supermarket shelves and food prices June edition

[Melissa in Australia]

How are the food prices where you live? inflation is starting to hit the shelves here now.

 

My brother just told me that the supermarkets where he lives ( close to Melbourne) have locked up all the meat and people have to get staff to get it out for them as they were having so much stolen. and the supermarket shelves have  opened packets of food , people are bringing their kids in and feeding them in the isles. He doesn't even  live in a low socioeconomic area.  That isn't happening here though 

 According to the news lettuce is $10 per head in Sydney.

 Australia is curranty having a gas crisis  ( of their own making) which they are predicting will have huge implications on food processing. by gas I don't mean petrol , but natural gas that is used for things like heating,  to run factories etc

Edited June 9, 2022 by Melissa in Australia

[HomeAgain]

Supermarkets are mostly okay here.  Inflation is starting to hit.  The sale price for 1lb of pasta is $1.25-1.50 for the store brand.  Usually that's around the normal price and sale is $.79-1.00 for the store brand.  However, jasmine rice went down significantly to $10 for a 10lb bag.  6 months ago it was $18 for the same.

We are slowly stocking up things affected by wheat production.  That means shelf stable items like pasta, but also substitutes like rice, oats, and possible things affected like lentils and chickpeas (in place of meat).

[Melissa in Australia]

Here is just one of the many news articles about the massive cost hike to food processing because of the  Aus gas crisis https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-09/food-processors-warn-gas-crisis-could-shut-them-down/101138228

It is winter here.

[Melissa in Australia]

on a positive note 

 The winter hard  wheat harvest in Australia is expected to be at least as large as their record, best in over 10 years

[Ann.without.an.e]

I hate that it is so bad in Australia. Shelves are hit and miss here and prices are definitely going up but not as bad as y’all are facing 😭

[Carrie12345]

I hit Walmart and Aldi the other day.
Prices are definitely up, but not at an across the board rate. I got green onions for 85 cents rather than 75 cents, but paid $3.75 for a pound of butter vs. the “normal” $1.99-2.49.
WM’s coolers and freezers looked mostly the same as they have for several months (which is to say not good, but fairly stable), but dry goods keep getting worse.  Junk food seems to be increasing with new products while staples keep eroding.
Price tags on shelves are disappearing. I think some things are just rising too quickly and frequently for employees to devote time to tags. I couldn’t tell you how much eggs were that day because I didn’t buy any, but I did try to find tags for reference. No luck.

Gas has held at $4.99 in town and $5.19 down the street for nearly a week. Wawa is offering 15 cents off per gallon with their app, and I was THRILLED to use it yesterday!

[Melissa in Australia]

Just now, Ann.without.an.e said:

I hate that it is so bad in Australia. Shelves are hit and miss here and prices are definitely going up but not as bad as y’all are facing 😭

I don't think we are anywhere near as bad as most of the world

[Melissa in Australia]

Butter in Aldi was just under $5 for 500 grams here  last week

Edited June 9, 2022 by Melissa in Australia

[Carrie12345]

1 minute ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Butter in Aldi was just under $5 for 500 grams last week

If google conversions are still accurate in this senseless economy, lol, that makes about $3.58USD for 1lb + 1.6oz.  So ever so slightly better!

[Serenade]

43 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Price tags on shelves are disappearing. I think some things are just rising too quickly and frequently for employees to devote time to tags. I couldn’t tell you how much eggs were that day because I didn’t buy any, but I did try to find tags for reference. No luck.

 

I find the lack of price tags to be annoying. although I understand  how much work it is to keep replacing tags.  

When I was at Walmart the other day, a sales associate was updating tags and was lamenting to me about how prices were going up again.  She was clearly upset about the rising prices, so we commiserated a bit. 

[Serenade]

I was still able to get a pound of butter at Lidl yesterday for $1.69.  I was really surprised that this price was still holding there, because it costs more everywhere else, including Aldi.

