Last week, I paid $4.99 for 10 pounds, but that was at Walmart, which is much less expensive than the local grocery store.

I have noticed a marked increase in the price of groceries. I don't know how young people with kids can afford to feed their families. Sad.

I too have noticed the price of potatoes, but nowhere near what you saw Dottie!

I bought some Yukon Golds on the weekend, which is our preferred, and they were $4 for 10lb, which is more than they used to be, for sure.

The general price of food is terrible!

I haven't noticed, because we switch from potatoes to corn for starch in meals. Corn is now selling at 10 ears for $4.00.
I do buy red potatoes for the occasional potato salad.

What is really up is asparagus - $3.99/lb. And we eat about 2-3 lbs a week.

Funny you should mention the price of potatoes. I planted a half a dozen potatoes in my garden this year because a friend told me they were really easy to grow and didn't necessarily need full sun. It will interesting to see what happens. Maybe I'll harvest enough potatoes to make a great big salad.

Last holiday weekend I checked King Soopers/Krogers....#10 for $2.99. I decided to make macaroni salad instead. $1 for 1.5lbs of mac at the dollar store!

Potatoes usually run $4-6 per 10# bag here. I don't buy them as often because I don't want all the carbs.

Corn has been $.50 each here. That is high for us.

Asparagus will go down to $1.99 around Easter and then goes back up to $3.99-$6.99.

I think groceries in general are just getting higher. I haven'tseen any good eals on ie cream yet this summer. Blue Bell is made locally 9at least some flavors). The cheapest I have seen it is $6 per gallon.

To continue my rant on prices besides potatoes, I have noticed most things in our Super Value (what a lie) store that most things have gone up abt 50cents per item. Now i know that they have to pay more for the high cost of fuel to truck the stuff to the store, but I think upping the price 50cents PER item is just plain screwing us. Think about how many items in a store, then pricing each one 50 cents more. they are making out like bandits. I wish I lived closer to Walmart, I would do all of my grocery shopping there.
As for the price of potatoes, Hubs said that it is probably between seasons, from stored spuds from last year and the new crop this season. I don't know, all I know is I'll be buying my potato salad.

i know last summer there was an extreme shortage of illegal & migrant labor in the south & midwest, so i'm sure this yr the problem is much worse. just as we pay more for buying american made things we will pay more to hire whom ever will do manual labor and i can tell you the laborers are going to want alot more pay than they have been getting. BTW most field pickers are paid by the pound, pennies on the pound. there is an interesting new book out on the tomatoe industry in south FL, things even us in FL in the landscape growing industry didn't know :-0 very sad and will keep me growing my own tomatoes yr round ~ liz

Who cares? I have 25 potato plants in my backyard garden. Last night I pulled up enough "fingerling" or "new" size potatoes to make enough potato salad for the 2 of us.

It has been in the news for months now that food prices have been climbing, and will continue to do so. It may not be fun for us, but for the desperately poor (mostly in other countries,) it's a matter of life and death. I was reading a Yahoo story this morning about a Vietnamese family with three daughters, one of whom is disabled and one of whom had bone cancer. Husband and wife are pinning their hopes on the third daughter who is studying to be a teacher. The mother as a rule eats the least she can so as to give the daughter recovering from cancer more food, even after working extremely long days.

Flooding in the northwest probably means it is too wet for growing potatoes there, and so with a shortage, prices are higher. I think all this flooding means that farmers will not be able to plant their fields in widespread areas, and we are going to see higher prices for all sorts of foods.

Haven't bought fresh potatoes for a long time. Takes quite a while for me to go through a 5# bag to say nothing of a 10#er. I usually buy frozen or canned. I like the convenience of popping a can or two of potatoes in with a meatloaf or something.

Dotmom, have you ever tried making your potato salad from frozen (diced) hash browns? I've seen a number of people do this. Just thaw completely and simmer them for a bit (they'll cook quickly) and treat them like fresh. No peeling or chopping and they're all a consistent size too. I've meant to try it but just haven't gotten to it yet.

I really don't like the deli potato salads anymore. They're all terrible if they're not made on-site and few places make them on-site anymore. The potatoes aren't cooked and I can't stand undercooked/crunchy potatoes in potato salad which I why I'll never use red potatoes in a potato salad. People who use reds seldom cook them enough. They're afraid they'll be too soft so they go to the other extreme. (end of my rant.)

