I took a planned trip to the grocery store yesterday. The gas station that I always go to is in the same shopping center. I did not need to get gas, but observed fairly long lines. I live in Maryland, and we have been moderately effected by this ransomware attack on Colonial. My opinion is that people panicking and hoarding gas made this whole thing much worse. Similar to the panic buying of toilet paper and other products we witnessed at the beginning of the pandemic. Hopefully, now that the pipeline is functioning again, the availability of gas will get back to normal.
The average price of gas today in Maryland is $3.01, one week ago it was $2.84, and one month ago it was $2.76. Gas prices always increase in summer, so it will be interesting to see how high they go this summer. From what I have been reading, there seem to be multiple factors in play that are effecting prices.
On the usual grocery products I purchase, I have not really been seeing any significant increases yet. With that said, I do not usually buy any red meat, other then the occasional pack of ground meat. I did notice that the price of a box of pre-made frozen hamburgers that I would occasionally buy jumped from $10.99 a box to $13.99 a box. And out of curiosity I noticed that the price of bacon seemed really high at $7.99 for a one pound package. I haven't purchased or consumed bacon in a very long time so I don't really know if this is normal or not. The pre-made rotisserie chicken that I usually buy was the same price as always, and Aldi had a sale on the Fresh Family Pack of split chicken breasts for .99 cents a pound. Nothing else that I bought had jumped up in price, fresh veggies, butter, canned soup, canned chicken, mayo, canned black beans, bread, ice cream etc. I think the price of eggs may have gone up a bit, but I didn't need any so don't really know for sure.
How are prices looking in your area? I know prices are different depending on brand, organic, gluten free, the store and geographic location. I keep reading and seeing people comment on various blogs and facebook pages that food prices are seriously increasing, but I am just not seeing it yet. At least, not on what I usually buy.
At almost mid-month, my finances are right on track for the month of May.
This weekend I will be spending the day on Saturday with my best friend. We will be hitting up some fresh farm stands and a few antique and thrift stores that have re-opened. We will have lunch somewhere and just have a long, fun day out. On Sunday I will be going to my brother's for a family cookout. My SIL has been in the hospital (to be released on friday) and we will be celebrating her return home. This was not a Covid illness. It feels great to be getting back to normal, now that we are all fully vaccinated. The infection rate in Maryland is now below 3% and many restrictions are being lifted, other then the indoor mask mandate which remains in place for now.
Have a great weekend everyone!
May 13th, 2021 at 08:11 pm 1620936713
That being said I haven't been spending money on groceries this month.
May 16th, 2021 at 07:39 pm 1621193982
We are seeing different things go up. About three months ago, eggs were around $1.11 a dozen at Aldi. They are over $1.20 a dozen now. Butter has gone up at least ten cents a pound, and sometimes it fluctuates to over 30 cents. I saw on the news where there is a shortage of chickens, so I bet the panic shopping as started and the prices are supposed to go up on chicken due to supply and demand. We buy a bread at Kroger that has gone up ten cents a loaf and that is supposedly the sale price, so I can't even imagine what it will be as "regular price."
Last spring I bought a bunch of boxes of canning lids like I usually do and fortunately I had them when others did not since that was hoarded last summer and fall. I have been buying a few boxes of lids here and there when I see them; I do not want to buy all of any of them so other people have a chance to get some as well. Fortunately I have enough jars and rings, but have to buy new lids each time. Two weeks ago at the thrift stores I saw some jars here and there at the thrift stores. This week just for grins I checked and they were gone. There are some cases of jars with lids and rings at the grocery, but I noticed our Kroger had an empty box where they apparently had some lids, but are sold out. So, I have a feeling we will see a run on canning stuff again. I just hope they use all the stuff they are hoarding.