$4.08 for an 11 oz box of 'Nilla Wafers at the store today. What? Really? How?

[Snoutport]

I am having some major sticker shock today. Mind you I go to the CHEAPEST grocery store in town. No fancy nothing. This place is cement, metal racks and you bag your own everything.

Dog food was up a buck, bread prices went up and I don't think I've ever seen summer fruit so expensive in my entire life.

But the kicker was the 'Nilla Wafers by Nabisco. The box is different than I am used to so I double checked it. 11 oz... $4.08. Sigh...another old favorite that are not within my budget.

How long are prices going to go up? I'm a repetative shopper--I kinda get the same things over and over--and for years I'd spend right around $100. Today's shopping was $147--of which only $7 was meat.

Why are the food corporations pushing the American public so hard? How long until people start to protest because they are hungry? Why are they choosing to make so much unrest? It can't all be greed can it?

[TheWraith]

1. Part of it is fuel prices.

Fuel goes up, and so does everything transported by fuel.

[Sherman A1]

25. Precisely

There are other factors in play, but that is the major reason and it sucks.

One of my jobs at the grocery where I work is "price advances" which I put on the shelf on Sunday early AM. The system doesn't cycle until overnight Sunday into Monday (when our new ad breaks), but this is when time permits is be done. I have noted advances have slowed a bit in their volume I only had about 100 to 150 or so yesterday. A few months back it was in the 2000 - 2500 area for several weeks straight.

Some is based upon increases from the manufacturer, some on just bringing a category into it's profit line (the store does have to make money to stay open and all), but mostly it all tracks back to fuel prices (and corn prices).

One suggestion I can make is to look down the liquor & beer aisle for rebate coupons that you mail in, some states do not require an alcohol purchase and it's pretty easy to get the rebate requirements with just your weekly shopping. Beyond that just watch the sales, use coupons and just buy what you need. Also check the damage rack or cart for bargains on paper items, etc (I wouldn't suggest dented cans as there are potential food safety issues), you can sometimes score a pack of paper towels for half price or alike.

[Shagbark Hickory]

30. That's what they want you to think. Why doesn't it require more gas to get all the groceries home

then?

[Sherman A1]

37. It doesn't require more gasoline, however

that gasoline is more expensive than it was in the past and utilities are up(got any idea how much electricity is used to cool a grocery store and the coolers, freezers and display cases in it, health care (benefits to employees) are up, commodity costs are up.

I don't like the price increases anymore than anyone else, but stuff costs more because of fuel increases along with general inflation.

[Shagbark Hickory]

43. Sorry, meant more $ in gas. Not more gas.

The amount spent on gas getting groceries home is not proportional to the cost increases seen in many products.

I can understand perhaps some very bulky products like rolls of paper towels but even those are soaring. I guess because it comes all the way from China.

And I can understand increases in some chocolate products since cocoa has risen sharply.

But a lot of these prices have gone up due to greed.

[Shagbark Hickory]

29. I'm not buying that excuse anymore. a 50% increase in diesel does not equate to a 50% increase in a

box of cookies.

You can transport many many many boxes of cookies on a gallon of diesel.

[Snoutport]

41. Western Family Brand Vanilla Wafers were almost half the price and1 oz bigger box

I guess it just costs Nabisco twice as much to make a very cheap cookie.

[Shagbark Hickory]

44. Well see they have a lot of execs who need to make hundres of millions of dollars each year so. nm

[SpiralHawk]

82. Industrial ag -- which gives you cookies -- is built on fossil fuels: fertilizers, pesticides, herbi

herbicies, fungicides, equipment fuel, cooler fuel, etc/ etc. If you eat industrial food, you are eating fossil fuels...

[Desertrose]

85. Never thought of it that way...but I totally agree!!

:hi: SH

[SpiralHawk]

91. Be careful when gobbling 'Nilla Wafers in the hot tub

...or face the TrageDy of soGGy cOOkies.

[MineralMan]

2. Time to learn to bake cookies. They're better, too.

Much cheaper. In the meantime, try some other cookies that are cheaper. Who knows? You may like them just as well.

[JI7]

9. home baked cookies are the best

it doesn't even take any secret special recipe. even just buying a cookie mix and making those are better than anything you buy anywhere.

