Why Breakfast Is Busting Your Food Budget 182
Food prices continue climbing, posing challenges for U.S. consumers and policymakers, with average food-at-home prices recording their largest annual increase in November. While some commodities like wheat and corn have seen price drops, key breakfast staples remain expensive due to global supply disruptions from disease, weather, and reduced production.
"Busting MY food budget" (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:"Busting MY food budget" (Score:5, Interesting)
Breakfast is the least "budget busting" of my meals.
What would bust my budget, however, would be to subscribe to all the paywalled news sites (like this one) to be able to read the articles.
Re:"Busting MY food budget" (Score:5, Insightful)
Breakfast is the least "budget busting" of my meals.
Indeed. My breakfast is oatmeal, the cheapest food in the grocery store.
What would bust my budget, however, would be to subscribe to all the paywalled news sites
There are some sites worth paying for. The WSJ isn't one of them.
Re:"Busting MY food budget" (Score:4, Informative)
We buy 50 lb bags of organic thick cold-rolled oats from the local health food store. During covid the price basically doubled from $65 to $110, but it's still very cheap per day. That was also around the time that oat milk became a thing. Supply and demand.
Re: (Score:3)
The rolled oats from the bulk bin at winco have gone from 62 to 80 cents a pound in the last 5 years, which honestly isn't hugely out of line with the general burst of post-covid inflation (which, from 1/1/20 to 6/1/24, was about 15-18% total), even if it's a good deal more than the roughly (2% x 5yr =) 10% you'd expec
Re:"Busting MY food budget" (Score:4, Insightful)
You can make statements about the mean and average (aggregate data) while understanding that representative doesn't mean universally true.
Sheesh, you think a place that used to be predominantly filled with people in CS would understand the nature of statistics, but I keep coming here and seeing people who clearly don't have the foggiest idea.
I guess that explains why software sucks so bad nowadays.
Re: (Score:2)
You can make statements about the mean and average (aggregate data) while understanding that representative doesn't mean universally true.
The people who have trouble budgeting for breakfast typically don't have the cost of breakfast as the root cause of their budget problems. In other news Happy New Year, I had a lot of fun yesterday watching the people in the social housing complex on the other side of the suburb launch 10s of thousands of euros worth of fireworks into the sky.
The cost of oatmeal isn't significant. I know I hate the politicians for claiming all our problems are smashed avocado toast for breakfast, but for some people they ar
Re: (Score:2)
Spending money on fireworks does not make their lives a little less shit. In fact, it makes it a little more shit.
Re: (Score:3)
But that's exactly what the headline did NOT say.
Yes, something may bust the average breakfast budget, or breakfast budgets, or most peoples breakfast budgets, it claims in best clickbait style that something is supposed to happen to MY budget.
And people with CS background know of the need for exact language. Or at least knew that. If that has become lost, software today "sucks bad" because not enough CS people get upset with that kind of language on an outlet that used to be filled with CS people.....
First and foremost, it is generally understood that a headline is a summary of a story summary which is a summary of an actual story. It is not expected to be precise, but merely representative of the rest of the content.
Second, there is a variety of precision expectation in language used in different circumstances. Software programming use of language needs to be precise because the device interpreting it is literalist, lacking any ability to handle "you know what I mean" circumstances. Person-to-pers
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Headlines are not news themselves. They're supposed to attract the attention of people who would be interested in the article. If you're not wondering why your favorite breakfast items are more costly relative to other food, you can move on secure in the understanding this article isn't for you, rather than feeling attacked.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm going to guess metaphor isn't your strong suit.
Re: (Score:2)
haha (Score:3)
Haha. I don't eat breakfast. But, it's true, the price of air has gone up significantly, since I have to pay the govt every time I wake up.
Because (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Because you eat sugared breakfast cereal instead of eggs and oatmeal.
The U.S. just culled 100 million chickens because of avian flu. A dozen eggs in my area are anywhere from $2.50 to well over $3 a dozen. While that is six meals (two eggs per omelette), I can get two weeks worth of breakfast from a box of cereal for less than a dozen egges.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Well, after January 20, no problem there. They'll stop culling birds due to avian flu because that's expensive. You'll just get to enjoy your avian-flu infected animal products, especially now it's crossed over into humans just fine.
Lucki
Re: (Score:2)
They are desperate to maintain regular plague-panics
Oh? Who is "they"?
LOL! You crackpots are just too much!
Re: (Score:2)
The U.S. just culled 100 million chickens because of avian flu.
