I just dont know how people on fixed and limited incomes can afford to buy groceries right now. I just came back from the store and barly bought anything and had an $80 bill. I paid $0.61/lb for bananas $1.99/lb for gala apples, $4.99 for a gallon of milk, $1.00 for 2 oranges and $3.99/lb for tomatoes. I also bought other stuff but gheeze I'm trying to eat healthy but it cost so much for good food when a bag of ships was $1.00 no wonder Americans are so fat. Oh and meat is so expensive too. Chicken was like $5.49/lb thats the same cost a fish which used to be a once in a while item cause it was so expensive. UGG Sorry but I just had to vent. I got stressed out at the grocery store today
Angie
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12:29 PM
PFF
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Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
its also the "season". many of the "healthier" foods just are not in season right now. and, next is the cost of shipping. since fuel prices are up - so will shipping. and, finally - the the energy costs. refridgeration. its costs $$$ to keep it fresh too.
and - the best part - its NOT inflation. inflation is a specific term for specific conditions, which these do not fit. lol - everything costs more - but its NOT inflation.
Originally posted by Pyrthian: and - the best part - its NOT inflation. inflation is a specific term for specific conditions, which these do not fit. lol - everything costs more - but its NOT inflation.
Thats very true.. Like this being a free country. It is free as long as you follow all the rules which govern your every waking moment.
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12:42 PM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
Blame it on the tree huggers who want us to have Ethanol as a fuel source. The Corn lobbyists push for it as well. So now we got farmers growing a ton of corn to produce a half ton of fuel in essence. Of course the Corn farmers are making bank so the wheat and other farmers are jumping on the bandwagon and growing less of the other crops. So now you have a problem. Corn value is up, so to feed the animals that end up our meat, you need to pay more, so the meat costs more. The fuel costs are higher too so that adds to the burden of running the farm and delievering the goods. The price of everything is directly related to the cost of corn, so as that price goes way up..... expect most everything you eat/drink to rise as well.
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01:37 PM
aceman Member
Posts: 4899 From: Brooklyn Center, MN Registered: Feb 2003
2 gallon packs of milk: $6 Bananas: $0.39/lbs Apples: $1.49/lbs Chicken: $2.59/lbs for cut up fryers. $1.49/lbs for leg quarter. $3.69/lbs for boneless chicken breasts
She's either buying organic or not watching out for sales.
84fiero123, The dairy and grain farmers around here are doing quite well.
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01:42 PM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
Blame it on the tree huggers who want us to have Ethanol as a fuel source. The Corn lobbyists push for it as well. So now we got farmers growing a ton of corn to produce a half ton of fuel in essence. Of course the Corn farmers are making bank so the wheat and other farmers are jumping on the bandwagon and growing less of the other crops. So now you have a problem. Corn value is up, so to feed the animals that end up our meat, you need to pay more, so the meat costs more. The fuel costs are higher too so that adds to the burden of running the farm and delievering the goods. The price of everything is directly related to the cost of corn, so as that price goes way up..... expect most everything you eat/drink to rise as well.
I'll always choose american farmers over middle easy sheiks anyday.
Those prices she mentioned are about right in my neck of the woods. maybe a teeny bit higher then what i normall y see... Worst part is, half the food was either picked while it was unripened, or picked and then kept in with gas to keep it from gettin' spoiled... either way, the tomatoes and whatnot taste like wet sawdust, and probably have less of the "good stuff" if they were left to ripen normally...
Whole milk is 5.25 a gallon here. It has nothing to do with organic. It has to do with the price of gas/shipping.
But ya we are in great shape right Phranc?
Everything is costing more but no one is making any more.
No one is making anymore for those food products, well exept the oil companies.
We are.
The price of milk isn't the greatest indicator of the economy. In fact its only an indicator of the price of milk.
Everything costs a little more!!! OMG people may have to chose between food and a new TV or some other luxury. Maybe they won't buy 3 more gifts for x-mas.
But yeah its not like there are other factors in the price of food. Its only the price of gas that raises it.
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01:52 PM
PFF
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84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
2 gallon packs of milk: $6 Bananas: $0.39/lbs Apples: $1.49/lbs Chicken: $2.59/lbs for cut up fryers. $1.49/lbs for leg quarter. $3.69/lbs for boneless chicken breasts
She's either buying organic or not watching out for sales.
