Rising food prices

[momisery]

For fun we looked at prices on cars in our area. The cheapest we found was a Chevy Colorado pickup for 22,000.00 in the little truck catagory. I do remember buying a chevy half ton in 1991 for 16,500 with all the bells and whisles. So, we looked at those and they were 25,000.00 with a 4,000.00 rebate. I have to say my income and the incomes of millions of Americans has dropped yet prices keep going up on about everything including trucks which are being made with cheaper wages in Mexico etc. I went to the mall too and all the labels say China or Thailand none were America. Even Lucky that use to brag about being American jeans and was over 100.00 has a line that is 88.00 in stretch demin instead of good ole cotton demin and they were made overseas. Levis is Pakistan now. These companies went for the cheaper labor but prices are way up... where are the profits going since they are not passing them on to all of us after stealing our jobs? Food is cheap and made in America by Americans for the most part. I know that they bring in migrant workers too, but a little area like ours has few and the farms were not having to mark their prices up 3 times to get by, so why could companies not make goods here really? I think it has to do with more profits. We do have a few goods that come in from Mexico but few buy them here.

[WhatMoney]

Frozen turkeys, all sizes, are $0.22/lb at Winco stores w/ a $50 purchase in Portland, OR metro area.

A gallon of milk is $1.98 at several stores, usual price.

Butternut squash are $0.69 each.

Round and rump roasts (for pot roasts) often on sale for $1.98/lb at SafeWay.

McDonald's? I haven't eaten their junk food for 20 years, so who cares?

[Blueboy]

$.37 WOW! Good for you.

I picked up a couple of turkeys today for $.49/lb today.

[BigJohn]

One store has turkeys at $.37 a pound. Can it go cheaper?

[Snickers]

Running about 2.55 around here.

[momisery]

Gas today is 2.32 it was 2.36 this morning.. hmmmm

[momisery]

The insurance is thru my employer. My job pays 14.90 per hour and in GA I was making 50,000.00 per year. Hubby is laid off so times are a bit bad, but we are eating. When I first started working in 1968 I made min. wage and my insurance was covered 80,20 plus I had a full company pension. Today, no pension, my insurance is an 80/20 PPO and it cost my employer too... My point is the cost is crazy, and my point is also that in GA we had an HMO that was much cheaper and little out of pocket. We should all have better insurance.

[Snickers]

That is where I live. Milk one half gallon is 2.02.

Goodness, that is really high for milk! I'm in Maryland and it is normally around $1.79, cheaper when on sale.

[Blueboy]

My biggest complaint is the healthcare. BCBS is big in this area and about all there is available thru employment. I pay 240.00 for coverage for hubby and I plus another 30.00 for drugs my plan went up in October. That is for the best standard PPO I can buy at work and it has a deductable this year of 550/1100 with a total out of the pocket of 4100/9200 I think this year. So, pretty much you can plan on putting out a lot of cash if anything goes wrong plus what you pay every month.

Momisery I'm sorry but I had to laugh out loud when I read your complaint about your insurance cost. Sometimes we don't know how good things really are.

My insurance for me and my wife cost over $1400/month with $3000 deductible. It is with BCBS and I thank God every day for having insurance with them.

You see in Dec '08 I was diagnosed with liver cancer and had to have a transplant in Jan '09. When we sat down with the hospital to go over projected charges, which were well over $350k, we told them we had BCBS and the guy closed his notebook and said "Great, you won't have any problems. He told us that most people have to have fund raisers and such in order to be approved for the transplant. (Wouldn't that be fun while you know you're dieing?) he said BCBS doesn't attempt to find loopholes to keep from paying" never once through this journey have we had a single issue with them paying their part. They actually called my wife a couple of days after the surgery just to say that if we needed anything let them know and gave a contact who would handle our case. Our policy has a "out of pocket" max of 4100/9200 also.

