Increased Grocery Bills During Pandemic (expenses, buy, money, cost)

[jazzcat22]

A newspaper article today profiled some struggling families. One was a mother and father and their two kids. I think both parents work, but the mom’s hours was cut. The son is special needs and since he is not attending school currently, they had to buy extra materials for him. Okay, I can understand how that is an additional cost, although surely they had some stuff for him already since he was never at school 24/7.

But what puzzled me was the statement that their grocery bills doubled during the pandemic with all of them being at home all the time. School lunches are cheap or free, so I do get that now they are spending more for 40 or so lunches a month between the two kids. But that wouldn’t double the bill. I assume mom and dad either brought lunches to work or ate out, which would be more expensive than eating at home. So how could their grocery bills have doubled just because they are all at home?

[mathjak107]

Somethings are more ..we tend to go through more fruit and snacks being home ...some prices are just higher because of demand and hoarding ....

With us , we do all our normal grocery shopping via instacart or fresh direct ..that actually reduced our bills since keeping me out of the store cut down a load of extras and goodies .

But covid also left us home more and going out to do our photography less ....that has got us in the habit of visiting the many gourmet stores we have once a week and that can be costly but what we buy is sooooo good .

So we have seen bills go down on one side but escalate a lot on another ...but not double

[ncole1]

Originally Posted by jazzcat22

A newspaper article today profiled some struggling families. One was a mother and father and their two kids. I think both parents work, but the mom’s hours was cut. The son is special needs and since he is not attending school currently, they had to buy extra materials for him. Okay, I can understand how that is an additional cost, although surely they had some stuff for him already since he was never at school 24/7.

But what puzzled me was the statement that their grocery bills doubled during the pandemic with all of them being at home all the time. School lunches are cheap or free, so I do get that now they are spending more for 40 or so lunches a month between the two kids. But that wouldn’t double the bill. I assume mom and dad either brought lunches to work or ate out, which would be more expensive than eating at home. So how could their grocery bills have doubled just because they are all at home?

Because grocery prices have gone up.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/busin...ing/index.html

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by ncole1

Because grocery prices have gone up.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/busin...ing/index.html

No where near double which was the premise in the article.

The reality is overall we likely saved more than many things went up

Life is always a balance of things going up and things either going down or you buy or Do X instead of Y .

we spent way less on travel , entertainment, long weekends ,eating out etc .even less this year on dental .

So overall we spent more on food but less on a lot of other stuff .

[ilovemycomputer90]

Haven't noticed an increase and if there was, it was definitely not double. Buying from an overpriced grocery store is still cheaper than eating out (well maybe except Whole Foods).

[Threestep2]

Groceries and everything else has gone up. Food banks, drives, ... are everywhere. Here they offer everything from daily school lunch to small furniture.

[mojo101]

food prices have definitely gone up,esp sea food and meat,veggies are seasonal.
but if you pay attention to specials each week,you can get some good deal,I bought some Progressive clam chowder for 99 cents one week when it is on sale,same with Campbell soup,frozen dinner from Stouffer,Marie Calender ,LEAN Cuisine.
if their food bill doubles,may be they just like to eat more,could be boredom.also people tend to eat more in winter.

[ilovemycomputer90]

Originally Posted by mojo101

food prices have definitely gone up,esp sea food and meat,veggies are seasonal.
but if you pay attention to specials each week,you can get some good deal,I bought some Progressive clam chowder for 99 cents one week when it is on sale,same with Campbell soup,frozen dinner from Stouffer,Marie Calender ,LEAN Cuisine.
if their food bill doubles,may be they just like to eat more,could be boredom.also people tend to eat more in winter.

Exactly, still good deals to be had. Even if you buy an overpriced can of soup for $2.99, you're still saving way more money than getting takeout or higher priced items like certain meats and seafood.

[Lowexpectations]

Very possible the school was providing breakfast and lunch for the children at no cost to the family before

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by jazzcat22

A newspaper article today profiled some struggling families. One was a mother and father and their two kids. I think both parents work, but the mom’s hours was cut. The son is special needs and since he is not attending school currently, they had to buy extra materials for him. Okay, I can understand how that is an additional cost, although surely they had some stuff for him already since he was never at school 24/7.

But what puzzled me was the statement that their grocery bills doubled during the pandemic with all of them being at home all the time. School lunches are cheap or free, so I do get that now they are spending more for 40 or so lunches a month between the two kids. But that wouldn’t double the bill. I assume mom and dad either brought lunches to work or ate out, which would be more expensive than eating at home. So how could their grocery bills have doubled just because they are all at home?

Grocery bills might go up but other expenses should go down creating a wash. And I think if someone cooks from scratch which I usually do food should not be that expensive.