84fiero123, The dairy and grain farmers around here are doing quite well.
At $2.59 for a Fryer 8 lbs(average fryer size) is $20.72. chichen breasts boneless would be fo 5 Lbs would be $18.45. Are you kidding me. I can raise a 24 pound turkey cheaper than that. We do not buy meat at the store. We raise all of our meat on the farm. Beef ,pork, chichen and turkey's. T-Bones at the local grocery store are $15.00 to $20.00 each. For a family of 3 it would cost $60.00 just for the meat. (just so you know , this is 84 fieros wife). Organic costs 3 times as much to buy and raise.
Tired of waiting get a weapon and you can eat everytime you place good shot.
Buy a cow and milk your way to prosperity.
Grow a garden to feed you and your livestock.
Get the old hybrid horse out and offset your travel cost. (runs on grass, corn, carrots, and many other organic fuels)
Just go out on your farm and ring a neck and you got a chicken dinner.
Kill a cow/hog and have steak/pork for a while.
Drill a well and put up an out house offset your utilities.
String up a line and you have a solar powered clothes dryer.
Get a washboard and you can play music or wash clothes whichever the mood takes you. If your good you can do it at the same time and charge admission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Each one of the above has been done whithout a drop of crude oil used in any way.
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02:04 PM
FieroAurora Member
Posts: 1262 From: North Olmsted Ohio Registered: Mar 2004
Milk is crazy expensive we only buy it on sale and if it's not on sale we go with out... it sucks but $4.50 a galllon oh hell no! I mean sure everything is costing more down to the trucks that bring the feed for the cows to eat... it's just nuts! but yes buying Organic is WAY TO EXPENSIVE and it honestly isn't a whole lot healtier for you the person just more so for the enviroment..
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02:05 PM
cliffw Member
Posts: 37848 From: Bandera, Texas, USA Registered: Jun 2003
Originally posted by Pyrthian: I'll always choose american farmers over middle easy sheiks anyday.
Well...heh...people always complain about the price of gas, saying that we need to drive. America needs to diet. We as a whole are overweight. I remember the threads speaking about how to stick it to the oil companies by not driving/buying gas for a day. Faulty logic. However, we can stick it to the farmer, . I am reminded of when I have been poor. Steak may have been unaffordable but I never went hungry.
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02:09 PM
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
We raise our own beef, chickens, eggs, milk our goats, (you would never know the difference), if it were not for that we would only eat meat twice a week.
Most people can not do that, most live in apartments. Try raising chickens in your home.
Prices at the grocery store are directly related to gas prices. Cost the farmer more to plant, harvest, transport, and everything in between.
Farmers still have to buy grain, unless they grow it. In that case it still cost them more to harvest. Milk production is directly proportional to input. No grain just grass less milk, smaller chickens.
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't. Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
And once again, Steve, the farmers in REAL farm country ARE NOT complaining. They're doing quite well. Look at the price of corn these days. Look at what farm land is renting for.
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02:22 PM
FieroAngel Member
Posts: 2094 From: S. Charleston WV Registered: Apr 2004
Are you kidding me!! Organic is about twice as much as regular. I do try to look for some foods on sale but fresh food doesnt go on sale that often unless they are in season. Now in the summer time I do go to the farmers market and buy fresh foods but hosestly I started wondering if it was worth the gas to drive all the way to the farmers market just to save $ on food. I never did the math I mostly go to support local farmers. I also had a garden over the summer but lack of rain made for a bad season. I didnt get any apples from my trees nor any grapes or blackberries. My tomatoes cucumbers strawberries and peppers did well with no rain though.
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02:29 PM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
And once again, Steve, the farmers in REAL farm country ARE NOT complaining. They're doing quite well. Look at the price of corn these days. Look at what farm land is renting for.
yes, the difference between corporate farming & personal farming. much like if you or me tried to build a car vs GM building a car. there is much reduction in overhead when dealing in volume. and yet - some people still go ahead and build their own cars. and, for the most part - we are glad they do. it is personally gratifying.
