an increase of nearly $1 since February 2006.

Sounds like bullshit to me.

[salvorhardin]

7. Why do you think that's BS?

Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 4.7 percent since the beginning of the year through November, outpacing the 4.3 percent increase in the overall cost-of-living, according to the federal government's Consumer Price Index.

Everyday foods like fruits and vegetables, beef, poultry and cereals are on the rise. The price of milk is the biggest culprit, with a staggering increase of 23.2 percent through November. And with basic foods like dairy and wheat driving up the cost of other groceries, almost everyone is feeling the squeeze.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/19/news/companies/food/index.htm

Food prices are up 0.4% more than the cost-of-living.

[bdamomma]

38. and these thugs will not give people an increase in their minimum

wage, no, they (Congress) will give themselves a raise, but forget about the American people, this is a class war.

[ikojo]

25. Food prices may have risen by 5% but salaries

do not keep up with all the increased prices.

[RoadRage]

32. I belive it.. and it's tied to BIOFUELS

I just read a few articles in last weeks TIME magazine that showed some great insight into the growing problem of "BioFuels". It discussed the fact that many farmers in the US (NE, IA, KS, etc) and abroad in South American - especially the rain forrests are planting corn & soybeans to use as alternative fuels.

Unfortunately there are some very high costs with this that weren't really thought out. The loss of carbon from the rain forests being cut down is huge. The replaced soy & corn doesn't have NEAR the carbon release back into the environment that the rain forest does. But, the profits that land owners can make from this land is much greater once converted - so money wins.

In the US, millions of acers of land are now being farmed for Biofuel (corn and soy) and not for food consumption. This is costing everyone, as less supply of corn, soy, grains, etc. is going up.

That is why we are seeing (and will continue to see) sky-rocketing food prices. Farmers make more money selling these commodities for fuel then they do for food.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1725140,00.html

[pitohui]

2. what do you do if you've already been doing all that for years?

there is nothing more left to cut back unless we are to give up eating altogether

days on end we eat nothing but chicken out of the crockpot as it is, everything else has doubled, tripled, or more in price since katrina -- eat out? impossible, these days even a glass of wine is $6 or $8 so forget about eating out

haven't bought a loaf of bread or any sweets in many years but now the price of basic food like eggs and milk is soaring

[jhain]

3. my question EXACTLY

I am looking into fish farming.. already have chickens for eggs...

Off to plant some more lettuce.

[SoCalDem]

9. I used to laugh at my across-the-street neighbor & his chicken

not anymore.. I paid $5 for 2 dozen large eggs:grr:

I may swipe his chicken:)

[pitohui]

10. i used to keep chicken for eggs

unfortunately in recent years it has been made illegal in my neighborhood

if i get another couple chickens, i will not be able to have a rooster to watch over them because of the noise, they will have to be secret chickens!

[SoCalDem]

13. Our neighbor's chicken is not secret..at least the rooster isn't

and he cannot tell time.. he crows any time he wants to :)

Having a chicken would drive my cats crazy.. they already freak out if a bird dares to fly into the yard (ther are indoor cats, but think they are fierce hunters)

[pitohui]

17. yeah you can't keep a rooster hidden

as you say, they speak up at all hours of the night and day as the spirit moves them

[KoKo]

35. Maybe renting a "Stud Rooster" to service the hens? That way you

wouldn't have to have the rooster around all the time. Wonder if there's a good business in that? :wow:

[Quantess]

41. The hens lay eggs whether there's a rooster around, or not. (eom)

darn my typos!

[Shakespeare]

19. When I had a couple of chickens, my cats were TERRIFIED of them.

It was pretty entertaining, actually. If either of the cats walked a little too close to the chickens' feed bowl, our "beta" hen would raise her hackles and go tearing after the cats.

:rofl:

[tridim]

20. How much has chicken feed gone up since 2005?

I don't know the answer, but I bet it's significant.