I will have to take medicine that cost over $2500/month for the rest of my life and the new years monthly premium cost are going up only $100/month. This doesn't even cover the medicine cost.

Like fools we went through savings and retirement funds to pay cc and now that all funds are gone cc are calling 20 times per day. They have jacked up interest rates to 29.99% and also raised late fees, I just wish the cc companys were 1/10th as understanding and cooperative as BCBS and we might not be preparing to file BK. Life has absolutely changed, but I'm still here.

But I digress, turkeys here in western SC are $0.49/lb.

[momisery]

That is where I live. Milk one half gallon is 2.02. Farmland bacon on sale 3.99. Bush Beans 1.78 can, Pepto Bismol tablets small bottle 3.79. Small Squash 1.00. and the sale of the day was Tbone Steak 8.63 for a small one. Family pack of ground beef which was 4 pounds 11.81 on sale. The wages here are about 11,000 under the national median per the GOVT website. The gas isn't too bad compare to CA of course. But smaller areas have fewer places to compete with each other. The McDonalds in Republic charges 3.90 with tax for one Sausage and egg sandwich, that is horrible. My biggest complaint is the healthcare. BCBS is big in this area and about all there is available thru employment. I pay 240.00 for coverage for hubby and I plus another 30.00 for drugs my plan went up in October. That is for the best standard PPO I can buy at work and it has a deductable this year of 550/1100 with a total out of the pocket of 4100/9200 I think this year. So, pretty much you can plan on putting out a lot of cash if anything goes wrong plus what you pay every month. I have been here for two years from GA. In GA I had and HMO for 52.00 per month and co-pays of 20.00 for the DR and 10.00 for meds. When you consider the cost of goods for necessities and the horrible wages it is not a cheap place to live. A DR visit cost more than it did in GA or CA or AZ for that matter and the DR's here make just as much as they do out west. My point is if you paid so much less, and commerical or homes are so much cheaper how come prices are not so much cheaper too? If our hospitals were cheaper people would flock in to use the cheaper care, but it is not. many people I have spoken to who have moved here in the past 3 years agree with me, the story about it being cheaper to live here is not true if you base it on the necessities in life.

[BigJohn]

Wow... our turkey is 99 cents a pound with a grocery purchase.. i wanna move.. lol

Our local Walmart has Turkeys for $.40 a pound. A different store has pork roast for $.99.

We have bought hotdogs as cheap as $.39. They were 7 ounce packages.

I plan on cooking a turkey this Sunday and it should last the whole week.

[Kansas1960]

What part of the Ozarks do you live?

I have found Spingfield/Joplin area cheap and near the Lake (ie. Laurie Mo) to have very reasonalble food and gas prices. Just curious what part of the Ozarks you live.

[momisery]

We buy bulk meat at Sams and then cut the pieces down and freeze them. We also look for the specials at the local store. We cook on the grill all year long and use fresh veggies or salad ... sometimes we will use box stuff when prices are too high. I have learned to fill in with high grain bread, I eat that pretty well, and hubby can have more of the meat that I don't need. I am not a big person, so I eat less it is that simple. I do spend money on my hair products, but they are not salon items, just upper end drug store stuff because my hair is long and in good condition and I have no desire to cut it and then pay a beauty shop. I cut my own bangs and trim the ends that is it!! I don't do my nails, just file them and do my own toe nails too.. but I always have so I guess I am not saving more.. just still saving. lol I will post the food cost once I get home and get a bill.

[nc73]

Gas prices are a concern for us also.

I hope heating oil doesn't go up for the Northern folks. I don't know how some of them did it the last time round.

Wear lots of clothes? That's what we have to do. I refuse to fill my propane tank up all the way which costs me 900 dollars since I won't be here that much longer. 900 will last 3 months if we use like it was intended. We are just using electric space heaters until we are outta here.

[momisery]

Wow... our turkey is 99 cents a pound with a grocery purchase.. i wanna move.. lol