Eggs are also used to create some vaccines, including most Flu vaccines.
Google: eggs vaccines [google.com]
Re: (Score:2)
That was a real problem for my mother-in-law, who had to be careful about vaccines because of her egg allergy.
Re: (Score:3)
Wait, due to bird flu, the price of eggs for you went up to $2.50? What was it before? Were they just handing them out for free at the grocery store!?
Aldi had a dozen eggs for less than $2 for the longest time. I have a vague recollection of them being closer to the $1 mark for a time. Even local stores were below $2. I've seen a dozen egges as high as $5 in one store.
Re: Because (Score:2)
Aty local grocery stlre (City in NC), a dozen eggs used to be about $1.50 maybe 3 years ago. (During the pandemic they went up and then down again to $1.50). These days about $4 for a dozen. And that's if you get the regular eggs. Often they are out and you inly get the organic free range ones. At about $10 a dozen. In those weeks, I don't eat eggs.
Re: (Score:2)
Because you eat sugared breakfast cereal instead of eggs and oatmeal.
I was just buying eggs yesterday. Our local Winco has a sign up talking about shortages and higher egg prices due to the effects of Avian Flu on the commercial flocks.
I keep thinking we should just try raising chickens ourselves, since we have plenty of room - but haven't followed through yet...
Re: (Score:2)
My retired parents had 6 chickens when they lived in Ramona, Ca (hour out of San Diego east). It was a nice little hobby but I've no idea if it was actually saving them money on eggs. I know they gave a lot of eggs away though and they were yummy.
So I would say raise your own chickens if you want peace of mind of the sourcing of your eggs and they'll probably taste better as well. I seriously doubt you will save money though. This is true for a lot of tiny backyard farming but the freshness is worth it if y
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Get real. Even at their absolute worst, egg prices were well-below "specialty" egg prices. If egg prices are "busting your budget", I can only assume that you're eating eggs by the gross every day!
Backyard chickens are great, and they'll supply far more eggs than an ordinary family eats, but you'll probably spend more on the chickens than you would have for the eggs.
Egg prices are a distraction. Most of the time people have been complaining about egg prices, they were below their 2015 peek. We also know
Re:Because (Score:5, Funny)
65 million years ago, the ancestors of chickens were eating the ancestors of mammals. This is payback.
Of course, we won the war against our oppressors long ago and we now actually BREED them just so we have more of them to kill to keep the industrial military-farming complex operating.
Re: (Score:2)
65 million years ago, the ancestors of chickens were eating the ancestors of mammals. This is payback.
And explains why we form them into dinosaur nuggets.
Re: (Score:2)
65 million years ago, the ancestors of chickens were eating the ancestors of mammals. This is payback.
I burn the bastards in my car too. Chuck Norris eat your heart out.
Re: Because (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Well, thank you for posting something completely wrong that some people might take seriously.
All modern birds, including chickens, are descended from theropods - a subset of dinosaurs.
Re: Because (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I have twenty happy chickens.
What is your problem with them?
Re: (Score:3)
Ah yes, the backyard chicken fallacy.
How are backyard chickens a fallacy?
I have six hens. How can I tell if they're fallacious?
Re: (Score:2)
How can I tell if they're fallacious?
I assume if delicious they aren’t fallacious.
Re: (Score:2)
I assume if delicious they aren’t fallacious.
I eat the eggs, not the chickens.
Re: (Score:3)
Do they regularly lie to you?
Re: (Score:2)
When they stop living in the back yard and start living in your house. In my observations of people who keep chickens, there's a tendency to start treating them like pets rather than livestock.
Re: (Score:2)
You angry bro?
You can type so you must be able to realize that chickens eat any AND all food scraps and yard waste they can peck at.
Chicken feed is what your comment was worth.
Re:Because (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, not all chickens are treated poorly. My wife's chickens--from which we get a nice steady supply of eggs--are treated far more like household pets than livestock.
Re: Because (Score:2)
Re:Because (Score:5, Funny)
And, when the inevitable reboot of I Dream of Jeannie happens, she'll have to refer to Major Nelson as 'Main', 'Parent' or 'Server', which is ironic, because she's the server. Of course, lots of things will change. Major Nelson will be a diverse woman, and Jeannie will be trans.
Re: (Score:2)
We did not deregulate our egg production. That's outright wrong and incorrect. In fact, more states have added regulations to egg production and distribution, specifically starting Jan 1, 2025, at least a few states are going Cage-free, following in California's footsteps. Turns out, there is not enough cage-free production to meet demand, so this to is pushing prices up, alongside this wonderful avian flu.
