Food Prices Summary for February, 2010 – No Serious Rise

Posted on February 8, 2010
Filed Under Economy |

I wanted to do my own check on inflation of food prices. So I went through all my cash register receipts for the last 20 months and summarized it based on 15 items I buy regularly. This includes such foodstuffs as eggs (large), flour, sugar, bread and so on. I buy all of these goods at Adli’s as they have the best prices locally. I do not buy milk there, as the local Aldi’s here in Central NY cannot assure me that the milk is hormone free, so I buy that from several alternate sources. One of my criteria is I wanted commodities that were always packaged the same for weight and quantity as I did not want these variations to influence my data. (Click on chart to see a larger view.)

Now I had been expecting to see some noticeable price increases over the last year and an half. I have actually overheard other customers grumbling in the store about various price increases recently. What I found was there has really been very little in price changes over the studied time period. This news is good and bad. It is very good that I have a consistent database now to measure future food price changes. It is bad in that I too had thought prices had gone up when they really haven’t yet. This means my misconceptions have also influenced my thinking as well as my fellow shoppers for groceries.

I have read many pundits and economists predict increased prices and inflation for the second half of 2010. We will have to watch and see if this develops. Rest assured, I will post such changes here as I add to this database over time. But without a doubt, for basic foodstuffs, the prices have not varied more than 10% over the last 20 months and much of it can be explained by seasonality.

Clayton

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