I've noticed that prices in general have made a significant jump in the past couple of weeks.  There is so much that I just look at fondly and say "I used to love you," and move on because the prices are just too crazy. Still, I manage to find decent prices through what I'll call selective shopping.  My DH and I make a point of stopping frequently at stores that are near other destinations, simply to pick up loss leaders and scope out the reduced-for-quick sale items.  We stopped at our favorite salvage store yesterday and bought a half case of Rosarita refried beans for 25 cents a can! True, the sell-by-date was March 31 of this year, but they are canned goods and will be good for a while yet. 

[Brittany1116]

Prices on beef have dropped a tiny bit, but they are still quite high. Bread is up every trip. The only place I see completely empty shelves is Walmart. 

[TheReader]

Things are getting grim around here again. 

things we regularly can't find now:
--bread
--whole wheat hot dog buns
--chicken tenders (the pre-cooked/breaded/convenience ones; I could still buy raw chicken and make/freeze my own)
--any decent oranges (oranges, yes; good quality ones, not so much)
--some flavors of chips/pretzels that we like
--granola bars (the kind we like; we can find some, just not the brand we like)
--DH's favorite flavor coffee creamer
--store-brand cran-grape juice

Things that are hit or miss:
--laundry detergent
--toilet paper
--coffee (again, preferred brand, but we have 2-3 we use, and often can find 1 in stock at a time)
--peanut butter
--jelly
--oatmeal cream pies/other snacks of that sort
--non-dairy butter that we like 
--frozen "meal in a bag" things we like to have on hand for lunches for the kids

Prices that are climbing:
--meat
--everything listed above, both lists
--produce
--bird food
--cat food
--dog food
--cat litter
--medicines
--gasoline for the car (we paid $4.49 this week, which is a bargain, the nearest station to us is at $4.65)
 

We're doing more meatless meals/week, driving less (when possible), have virtually eliminated beef from the diet (chicken instead, when we do eat meat), and are back in the habit of stocking up on things when we find them. Once again, thankful for pantry space and a deep freeze, but groceries & gas are definitely impacting the budget. 

[Storygirl]

We were traveling, so I have not done a big grocery trip in a couple of weeks, but just a few quick trips to get a few things since we got back. The thing that I noticed is bare peanut butter shelves, due to the Jiff recall. There were a few big jars of Skippy, but everything else has been wiped out.

[mommyoffive]

33 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

We were traveling, so I have not done a big grocery trip in a couple of weeks, but just a few quick trips to get a few things since we got back. The thing that I noticed is bare peanut butter shelves, due to the Jiff recall. There were a few big jars of Skippy, but everything else has been wiped out.

Oh man.  We eat so much PB.  I guess I am glad that dh has been ordering a huge jar every week and we have a ton in the pantry.

[prairiewindmomma]

Butter is $4.99/lb./453g for the cheap stuff most places. It’s more for the quality European stuff. I can still find the occasional sale where it drops to $3.50/lb., but it’s getting harder.

I haven’t seen chicken breasts for a while. No boneless thighs or quarters—only bone in. The local grocery has started selling chicken hearts and feet. They did that during 2020 as well. It’s about the only way to get meat under $4/lb. I got chicken tenderloin this week for about $6/lb. Ground/minced beef is $6/lb ($13.20/kilo) on sale. Other cuts are more $10-17/lb. All of the meat package sizes now are 1-1.5lb, they no longer sell it at 2-2.5 lb/1 kg. 
 

We’ve had a cold and rainy spring so most of our produce is coming from Southern California still. It’s very spotty with re: to lettuce, tomatoes, and red peppers. We usually have bananas (from Honduras), apples (last year’s harvest), onions (last year’s harvest) and potatoes (last year’s harvest) but I don’t know week to week whether we will have produce in season from our area (strawberries, cherries) or not. I saw grapes (California) for the first time in forever recently. Usually they come from Chile but we’ve had almost no produce from Chile this past winter & spring.  If I were to try to pin the vibe—it feels very much like shopping 40 years ago when produce was much more seasonal and local-ish. 
 

