Been to the grocery store yet this week?

It made me nostalgic for last week. . . last month . . . last year.

The price of wheat has gone up 80-something percent and now retailers are reporting difficulty finding it. There is a world wide food inflation and food shortage. Asia’s got a rice crisis and we’ve redirected part of our corn crop to make fuel.

Over the past 12 months milk prices have doubled as demand for corn, the staple diet of a dairy herd, increased substantially, reports The Times.

The Economist says,

“Over the past 30 years the share of food in American and European household spending has fallen from an average of 30% to less than 10%, so consumers do not care about price hikes as much as they did in the past. Even so, they are responding to the economic gloom by changing what they eat, where they eat and where they buy their groceries.”

Most news sources seem to have the same message – if you think your grocery bill is high now, come back next week when it’s sure to be higher.

I’m a recent convert to the word organic.

I’d recently started springing for the extra change to buy the organic carrots, peanut butter, milk and this or that.

But, Friday I realized we’re not talking about change anymore. I’d stop at one item and realize the difference between high fructose corn syrup cheap food and the organic version is about $2. Organic honey and peanut butter and rice, the difference of around $2.

It’s just not possible for us to face this world-wide food inflation crisis adding $2 or more to every item in my cart.

I lost about 25 pounds last year from switching my carbs via Bob Green and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Whole wheat breads, noodles, even pizza dough and some chips. My whole family lost weight as a result.

I bought it this week, but it’s predicted by the end of the year I’ll either not be able to find it or afford it.

Are we facing the choice fat and unhealthy or broke?

I’m sorry body and planet, environmentalist and health nut, we’ve got to risk fat and unhealthy over broke.

I’ll hold onto the reverse-osmosis water, the hormone free organic milk, but little else with an organic price tag made it into my cart.

In the last few weeks I’ve bought a bread maker and an air pop corn popper at a thrift store, planted some strawberries, tomatoes and herbs, and started cooking more things from scratch.

The kicker – I STILL had to put stuff back to stay on my $150 per week budget.

My Mormon relatives, firm believers in food storage “just in case,” are sending me cautionary email instructions to stock up on things like flour and grains. Quick!

It’s probably not the end of the world and American’s are blessed in that we likely won’t actually starve, but smart people insulate themselves from inflation.

“The surge in the price of food will continue for at least a further two years, the chief executive of one of the world’s biggest food companies, Pepsico, has told “The Times.

Post from: Blisstree

Bye Bye Organic & Wheat

I took a major action step to Save Myself. It wasn’t easy, there were a few fights and one angry letter to Suze Orman over my using $50, of our already very tight budget, to Save My Self by opening a TD Ameritrade Account.

Rewind: Suze Orman had a Save Yourself Plan in her book Women & Money. Women who signed up for a TD Ameritrade Investment Account before March 2008 and automatically save $50 a month for one year will be given a free $100.

So far I’ve saved $100. But, I don’t know what to do with it. The market is tanking and it’s giving me ambivalent feelings about my ability to make a decision. I’m afraid of making “the wrong one.”

Our investment decision are always surface and ambivalent to begin with.

Did you see Suze rip that couple a new one on Oprah? Do you know how this investment did over the last 10 years? Do you know how much you’re spending on servicing this mutual fund? And a whole bunch of other questions I didn’t really follow. Then don’t tell me you have a good mutual fund because you don’t even know what kind of mutual fund you have! she scolded.

The pressure is causing paralysis of indecision. Have you ever looked at a prospectus?

Prior to my husband working at a chicken company I would have thought chicken was as sound an investment as you could get – everybody eats chicken. (except those with an inexplicable love affair with the soy bean). But even that stock is tanking because of . . . wait for it . . . oil.

The seemingly innocuous development of ethanol – with 1/3 of the United States corn crop – is driving up the price of chicken feed and it’s causing unprecedented worldwide food inflation.

Do you have a crystal ball that explains the safe investment which will quickly grow? Can I borrow it?

(P.S. Stockpile chicken.)