[MagickMuffin]

38. I LOVE to bake, however, in the summer it heats up the house to much

When you live in a climate with triple digit heatwaves, baking hinders using the oven.


But come cooler weather you bet I'll be making cookies, pies, and cakes. All handmade, btw, no mixes for this gal.

[mnhtnbb]

3. It is all greed. And the politicians will continue to say there is no inflation

so they can manipulate the indices so there is no adjustment for anybody
on fixed income from pensions or social security.

Really, I do wonder how much it will take before people will get in the streets.

[RKP5637]

19. If we go to the streets their next step will be claiming civil disobedience, taking

lots of surveillance pictures and rounding up those they deem a threat to the status quo. That might sound outrageous, but that's how bad I think it's gotten in the US. The gears are turning to fully suppress the common folk in the US IMO into serfdom. That said, I think we are on the edge ... there's a line being crossed and I don't think compromise is on the minds of the common folk in the US.

[Snoutport]

49. ANd then they'll just TAKE our 'nilla wafers.

[RKP5637]

57. Yeah!!! That's why you gotta start making your own & keep em hidden! LOL BTW, that

recipe looks good. We're going to try it here.

[mnhtnbb]

67. Hubby, who is Major, USAF, Retired (forced by being Berry planned

during Vietnam War) wore his uniform jacket to a protest march
for the Iraq War in 2003 and covered his name on his jacket
with duct tape.

Yes, Big Brother has been here already for many years.

[RKP5637]

75. Yep, he has been here for many years. They have so many cameras around here

anymore it's like you're under 7x24 surveillance. One building down the street has large cameras about every twenty feet around the building, no sign up, no idea what goes on in there.

Now with facial recognition imaging they can just pick out whom they want just about in real time. I don't like it, it seems everyone is now considered a criminal or whatever, and always makes me wonder who's watching the watched, and what makes those watching so damn special.

And now they watch on the Internet, building up the ultimate profile on everyone. This is getting to be a very strange world.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. It's probably that damn genetically modified nilla, too.

[Snoutport]

6. thank you for a reason to feel better about things.... they probably don't taste very good anyway

stupid 'nilla wafers

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. you noticed that too?

No, for me it is not Nilla wafers... but yes prices are up, glad there is no inflation... :sarcasm:

By the way, if you got the time baking cookies is fun too. I do, mostly out of need. Getting descent gluten free cookies is like painful and shit.

[Romulox]

7. Just finished a box of low fat Nilla wafers--$4.39 / 11 oz.

Purchased at a Meijer store in the past week or two.

[Snoutport]

15. "Nilla Wafers are not a LUXuRY ITEM! Why are they priced like it?

Holy cow! They used to be the cheap cookie!

[Romulox]

21. Just checked the box in the recycle bin to see what ingredients could be so precious

No clue.

It was heartening to at least see real vanilla extract on the list. However, artificial flavoring followed right after. Nabisco gives with one hand, and takes with the other!

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Thank Helicopter Ben Bernanke and his endless money printing

Which has done nothing to improve the economy and has only led to inflated asset/commodity prices.

This impacts the middle class and the poor the most which is no surprise because the Fed serves the interests of the elite.

[DainBramaged]

10. I have been screaming about this for weeks (please mods leave this thread in GD, NOT The Lounge)

A 5 qt. Jug of 5W20W Quaker State full synthetic oil went up two bucks from three months ago.

[LiberalLoner]

16. I agree, prices are horrid. Please leave this in general discussion! :)

Honestly we really need to talk about this stuff.

[Paper Roses]

11. I have to shop tomorrow. I dread it. I'm now going to the store

once every 2 weeks or longer. Everything I buy is calculated for meals. No junk any more. Last time I went shopping, I came home angry, cursing the powers that be.
This time I bet I'll be even madder...maybe even cry a little.
I'm not in a good place right now but there are folks worse off than I. They have my best thoughts.
Where will we go from here?
It stinks folks!

[Snoutport]

17. I'm sorry roses...

It feels like they are kicking us when we are down.

It really does.

[RKP5637]

12. The prices here just keep going up and up. My friend does all of the

shopping, reads the papers, coupons, real sharp on pricing and prices, I just follow along. I'm a horrible shopper for the right bargains, but I sure do see the prices going up and up.