[SoCalDem]

21. We have TONS of bugs.. They could probably do fine

foraging for bugs :)

[pitohui]

50. yes my chickens used to forage

i only provided feed when they were little, when they were older they did very well finding their own food and also enjoying scraps/leftovers

however, that's why i liked having a rooster to keep an eye on things

no rooster means i would need to supervise them a little more closely while they are free ranging

[Quantess]

30. Chickens eat table scraps, too. They're omnivores.

But yes, as the price of corn has soared, so has the price of chicken feed. Which partly explains the jump in price of eggs.

[cali]

44. they sure do

that's mostly what I feed my chickens- old lettuce, noodles, bread heels, casseroles I'm sick of. And yes feed has gone up.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I get a kick when articles like this make cooking meals at home to be

a symbol of frugal living and cutting back. The healthiest meals are the ones where you control the ingredients and can exclude sodium, carbohydrates, and sugars, not to mention additives.

[kestrel91316]

6. The ultimate irony would be if this minor-league deprivation causes

the average American to be much healthier - highly processed and convenience foods are NO bargain if they make you sick with diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.

And yes, this is still minor-league deprivation for most people.

[Lance_Boyle]

11. I never make a home-cooked meal without

tapping into my 50 gallon drum of High Fructose Corn Syrup. I keep it next to the crate of MSG, just around the corner from the vat of trans-fat. :shrug:

[tridim]

23. IMO MSG shouldn't be lumped in with HFCS and trans-fat.

Apples and oranges.

[raccoon]

54. MSG sucks. nt

[SoCalDem]

26. you you you

lard-boycotter, you :rofl:

[SoCalDem]

15. amen...

and they are sometimes FASTER..

I can put a FULL meal on the table in less than 20 minutes

[Not the Only One]

5. A lot of this is because of ethanol

Ethanol biofuel uses corn and about 25% of the total corn crop is used for the production of ethanol. That's a quarter of the supply just taken off the market for feeding us in direct and indirect ways-- as if there was a biblical proportion drought that hit us. And, the problem is going to get much worse, actually-- over a hundred different ethanol plants are under construction now to take even more corn off the market for direct or indirect consumption as food by us. I'm all for full energy independence, but thinking that we should be using our food as fuel is one of the most hair-brained ideas we've ever come up with.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. Then we should take it off corn and go with hemp.

which actually produces more fuel/pound of bio-material, and can be grown on more marginal land, preserving crop land for food production.

[Johonny]

43. no way

hemp gives people the munchies. They're trying to cut back on food consumption.

[slor]

45. Amen...

and it can be used for so many other things. Hell, H.Ford made a car body out of it.

[SoCalDem]

8. In a perverse way, it might help our health

Fewer "Lunchables" and more homemade lunches is a good thing for kids.. and leftovers from a real meal is better for you than a delivered Pizza..

Less "snacks & sweets" is a good thing for kids too..

and more iced tea made at home instead of coke/pepsi is good for us too:)

[gollygee]

14. It might help some people's health

but for every person not buying lunchables anymore, there's someone skipping the whole grain bread for cheap white bread, or skipping fresh veggies, which have gotten ridiculously expensive, and serving rice on the side. Or getting the $5 Little Caesar's pizza instead of cooking chicken breasts. Or, even getting chicken thighs instead of breasts. Though to feed a family I bet the $5 pizza is still cheaper. There are lots of cases where healthier food is more expensive.

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. That's more a matter of educating them.

Healthier food IS more expensive, but it is also more complete - a meal with healthy food doesn't leave you hungry again in 3 hours, the way a meal of empty carbohydrates will. One sandwich of quality bread is more filling than three of cheap white bread.

Do they teach nutrition in schools anymore, or are they afraid of a conflict of interest with the fast food dealers who run the school lunches?

[KoKo]

34. It used to be called "Home Economics" but was considered Sexist...

so dropped from school curriculum. Might have been good if the boys had been forced to take it like we girls were. Since so many guys are on their own and don't know how to budget or cook or shop as well as the gals these days.

