Overwhelmed by prices in the grocery store

Mindfully

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 11:34 pm

I don't know how others are managing but I am seriously overwhelmed by the increased food and household prices. This is what I saw today: Mayo $7, Eggs at almost $4 a dozen, bottled water $10 for 6 gallons, chicken, fruit, whatever is getting so expensive. Any ideas how to handle it?

singleagain

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 11:48 pm

If you have space. Shop in bulk and shop sales. If you have the time, price around.

We will occasionally give a slight discount of you buy a case, so it doesn't hurt to ask.

Things like household, are marked up a lot more in my grocery sorry bc it's convince, so look for that online, or a store like amazing savings....

Also ... Buy generic, Heinz and Hellmann's are going to be more expensive than basket and bowl.

Plonis

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 12:02 am

I buy a lot of groceries in Walmart and Target. Where prices are similar between those two stores, remember that Target has 5% off with Redcard. Both of these have free shipping over a certain amount. (I live near a Walmart so I get perishables there too.)

I have had to be careful about certain purchases because prices have gone up even there, but thankfully not as dramatically as some other stores. Most products have increased by 20 or 30 cents each.

Being willing to adjust your menu or shopping habits will help a lot. Egg salad is a pretty expensive salad right now so I am making more chickpea salad, for example. We are having pareve dinners more often. I am only buying the lowest price fruits, right now mostly apples and bananas. I stopped buying the larger size potatoes because the price per pound went up so high.

As singleagain said, name brand is almost always more expensive. Many generics are good enough.

Try putting tap water in the fridge, you might discover that you don't need bottled water as much as you thought.

Mindfully

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 8:54 am

Thank you for your responses and advice. I used to go to cheapest store in town and pick up whatever I wanted. I have to get used to the new reality where I have to check every price in case it went up $2. It's time consuming to go to Walmart for some things, Amazing for others and kosher supermarket for other things.

watergirl

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 8:58 am

Mindfully wrote:

Some of these things you can help, others you can not.

Buy only the produce that is in season.
Stop buying bottled water.
Meat only for yontiv, chicken only for shabbos and maybe once in the week.
Eggs should be bought only where they are going for market rate.
Do not buy mayo or anything else at a heimish store, for those things you need to go to a regular grocery store. It is less than $4 at any grocery store. Same for any other product (cereal, flour, sugar, canned goods, etc).

singleagain

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 8:59 am

Unfortunately with certain types of items it it is it is a numbers game

The prices are changing very rapidly I feel like every day I'm getting new notifications about increases

A lot of companies also want to charge fuel and shipping and we have to factor that into our pricing

If you have the space I highly suggest shopping and sales and stocking up

Right now I'm preparing my sales for next week and when I do that I always look at the competition sale and put the prices down and then my manager decides you know how much he wants to beat it by Sometimes like we'll go down because our competition is already on sale so really shop sales

Sorry for the voice to text

Mindfully

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:02 am

watergirl wrote:

That's what I am having a difficult time with. Changing my shopping habits and way of living. Some people here might think that's not a big deal. For me it is as I don't have extra time and energy for this. That's why I am overwhelmed.

watergirl

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:18 am

Mindfully wrote:

We have time and energy for the things that are either necessary or important enough to make a priority.

If you can afford to keep the shopping habits but dislike paying the prices, yet feel you can not make a change - don't make the change.

If you can not afford it, you have to either make the changes even though it's hard, or you have to cut back somewhere else to make room for non-necessities like bottled water and spending $7 for mayonnaise at a Kosher grocery store, knowing it will cost $3.50 at walmart (or less for generic).

ETA - we (humans) can deal with being overwhelmed and we can deal with things that are hard, and we can also manage a thing that is a big deal. Things that are hard and overwhelming are still possible and doable, and just because something is hard does not mean it does not have to be done. We have to do hard things all the time. This is life and it was never meant to be easy.

singleagain

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:46 am

Mindfully wrote:

Is it possible to delegate stuff like if your husband enjoys price comparisons and stuff can you ask him to take care of the bulk?

Do you have a teenager who maybe could use some real life math assistance.... I mean this is literally algebra and price comparisons and stuff you know what's that thing called cross multiplication

Maybe you can join up with a friend or a sister-in-law neighbor someone to like share a Costco membership kind of deal where you know you can help each other out

Cuz it's definitely can be overwhelming by yourself but maybe if you sit down with someone it'll be easier

Bnei Berak 10

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:51 am

singleagain wrote:

The teenager idea is excellent!

singleagain

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:54 am

Bnei Berak 10 wrote:

The teenager idea is excellent!

Thanks and it doesn't even have to be your own teenager if you just know a teenager especially on who's struggling with math I tell you working now with numbers makes so much of my elementary and high school math makes sense

Mindfully

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 7:57 pm

Quote:

ETA - we (humans) can deal with being overwhelmed and we can deal with things that are hard, and we can also manage a thing that is a big deal. Things that are hard and overwhelming are still possible and doable, and just because something is hard does not mean it does not have to be done. We have to do hard things all the time. This is life and it was never meant to be easy.

Of course I can deal with all these hard things. I just don't relish having to shop around. "Overwhelmed" as in seeing the increased prices. Not looking for answers. Looking for compassion and support. Absolutely not looking to spend more time shopping, asking DH to help or some random teenager to practice her/his math!!!

Optione

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 8:13 pm

Hellman's mayonnaise is $4.99 in target where I live. I actually made my own mayo for the first time because of the cost. And if you'd know me IRL, you'd know that I'm one of the last people to make my own mayo. (I don't like other brands of mayo.)

ysydmom

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:15 pm

I go to Walmart twice a year as it's far from me. When I go I stock up on ketchup, pickles and mayo it's much much cheaper and I save tons of $ .

Prices are going to keep rising they aren't going to go down we are all in the same boat and hope that somehow we will manage.

Another food for thought Smile

how about walking with shopping cart to the grocery store so you save on gas $ instead of spending on gas and food that might help with budgeting and you can get great exercise! I do this sometimes and I find it quite enjoyable.

srbmom

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:17 pm

Quote:

I have been married almost 20 years and never bought any brand of mayonnaise except Hellmans.
Last month I gave in and bought the Walmart brand at half the price - it was my first time. I feel like it's either that or nothing at this point

Plonis

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:24 pm

ysydmom wrote:

I go to Walmart twice a year as it's far from me. When I go I stock up on ketchup, pickles and mayo it's much much cheaper and I save tons of $.

Walmart has free shipping over a certain price point. I'm pretty sure that ketchup, pickles, and mayo are all eligible for shipping.

pause

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:28 pm

Running around to various stores for cheaper prices costs money too as gas is now $5/gallon. At the end of the day, I wonder how much more ahead you'll be especially once you factor in all the time and mental energy spent.

bsy

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:28 pm

Plonis wrote:

Walmart has free shipping over a certain price point. I'm pretty sure that ketchup, pickles, and mayo are all eligible for shipping.

These things change by the hour. They don't ship very cheap groceries, like pasta and canned goods either.

Plonis

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 9:32 pm

bsy wrote:

These things change by the hour. They don't ship very cheap groceries, like pasta and canned goods either.

True, it's not consistent. But I have gotten pasta shipped more than once. Still right now Target is actually cheaper for pasta with the 5% off, and all of theirs are available for shipping.