Food Price Hikes Changing Eating Habits

witchofthedogs · #1 04-01-2008, 09:29 AM

From MSNBC.com:

Food price hikes changing eating habits
More people say they are eating at home, buying food in bulk

Melissa Marks didn’t used to give much thought to her trips to the grocery store — if she needed a gallon of milk or a carton of eggs, she’d just hop in her car and get it.

These days, Marks, a single mom with three kids, is tying her grocery store trips to the day she gets her paycheck. Instead of making a run for just a few items, she’s thinking up menus and compiling a list beforehand. The kids are eating more generic brands and getting fewer luxury items like sweets.

She’s also clipping coupons and choosing which store will get her business based on who has milk on sale that week.

With both gas and food prices rising, Marks, of Brownsburg, Ind., also is cutting back on restaurant trips, sending her kids to school with pre-packed lunches and eating last night's leftovers for lunch the next day.

"Things have been tight before, but we’ve never seen it like this," she said.
Steadily rising food costs aren't just causing grocery shoppers to do a double-take at the checkout line — they're also changing the very ways we feed our families.

The worst case of food inflation in nearly 20 years has more Americans giving up restaurant meals to eat at home. We're buying fewer luxury food items, eating more leftovers and buying more store brands instead of name-brand items.

Record-high energy, corn and wheat prices in the past year have led to sticker shock in the grocery aisles. At $1.32, the average price of a loaf of bread has increased 32 percent since January 2005. In the last year alone, the average price of carton of eggs has increased almost 50 percent.
Ground beef, milk, chicken, apples, tomatoes, lettuce, coffee and orange juice are among the staples that cost more these days, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Overall, food prices rose nearly 5 percent in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That means a pound of coffee, on average, cost 57 cents more at year's end than in 2006. A 12-ounce can of frozen, concentrated orange juice now averages $2.53 — a 67-cent increase in just two years.

And a carton of grade A, large eggs will set you back $2.17. That's an increase of nearly $1 since February 2006.

"The economy is having a definite impact on shopper behavior," said Tim Hammonds, president and chief executive officer of the Food Marketing Institute, a retail trade group. "People are significantly changing what they do."

Soaring prices are causing shoppers to rethink long-held habits such as store loyalty.

Gina Persinger of Lakewood, Colo., used to stop by Safeway for most food items. Now, she’s buying more food in bulk at Sam’s Club and only hitting the grocery store with a list in her hand.

"I don’t go the store hungry anymore because that easily adds an extra $100 to the bill," she said. "I try to keep track of what I really need and what I don’t need."

She and her husband also have cut back on eating out and no longer peruse Wal-Mart, Best Buy or other retailers looking for DVDs, clothing or things for the house. Still, she is holding on to one luxury — her Starbucks white chocolate mochas — "even though, when I really stop to think about it, I pay more for a cup of coffee than I do for a gallon of milk."

More of the story here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23882299/

Has the changing economy changed your eating habits? Is there anything you've done to adjust to the rising cost of food?

Kid Lester · #2 04-01-2008, 09:40 AM

We invested in the "Green Bags" for our produce.

They really work.

I get 2 full weeks out of lettuce and other produce with them. Not only does it save money...but when you say, "Let's just whip up some easy spaghetti and a salad for dinner"....the salad fixins are actually edible and not a disappointing brown disaster sitting in the crisper.

I've started shopping at Jack's Country Maid for lunch meat and milk.

Their cold cuts are $3/lb. less than any market in town....including Zingo's.

Bada Bing · #3 04-01-2008, 09:44 AM

We switched from Beluga caviar to Sevruga caviar....on the beverage front,
we went from Perrier-Jouet champagne to Frexienet.

witchofthedogs · #4 04-01-2008, 09:46 AM

The SO and I used to eat out all the time... Now, I'm making a concerted effort to cook for us the few evenings a week we spend together, and I bring my lunch to work every day.

I've also stopped running to the grocery store on a whim.