Baby formula, tampons, aluminum foil, printer ink, some generic medicines, and a few other things are almost impossible to find. Nearly everything is up significantly in price. But, the shelves aren’t nearly as bare as they were January-February.

When I had home plumbing repairs this week I had one kitchen faucet to choose from, one shower trim finish to choose from, and a couple of parts completely unavailable. The professional plumbing supply shops are stripped nearly bare.

I had a minor surgery yesterday with local anesthetic. The doctor mentioned lidocaine syringes are very low. There was no lidocaine with epinephrine so I bled more as I had to have just plain lidocaine. 

Gasoline is up to $5.50-6.00/gallon here. Natural gas futures are way up. Electricity rates have gone up twice so far this year and we’ve been told to expect rolling blackouts. Fun times.

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

. I saw grapes (California) for the first time in forever recently. Usually they come from Chile but we’ve had almost no produce from Chile this past winter & spring.  If I were to try to pin the vibe—it feels very much like shopping 40 years ago when produce was much more seasonal and local-ish. 

California grapes and cherries aren’t being bought as much it seems probably because people having to spend more of their grocery budget on meat and vegetables. Sprouts had chicken breasts and whole chicken on sale last week. My kids prefer pork so we didn’t stock up. 
 

The biggest increase in prices that I have noticed were for processed food like pancakes, chimichangas, pizzas. Meat, vegetable and fruit prices have gone up as well, just a lot more gradual than processed food. My local grocery outlet prices are often more expensive than Safeway except for some of the expired or nearly expired items.

I saw Enfamil in normal quantities at Costco main shelves but I didn’t see any special formula. I did not peep behind the pharmacy counter though so the special formulas may be there. 

[Frances]

3 hours ago, Storygirl said:

We were traveling, so I have not done a big grocery trip in a couple of weeks, but just a few quick trips to get a few things since we got back. The thing that I noticed is bare peanut butter shelves, due to the Jiff recall. There were a few big jars of Skippy, but everything else has been wiped out.

We went shopping last night for the first time in awhile due to vacation, work, etc. And surprisingly, they were fully stocked with the natural peanut butter we like. There have been lots of times during the pandemic when we couldn’t find any at all, except online for prices I was not willing to pay. The last time we successfully purchased any locally, it was only because I used an online store locator and found one place with some in stock.
 

I honestly didn’t even look to see how the rest of the peanut butter stock was, as I was just so pleasantly surprised to see tons of what we use.

[MEmama]

It’s always fascinating to me how regional our experiences are, even when we get things like produce from the same countries/states of origin.

I haven’t noticed anything out of place here, other than everything is generally more expensive. But some prices have actually come down, which validates my thought that this is not the time to stock up like I did in 2020, but instead  just ride out the waves. The low carb tortillas we like have gone down a dollar per package from a high a month or two ago, our favorite coffee is down as well.

Everything has been normally stocked as best I can tell—the only hole I noticed last week was the pb recall brand, which I don’t buy anyway. Produce is in abundance and looks better than it did over the winter. The price of bell peppers didn’t make me cringe.

[Brittany1116]

Diaper rash cream is hard to find. I had to go to 4 stores. 

[Arcadia]

19 minutes ago, Brittany1116 said:

Diaper rash cream is hard to find. I had to go to 4 stores. 

Is your child able to use baby aquaphor or calendula cream (California Baby, Weleda) instead? My DS16 had eczema and diaper rash as a baby, we used baby aquaphor for his butt and calendula cream for his face and body.

[Brittany1116]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Is your child able to use baby aquaphor or calendula cream (California Baby, Weleda) instead? My DS16 had eczema and diaper rash as a baby, we used baby aquaphor for his butt and calendula cream for his face and body.

