Groceries

So I was curious about how gas prices have impacted things like groceries, and decided to save some receipts and packages from just two weeks ago. I shop at Sam's Club, Food Lion and Farm Fresh (depending what I need and where I'm driving)

Factoring in shrinking quantities for some packages like lunch meats, snack bars, snack bags, shredded cheese, pet food, cereal, as well as items with relatively fixed quantity packaging (eggs, milk, bread, etc) I estimate that on a per unit comparison prices have risen somewhere between 15 and 25 percent. Lunch meat prices are particularly insane. Even frozen foods are getting smaller yet more expensive. But that's not new. What seems new is a sharper increase since late February when gas was around $2.95 per gallon for regular. Its now averaging $3.35 per gallon.

We have slightly cheaper gas prices here than the national average for a variety of reasons (one of which I used to work at). But shipments come from other places, where gas prices are a bit higher. This sucks! At this rate, gas will again hit $4 per gallon by Summer, but there's no logical way to forecast it because it's a stupid speculative market.

I just got home from weekly grocery shopping. So that's why I thought of mentioning this.