I went to the grocery store today and a can of Luck's baked apples that cost $1.79 last year, now is either out of stock consistently or the new price is $2.19. That's an increase of more than 22%. There was another item I looked at had a similar increase. The 2 liter sprite. It had a price tag of $2.19 in Kroger. Last year these were still around $1.50. Take this holistically to most of the items on your grocery list and you see a big decrease in buying power.
I will have a Part 2 at some point regarding government spending, inflation, food shortages and illegal immigration.
FINANCE ECONOMY
Inflation is hurting women at the grocery store. Some are eating less in order to feed their families.
Federal food benefits have not kept up, and food pantries are also starting to feel the impact.
BY
CHABELI CARRAZANA
AND
THE 19TH
April 12, 2022 6:15 PM EDT
This story was originally published by
The 19th.
The price sticker startled Tammy Ferrell. She looked at the variety pack of FritoLay chips again and again. Her forehead wrinkled. Surely, she must have misunderstood—the chips used to be $12, but the sticker read $17.
Around her, everything else had new stickers, too—the dairy, the produce, the meat. She left
Costco without the turkey wings her family loved, without meat at all. She thought of how she would explain it to her grandsons.
As the weeks went on and prices continued to rise, Ferrell’s family began eating noodles instead of meat. They stretched what was in their pantry, walking to the store instead of driving to avoid paying skyrocketing gas prices. It was turning into a nightmare, she said.
Ferrell is raising her four grandkids between the ages of 6 and 13 by herself. Keeping a stable job while caring for them is difficult—she’s lost jobs because she has taken time off to care for the kids. They have no wiggle room financially. When they’ve been short on food in the past couple of months, it’s Ferrell who goes hungry. “I’m the one who lacks, no matter what—I’m the one who lacks,” said Ferrell, 60. “Inflation has really killed me.”
When inflation hits the grocery store, it’s women who feel the blow. And it’s women who have less room to adjust.
In March, prices ballooned 8.5 percent over the previous year, with the steepest hikes on gas, shelter and food. In a regular year, single women spend as much as 30 percent more than single men on most grocery items—the same items that are among those with the highest inflation increase, according to a 19th analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. (BLS analyzes expenditures for single men and women only.)
Inflation is hurting women at the grocery store. Some are eating less in order to feed their families.