Roogle · #5 04-01-2008, 10:14 AM

I've almost eliminated eating out other than on payday. Things are getting so tight now. I may have to eat almost everything at home.

__________________
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. - Thomas Jefferson

Cr123 · #6 04-01-2008, 10:21 AM

Not to make the economy out to be better off than it is but, the example of the Marks woman is very bad. The things she is doing now are the things my mother has always done. I remember Sundays she would look for the sales and go to that store. I also thought eating left overs was popular, the story makes it out to be something like "Now that Ms Marks is broke she is forced to eat food from the night before." Leftovers are great in most cases, nothing like left over Lasagna or Baked Ziti. It tastes better the second time IMO.

I haven't paid $ 1.32 for bread in a long time either. I buy wheat so it costs more unless there is a really good sale. If you think about it complaining about the average cost of bread being $1.32 is kind of silly. For $1.32 you get enough bread to make 12-15 sandwiches.

For meats I would highly recommend Bj's or Costco. I bought 10lbs of chicken breast, skinless and 98% fat free ready to eat for $22 Saturday, that's $2.20/lb, I think at Acme it's something like $6-8/lb.

It seems like A lot of people are going from being wasteful spenders to more conservative and putting more thought into where their dollar is going, sort of like doing what should have been done all along.

As for the restaurant thing and people not going out, I call bull crap. I bartend at the Olive Garden, come in there tomorrow and see how no one is going out to eat, I'll serve you a beer while you wait 45-60 minutes for a table.

__________________
"The best social program is a job." Ronald Reagan

Bada Bing · #7 04-01-2008, 10:41 AM

CR, I agree with you... I'm no conspiracy theorist, but it was right around when John McCain won the Republican nomination that the Press declared we are in recession.... coincidence? I think not... just so happened that McCain is weak on the economy (by his own admission), and now we are in recession...hmmmm. makes you think.

But to the point at hand. Who the hell doesn't eat leftovers? I'll buy a whole cooked chicken at Trader Joes and eat off it for 3-4 days. If you want it bad enough, you can find cheap food. I know healthy food generally costs more, but I find a lot of health stuff at Trader Joes and their prices aren't that high for what you get. I thought this about food and also about gas... maybe higher prices will force people to conserve...like you said, what they should be doing all along.

And if worse comes to worse, I think you can probably still get two dogs at 7-11 for a buck.

But what I am most shocked about is that someone would wait 45 minutes at the Olive Garden??? (all due respect...just busting chops...) I'd wait 45 for the beer though).

Spyder08 · #8 04-01-2008, 11:00 AM

We haven't changed much. We have cut back on eating out to once a week. Other than that, I still buy my meat/poultry/seafood at either Sam's Club or BJ's. I buy my milk at BJ's because skim milk is less than 3 a gallon. I think the biggest part of our spending is fruit, veggies, and bottled water.

Panama Girl · #9 04-01-2008, 03:45 PM

With a b it of work and a lot of brainwashing

I've managed to get our grocery expenses down, and we're now eating more vegetables than when I first moved in and less fatty stuff.

I buy a lot of groceries at the Dollar Tree; basic staples like plain white rice and macaroni as well as all kinds of frozen vegetable bags and packages of individually-wrapped cheese slices.

My current problem is getting FiL to quit buying so much bread, even if it is a dollar a bag. Mainly it's because he's a grazer and is having a snack late every night. Well, once I get the bread machine going, he might cut down... I have almost 10 lbs of flour just sitting here, gotta use it before it expires.

I have a list of several websites that have helped me manage our budget, I'll post them in their own thread.

witchofthedogs · #10 04-01-2008, 03:53 PM

Spyder, I bought a Pur filter for my kitchen faucet and now fill a big plastic jug with the purified water and leave it in the fridge. I fill naglene bottles with the filtered water and use that instead of bottled water. In the long run, it's much cheaper!

Food Price Hikes Changing Eating Habits

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