Post from: Blisstree

Saving Self/Tanking Market

Two years ago we, a family of four, were able to eat for $100 a week. I thought that was a lot. At some point I realized groceries had become so expensive we raised the budget to $150 so we could stop feeling guilty for exceeding the budget every single week. Except now we’ve noticed we’ve been exceeding even that.

As I’ve been shopping lately I’ve noticed a few tricky trends.

Juice boxes went up 50 cents but they stuck a Sale sign behind them to make me believe I was getting a deal. The garbage bags I drive across town to buy are now thinner. The food is coming in smaller packaging for the same price.

I find myself walking through the store questioning my memory. Did the diapers really go up $5 in one month or am I imagining things?

Grocery prices are just blatantly and unapologetically higher – a lot higher.

We ran a budgeting analysis and here’s what’s really happened – I’ve been continuing to buy our usual basic food and we’re up to. . . I’m too embarrassed to tell you.

My husband has decided it’s best if he takes over the grocery shopping for a while.

It’s not me – really.

He’s sticking to the budget, but the results are depressing. It’s like we’re back to being right above the poverty-line – which we struggled and worked to escape.

It’s disappointing to realize, when he comes back from the store, that we’re back to the really crappy generic chips instead of the baked ones I was buying. That we may find a use for Ramen Noodles again. That the kids are going to drink more sugarless flavored drink because milk is too pricey. Welcome back to creative cooking a casserole with whatever’s left in the fridge on Thursdays. We’ve been here before, so at least it’s not shockingly new ground.

I know I’m not the only one suffering from sticker shock at the grocery store. I heard on the news we’re experiencing the worst food inflation in decades. Lingering war = price of gas = price of groceries. Right? The Times of India has a story from April 6 by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar,

“The problem is that world prices have skyrocketed. And we live in an era of internet-savvy farmers who know exactly what food prices are in Chicago and London, and adjust their own actions accordingly.” Farmer greed?

“The problem is being compounded by global panic. Two successive droughts in Australia, plus the diversion of one-third of the US maize crop to ethanol, have led to shortfalls in world production and low food stocks,” states the article.

It does lead back to the price of oil, seems everything does these days.

I’m an American who wouldn’t have a huge problem with going to war over oil. Of course, I want such a war to make oil cheaper and more accessible and I want to stop paying for such a war if it’s having the opposite effect. I want to reduce our desperate dependance on oil by developing more realistic technologies FAST. I don’t like being lied to, but I grew up with a military father who regularly uttered the words, “It’s classified,” so I can accept not having all the information.

I have no problem with militarily kicking terrorist ass. Or fascist ass for that matter. I’m a military brat not a passifist. Truthfully, I’ve been apathetic about the whole war.

But now its seriously effecting my personal economics and so now I’m voting the oil barren/cowboy Bush and his Republican friend McCain out. I don’t care for the way it’s effecting our nation’s economics either – putting a war on the national credit card for a few months I can deal with, but charging on it for years of futility is a definite no go for me.

I’m so hoping that our next President will address the oil/war situation in a more effective and economical way. I’m sure she will. Her husband, Bill, had no national deficit and a big fat savings account, they share a family budget so it’s likely their fiscal policy will be similar.

I’m so grateful that my family is one of the really, really lucky ones. During the past few years our income has continued to go up. Other families, I know, are suffering this extraordinary inflation without an increase in income.

In that case, there are only three choices – put more on the credit card which will bite you in the ass in less than 30 days, make more money or drastically reduce living expenses. I’m going to make more money. Check out ThriftyMommy and SimplyThrify for ways to reduce your expenses. My funny friend Jennifer from jlogged writes a lot about ways to cut costs and stay on budget too. She has a way of making it seem fun.

My night snacking issue seems to be temporarily resolved though, – we ran out of popcorn and there won’t be any more until payday. The generic cheetos he bought are just too gross for me to put in my mouth. Okay, I ate some anyway, but ick.

Post from: Blisstree

Off Grocery Detail