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02:33 PM
aceman Member
Posts: 4899 From: Brooklyn Center, MN Registered: Feb 2003
At $2.59 for a Fryer 8 lbs(average fryer size) is $20.72. chichen breasts boneless would be fo 5 Lbs would be $18.45. Are you kidding me. I can raise a 24 pound turkey cheaper than that. We do not buy meat at the store. We raise all of our meat on the farm. Beef ,pork, chichen and turkey's. T-Bones at the local grocery store are $15.00 to $20.00 each. For a family of 3 it would cost $60.00 just for the meat. (just so you know , this is 84 fieros wife). Organic costs 3 times as much to buy and raise.
Who the Hell serves 8lbs of chicken for 1 meal? I have a family of 5 and cook up maybe 4lbs of chicken. That cut-up fryer wasn't on sale.
T-Bones for $15-$20 each???????? Are you buying a 24 ounce T-Bone? I bought T-Bone for $4.99/lbs last week. So for a family of 4, last week would have cost me $10-maybe $15 for a premium cut of steak!
I can buy a 24lbs turkey for $24 not on sale. A 24lbs turkey will last a family of 4 about 5 days.
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04:19 PM
PFF
System Bot
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
At $2.59 for a Fryer 8 lbs(average fryer size) is $20.72. chichen breasts boneless would be fo 5 Lbs would be $18.45. Are you kidding me. I can raise a 24 pound turkey cheaper than that. We do not buy meat at the store. We raise all of our meat on the farm. Beef ,pork, chichen and turkey's. T-Bones at the local grocery store are $15.00 to $20.00 each. For a family of 3 it would cost $60.00 just for the meat. (just so you know , this is 84 fieros wife). Organic costs 3 times as much to buy and raise.
I think it's amazing how the cost of food can vary so much state to state
You (maine): whole fryer is $2.59/lb me (indiana): whole fryer is $0.88/lb, I just bought a small 5lb Perdue fryer today for about $4, that's 3 big meals for me
I can't comment on the T-Bone price since I don't know what size you're talking about. Around here, at a good butcher (no crappy walmart piece of meat) you can get T-bones for around $11/lb. I shoot for about 2/3lb size steaks, so i can eat a T-Bone for dinner and it will only cost me around $8
Milk is still pretty cheap here, around $3.50 a gallon, but most gas stations here have it for $2 a gallon if you buy $10 or more in gas.
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07:14 PM
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
I know I have to choose every day whether or not to grow Wheat or Oranges. Get real.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by OutsideGroove:
Blame it on the tree huggers who want us to have Ethanol as a fuel source. The Corn lobbyists push for it as well. So now we got farmers growing a ton of corn to produce a half ton of fuel in essence. Of course the Corn farmers are making bank so the wheat and other farmers are jumping on the bandwagon and growing less of the other crops. So now you have a problem. Corn value is up, so to feed the animals that end up our meat, you need to pay more, so the meat costs more. The fuel costs are higher too so that adds to the burden of running the farm and delievering the goods. The price of everything is directly related to the cost of corn, so as that price goes way up..... expect most everything you eat/drink to rise as well.
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07:37 PM
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
And look at the price of Diesel Fuel. And Fertilizer. And equipment.
Yep, commodity prices are GOOD. And I'm not complaining about them. But we've also had three years previous of poor crops, high input costs, and average prices to make up for.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by aceman:
And once again, Steve, the farmers in REAL farm country ARE NOT complaining. They're doing quite well. Look at the price of corn these days. Look at what farm land is renting for.
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07:41 PM
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
As far as real farmers complaining or not. They don’t because they simply pass the costs on to the consumer, large or small scale.
You'll have to explain to me how this works, Steve. I've been farming (for a living) for 35 years and nobody's ever given a rat's behind about my costs. I took whatever price I was offered at the local elevator or sale barn, for the most part.
OK john I was wrong, then the extra money things are costing have nothing to do with the farmers. The middle men are making all the profit in food. Or the gas companies.
So John how are you doing? As far as profit.
But then you don’t grow food, well I mean animals. That can be a little different cost wise I would think.
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't. Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
What are pork bellies and why are there speculators for them? Or for that matter speculators of any and all commodities? Doesn't the commodities exchange set the price for the vast majority of food crops and meats?
[This message has been edited by Phranc (edited 12-03-2007).]
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08:58 PM
Wichita Member
Posts: 20708 From: Wichita, Kansas Registered: Jun 2002
It's the Ethanol scam that is creating much of the food price hikes.
