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I am not rich nor poor ... just happy middle class. yet I was raised very frugal and taught the value of money and saw my mom shopping using coupons and always looking for things onsale to make my fathers GM paycheck work for a family of 5 that included a stay at home mom ( gotta love the 60s )
fast forward to 2017 ...
I am SHOCKED when I peer the the glass inside my local grocery store ( Hagens - for those in the Seattle area ) It's not a 'designer' store like whole foods or other upscale grocers. But it is a step above the Safeways and Albertsons and Fred Meyers. Similar to a QFC
Anyway.... I always loved making subs - nice sandwiches from cold cut deli meats as a well made sandwich or sub constructed with great ingredients on fresh bread or a bun or roll is an amazing thing. Going all out with sliced onions or spicey brown mustard. I love the snap of fresh crispy iceberg lettuce and a dab of mayo on a turkey sandwich. or the richness of that bite into a roast beef sandwich stacked high with meat and alittle brown mustard on a fresh hoagie roll.
The cold cut sandwich is an American icon that myself and millions of other working class men jammed into a lunch box and marched off to work to 'Make America Great'
Yet here I am in shock in awe as I peer thru the glass at the small price markers placed ominously at the end of the rows of cold cuts that mirror tombstones. As they signal the end of an era.
I refuse to pay $13 per lb for decent cold cuts of roast beef or black forest ham. or I refuse to pay $11 per lb for sliced turkey breast etc etc ...
How did this happen ? Although I am a male I have always grocery shopped and have seen the evolution of price change and it was always quite subtle until the past 2-3 yrs
prices hovered around $6-7-8 lb for years here in the north Seattle area. same meats I listed
I always thought that was alittle steep, but begrudgingly paid as I loved my sandwichs. Then I started seeing the occasional. dreaded double digit $10lb and switched to waiting till it was on sale to purchase at the lower $8-9lb
It seems as if things price warped right by the $11-12 zone and landed at $13lb which is well beyond what I will pay for deli cold cuts.
yea I know I could purchase the big slabs the grocers do and slice my own to cut costs. but who is going to eat 10lbs of roast beef before it spoils ?
The whole point of the deli is to get the EXACT amount of fresh cold cuts you need to make the sandwichs you wish to build
is this just happening here in my area ?
yea I understand Seattle has a higher cost of living than a lot of places. But its all relative to price trends and what the same item cost just a few years ago
I usually shop at Publix here, and they have expensive Boars Head, and they also have a Publix brand. I always order the store brand (for example the roast beef is $8.99) and I cannot see any difference.
Maybe your store has a good store brand, too, OP?
Simple economics. Increased demand will cause increase in prices until it reaches equilibrium. Because people are cooking, stores can charge more for deli meat.
It's cheaper to buy a roast or turkey and slice it up yourself. Or hit Subway.
Processed foods are bad health-wise. I'm not an organic-only type and my diet is not vegan or even all that healthy at times. But processed meats are one thing I avoid.
Processed foods are bad health-wise. I'm not an organic-only type and my diet is not vegan or even all that healthy at times. But processed meats are one thing I avoid.
Yea I know the nutritional value and high sodium etc and everything else about healthy foods and the marks against processed meats
Its not like I am making a sandwich daily. its a treat that I would enjoy every few weeks and make an awesome sub that I would chow down over the weekend or create a killer philly cheese steak or build an awesome club sandwich
Mostly my diet is far more healthy that most.
I just find it difficult to make a damn cold cut sandwich and pay more for the cold cuts than a nice steak would cost from the butcher section of the same store
Last edited by StrkAliteN; 09-23-2017 at 08:36 AM..
Simple economics. Increased demand will cause increase in prices until it reaches equilibrium. Because people are cooking, stores can charge more for deli meat.
It's cheaper to buy a roast or turkey and slice it up yourself. Or hit Subway.
I no longer believe the supply and demand statement. I see it thrown out a lot, on a lot of different products. It seems in many cases what we see today is price goes up, demand goes down, price goes up even more. As business have gotten so large in comparison to purchase power of the typical customer, the old rules of supply and demand, and competition have broken and some new rule set has taken over. The individual purchase power is so low in comparision to corporate size that they don't have to provide competitive value -- more a case of "where you gonna go?"
StrkAliteN, where we live we were experiencing the same type of price hikes. We joined a local Warehouse club, (BJ's) and are saving at least 2.00 to 3.00 per lb, also on the cheeses.
Just that alone makes the cost of joining worth it. Where you are, I'm sure they have Costco, etc. Perhaps look into them?
tnff, I tend to agree with the statement you made as well. Prices keep going up up up, whether or not there is a supply and demand issue. At least I feel that way too.
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