It's actually for an older family member who gets occasional underarm rashes. Desitin is the only thing that seems to work. 

[Ausmumof3]

I was close to starting this thread after grocery shopping yesterday.

Lettuce is $9.90 a head and broccoli $14.90kg. $4 each for cucumber. Spinach and kale were $4 for large bunches so I bought them instead - the kids don’t like it but they will have to make do. I bought a big celery for $4.50 and a cauliflower for $4.50. Those are more expensive than usual but still manageable. Carrots and potatoes were normal and fruit was cheap. 

DD has lettuce in her garden but one lot has gone to seed and the other is a couple of weeks off being ready yet. We tried to do seeds not seedlings last time without success so there was a gap. 
 

Aside from those out there vege prices most stuff is normal. There was heaps of juice and dairy on clearance, chicken price hasn’t changed etc. some of the packet food boxes have shrunk. Tinned fruit is really cheap at the moment although that typically increases over the year. Imported nuts like cashew and imported peanuts have gone up but Australian ones are actually cheaper this year. 
 

I didn’t look at red meat because our freezer is so full we can barely close it with venison. Deer are in plague proportions this year and DH is getting constant calls from people wanting to get rid of them. We did get a good price for the sheep we sold recently so I assume lamb is expensive. I’m not sure what the ban on live export will do to that in the future but I still think it’s a good thing even if it does have a negative on us. I hate to think our sheep might end up on a boat for six to eight weeks 😞 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Ausmumof3

[Melissa in Australia]

Ausmum I have found bok choy works as a very good substitute for broccali in stir Fry or curry. It only takes 4 to 6 weeks to grow from seed to eat. And grows well right now

[Ausmumof3]

2 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Ausmum I have found bok choy works as a very good substitute for broccali in stir Fry or curry. It only takes 4 to 6 weeks to grow from seed to eat. And grows well right now

Thanks! I am pretty flexible with what greens go in my stir fry - have done mustard greens, broccolini, beetroot leaves… whatever’s growing. DH has expanded the garden so I might get some  bok choy for the next level. I didn’t think to look for it in the supermarket yesterday.

[Ausmumof3]

10 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

I hate that it is so bad in Australia. Shelves are hit and miss here and prices are definitely going up but not as bad as y’all are facing 😭

It’s actually not too bad overall. Fuel is bad and the greens are bad because of the floods but mostly it’s manageable. I actually think the hikes you guys had a couple of months back are just hitting here now. We are always a tad behind.

[Melissa in Australia]

For people that rely on electricity or gas for heating it is pretty grim. My oldest in Melbourne is not using heating at all, neither is Ds18. Both cannot afford it. Oldest is still working from home. He uses a sleeping bag to keep warm at his computer, ds 18  tells me he just goes to bed as soon  as he comes home to keep warm. 

It is true we don't have the extreme cold of other countries but so far this winter is pretty cold. Coldest winter start in 70 years. Daytime temp between 11 and 13 oC, night time between 0 and 5 oC

All the rest of my kids live rural, so use wood to heat one room

Edited June 9, 2022 by Melissa in Australia

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, Brittany1116 said:

It's actually for an older family member who gets occasional underarm rashes. Desitin is the only thing that seems to work. 

Wild suggestion—desitin is zinc; a lot of natural sunscreens are zinc-based, such as Badger. In a pinch, maybe something like that would work.

Protein hard are all over with availability. We often don’t have our first or second choices. Not a huge deal, but my kid is supposed to be trying to supplement with them.

 

[Arcadia]

@mathnerd chili pepper shortage

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna32742

“Huy Fong Foods, maker of the popular Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, said a shortage of chili peppers is limiting its ability to produce several of its in-demand sauces, including its Chili Garlic and Sambal Oelek. The California-based company cited climate conditions as part of the problem.”

