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this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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Where I am, the $5 eggs are back down to $1.80, and the $6 milk is $2.89. Feels the same as before-times.
It's hard to find restaurant lunch under $15, which is around 50% more than 2019, and even the gyro counter added a default tip when they stopped accepting cash. That's sad, but I cook more now.
2 years ago yogurt was 40 cents, today it’s 80. Bacon was $3 a pound, today the cheapest is $4.50 unless it’s on sale. Frozen pizzas were $4, $5 on the top end, now they’re $6-$15… for a frozen pizza. Ramen was 20 cents, today it’s 55. String cheese was $4, today it’s $7. A small bag of shredded cheese was $4, now it’s $8. Cereal was $3, today it’s $5 and you get less. Have you seen how expensive a bag or Doritos is? A small bag costs more than what a party size bag used to cost, and that’s true for all chips.
I have dozens of items that are out of reach today that were common fare 3 years ago. Milk and eggs have come back down, yes, but not the rest of it.
I guess my response is that most of what you've listed are significantly-to-highly processed foods, and I lump them in the same bucket as 'restaurants.' To me, it's not that the food has gotten expensive, so much as corporate structures are 'extracting more value.' And I do realize that a lot of people are in situations where those processed foods are their only practical options. I just think that General Mills, PepsiCo, and Blackstone deserve the blame and hate, more than 'the economy.'
BTW, I would love me some $4.50/pound bacon. I don't remember it less than $6/12 oz in the last 5 years, except occasionally on sale. I used to see fairly regular $1/pound pork shoulder sales, and I haven't seen that under $1.80 in a while, so there definitely are basic foods with inflated prices. My personal experience is that I still get out of the grocery store for the same $40 I was spending in 2018, although I have also given up chips and started making my own yogurt. Switched from beef to chicken, pork and beans, although that's more for carbon reasons than cost.
Here from Europe, a similar situation.
Some things are still expensive, but a lot of things have gotten better.
Moreover, salaries did increase, so I can't complain too much.
We are extremely fortunate to have so easily beaten this round of inflation.
It's mostly the same here.
Grocery prices have definitely gone up overall in my part of the world, but outside of outliers (or outright liars), prices aren't double. But lots of people around here will claim their grocery bill is double what it was before covid. In general, I'm not willing to say any specific person's "twice as much" isn't true, I don't know their circumstances, but my experience and pretty much all the reports I've seen don't bear that out (again for my part of the world).
The egg thing was a prime example. People were going around saying "eggs are $10 now" but then when I'd look at the local grocers, it was only the premium brands' free range, organic, woman-owned, holistic, fair-trade type eggs that were anywhere close to that -- and it was always the type of person that you know never bought those types of eggs to begin with.
I have seen a lot of convenience and luxury grocery items that I used to buy have gone up around 50% or gone down the shrinkflation route. And for sure, there's been an uptick in temporary shortages and price spikes.
Restaurants around here are also like you mentioned. Prices have really gone up there. I don't eat fast food often, but a month ago I was traveling and decided to get fast food breakfast at one of my old favorites. A biscuit and a drink used to cost around $3, now it's nearly $8. Last year, I had a craving for Wendy's and it was similar, the food that used to cost me just over $4 back in the day is now a bit more than $11. But then again, eating out is a luxury in pretty close to all circumstances.