Disguising Price Increases(No Politics Please)

[worth1]

My engine lathe was made in China.
It came with a spec sheet on tolerances.
It's up to par with a tool room lathe made in the US years ago.
I checked them myself.
Yes there is garage out there but this isn't it.

[karstopography]

True Basmati rice from India and Pakistan is in a league all by itself. There was or is an American basmati rice on the market, but it wasn’t nearly as nice as the imported rice. The imported rice has such a unique texture and fragrance. My wife is crazy about it. The imported Basmati isn’t gummy or sticky and the individual grains are super long.

5 lbs of Mahatma domestic extra long grain rice is $5.18 at HEB
5 lbs of imported basmati is $8.30.

I might pick up basmati next time I’m there.

[bower]

Global trade is such a take for granted thing. Even products that appear to be domestic, may depend on foreign supply of parts. With free trade, a business will just find the most cost effective supplier for their build, that meets their quality standards. In the foods it pans out as a wide range of consumer choices. Products in my kitchen are from all over the world.
I'm down to my last cup of basmati too, and must pick up a bag... product of India.

[worth1]

I've got over 20 pounds of basmati rice.

[JayneR13]

No kidding. Pet food is an example of a product made in the USA from components sourced globally. Medicines are another. Global trade has really enhanced our lives IMO but it seems we've rough waters ahead!

I just picked up some basmati rice a few days ago! It goes with my Indian flavored sauces so much better than other choices.

[Danny]

We try to stay stocked up with some back up on our most commonly used items normally and now, a bit more so. Extra rice, flours, butter, sugar, coffee, canned goods, spices and all the things we use a lot of every week. With globalization, so many products will be directly and indirectly affected by the drop in trade, many in ways we might not consider normally, such as tuna may not change in the cost for the tuna it's self, but the aluminum can price is higher, due to import costs.

Fresh fruits and vegetables will see an impact quickly, both from imports ( or the lack of imports) and the effects of loss of labor to work the agriculture sectors. At least one generation, most likely three, have not had to eat seasonally and have little to no idea of when or what is in season where. We have been spoiled quite a bit. If all this continues, it may not take long for many things, food and material wise, to be short or unavailable easily as we are used to it being.

I don't think I want to go as far as turning collars and cuffs on shirts though I do know that skill, but how many skills and knowledge about how to substitute or make do in shortages have we, as a society, lost from easy and cheap access?

Again, we haven't had a "use it up, make it last, re-purpose things" mentality since WW2 era. Look at all the food wasted daily. I am just as guilty. Social norms would think a parent abusive if the child wore hand me downs anymore. I can recall some school age fights being diverted ( often forever) because a kid was in their "school clothes" not their "play clothes" and you didn't ever want to explain getting a newer item torn up.

Some do not even know how to cook beyond a packet of ramen.

[GoDawgs]

It looks like eggs here are coming down again. I buy the 18-count cartons. Prices paid so far this month at Walmart:

April 9 - 7.34 (4.89/dz)
April 23 - 6.62 (4.41/dz)
April 29 - 5.82 (3.88/dz)

@Danny , I sure remember those admonitions about getting out of school clothes before going out to play. Especially shoes!

Even now I repurpose stuff and no food ever goes to waste. If there's one portion of something leftover from the main meal, it goes into one of those small plastic freezer boxes or wrapped up. There's a shoebox size plastic box in the refrigerator freezer for those quick fixes and a list of them on the freezer door. It comes in handy for those times when there's only one at home for lunch or times when nobody feels like cooking. A little nuke in the microwave, add a salad and there's instant lunch.

[worth1]

This is a steal.
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/1176 ... =582&gQT=1

[worth1]

Also rice gets better with age
They found this out during the age of sailing ships and the long voyage home.
I think it was 2 years there and back sailing during the monsoon season.
Clipper ships made the voyage faster because they could sail against the wind by tacking and were very fast.
I personally picked up tacking into the wind in Alaska during the blizzarderds with close to 109 mile an hour winds.
Sounds like commander McBragg but it's the truth.
You had to zigzag against the wind to get into the building from your truck.
You couldn't see 5 feet in front of you.

[GoDawgs]

This is a steal.
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/1176 ... =582&gQT=1

Wow! That sure is!

[worth1]

I have read that jasmine rice looses it's aroma and flavor after time.
But jasmine and basmati are the rices they use in Asian Thai cooking and not long grain or so they say
I rarely buy long grain domestic rice.