[mathnerd]

8 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

@mathnerd chili pepper shortage

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna32742

“Huy Fong Foods, maker of the popular Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, said a shortage of chili peppers is limiting its ability to produce several of its in-demand sauces, including its Chili Garlic and Sambal Oelek. The California-based company cited climate conditions as part of the problem.”

Thank you for this info!

I did not grow any peppers this year because of the water shortage advisory in our county. I decided that it was wasteful to water plants when there was a drought situation. This is making me reevaluate that decision. I might be heading out to the nursery to buy some pepper plants tomorrow 😉

 

[Melissa in Australia]

10 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

Thank you for this info!

I did not grow any peppers this year because of the water shortage advisory in our county. I decided that it was wasteful to water plants when there was a drought situation. This is making me reevaluate that decision. I might be heading out to the nursery to buy some pepper plants tomorrow 😉

 

We have gone through drought recently. I keep a small bucket in the kitchen sink and catch all the little bits. It is amazing how many plants you can keep alive with it

[Rosie_0801]

2 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Ausmum I have found bok choy works as a very good substitute for broccali in stir Fry or curry. It only takes 4 to 6 weeks to grow from seed to eat. And grows well right now

I've got a yard full of sow thistle and mallow too.

Dd's bestie's mum just messaged to tell me not to bring ice cream to dinner tonight, so I offered to bring a lettuce instead. 

[Melissa in Australia]

Like Rosie

[Arcadia]

On 6/9/2022 at 4:46 AM, Melissa in Australia said:

According to the news lettuce is $10 per head in Sydney

 

Iceberg lettuce is 70cents each at my local Korean supermarket. They weigh about 18oz/510gram each. Cauliflower is $1 each. Grown in California and Arizona for cauliflower and grown in California for iceberg lettuce.

[Melissa in Australia]

Went shopping

iceburg Lettuce $7 for a very small head. 

Broccali $14 kg

Butter $6 500g

No bagged lettuce

Cauliflower $4.50 head. That is the usual price

Hardly any soap. The soap that I usually buy, dove unscented. There wasn't even a spot on the shelf for it. There was only 3 brands those really cheep highly perfumed ones. and only a few of each. 

Petrol 95 $2.29 litre

Edited June 11, 2022 by Melissa in Australia

[Brittany1116]

The kids wanted bagels for breakfast. They are up to $5.29 for a regular brand bag of 5, cream cheese was $4.29. But the grocery store bakery had fresh 4 count packs BOGO at $2.99 and the store brand cream cheese on sale so I went that route. I'll regret not having Philadelphia tomorrow, I'm sure.

[Brittany1116]

Gas here is 4.89.

[City Mouse]

I was out shopping for groceries today. No big shortages noticed. There was a lot of holes in the bread section, but not for the brands I buy.  Prices are up all over, but I even saw several cans of baby formula on clearance at Walmart. My biggest complaint is the my Double Stuff Oreo cookies seem to have way less filling than they used to have. Guess I will have to splurge on the Mega Stuffed ones.

[Lisa]

Gas is $4.79 here. Eggs were high for a while because of the avian flu, $4 a dozen, but today I saw $2 a dozen. Also, saw a pound of butter for $2.49.

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Went shopping

iceburg Lettuce $7 for a very small head. 

Broccali $14 kg

Butter $6 500g

No bagged lettuce

Cauliflower $4.50 head. That is the usual price

Hardly any soap. The soap that I usually buy, dove unscented. There wasn't even a spot on the shelf for it. There was only 3 brands those really cheep highly perfumed ones. and only a few of each. 

Petrol 95 $2.29 litre

Just got 95 for $1.97

The queue was insane!

[Rosie_0801]

I got unleaded for $2/L last night. The lettuce I didn't buy was $9.47 and really the only veggies that didn't seemed to have increased significantly were carrots. I think it is time I discover some favourite carrot recipes.

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I got unleaded for $2/L last night. The lettuce I didn't buy was $9.47 and really the only veggies that didn't seemed to have increased significantly were carrots. I think it is time I discover some favourite carrot recipes.