Subsidized farmers and ethanol plant co-ops are living off the backs of the American worker through exploitation of a running scam, known as corn and cereal grain based ethanol with the coercion of government policies that are forcing ethanol production, not for the sake of alternative fuels, but to buy votes from farmers and rural America.
It will probably take a decade or more for it to be reverse, but at a substantial cost to the American Worker and their reduction of quality of life as they pay for it in the mean time, while subsidize farmers laugh at you through the windows of their Cadillac Escalades and windows of Airliner jumbo jet as they go on their European Ski Vacations and Asian Sex Tours.
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09:10 PM
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
Yes, a very minor amount for small grains like wheat and grain sorghum. When prices are high, as this year, the amounts paid aren't worth the paperwork to get them, to be honest. If you don't go through all the hoops, then you're limited in things like crop insurance and soil conservation assistance (as if that matters anymore, there hasn't been any money available for any of the projects I've done for the last 5 years).
The amounts are public record.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by 84Bill:
John, is it true that some of your crop is subsidized?
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09:29 PM
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
It could also be a WORLD shortage of small grains, particularly wheat, after several years of poor crops and disastrous world production this year (although the KS crop was good).
Now where did I park that Escalade, I need to get to the airport to get on my private jet to fly to Switzerland.
Moron.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by Wichita:
It's the Ethanol scam that is creating much of the food price hikes.
Subsidized farmers and ethanol plant co-ops are living off the backs of the American worker through exploitation of a running scam, known as corn and cereal grain based ethanol with the coercion of government policies that are forcing ethanol production, not for the sake of alternative fuels, but to buy votes from farmers and rural America.
It will probably take a decade or more for it to be reverse, but at a substantial cost to the American Worker and their reduction of quality of life as they pay for it in the mean time, while subsidize farmers laugh at you through the windows of their Cadillac Escalades and windows of Airliner jumbo jet as they go on their European Ski Vacations and Asian Sex Tours.
ya no kinding the cost of food is getting crazy. just a week a go i went up to food land ( i will never shop at another walmart unless i realy have to) and go nearly 200$ worth of food. and some how my fridge is empty, both frezzers and most of my cabnets. i will amit i do it a lot but no were near 200 every week
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09:37 PM
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say that I don't grow "food", Steve. I raise beef cattle. I grow wheat. I grow grain sorghum (which is fed to cattle and hogs to produce meat).
This year, I'm going to make some money. Last year was a break even. The two years prior to that were disastrous. Such is farming. Hopefully you have enough good years to make up for the bad ones.
The problem is, in the good years suppliers raise their prices. NH3, which is nitrogen fertilizer, is nearly completely based on the price of Natural Gas. What I used to pay was about $170/ton in 2000 is now $500/ton. Has your food gone up that much at the grocery store? Diesel Fuel, what I used to pay about $1.50/gallon for off-higway fuel I just filled my tank and it cost me $2.92. Has your food at the grocery store doubled in 3 years? Now with the price of the commodities, this is doable, but do you honestly think it's going to STAY at record levels? Not a chance. It will be back below $4/bushel for wheat within 24 months, guaranteed. I'm forward pricing now (for $2.00/bushel under the high earlier this year) for '08 and '09 crops. Why? Because it's still over $7 for '08 and $6 for '09 on the contracts. It won't stay that way.
And the payments farmers receive are tied into market price. The higher the market price, the lower the payments, as it should be if it's really a "safety net". Right now, with record high wheat prices, my payments don't amount to squat. Something like 6 cents a bushel. Like I said, not worth the effort of the paperwork if that's all that was involved.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by 84fiero123:
OK john I was wrong, then the extra money things are costing have nothing to do with the farmers. The middle men are making all the profit in food. Or the gas companies.
So John how are you doing? As far as profit.
But then you don’t grow food, well I mean animals. That can be a little different cost wise I would think.
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09:39 PM
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
Same thing, only instead of trading shares in a company, they trade contracts of a commodity.
Oh, and a "frozen pork belly" is a processed hog. Frozen pork cuts.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by Phranc:
What are pork bellies and why are there speculators for them? Or for that matter speculators of any and all commodities? Doesn't the commodities exchange set the price for the vast majority of food crops and meats?