[lukasahero]

36. It wasn't "considered" sexist - it WAS sexist

Had it included boys, it would not have been sexist. It would also have been wise.

Nutrition can also be taught in health class (where it more appropriately belongs anyway).

[KoKo]

59. Um...you didn't bother to read past subject line...did you... n/t

[lukasahero]

60. Um yeah I did

And I didn't see anywhere in your post that suggested you recognized it was sexist.

[pitohui]

16. we see in practice that it doesn't help "our" health

please, talk about "facts not in evidence!"

people with smaller budgets to spend on groceries -- i point to almost any inner city in the united states for an example -- are fatter and more prone to diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease -- you can say anything you like but the statistics are known and the statistics don't lie

it's pretty obvious to me as to why poor people are fat and unhealthy, when the choice is to buy $1 "value meal" at the fast food store or to spend $5 and you still have to shop, cook, and clean to have the meal

the higher prices go, the more poor people are created, the more of us have to make the choice based on price rather than on good health

fresh produce has been out of reach for "real" people for several years now

[progressoid]

33. Well, sort of.

First of all, 2/3 of our nation is officially obese with half of those morbidly obese. This is an epidemic that extends to all Americans not just the poor.

Value meals aren't the only culprit. Yes, some people have to resort to high carb foods when in financial straits. And yes our socio/economic structure has encouraged an addiction to convenience food. Hell, even our schools serve fast food to the kids. But at some point people also need to take personal responsibility for themselves and their families. Having to "shop, cook, and clean" isn't part of the problem. That's part of the solution. Eating out is a luxury, not a necessity.

If there is a fast food business next to a grocery store and I'm strapped for cash, I can get a couple cheeseburgers and fries from Burger King or I can get a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and make a dozen sandwiches and feed my kids for a few days. I can spend a buck on a two apple pies at McDonalds or I can buy two cans of vegetables at the grocery store.

Unhealthy living has risen steadily in the last few decades. The rise in cheap fast food is a factor. As is the rise in TV viewing. And the rise in ass-stuck-to-sofa syndrome.

[SoCalDem]

51. and mothers who work 40 hr a week outside the home

time is a luxury many no longer have..

if you are a stay-at-home, you have the luxury of going to the freezer at noon, taking something out, and planning an evening meal..but if you are at your jobm and realize that you forgot to take something out of the freezer..well.. you're s.o.l.

[progressoid]

24. True

We need to break the addiction to convenience food we have in America. It's killing us. Literally.

[lildreamer316]

29. Exactly the opposite.

When you don't have a lot of money, you buy what is cheapest.
What is cheapest is 99.9% of the time, the most fattening and unhealthy (Mac and Cheese, Ramen noodles, day-old meat with the high fat content, the cheap sausages and cheese products instead of real cheese, Kool-Aid, Bisquick, etc.)
Fresh fruits and veggies are usually a luxury.

[bdamomma]

39. one way to lose weight, but not to get yourself sick either.

pushing us right into the 1920's era, I hope this thuggish regime burns in hell. :grr:

[raccoon]

55. Sweet tea is good for you. nt

[SoCalDem]

58. Y'know the FIRST time I ever had sweet-tea?

I ordered iced-tea in Tahiti (2003) at an Italian restaurant :eyes:

We drink it plain..no sugar.. Imagine my surprise :)

and it was 4.25 a glass..no free refills..
(all the drinks were $4.25 a glass)

[madokie]

12. so maybe the fucking oil companies are in cahoots with the government

in an attemp to slim down the populace huh. obesity is a killer you know

[pitohui]

18. again, facts not in evidence

the higher the price, the more obesity you create, not less

do people honestly not know this very basic fact, that has been documented statistically over many years, and that you can also observe for yourself just by looking at poor women or children and then looking at rich women and children and noticing which are bigger on average?

when your kids are hungry and you have a very limited budget, you can't spend $2 on a head of lettuce with no appreciable calories, you have to spend it on something that will give basic food energy first, such as a couple $1 value meals

lettuce goes out the window, veggies go out the window, these days even fruit goes out the window!

the higher prices go, the fewer options people can afford when it comes to healthy eating

[madokie]

22. I don't know where all them facts come from but let me tell you something

I was born in '48 to very poor parents and grew up skinny as a rail not because of too much of the wrong kinds of food but because there were no money to buy food. No money no food has been my exprience. Wasn't too many wild animals around here then either. I will say I or we done our part to keep the herds down ever further too because it was a necessity to survive. I guess all I'm saying is there is lots of facts our there.