I'm sure not going to defend the big outfits like SuperValu, but in fairness you have to remember that there's a multiple whammy on the fuel surcharges. There can be a hit for the farm, tho that's not often, then from the processor to the main warehouse, then sometimes from the main warehouse to a sub-warehouse and then from that warehouse to the store. And there's also the other overhead costs, taxes, insurance, wages, benefits, utilities, "charitable" donations, supplies (grocery bags aren't free), garbage/recycling, and the never ending battle with theft just for some examples. And in the smaller stores like you have to shop, the store doesn't get as much benefit from the vendor payments for shelf space that the bigger stores elsewhere get. Small town life certainly has its advantages and benefits but then there's costs to it too.

There is a benefit to having SuperValu in your town actually since they're big enough to be able to have a good amount of private label items to help offset costs of other items. Think of what your bill would be if you had to buy all name brand, unless you do already!

Potato prices are probably peaking due to their seasonal nature. Potatoes are difficult to store more than 6 months. Two of the big producers are Idaho and Wisconsin. New Idaho spuds will come to market starting Sept 1st; Wisconsin Russets are a little later.

I did not take notice of the price when I bought 5 lb this week. I'm the only one in my house that prepares potatoes; That 5 lb will last me about one month. I think I paid less than $5 for 5 lb.

Our milk prices have increased significantly, but the dairy farmers have not got their fair share of that increase.

I have noticed an increase of prices in food stores this year. I question government figures for inflation. I'd like to see how they get such low numbers.

Groceries seem awfully high overall. I feel almost like I've been robbed every time I go through grocery checkout!

OK, as usual, I hear the voice of reason....AKA Cynic. You and the rest are right. There are a lot of reasons for the high prices and I should be given a (gentle) slap on the side of the head, to remind me how fortunate I really am. I will still go with doctored, boughten P salad to go with the ribs. We have a hard time using up a 5# bag of spuds too. As for the Super Value store brand products, I have used some but have been dissatisfied with all of their cereals, we have found they have a skunky after taste. Like someone, above, mentioned about how do young families feed their growing kids, I think that every time I go down the cereal isle, remembering how mine used to inhale a box of cereal in just one morning.

A story in today's Chicago Tribune said a 'market basket' of food went up 4% between February and May. Potatoes were one of the items in the 'basket'.

Sooo...does that mean we will see a 16% increase for the full year? (I am SUCH a math-wuss.)

Well, and I am hankering for the delicious cream of potato soup my mother used to make. I found a version of her old cookbook on a friend's bookshelf, and she kindly gave it to me. I think I will check to see if the recipe in there was perhaps the one mom used way back in the '40s and early '50s. By the way, the cookbook is a fabulous find--
The Way to a Man's Heart: A Settlement Cookbook (not sure about the wording after the colon). Don't you just love the name? She married in 1935, a totally different era!

just wait...more trouble down the produce aisle! adding to the cost to consumers are two states, GA & AL who have driven almost all immigrant workers out of their states. farmers in both states are sounding the alarms right now but it is too late for GA, they are predicting $1 billion in rotting produce on plants because in the last month most field workers have left the state. right now the GA Dept of Ag says 11,000 picking jobs are open, no one will apply thou. AL enacted their law before the ramifications hit GA and now it's too late for them. i linked up an article on GA HB 87. GA was trying to sub prison probationers as workers but something like only 5% showed up for work after the first day LOL...i wonder why??? the probation workers were getting $15 per hr the immigrants $5 per hr so that tells you what's going to happen to the price of produce right there :-) assuming there is much produce to consume as GA is letting their crops rot. then once they get a clue and try to fix the situation the immigrants will hopefully bargain their way towards a better pay! people in this country are clueless about how much work immigrants do here and how much $$ it saves each and every person but they are finding out w/ the increased prices they just can't quite connect the dots ...yet. ga farmers are saying almost no vidalia onions, GA blueberries, melons or tomatoes this yr, crop insurance companies are goig to go broke this yr! hopefully they can get the laws' supporters out to pick the produce for free lol. TG i live where i can grow my produce all year round! ~ liz