Pop-Tarts are the answer (Score:4, Funny)
I don't see no stinkin' problem.
Re: (Score:3)
Poptarts for breakfast every morning for 40 years? A breakfast almost entirely comprised of caffeine, refined wheat flour and sugar for 40 years? If that's indicative of your entire diet I'm surprised all you're on is Lipitor after this long.
Re: (Score:2)
My employer provides a keto-coaching program, who's goal is to reduce the medications that I take
My current breakfast is two cooked eggs, which at $6 a dozen, is $1 a day
I think I can afford to get healthy, already down 10lbs and going to approach my physician to reduce blood pressure meds because it gets too low in the evenings
Re: (Score:2)
I've had really good luck with 16-8 intermittent fasting (so fast for 16 hours and eat for 8) for improving my metabolic issues. I was going to be put on a couple meds for blood sugar and blood pressure but tried this first and having adopted this I don't need them anymore as my issues have been resolved.
You do what you want and people bodies react differently to things of course. After a few months intermittent fasting becomes pretty easy though.
Re:Pop-Tarts are the answer (Score:5, Interesting)
TMI follows:
I started at 220lbs, and was on multiple high blood pressure meds, statins and metformin
Tried limiting types of food eaten (relying mostly on frozen meals and veggies with various sauces), and walking for exercise (daughter had bought me a apple watch and set up the exercise app).
This resulted in losing about 20lbs, but no change in medications as I went from pre-diabetic to diabetic
I was stuck between 195lb and 200lb, until I got work email saying I could enroll in diabetes-prevention program for free (I work a research arm of cancer/diabetes treatment org), so I did expecting them to put me on GLP or some such
Instead I got a keto coach with physician backup, an internet enabled scale, digital glucose/keytone meter and a tracking app that the counselor communicates with me over.
Just broke my first month, down about 12lbs (first time under 185 in a looooong time) and experiencing bouts of low blood pressure that the keto-doc will support lowering current BP meds when I see my 'real' doc
They monitor my ketones to determine if I am in keytosis and potential risk for acidosis, along with providing GLP at some point if necessary and helping me get off of other meds
So far, I am happy with the outcome, more will be told over the next year if I stick with it
Re: (Score:3)
That's awesome your company does that and good for you for engaging in positive life changes and losing a pretty decent amount of weight. If you're happy with how things are going for you then stay the course!
Maybe keep fasting as an idea for if keto is too hard to stick to though. For myself I know fasting was much more attractive than completely eliminating refined sugar and non complex carbs from my diet although I do eat low volumes of both of those as well. Weight loss is harder with fasting but it see
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks, and best wishes for the New Year
Re: (Score:2)
My employer provides a keto-coaching program
So... your employer is also crackpot?
The price of reading about budget busting breakfas (Score:5, Funny)
The price of reading about budget busting breakfasts is apparently going up too, since the article is paywalled.
You think it's bad now? (Score:5, Funny)
Wait until mid-January, when you find out how much you were importing that just got 25% more expensive, how long it will take American farmers to take up the slack (if they do or even can), and how much more it costs than the original source.
Re:You think it's bad now? (Score:5, Informative)
Trump supporters suddenly realizing the blueberries they’re enjoying in the middle of winter are imported.
Re: (Score:3)
Greenhouses exist. God knows enough people have experience growing weed indoors...
But all the options are all more expensive than import +25%. So... effectively the government just added a tax to your breakfast, if you can still afford it.
Re: (Score:3)
I am not ready to pay $30 for 1/8th oz of salad greens
The low produce prices enabled by 'illegal' workers (who cannot unionize) have us ill-prepared for inevitable produce price increases if American workers are picking it, much less moving to exotic solutions like greenhouses or hydroponics that are used for expensive crops like cannabis
Re: (Score:2)
So wait, why doesn't California bring these workers out of the shadows and help them unionize? It would be for the benefit of all except of the course the farm owner. I guess that's our answer why California won't help them workers out.
Re: (Score:3)
There used to be a Braceros program that imported seasonal workers
There were many abuses of the workers, and they joined the united farm workers union
It went to the Supreme Court, that ruled the foreign workers could join a union, since they were in the country LEGALLY.
The Braceros program was shut down immediately, with the same workers being employed and abused, but no legal protection now since they were ILLEGALS
I shit you not, that is the power of the agricultural sector and I cannot wait for trump and
Re:You think it's bad now? (Score:5, Informative)
Trump supporters suddenly realizing the blueberries they’re enjoying in the middle of winter are imported.