We are all enjoying lots of grated carrot in sandwiches today 😂

Dh is expanding the garden!

[ieta_cassiopeia]

Everything is getting more expensive, but the regular level is relatively reasonable (about 10%). The next price level down is going up at a frightening rate, to the point where "value lines" are starting to get discontinued because they'd just end up the same price as the regular lines of the same item. Shelves are getting spotty in terms of what is available, but it seems to be different things in every shop and on each day, so being prepared to visit multiple shops and/or go shopping more often is currently enough to bridge the gap (the multiple shop approach got selected here).

Edited June 11, 2022 by ieta_cassiopeia

[Ausmumof3]

No lettuce or baby spinach in any shape or form yesterday.

[readinmom]

Costco today:  $9 for a bag of salad.  We noticed a huge increase in what we normally buy, so we definitely held off.  

Gas here yesterday:  6.99 unleaded, diesel was more.  It normally costs dh 85 dollars to fill his tank.  $200 now.

[Carrie12345]

7 hours ago, readinmom said:

Costco today:  $9 for a bag of salad.  We noticed a huge increase in what we normally buy, so we definitely held off.  

Gas here yesterday:  6.99 unleaded, diesel was more.  It normally costs dh 85 dollars to fill his tank.  $200 now.

Holy cow! What region are you in?  I was shocked when all the stations surpassed $5 the other day in Northeast PA.

[Faith-manor]

Here in Alabama gas fuel is lower than our area in Michigan. It is $5.29 at home, $4.49-4.53 here. Produce prices seem to be holding steady, but the Farmer's Markets are full since so much is ready to harvest all ready which is maybe competing with Kroger, Publix, and Wal-Mart a bit. Maybe. I don't know enough of the local economy to know.how it works. Meats and poultry are definitely going up, and of course part and parcel of the poultry issue is Avian Flu. I think the count of culled birds has reached 40 million. We know it is bad in our area of Michigan because of the number of dead song birds we have been finding. It is startling. Normally, one occasionally sees a bird that broke its neck from flying into a window or a cat got it, maybe it got smacked by a car. But in our county, they are numerous. Dead birds in yards, along the side of the roads. My guess is like a human pandemic, it is going to get a lot worse before it runs its course and ebbs.

I wheeled dd around a nursery while Mark wrangled our grandsons so she could have an outing, and we could pick some things for more future food production here. (She is still on extreme rest to hopefully prevent a bad case of long covid.) We picked two kiwi vines, and two figs. None of us have done much with figs in the past, but we do like them and thought it might be nice to have for variety. We are on the autumn list for two peach trees, two nectarines trees, raspberry canes and a pear tree. We don't need a second pear because the neighbors have three, and so the nursery said we shouldn't have a pollination issue. The blueberries are producing nicely. They won't feed large servings to multiple people, but the kids eat them ripe off the vine which is very healthy for them. The Mulberry tree was PROLIFIC and produced before Dd got covid so not only did they eat fresh and have them on pancakes and waffles, she was able to freeze four quarts. She lost a bunch in a bad thunderstorm that produced some high winds otherwise she would have had much more put away. The plum trees did not produce this year. They blossomed and then there was a late frost, and that was that.

I worry about food prices continuing to escalate. Prescription drugs, everything is going up. So many people have large deductibles on their policies, and it is coming down between buying food or buying medicine. Son in law's meds jumped from $250 a month to $345 in a single month. Lots of families simply can't absorb that on top of everything else. 

I am getting whatever veggies and fruits are available in bulk at the produce stands right now and freezing, dehydrating, and canning for her in between homeschooling N and chasing C. Mother in law is no longer using her chest freezer so I think the next time we come down, we will bring that and stick it in the basement so she has a second large freezer. Our big chest freezer at home in MI is all Mark and I need.

