inflation (Denver: renters, house, buying)

[daprara]

NOT counting things like gas, large items, utilities but the house hold stuff:
dozen eggs
jar of Mayonnaise
ground beef


seems they are getting incrementally more expensive in the Denver area

[illinoisphotographer]

I haven't noticed much of a difference. I think I just bought 18 eggs at Walmart for around $2.50 or so.

Then again, pricing on items like that vary year-round. I don't tend to pay attention to 50 cent fluctuations.

[COcheesehead]

I shop Costco. Use Ibotta. I think our food budget has gone down.

[davebarnes]

Beef prices are where they were 5 years ago
https://www.indexmundi.com/commoditi...beef&months=60

egg prices down over the last 5 years
https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_egg_price

mayonnaise prices down
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PCU3119413119417

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

If inflation is the concern, shouldn't you be looking at more than the price of a jar of mayonnaise? How about the Consumer Price Index? From an on-line article, in case you are interested Dapara: "The prices of goods and services fluctuate over time, but when prices change too much and too quickly, the effects can shock an economy. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the principle gauge of the prices of goods and services, indicates whether the economy is experiencing inflation, deflation or stagflation. The CPI's results are widely anticipated and watched; the CPI plays a role in many key financial decisions, including the Federal Reserve interest rate policy and the hedging decisions of major banks and corporations. Individual investors can also benefit from watching the CPI when making hedging and allocation decisions."

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Beef prices are where they were 5 years ago
https://www.indexmundi.com/commoditi...beef&months=60

Maybe, on some kind of national/averaged level, but I've stopped buying beef except for the occasional rare indulgence. It's insanely expensive - especially when I can load up on center-cut pork chops and boneless chicken breasts for about $1.50 a pound.

Every meat counter I patronize has shrunk notably over the last two years - they simply don't offer as many cuts, and have smaller quantities of all but the cheapest stuff. Most hamburger is no longer store-ground, but packaged and shipped (and I won't buy it that way). So either we've gotten Amurrica off its beef jag, or the vast number of consumers consider it too expensive to buy at their former rate.

[history nerd]

Originally Posted by Quietude

Maybe, on some kind of national/averaged level, but I've stopped buying beef except for the occasional rare indulgence. It's insanely expensive - especially when I can load up on center-cut pork chops and boneless chicken breasts for about $1.50 a pound.

Every meat counter I patronize has shrunk notably over the last two years - they simply don't offer as many cuts, and have smaller quantities of all but the cheapest stuff. Most hamburger is no longer store-ground, but packaged and shipped (and I won't buy it that way). So either we've gotten Amurrica off its beef jag, or the vast number of consumers consider it too expensive to buy at their former rate.

There have been a few spikes in beef prices but overall they have been down. I think you are right that certain cuts and store ground beef have become specialty items when they used to be common... And beef prices haven't fallen as much as chicken and pork. Part of what you are seeing is that we have gotten REALLY efficient at producing chicken so the price when adjusted for inflation has gone down much more quickly. Beef has always been harder to produce and as such has always been a premium product.

As industrialization brings down costs for most consumers due to increased efficiency and economy of scale you almost always see traditionally produced products become more expensive.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by Quietude

I've stopped buying beef except for the occasional rare indulgence. It's insanely expensive - especially when I can load up on center-cut pork chops and boneless chicken breasts for about $1.50 a pound.

Pork is cheaper than beef and is down over the last 5 years.
https://ycharts.com/indicators/hog_price
https://www.indexmundi.com/commoditi...beef&months=60

Chicken has been cheaper than beef for the last 50 years.
https://www.indexmundi.com/commoditi...cken&months=60

If you want to eat beef, shop Costco.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

If you want to eat beef, shop Costco.

I do. That may be the issue.

Even with a fairly unlimited food budget, I've found grocery/butcher prices for beef way too high for many years. My shopping has reduced from family of eight to family of four to essentially just me, but I still buy bulk packs of meat and poultry to get the best prices and always have something interesting to start dinner around.

It's in these bulk-pack, membership-store prices that the spiral seems to have gone nuts. I used to buy NY strips, skirt steak, stew cubes, 80% hamburger and the occasional T-bone/porterhouse. All of these have increased significantly in price, to the point where I've just about stopped even looking. Fresh 80% has pretty much disappeared from the cases, with only 90% and up seeming to be locally ground; the lower stuff comes in chubs from third-world states with no FDA oversight. Skirt steak is sometimes more expensive than the NY strips, and stew beef is up there.

So maybe the national/grocery/retail prices have remained level, but something has happened to all the budget-priced tiers, and the sharp reduction in case space and item count indicates (to me) that it's not just me finding the prices way too high.

Prices on good pork and chicken are quite high at the grocery level as well - I almost never buy either there. King Sooper has a chicken brand that's quite inexpensive but it's nearly inedible - not only is it heavily juiced, which I can tolerate for most of my cooking (and at $1.75/pound), but they seem to be using iodized salt for the solution, meaning any extended cooking brings out a nasty metallic flavor. Never encountered that before; never thought a chicken processor could be so stupid as to use treated salt.

My plan for Xmas dinner (for two) was a heap of king crab and a small, good steak... and I ended up doubling the crab and skipping the cow.

Good thing I can do 30 things with boneless breasts and love good pork chops.

[smihaila]

Rents are super high. Greedy and arrogant "landlords". But the renters aren't being taken for a ride, so we are fighting back...