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Are There Foods That You Are No Longer Buying Because Their Prices Are Too High?

We have all suffered so many price increases in the past couple of years. When do we say enough is enough? I know I have had enough when it comes to a lot of food items. I just won’t buy them anymore.

For example, eggs were getting ridiculously high. The last time I purchased them, I had decided I would not buy them again until the price came down. I have a small stockpile of powered eggs that really taste pretty good. So once the 60 count of eggs that I bought were gone, we were going to dig into them. I also had many eggs frozen that we could use.

However I am noticing that all of a sudden, the prices are going down on a dozen. They are still 3 times higher here than they were in 2020 but if they continue to come down, I will consider purchasing them again. Someone asked me why they are coming down? I have two thoughts on that. One is that people weren’t buying them because the prices were too high. So supply and demand kicked in. The large stores starting lowering them because they weren’t selling them. The smaller stores followed them. The second is that they aren’t killing as many chickens as they were because of the “bird flu”. Who knows the truth?

But I am going with the stores weren’t selling them because the prices were too high. These large companies like Walmart, Kroger( who is about to become huge with the addition of Albertson’s), Trader Joe’s, Amazon, etc. are all about their profits. If they have to throw away eggs because they aren’t selling, they lose money.

I realize that these companies costs have gone up because of the oil pipelines being shut down, shipping costs going up, etc. But I don’t see the little wholesale guys profits rising as fast as these large corporations profits are. I really do have to wonder if we aren’t being price gouged on a lot of items. I also have to wonder if the Clinton administration hadn’t sent all of our manufacturing to China, would we be having these problems?

If supply and demand is kicking in on the eggs, shouldn’t that also work on other items? It always has before this. So perhaps we should just say no to items that we feel are too high to purchase anymore. If we stop buying them, perhaps they will lower those prices.

I am sure that all of you recently have said no to some food that has just become way too costly to buy. Perhaps we should do this more often.

We have given up junk food and soda(colored and flavored water). They have no nutritional value and the prices are outrageous.

I rarely buy red meat even though we love it. If a roast that I can slow cook is $4.99 a lb., I will buy it but it is much higher in price most of the time. We are eating more cost friendly chicken like breasts at $1.99 a lb. and drumsticks, thighs, and whole chickens at $.99 a lb. When they go that low, I stock my freezer. I also can chicken when I get a great deal! Pork is sometimes on sale so we will buy a little but not much. We are not big pork eaters with the exception of bacon. Bacon has come down a little bit from it’s high so I stock when I see a decent price. But it still needs to come down more. We are eating more rolls of pork cut into sausage patties. I got those on clearance for $ 1.49 a lb. at Aldi’s months ago. I bought 20 rolls. That helps with the cost of our Sunday breakfasts. I also canned a lot of ground beef when it was on sale for $2.99 a lb. over a year ago.

We no longer buy salmon or other fish that has risen too high in price. We have some in the freezer and will eat that.

I don’t buy canned soup. We still have some cream of chicken that I purchased over 2 years ago for casseroles. But most soups are cheap to make from scratch and that is what we do.

We buy the cheapest veggies and fruits on sale and in season. We can our own tomatoes from our garden.

There are so many more items that we don’t buy. Heavy whipping cream is no longer on our list because of the price. Half and Half is about to be gone too. We will use powered milk, Nestle Crema, evaporated milk and powdered creamer instead. If I needed butter, I would not be paying over $5. to $6. a lb. for it. Fortunately, I stocked up at Thanksgiving for $ 2.69 a lb. If we didn’t have the cheap butter, we would substitute our shelf stable coconut oil or ghee that we already have.

We also no longer buy paper napkins, paper towels, cleaning products, makeup or liquid soap. We have converted our soap at the sinks in the house to bar soap. We are using up what we already have.

I see so many people in my stores go to the meat counters, look at the prices, and then walk away. So I can’t be the only one doing this.

Most importantly, we are eating the proper portions of our food which is a huge savings by itself.

Please comment and let us know what you are no longer buying because of the prices. Are you going without or substituting something else?