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Here in Alabama gas fuel is lower than our area in Michigan. It is $5.29 at home, $4.49-4.53 here. Produce prices seem to be holding steady, but the Farmer's Markets are full since so much is ready to harvest all ready which is maybe competing with Kroger, Publix, and Wal-Mart a bit. Maybe. I don't know enough of the local economy to know.how it works. Meats and poultry are definitely going up, and of course part and parcel of the poultry issue is Avian Flu. I think the count of culled birds has reached 40 million. We know it is bad in our area of Michigan because of the number of dead song birds we have been finding. It is startling. Normally, one occasionally sees a bird that broke its neck from flying into a window or a cat got it, maybe it got smacked by a car. But in our county, they are numerous. Dead birds in yards, along the side of the roads. My guess is like a human pandemic, it is going to get a lot worse before it runs its course and ebbs.

I wheeled dd around a nursery while Mark wrangled our grandsons so she could have an outing, and we could pick some things for more future food production here. (She is still on extreme rest to hopefully prevent a bad case of long covid.) We picked two kiwi vines, and two figs. None of us have done much with figs in the past, but we do like them and thought it might be nice to have for variety. We are on the autumn list for two peach trees, two nectarines trees, raspberry canes and a pear tree. We don't need a second pear because the neighbors have three, and so the nursery said we shouldn't have a pollination issue. The blueberries are producing nicely. They won't feed large servings to multiple people, but the kids eat them ripe off the vine which is very healthy for them. The Mulberry tree was PROLIFIC and produced before Dd got covid so not only did they eat fresh and have them on pancakes and waffles, she was able to freeze four quarts. She lost a bunch in a bad thunderstorm that produced some high winds otherwise she would have had much more put away. The plum trees did not produce this year. They blossomed and then there was a late frost, and that was that.

I worry about food prices continuing to escalate. Prescription drugs, everything is going up. So many people have large deductibles on their policies, and it is coming down between buying food or buying medicine. Son in law's meds jumped from $250 a month to $345 in a single month. Lots of families simply can't absorb that on top of everything else. 

I am getting whatever veggies and fruits are available in bulk at the produce stands right now and freezing, dehydrating, and canning for her in between homeschooling N and chasing C. Mother in law is no longer using her chest freezer so I think the next time we come down, we will bring that and stick it in the basement so she has a second large freezer. Our big chest freezer at home in MI is all Mark and I need.

Oh I hadn't heard that your dd got covid.  I am so sorry.   I am sending her some positive thoughts.

Oh wow, I hadn't heard of prescription drugs going up.  Wow.  That is horrible.

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh I hadn't heard that your dd got covid.  I am so sorry.   I am sending her some positive thoughts.

Oh wow, I hadn't heard of prescription drugs going up.  Wow.  That is horrible.

Yes, she and her husband and one of our two grandsons got it. Her husband brought it home from work where he was the last person valiantly masking and distancing trying hard not to get it. A bunch of coworkers went on a work trip together, got it, and had the nerve to come to work symptomatic and sit next to him in the conference room for a meeting. There was no way his KN95 could compensate for that kind of saturation. 

Everyone else came through okay, but she was very much struggling. We came down for two weeks to care for her and kids and make sure she went on doctor recommended modified bed rest, and we will take her home to Michigan at the end of this week, for three weeks, and then evaluate. I will come back to Bama for the rest of July if needed. She is doing so much better with the resting. Brain fog is a thing, but she is otherwise improving rapidly now that she is not chasing children, feeding people, and trying to be a mom. She has a year round school schedule for the first grader, so I am homeschooling again. N and I are getting a long just fine, and I do enjoy it. I had forgotten about the wiggles and general energy level of the littlest people!

[QueenCat]

2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh I hadn't heard that your dd got covid.  I am so sorry.   I am sending her some positive thoughts.

Oh wow, I hadn't heard of prescription drugs going up.  Wow.  That is horrible.

I haven't seen them go up. We get a lot prescriptions in our house. My most expensive one went down recently.