[Ghost in the Machine]

31. There's one thing I can think of that blows your argument out of the water...

.. and that would be the use of food stamps. A large majority of low income households use food stamps, and they can't be used to purchase these "$1 value meals", as you call them, which is also false and misleading. There are no "$1 value meals", there are $1 value menu items. In other words, you can go to McDonalds and buy a double cheeseburger for $1, but then you have to pay $1 for the value menu fries and $1 for the value menu drink. Once again though, you can't purchase this with food stamps.

Too many people today don't really know *how* to shop. As a single father with two kids, I've always done "comparison shopping" and I hardly, if ever, buy anything but store brands. They're just as good quality without paying for the name. Most of the name brands, like Del Monte, HUnts, etc. give the big grocers their products with a private label brand, the store brand, at a much lower price. I worked in the produce packing houses in Homestead/Florida City for many years, and couldn't count the times I've loaded trailers full of squash, grren beans and tomatoes going to the canneries in which we split the load with half labeled as Del Monte or Hunts and the other half labeled as Winn Dixie, Kroger, I.G.A., etc.

[salvorhardin]

40. What are you going to buy at the store on your $21 food stamp allotment?

$21/week is what the average food stamp recipient receives per week. Are you going to buy a lot of fresh (or even frozen for that matter) fruit and vegetables, low fat meat and wholegrain bread? Or are you going to buy a lot of Top Ramen and other low-cost foods?

And how are you going to comparison shop when often there is only one market to choose from (if there are any -- supermarkets are becoming increasingly hard to find in inner cities and small towns)?

Yes, people often do need to learn how to comparison shop, buy store brands, cook nutritious meals, etc. But the problem is that not only do food stamps not provide enough assistance but the choices aren't there in the first place for far too many.

[Ghost in the Machine]

42. You must be using old numbers or something...

Your allotment also depends on your income, let's not forget that either. I've had to rely on foodstamps while waiting to get my disability benefits approved. Being a family of 3 with zero income, I get $426/month, which equals out to $106.50/week, which equals out to $35.50/week/person. With the rising food prices, it's been tough stretching it out month to month, but we manage. I don't buy junk food or other unnecessary things and manage to make good meals for my kids. We a lot of chicken and ground beef, though, along with a lot of canned vegetables. The canned vegetables are also good for making big pots of soups, which last two or three days. I can buy a 3lb bag of boneless, skinless chicken tenders for $6.49 and make two meals out of it, where 3lbs of whole chicken breast would be about 3 breasts.

I know all about limited shopping choices also, with living in the 4th smallest county in the state. You don't really need a variety of stores to comparison shop, either. We have one grocery store, the Piggly-Wiggly. It can be as simple as choosing between the Piggly-Wiggly brand bread at $1.19/loaf or the Colonial bread at $2.99/loaf, or the Best Value (Piggly-Wiggly store brand) brand canned vegetables at 3 for $1.00 compared to .89 cents to $1.29 a can, or the generic taco seasoning for .39 cents/pack as compared to the Old El Paso or Taco Bell brands that are .99 cents/pack or more. The same goes for buying the Hunts canned spaghetti sauce at .99 cents per can or the Ragu that's right at $3/jar, or the Coca Cola products that are $9.99 for 3 12packs compared to the store brands that are the same price for 4 12packs. An even better example would be milk. I live 12 miles from the Mayfield Dairy, but Mayfield milk is almost $6/gal where the Piggly-Wiggly brand is $3.69. The *only* reason I buy Ramen noodles is because my kids actually LIKE them, and ask for them. I buy a case, 24 packets, for around $4- $5, and they last 2 to 3 weeks.