Noting that the package clearly says "Product of Mexico" (or wherever), but that would require reading, also not a MAGA strength. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
There are two kinds of people who say things like that - Trump defenders and people who are hoping against hope.
Trump started a tariff war during his previous presidency. Hurt American farmers quite a bit, caused a lot of supply chain chaos around the world.
Why do you think he wouldn't do it again, when he not only says he's going to, but actually did do it previously?
Re: (Score:3)
But, this is also a sign of a healthy democracy. The country
Re:You think it's bad now? (Score:5, Informative)
>But, this is also a sign of a healthy democracy. The country is feeling pissy and irrational. Our leader reflects that. In a democracy, we get the leaders we deserve.
No, it's a sign of a failing democracy. The population is under-educated and heavily propagandized, which is why they vote against their own self interests.
But yes, getting the leaders it deserves. It's been a long slow ramp up to this, and this is ultimately what people wanted each step of the way.
Re: (Score:3)
After 4 years of Trump, the population picked Biden because they were tired of the drama whiplash and wanted a steadier leader. After 4 years of Biden, they wanted something else.
I’m fine with this. System working as intended.
Re:You think it's bad now? (Score:5, Interesting)
Nobody who's merely acting can be as incredibly stupid as both he and everyone around himself reveal themselves to be, at virtually every turn, with perfect consistency. Go ahead and watch the infamous press conference where he talks about injecting bleach and sticking UV lights into your ass. That look when he turns at Dr. Birx, you cannot fake that unmistakeable look of a special needs child plaintively asking "did I finally get it right mommy? am I not as dumb as they say?" Listen to any of the demented bastard's delusional, egomaniacal rambles - this is not a smart person pretending to be stupid or crazy.
fluff news (Score:3)
The article is only a dozen lines long and it cites eggs, sirloin, coffee, a can of frozen orange-juice concentrate. Cocoa prices are also up.
https://archive.ph/8vYWj#selec... [archive.ph]
Re: (Score:2)
Rolled oats & milk soaked overnight + peanut b (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Not me, practically free (Score:2)
Eat a nice 3-egg cheese omelet most days made with eggs from the chickens kept out by the barn.
Re: (Score:2)
My city has by-laws against keeping chickens, but just for the theoretical I did the math and figured out the required setup would result in slightly more expensive eggs than grocery-bought, plus my time taking care of the hens.
If you already have a profitable production setup, though... you'd kind of be a fool not to take some eggs for yourself.
Re: (Score:2)
Had to do the math when we started too, after about 800 eggs we turned the corner. I used the price of cage-free or free-range eggs in those calculation, which made the pay-off take a lot less time than using the cheapest eggs possible. Time spent daily is minimal, probably 10 minutes, and is just one more thing wife does in the mornings: dog, cats, chickens. But she's retired, so it's something to do.
Re: (Score:2)
My city has by-laws against keeping chickens, ...
Just them them they're actually dinosaurs [thearchaeologist.org] and see if there a prohibition against them. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
Most local ordinances preclude roosters while allowing hens, which is not really an issue if you want hens for eggs to eat
Re: (Score:2)
made with eggs from the chickens kept out by the barn.
Yeah [srcdn.com].
The Public Has Spoken (Score:2)
Of course there are logical reasons why food prices have shot up.
What there is no logical reason for is how Trump voters think he is going to "fix" it. Or, for that matter, even make it any better than Harris would have.
Re: (Score:2)
Trump has essentially promised to make it worse, by deporting a large part of the labor force working on US farms.
If he goes through with his Chinese tariffs as well as deportations, then you can look forward to inflation at Walmart as well.
Re: (Score:3)
This is the part where I'm really conflicted.
'Undocumented' workers are easy to underpay and abuse with the threat of deportation held over them... this is why businesses pay to stir up anti-immigrant propaganda, not to get rid of immigrants but to keep them 2nd class. Foreign production keeps that completely invisible by offshoring it.
Americans get cheaper labor and goods, either by exploiting immigrants or foreigners. Between the mass deportations and the tariffs, Trump's going to kick the legs out from
Re: (Score:3)
The annoying thing to me is that things like H-1B visas, offshoring, onshore job jobs staffed with foreigners, all take away high paying jobs from US citizens, but are not being addressed because this is what businesses want to make more profit and increase the CEO's bonus. Musk as advisor to Trump isn't going to help with any of that either.