Here is a link that might be useful: GA HB 87

Liz, your post is both enlightening and scary. There are two sides of the story to most issues, and the one about immigrants is an example. Yes, ideally only natural and registered US citizens should live and work here, but the majority of them do not want to do the menial work, such as field work, so....I admit I don't have the answer, but I do believe if someone wants to work, they should be able to. I know this opens a whole can of worms, but I'm talking about the subject of farm labor, and also, they should be paid a living wage, and have decent working conditions. Again, I don't have the answer.....but the price of potatoes came down to $2.99 for 5# bag.

dotmom, i'd love to see a living wage paid to workers, problem is that most in this country wouldn't pay more for that to happen. so since others' won't pay up they go w/o produce, that is the bottom line in GA and soon AL. oddly enough in GA they never consulted the farmers on this bill, who are now up in arms about loosing their businesses basically. this also goes to show that there are 11,000 jobs open in GA and no one will do work they consider beneath them. another similiar story is the book i mentioned about Tomatoland about the south FL tomato industry, those workers are actually imprisoned.

last yr 60 Minutes had a story on legal migrant workers who travelled to MI to pick blueberries and worked their way back down to south TX where they owned a large farm of their own. it was a set of parents w/ 2-3 kids who worked with them, them made $60,000 in a few months but worked sun up to sun down 7 days a wk, w/o breaks, they were paid by the pound. that family was quitting because the crops yields were no longer making it profitable for them to do the difficult work. the company i work for had labor issues this yr too. we grow hundreds of acres of landscape plants to ship from VA to TX. we could not find mexican labor like we had every yr, we actually could not find enough people but made do with what we got. we have done E-verify since 2000, in FL the state targets landscapes and growers w/ raids all the time. the laborers have left this state because of 2 record cold winters killing off veggie crops (ie no work) and the downturn in the economy has companies hiring less and laying off for summer/fall as we do. since the workers can't find well paying ($8-10 p hr) jobs yr round they leave for areas where they can, right now it's cattle processors up north and out west.

i think the problems in GA and AL will have everyone thinking about cause and effect of laws soon thou ~ liz

Another thing to think about is the flooding in the midwest and the number of grain crops that did NOT get in this year. Small grains, canola, flax etc--nothing.
So many people out of work yet the younger gals/guys will not work in the fields even at a good wage.

That is the point......almost all Americans do not want to do the hard labor under the conditions that the migrant workers do. Now we have this war on illegal immigrants, and there is no one to do the jobs they did...as poorly paid as they were/are. I wish there was a way to organize them, give them decent working conditions and decent pay....not ostracize, hunt them down and treat them like animals. I know I'm being overly simplistic about this and don't have any answers. I wish someone did.

One thing I'd like to see is all these people given "community service" - let them go work in the fields as at least part of their restitution. But not just put in the time and do nothing. You produce (no pun intended) or you keep sitting in those fields. Or have them go fill sandbags for flood areas, or help people who are victims of the storms, cutting up trees, cleaning up brush, etc. Wouldn't bother me to see Martha Stewart, Robert Downey Junior, Paris Hilton and a few others get their manicured fingers dirty rather than sitting in Camp Cupcake. But that's "cruel and unusual" in the minds of the law-flingers.

Not to get started on "All American Cheap" having seen how people won't pay for decent quality, then complain when it disappears but on the migrant workers or any worker for that matter, I guess a "livable" wage is a pretty subjective thing. I think too many set their standard of "livable" a lot higher than need be. Just because you can't afford 2 new SUVs, a motorcycle and an RV in the driveway of a 1/2 million dollar home doesn't mean you don't have a decent standard of living. Seems to me if more people would realize they can live on more modest levels and then work, even at low paying (and yes maybe even 2 or more) jobs, they could be surprised that they can advance. But no, they won't be able to take the vacation to Hawaii in the winter and Paris in the summer.

So, "What's that got to do with the price of potatoes?" you may ask? Guess it's just my theory that a little less greed could result in happier people and maybe even lower priced taters in the baskets. I know what I've had to do over the years to get what I have and yes "greed" is the proper term for my feeling on it.