[worth1]

This is another good deal on semolina.
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/supr ... ina/739298

[bower]

They're selling "aged basmati rice" here. There were two lower price choices one was $10 the other on sale for $14 for 8 lb sack. I bought the one on sale, not sure if the other was 8 lb or less. I had problems before with whole grain rice in this store that had to be soaked and rinsed copiously to get rid of rancid smells. I do prefer whole grain rice but not always worth the hassle.
These prices look about normal to me nothing unusual and several different brands around $15 for 8-10 lbs. Bigger sacks too but I'm happy with 8, will do me for many months.

Just a comment on meat prices: I always buy local chicken but lately it's been mostly very high. A small whole chicken that a few years ago you would get for $5 or a little less on special, now retailing in the ballpark of $20 a chicken. Can't tell you how many $20 chickens I've strutted past in the last few months. I know where it's coming from though, because I know our chicken feed is mostly if not all imported. This drives up costs obviously, and I can only assume that those costs went dramatically high for the price to go so wacko. You know that poultry is one of the basics under supply chain management in Canada, which is supposed to ensure a basic food supply. But the food for the chickens is broken here on the island, apparently.
Anyhoo, I was quite pleased to see whole chickens today for about $8-9 apiece. I bought two, and I'm cooking both of them, will huck one if not both in the freezer cooked and ready for an occasion.
Eggs here have taken a spike. $5.17 per dozen again this week, and the wierdest part is, all of the eggs are priced the same. Whether medium, 'extra large' or brown. No explanation comes to mind for this!

[karstopography]

I have noticed much less spread in price between the commodity eggs here and the premium “cage free” free range, organic, etc. Aldi in town currently has them all in the $4-5/dozen range.

My daughter has us stocked up on her farm eggs. It is as nice to bypass the eggs at the store as it is the produce section.

The more that things are run by computers and such, the less I have been impressed by the whole deal.

I tried to pay my Health Insurance bill the other day and was defeated at every point by automated systems, international call centers, dropped calls, inoperable websites, ridiculous surveys of satisfaction (big unsatisfactory marks for you BCBSTX, like they care!) and third party payment contractors. Had All the makings of a “You have entered the twilight zone” episode.

Interesting to have all the money at one’s fingertips to pay a still current bill in full and the money in a form acceptable and immediately available, but yet the actual mechanism to accomplish such a simple task was proven impossible to actually accomplish because of weird, inexplicable glitches in the systems at every turn with no understanding or knowledgeable human being to assist with the task available.

The bill got paid, but no thanks to any action or mechanism of any, online or phone based, purported customer service support system at the insurance company. Strange modern world we live in. I’d soon not have insurance, I have lived quite long enough, but my wife somehow thinks health insurance is indispensable. So here we are.

[bower]

Heaven forbid that internet transactions should get any gnarlier.
The corporate websites stink to high heaven. Terrible design. It's so obvious they care nothing about customer service.

Great that you have farm fresh eggs @karstopography . Way to go.

[Danny]

Very fortunate to have farm fresh eggs, lucky you! Eggs went down at Walmart here by four cents a dozen so far. Fancy eggs are higher, way too much for us to even look at much. Still have a dozen and part of another dozen in the fridge.

When ordering seeds, I've included stuff to help feed future chickens in our stocks. Won't eliminate the cost of feed, but sure will help cut the prices some. So many things are good for chickens and easy/cheap to grow, plus many can be used for people food too - like amaranth plants and seed heads tossed in to occupy them. Veg scraps, too. We used to give our chickens the skins off of roasted winter squash to clean up thoroughly before composting anything left from the chickens. And all the free bugs they can catch !

Coffee, ground, has gone up about a dollar a 12 ounce bag vacuum packed from last year's price so far. Chicken s are still reasonable here when on sale. Potatoes seem to have gone up about 50 cents more a5 lb bag of russets. Green onions are running about .88 cents a bunch. Red/green ( Kent variety?) mangoes are on sale for about fifty cents each, limit 3. Regular commodity sugar has also gone up from the last few months to 3.14 for a 4 lb bag. Meow Mix, the cat's favored dry cat food, is steady at the 16lb bag being $16.48.

Not huge increases, but they add up over all, making the grocery bill bigger for many.

[bower]

My grain growing experiments were definitely in mind of the chicken feed situation.
Rodents tell me I need a cat to grow grain.
My friend is pretty keen to get chickens at the farm this year, so perhaps her cats will mind a feed crop too.