Perfect Storm of Price Increases

Tuesday is usually the day that I do my grocery shopping. That’s because at 4:00 I drop the carpool off at religious education, and then I have about 90 minutes until the carpool comes back to my home. That’s usually enough time to make my list, check it twice, and get the basics at the supermarket.

This week, though, I’m not going grocery shopping for a number of reasons.

First, we’re still pretty well stocked from last week’s shopping, including everything I need to make packed lunches and dinners for the rest of the week.

Second, because our elementary school participates in the Market Day program, which pick-up was last night, I was able to secure some supplemental groceries in the near term.

But it’s the third reason that really has me hesitating about venturing down the supermarket aisle again any time in the near future: last week I spent more than $300 on groceries, and I didn’t even buy any meat.

When I got to the check out line, I really did a double-take when I saw that number go over the $300 mark. I thought, there must be something wrong here. I thought maybe I’d been double-charged for an item or my “shoppers plus” card didn’t register so I paid a higher price or something.

Nope, it’s just the economy, stupid.

I was just listening to a report on NPR about how this is a perfect storm of price increases right about now–with energy prices up, which makes the price of milk and corn go up, which makes the price of my grocery shopping go up. Is it possible that my small sample of one person’s trip to the supermarket is a microcosm of the pinch the American population is feeling? Could be.

If I look back at some of my past shopping trips, I do see some prices that have gone up but also some that have come down. For example, six months ago a gallon of milk cost $3.29. Last week it was $3.19. Bananas are still $.35 each like they were six months ago, and the price hasn’t changed on my favorite brands of salsa and strawberry preserves. Where I did see a big price jump was in non-essentials like chocolate chips (was $1.99 a package and now cost $2.79), and out -of-season fruits and vegetables, which I know I should know better than to buy. But since I haven’t fully embraced that whole 100-mile diet thing, I’m going to make peace with the fact that I’m buying produce from California, dude.

But revisiting these receipts uncovered what I think is probably the likely culprit behind my $300+ shopping trip: in my one trip last week, I picked up four items that I a) don’t normally buy each week and b) each cost a pretty penny. These included Lactaid pills for my lactose-intolerant kids, vanilla (the baking ingredient), Neutrogena moisturizer, and a mega-container of laundry detergent. All together those four items padded my grocery bill by $50.

So while it would be a neat-and-tidy call-to-arms to equate my increased grocery shopping bill with the failure of our current economy, the reality is I need to do a better job of spreading out those “big” purchases over a few shopping trips, not lumping them into one. Hey, at least I had $10 in coupon savings I could use.

By the way, the one thing this story on NPR did say, that sort of makes the 100-mile diet thing relevant, is that organic farmers, who do not rely on corn to feed their cows, may end up being a shopper’s most economical option in the coming months. I mean, if organic farmers, by their very nature, use less energy and less expensive feed to “grow” their crops, then it would make sense that they would be less expensive overall. Something to think about as spring draws nearer.