14 replies on “Are There Foods That You Are No Longer Buying Because Their Prices Are Too High?”

Hi Precious. I was trying to think if there are things I have quit buying. The only thing I can think of is that I have quit buying soda in the can since Christmas. They were “on sale” for Super Bowl here 4/$15. 😳. I did buy some in the 2 liters in Jan and am rationing myself. I am getting down to the end of the 30 eggs I bought and will need to buy some this week. The 30 eggs lasted awhile for us since we don’t eat them every day like you do. The thing I have noticed more is the quantity of things I buy. Like, more of a slow stock up rather than a faster one. And being more careful to plan around the sale ads, although they haven’t been so great since the first of the year.

I did get a new pair of tennis shoes last week that were on sale for a decent price at Meijer. I wear wide, so they are usually more pricey and harder to find a great deal. So I am set for awhile. There have been times in the past where I would buy 2-3 pairs on a decent sale, but decided not to this time. I am still buying good clearance deal clothes for the little girls as I can find them. Little granddaughter’s winter coat needed replaced last week and son in law found a clearance one for $15 at Meijer for her. He is a good bargain shopper too. She was happy b/c it was a Bluey coat, which is a cartoon they love to watch.

Hi Chris,

Soda is so expensive right now that I just can’t justify buying it. We had some good deals in January but they have almost disappeared this month. Yeah on the new shoes. I can just see how happy she is with her new coat!

We haven’t cut out anything but we have cut back if the price is higher. We purchase very little variety anyway so its just the way it is. I made Keto chocolate ice cream, still came out to 5.25 a pint but I see where I can cut it back a little bit more. Last week we paid 6.00/12pk of DC, ought a couple but just drank less. This week its 3.75 so bought a dozen and will make it hopefully make it last through the next time its 6.00 on “sale”. Skipped Friday date night to offset some of these higher prices. Having Salmon tonight 9.59 for 2 pieces is tolerable, going out would be much more. Plus our anniversary is at the end of the month and we plan to go to the higher price restaurant where we get half off…lol.

What I do is buy when the price is lower or on sale so that weekly my items “I won’t buy” change. If I go shopping and an item is just too much it’s off the list. I am using the old way of buying what’s on sale on a 12 week rotation and stocking up.

Eggs were very high here and they were sitting. I’m in northestern part of US.. Then one store did a “special buy” and one specific egg was at the store’s cost in honor of trying to help the customer. For reference, that was medium eggs and they were being sold at $2.35/dz. Large were $5. Well the mediums flew off the shelf. Now I’ve seen the others coming down. When eggs were high I bought some but not as much and they were more a weekend treat.

That’s pretty much how we are doing it. I buy in on whatever meat is best priced and on sale…repackage family sized down and use the deep freezer.

I find my grocery budget has gone up but it had to as it all got so expensive even the stuff I decided was the best cost is a new best cost. For reference, we are a family of 5 although 1 is away at college and the other 2 kids are older teens also. My husband eats anything and everything I cook. He’s very easy going.

We do not buy convenience foods, soda, juice, etc. We buy fruit and veggies, dairy, meats and food I cook. We are huge water drinkers. (And coffee for me.) We use milk as an ingredient but never really drank much. The only times I buy air fryer, convenient snack food is NYE, super bowl type days. My teens all work PT jobs and have the McDonald’s app for those $1 fries they want to buy!

Hi Jackeey49,

Buying on sale is the way too go.I am also in the North East.

I am happy to see that eggs are coming down. I noticed yesterday at Top’s that they had an 18 count for a little over $4.00.

Our deep freezers have become our best friends for saving money. When there is a great meat deal we buy in bulk.

Feeding 4-5 people today has to cost a fortune! You are lucky to have a husband who will eat everything. My Hubby is not crazy about veggies but is getting better at it.

We do many things in the air fryer but never convenience foods.

I am happy to see your teens work. Mine always did in their teen years. They even purchased their own cars when they were in high school with money they earned.

I admit years ago when the kids were little my grocery budget was much smaller but with time and inflation it has risen and risen. I just try to do what I can!

