Food Prices Going Up

Wow! Look how the food prices are going through the roof. There seems to be a national trend that is going on, with the inflation of consumer items, especially food. When going from supermarket to supermarket, there seems to be about 1/2 to double or more increase of the staple goods. What would have cost 63 cents last year, cost 2.39 now. A three pound bag of dried beans that cost $ 1.69 last year has been marked up to over $11.00 in one store. This seems to be happening with most food stores.

What just is happening is anyone's guess, but it seems that the basic costs are going up because of increasing prices of wages, fertilizer, fuel, seed, energy, and of course, also corporate greed. The processed food has been really hit with the increase as well as the fresh vegetable and fruit. With the whole economic system going into the shakes and shivers, there seems to be that corporate corruption is making more and more profit knowing that people have to eat to survive.

So what can be done to conserve the food budget of the home? This depends if the family really needs to cut back, if the family can afford to eat out every night and how tight are the finanacies. If the budget is really tight, bulk food might be considered as well as larger quantities. Dried beans and wheat have been cheap in the past and have been known to be on almost every survival list. One might start looking into and using coupons or just buying discounted sale items. Soda or pop have more than going up 30% in the last year, so why not consider drinking water or water with a twist of lemon. Rice and potatoes have been a staple for years and can be fixed in so many different ways.

The future lies within our thoughts of what will happen to the food prices. The stores and the distributors should be aware that any increase in food could end up in being hyper-inflationary in a short time. It works like this. The farmer has a bad year, disaster or a shortage and raises his prices in which in turn, the distributor has to charge the food store more. Each hand this goes through, a profit and increase has to be made. Each time the hand has to charge more to buy more from the previous one. The store ends up having to charge more than normal, taking into the reasoning that the store would have to have more profit just to buy more. This results in run-a-way inflation and hyper-inflation.

Maybe it is time to get some chickens for eggs and to raise a vegetable garden. These economic times look like that they are going to be getting worse and more expensive. It might not be a bad time to buy extra food at reasonable prices to put back for hard times. With the economy being so unstable, the uncertainty of oil and the projected sun fares that could disrupt the electricity, there are reasons to be concerned about the available food in the future. Maybe we should sit back and reevaluate the possibility that our food could be in short supply if any of these occurrences happen and take the appropriate actions..

So what if the food prices keep going up, what are you going to do? There are several options that you can bear in mind and maybe start doing. Couponing is a simple way of still eating the items that you like, yet not have to change your habits that much. Another way is to shop at stores that offer discounts, lower prices and greater savings. Some people, like the Mennonites, store and buy in bulk at terrific savings and discounts. Some stores are now becoming popular that sell in bulk and large quanties, like Sam's and Cosco.

If you have some extra land, time and patience, the avenue of raising your own crops might be one that can prove to be lots of savings. Raising plants, animals and fish have become a pasttime for some people and survival for others. Chickens have become popular because they can be raised in most backyards in small pens, fed grass, worms, insects and leftover food scraps and the chickens produce eggs.

What your future decisions might be, bear in mind that because of all the wages, farming, fuel, expenditures and the extra cost of storage, food cost will be going up in the future.