There are many ways to save money on groceries without having to waste the gas running around to 3 or 4 different stores. All it takes is a little bit of shopping sense. There's an outlet store in the next town over and I sometimes shop there because it is only about 3 miles further for me to drive from where I live. I'm out in the middle of nowhere, 12 miles from town in the county I live in.

[lukasahero]

48. Thank you for speaking up here

And I'm sorry you're going through such a tough time right now. I hope things improve for you very soon. :hug:

Shopping/cooking/living in tough times requires a lot of thought and energy but is there really anything more important to spend our energy on than how we live/eat?

Thanks for a wonderful example.

[Ghost in the Machine]

52. It wasn't easy for me to admit having/needing help, as I've always 'done it on my own'..

But sometimes we just have to stop and reassess our situations. I always made good money when I was working, before I got hurt, and never worried about anything. When I got my insurance settlement after being hurt on the job and disabled, I decided to oen a business and let my money work for me and make me more money, trying to still work instead of filing for disability. I didn't want to be a burden on the system, and tried to help out some family members with employment at the same time. It was a bad choice to make. I went from having $100,000 in the bank to being broke and on the verge of losing everything else I 've got left since I had to shut the business down. I keep plugging along though, hoping one of my domain names will sell for some good money and trying to build an online business that I can work at from home on my own terms, considering my disabilities. I'll make it again someday, because I refuse to give up, although I came *very* close to it this weekend. I'm at my breaking point right now, ready to just fade into the shadows of society and become a recluse or hermit...

All I know right now is that my kids are fed, and we'll make it through this somehow....

PEACE!

Ghost

[lukasahero]

53. Oh Ghost - hang in there

My heart breaks to hear how close you came this weekend. I really hope that doesn't mean what it sounds like - if it does - please think of your kids. We all need help sometimes. And they need you.

My husband is going through *some* of the same emotional stuff after quad bypass surgery last fall so if you want to talk offline, feel free to PM me.

In the meantime, I'll hold you and your kids my thoughts. Peace.

[Ghost in the Machine]

57. I'm dug in with my fingernails and toenails.. holding on tight...

... and it doesn't mean what you're thinking... I'd never *dream* of killing myself, ever. My life has been a roller-coaster ride from hell at times, but all in all, it's made me who I am.. I have a one way ticket on this ride and I wanna hang around and see where it goes next. I'm not jumping off prematurely... no way, no how...

Thanks for the good thoughts and wishes... and I hope your husband gets better too... it's a tough thing to go through, mentally & emotionally, when you're used to working all your life and all of a sudden you no longer can.... it messes with your psyche...

PEACE! to you and yours, too...

Ghost

[cali]

47. Here are some of the things you could buy

for $21 dollars: bone in chicken thighs. Brown rice, dried beans, bananas, a head of cabbage, oatmeal, bread, pasta, canned tomatoes and carrots and milk.

[pitohui]

49. sure but you know what?

it gets old eating crockpot bone in chicken thighs every day

it would be nice to have a vegetable once in awhile

before katrina i often paid 10 or 20 cents a pound for onions, now it can be $1 a pound

29cents a pound for carrots, now i don't even remember the price...well it's enough that we simply don't eat carrots any more

it just goes on and on

people who have no hope of ever rising higher or ever doing better financially, you would condemn them to eat nothing but bone in chicken thighs and oatmeals for the rest of their days?

milk you say -- milk is almost $5 a gallon here, more than double the price from before the storm!

[bdamomma]

37. this thuggish regime is waging food wars on Americans.

classic class war is being conducted now.

[kevinbgoode]

46. One of my friends told me the other day that he paid $1.08

for ONE tomato.

Amazing.

[Theres-a]

56. I paid $1.13 yesterday

One.medium.tomato.