Also, have you tried roasting veggies? I never had until the pandemic and we tried all new recipes in our boredom and wow, we fell in love with roasting them. Cut up any fresh veggie, olive oil and salt n pepper at 425. Done in 15 minutes give or take and the flavor is unlike any steamed or microwaved veggie.

We are sort of old fashioned 70’s, 80’s “kids” who had to work for our stuff and are raising our kids the same. We work hard and have sacrificed and lived below our means over our 25 years together, 23 married, and try to continue to. Yes our kids also bought their first cars too although we pitched in a (small) set amount to help but none were even close to new (10 yrs or older) like their friends get. We maintain our own cars for years and years paying them off and driving them until we can’t anymore. But taking care of them also. We want our kids to value their belongings and know how hard they have to work for what they need or want (and what the difference is!).

Here is a sad joke we say at the school I work at: how do you know the staff lot from the student lot? (The newer cars are all in the student lot!)

Thanks for replying and I wish you lots of good buys coming up! I look forward to your posts.

Hi jackeey49,

Teens can eat you out of house and home. I had two sons who did it to me. Now I have a grandson who has a hollow leg. He is coming to stay for part of winter break so I have to get prepared for him. We have had roasted veggies once in a while. I do them in the toaster oven. They are delicious.

My sons were 70’s and 80-‘s kids too and we did the same with our kids. I wanted them to have a work ethic! You are doing a great job with that! Our kids bought used to until my youngest was in his last year of college when he bought a new one. They also had to pay their own gas and did their own repairs. We do the same as you do with cars. We buy new and keep them until they are just about dead. Right now our car is 10 years old and still going strong. Hubby always worked on our cars but now we have a local garage that does it for us. We also pay cash for cars when we do buy them. I hate any kind of debt. In this economy the best thing anyone can do is pay their debt off.

Congrats on your long marriage!

That is a very sad joke!

Thank you for sharing and your kindness.

I stopped buying real creamer for my coffee. It was $3.49 at Aldi but they don’t carry it anymore (at least not in my store) I priced it at other grocery stores and it’s selling for $7.00. No thanks. We still buy eggs but only a dozen at a time now and we only eat them on Sundays. My neighbor has chickens and sometimes he gives us a few eggs.
We’ve been eating tons of chicken thighs. So much so, I’m sick of them. Forget beef or roasts or beef stew. More pork and sausages when it goes on sale. No more butter. I switched to margarine. We still try to have at least one fresh fruit per day (oranges and grapefruits for now) and a fresh salad every day. I stopped buying bread last week and pulled out our bread maker. I’ve got tons of flour so I’m making my own bread now. Absolutely no snacks or candy. For Valentine’s Day I bought me a $1.39 bar of chocolate and that was it!! We’ve just stopped buying deli meats (turkey, ham etc.) I eat leftovers now for lunch. No more canned Progresso soups. I get the .49 can of Aldi’s chicken noodle or ramen. I make my own soup BUT I don’t like soup leftovers for too long. It gets soggy. I may freeze them BUT I never thaw them out and eat them. I liked the cheap canned stuff.
We’re in a mess, aren’t we?
Can’t wait for spring and I can start my own garden again.

Hi Cindi,

It’s good to hear from you! Yes, the creamer is outrageous. A few eggs would be a Godsend. I should pull some thighs out of my freezer. We haven’t had them in a long time. Do you have a special recipe you use for them or just air fry them? We have two beef roasts left. I thawed one yesterday. We are in need of deli meat so we will have a few dinners and then make some beef barley and freeze the rest for wraps.

I got a good deal on strawberries on a B1G1F so we have been eating those.We always loved citrus but Hubby can’t have it with a med he is taking.Enjoy it! Making your own bread is so much cheaper than what they are charging for a loaf. I did not buy any candy except for the grandchildren for Valentine’s Day. Our son shared some Lindt with us. But it is a special treat of one dark chocolate on Sundays. We make our own deli meats from the couple of roast beefs and some chicken that we have. We also have some turkey tenderloins that serve that purpose.

It sure is a mess! We won’t be planting here until Memorial Day but I can’t wait.

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