Food Prices (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen: home, organic, costs)

[prairierose]

What is the price of a gallon of milk, loaf of bread and dozen of eggs at your favorite store? Curious to compare with prices on the Wet Coast.

[Jammie]

You can get store brand bread for something like 1.09 here. Sorry I can't help you on the milk cause I don't use it. I'm trying to remember the cost of eggs and I'm thinking in the area of 1.25, but not sure of the exact price.

How much are those items out there?

[DannyBanany]

Name brand bread was 4 for $5 at Safeway yesterday. Eggs are about $1.10 per dozen. The organic milk I drink was 2 for $6 yesterday too. Usually organic milk costs more.

[egg man]

Bread will run between 1 and 2 bucks. Eggs from 1.25 to 1.99 and milk from 4 to 5 bucks, that's regular product nothing organic or fancy. Prices come from our local store and Hy-Vee or Walmart

[prairierose]

Thanks Jammie, Danny and Egg Man. Prices at our Wal-Mart which is not a supercenter, but has some food items, are milk $2.69 gallon, bread $1.25 to $2.50, and eggs $1.98. We also shop at a large regional grocer which is owned by Kroger and their milk is $3.29 gallon, eggs $2.99 and bread from $l.00 to $3.59. I usuall buy bread at an outlet store and pay $1.59 for premium fresh bread. Food prices are higher on the coast than inland which they blame on transportation costs. Our gas today was $3.069 at the cheap station and $3.099 at the branded stations like Shell and Chevron. It is usually 20 to 30 cents a gallon less in the Willamette Valley which is 60 miles inland on the worst two lane road in the world.

[DannyBanany]

Gas in Rapid City is running from $2.89 to $3.09. Gas is usually higher around the Black Hills than anywhere else in South Dakota due to tourism.

[Jammie]

Our gas is currently 2.89 a gallon. We fill gas at a convenience store that is owned by the same local family who own the grocery store so we get discount cards at the grocery store. It allows a discount of 5 cents per gallon of gas if you fill at their convenience store . Follow me? LOL

I just read an article yesterday that said the cheapest gas in the country was in Tulsa and it was 2.70 per gallon.

[Chris19]

Gas in Lennox is $2.89 at the Cenex and Casey's, but it is $2.85 at most places in Sioux Falls. There are a few stations that are selling it for $2.79 a gallon.

There was a gas station in Sioux Falls that raised its prices at its stations to 2.95, but ended up lowering its prices today.

Typically, the cheapest gas in South Dakota is found in the Vermillion/North Sioux City area and is normally a dime cheaper than Sioux Falls.

[mhurd74]

Prices in SD I guess are much higher then in other states. I had one on my customers tell me that he was from Michigan and that here in Aberdeen the prices for just about everything were so much higher that he couldn't wait to go back home. My sister lives in Tucson, AZ and she also says that the prices for food down there is much less then here. What gives? I thought it was supposed to be cheaper to live in South Dakota?

Mike

[Chris19]

South Dakota is higher than a number of places due to the food having to be trucked in from out-of-state distribution centers such as ones in Iowa (Hy-Vee), Minnesota (Nash-Finch, SuperValu), and Nebraska (Affiliated Foods) and Wal-Mart's distribution center outside of SD. Safeway and Albertson's also have distribution centers elsewhere. Trucking the food in can be expensive. Much of the produce, poultry, processed foods, and seafood have to be trucked in.

Also the higher prices are due to limited competition compared to other states such as Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, and so on.

I also want to mention that there are areas more expensive that South Dakota. I have noticed that Colorado, Minnesota, Wyoming, and other areas that are higher.

In South Dakota, I have noticed that places such as Pierre and Aberdeen along with smaller towns may be higher than Sioux Falls and Rapid City. This may be due to competition and the trucking of products. Volume of groceries sold is also a factor. Even between Sioux Falls and Rapid City, I have notice Rapid City to be a little higher than Sioux Falls in food prices.