So, instead of taking steps to protect jobs that Americans actually want, we instead get an expensive deportation program that will drive up food costs and protect jobs
Re: (Score:3)
The answer is obvious: Enforce the laws that the people chose. Bonus: We can change our own laws in the future! Anything else makes the law-abiding resentful. And slave-wage earners will have to be taken care of by the rest of us, one way or another--they're not going to retire as millionaires and will be a perpetual burden.
Re: (Score:3)
No one wants the jobs because they SUCK. I got mad respect for the people who keep our farms running, illegal or not.
Farms are physically demanding, extremely dirty, stink - and make the worker stink no matter how much they wash, have absolute dogshit working hours, and are extremely dangerous.
Most of the population doesn't want to do these job no matter how much the pay. If someone wants to play with heavy equipment they are much better off going to work with a road crew, or literally ANYWHERE other than a
Re: (Score:2)
It's already illegal to hire someone who isn't legally allowed to be
climate change (Score:2)
... obviously does not exist. So what is the article talking about?
SCNR
Nice article (Score:2)
I had expected it to say more, but at least the author got directly to the point.
Bacon! (Score:4, Funny)
It's the most important meal of the day (Score:2)
Or so we've been told. On that basis, one should expect it to cost you more than lunch or dinner. Or are they including second breakfast and elevensies?
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting how the "most important meal of the day" is also the easiest one to skip.
The subtitle is about coffee and orange juice (Score:2)
While the article is behind a paywall, the subtitle indicates that the part of breakfast that has gotten more expensive is the drinks, not the food.
Nothing to do with supply and demand (Score:2)
Probably in preparation for Trump (Score:2)
Trump needs to fake some successes, so they now increase prices drastically and then when Trump needs to demonstrate some "winning", they can reduce prices, but less than they increased them now. Everybody wins, except the consumer. But most consumers are too stupid to understand what is happening.
Putin Price Hike? (Score:2)
Is it Putin's Price Hike?
Is it Transitory Inflation?
No, it's Bidenomics, it's working man, no joke - I'm serious!
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, president Elon's new message is "go fuck yourself in the face".
Doesn't seem very presidential, but there you go.
Re:That’s ok (Score:5, Insightful)
I was told by president elect Elon that grocery prices would plummet when Trump took office. That promise was very short lived. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Pol... [go.com]
Trump and Harris promised many of the same things, like lowering the price of food. But while Harris offered actual plans/strategies or at least ideas, Trump just waived his hands and offered only his magical powers -- which he doesn't actually have (magical powers, not hands) -- and 1.9% more voters chose him. Some analysis speculates that's because Harris' solutions involved the government and those Trump/MAGA voters are wary of that at the moment, but government involvement is actually what may be needed in these cases. Furthermore, and unfortunately, imposing tariffs on imports (like food) -- which are actually paid by importers and usually passed on to consumers -- and deporting people who do manual labor, (like harvesting locally-grown food) isn't going to help lower prices and magic won't help.
Re:That’s ok (Score:4, Insightful)
Unless Harris's plan was to restrict the tonnage in food that we export, there wasn't really a straight forward way in making groceries cheaper. Wealth distribution with handout programs from the government doesn't actually make food cheaper it just means poor people will have the funds to afford it. The two are not the same though.
Since there is zero chance our government will put a cap on total food exported, it's a moot conversation. Guess we'll just have to worker harder to maintain the same quality of life. Same as last year, meet this year.
Re:That’s ok (Score:5, Interesting)
If you look at inflation, it started in the Trump presidency and it came under control in the Biden presidency, although moderating inflation doesn't make prices *lower*. Nobody experiences inflation, they experience high prices which are the result of inflation, and prices influence our vote.
That said, inflation wasn't Trump's fault. It was pandemic-related supply chain disruptions that, even had he handled the pandemic *perfectly* would have resulted in inflation. That also being said, the promise that grocery prices would come down when Trump takes office was clearly a lie.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:That’s ok (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to dig into the past, but Trump took credit for Obama economy, failed to properly handle the Covid pandemic and handed over an economic disaster to Biden, who turned things around
If you expect any different performance from Trump this time around, you will need to keep your tv tuned to fox news, who will lie to you constantly, so you never experience the cognitive dissonance that you are lying to yourself
Proper handling of COVID? (Score:2)
What would have been proper handling of the COVID pandemic?
No lockdowns?
No masking?
No vaccine?
No economic stimulus?