I just came upon this thread.....Yes, the price of potatoes. I nearly had a coronary at my local grocery store today. I live in northern Wisconsin, and yes - this grocer mainly caters to the tourists & cabin people who descend upon our area....but $9.49 for 10# of russets & $12.49 for 10# of red potatoes????!!!! C'mon! And you're right, dotmom...every single thing in the store has gone up, but the store owner still takes his trips abroad & has his time in the sun in Palm Springs. I live 50 miles from the nearest WalMart, not that I'd go - I really hate WalMart, but I've shopped there. I am extremely happy I planted my garden this year, which does include russets & red potatoes! Grocery store prices are highway robbery!

Potatoe prices are high inMa. I paid 3.99 for 5lbs. Another thing that really bugs me about supermarket pricing I swear they are all engaged in price fixing on some level.
It amazes me that every supermarkaet in the area all have the same price for lets say for example: campbells soup.Nobody around sells it for less unless there is a sale.
I have always maintained this because of the way supermarkets conduct business with mfgs. anyway.. charging them premium prices for shelf space.
That is why all of a sudden you see your favorite brand of pasta for e.g being squeezed out by other brands because they can afford to pay more for the shelf space.
Just had to get that off my chest...thank you for listening.

Thanks, Gemini40, for bringing my post from the past, to the front again. It is a timely topic at any time.
Potatoes are 'reasonable' again, for this area $2. 79 for 5#. Grapes have been high and really poor quality, here, but finally were on sale this past week for $1.59 #. Usually they are $3.99 #. Yes, you are right, the bigger MFG's can pay the premium charge for the best shelf space, and of course they pass that charge onto their product, to us. It seems it is a no-win situation. Lately there have been items on tV showing how difficult it is for people on food stamps to eat a healthy diet. I don't have the answer.

We don't eat potatoes so I don't pay much attention but after seeing this thread I made it a point to check them out, I nearly fainted in the aisle! WOW! I think I would be making macaroni salad.....but we don't eat that either.

I think we have plenty of labor available to work those fields, but most people will consider it cruel or inhumane. I say make use of prisoners. Put them to work, let them pay for their crimes and pay them as well, that way they will have some spending money or savings for when they are released.

You'd probably be surprised at the number of things that are not paid shelf space. Stores are set by a number of criteria and primarily by top sellers at waist to eye level. Top sellers are often coincidentally the higher profit margin items too. So your small brand of pasta being squeezed out is probably because you're not buying enough of it for them to dedicate shelf space to it. Stores need "turns" to keep an item in stock. The bigger the store, the more turns it needs to keep an item in stock. A convenience store can carry a couple things as accommodations to customers but the bigger the store, well, the more people who'd want special accommodations. A Walmart, Target or Kmart? Nope.

Price fixing? Well, in a way, but you need to understand that wholesalers and manufacturers almost force a price fix onto the retailers. Manufacturers set the price out the door to wholesalers (and occasionally to retailers) Leaving specials out of it the retailers pay basically a fixed price. All retailers aim for a comparable markup on comparable goods so in the end, what will be the price? Pretty much the same. You'll also notice when a manufacturer dumps product, often the stores have a "special purchase", "sale" or "temporary price cut" so it's not always quite so sinister as you may think. Want an example? Gas stations seldom set the prices, the refineries do. So don't blame Cassie the Cashier that gas has gone up! They had nothing to do with it.

Here's another example of price fixing that does happen. Coke & Pepsi are the big dogs in the soft drink biz in the US, right? Ever notice the sales at holiday time? Coke & Pepsi reps literally fight with each other as to who gets what holidays to be on sale in the stores! I laughed when they were negotiating with a place I used to work. And of course the sale prices are the same. They split it up. Oh, and the store is told what the selling price will be! RC Cola? well they were able to go on sale for all of the holidays! LOL The big dogs didn't worry about them at all - they're no competition. And RC too set the price. In fact, snack cakes (like Twinkies), bread vendors and others also tell the stores the price will be on the product. You'll often notice the price tags on the product that are different colors from what the store uses.

Grapes... there's a topic I'm not sure I want to discuss! I so enjoy *good* grapes. Problem is, I haven't found *good* grapes for a long, long time. I wondered if I just had a change of taste and don't like them anymore or what, but in talking with others, they agree that they're not so good. Too bad. They must be able to grow some good tasting grapes and sell them at a reasonable price. I won't buy bad ones at any price. I feel a bit guilty doing it but I now refuse to buy unless I taste them first.