[Snoutport]

22. i always read the price per oz in the fine print and shop by those...

the differences in prices are shocking when you shop that way

[TransitJohn]

64. Me too.

Always, unless I intend to splurge. I allow myself a small package of good coffee every other month.
:hi:

[Snoutport]

76. i always get good coffee and fat free half and half for it....no compromise there

[librechik]

13. cuz it used to be 16 oz, then it was 13 oz for awhile, and now they've sneaked it in

at 11 oz. That's not inflation though, so stop complaining.

:sarcasm:

[davekriss]

87. Naw, not inflation. Chained CPI...

We'll just switch from Nilla Wafers to gnawing on old sho leather. In fact it's deflation! Those shoes can be had for free from the backs of our closets!

[Recovered Repug]

14. The drought wiped out much of the 'Nilla crop. nt

[readmoreoften]

40. + :)

[Robb]

18. I'd be amazed if there was a more, ah, Type A grocery shopper on DU than me.

Here's what I've noticed:

First, as you spotted, the basic everyday price of things -- go in looking for a box of Ritz crackers, buy a box of Ritz crackers, pay the price marked -- has crept up painfully.

However I've also noticed a much bigger swing in sale pricing and coupon availability. What used to go on sale maybe four times a year goes on markdown every month, as much as 60-70% off the regular price -- and the Sunday supplements are more generous than ever with coupon discounts.

Advance planning, and some serious coupon organization, and I'm actually spending substantially less now than I did five years ago.

That said, there is a major, major drawback: money. If you buy a month's worth of coffee when it's half price, you save 50% on your coffee purchases all month. But if you can't shell out the cash to do so when it's on sale, you're out of luck and lose out. Sometimes I can get the deal and make it pay off, some months I can't.

[Snoutport]

24. Our paper is so right that I can't buy it anymore...no coupons for me

Here at Kroeger things have gotten cheaper on their store brand BUT i've noticed older established brands are high priced and losing shelf space. I don't like the idea of kroeger getting a monopoly on selling and producing goods. eeek!

[LiberalLoner]

20. Hope this helps! :)

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/10/homemade-nilla-vanilla-wafers.html

[Snoutport]

27. You are my new best DU friend!! Thank you!

That was really kind of you! I will TOTALLY give them a try!!!!

[LiberalLoner]

31. I just wish I could give you time and energy to make them...I'm sorry the nilla wafers went up

so much. I hate that food prices are rising like this. I especially worry about the children who are going hungry, the old people, etc. People are really hurting.

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. No "Nilla " wafers, no banana pudding.

THAT went by the wayside last spring.
My basic grocery list is getting smaller and smaller and smaller........
I will fess up to coffee still being a "staple" tho.

[Snoutport]

48. me too

my class is organizing food drives in local businesses this year in the hope of helping.

[muffin1]

23. I know. It's ridiculous.

As someone suggested, baking cookies might be the way to go. BUT, make sure to use PURE Vanilla Extract. It's more expensive than imitation, but a million times tastier, and typically you only use a teaspoon for a batch. :)

[Fire1]

26. Wow, are you ever late. n/t

[Snoutport]

35. I've noticed the creeping up for months but it seems there was just another big jump

[leveymg]

28. "11 oz. size." Corps cutting costs and finding profit in just about every imaginable way.

And we wonder why we're screwed in America.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

32. veggie burgers up to $7.00/box from $5.17 in ONE week...

...that was my latest sticker shock. That's for FOUR damn soy burgers. SOY! :wtf:

[RebelOne]

50. I don't know where you shop, but in my local

supermarkets, Morningstar and Boca Burgers are only $3.99 for a box. And that is the highest price. Some are priced lower depending on which store you are shopping.

[Snoutport]

54. HOLY COW! (hormone free cow, of course)

[Kceres]

33. Honey Nut Cheerios are a staple for us and going up like crazy!!

[RebelOne]

51. I bought the store brand of Honey Nut Cheerios

today for only $2.58 a box at my local Ingles here in North Georgia. They taste the same as the name brand.

[Octafish]

34. Everything that used to be less than dollar is five bucks now.

And I'm talking a decade or so, inflation not reflected by the CP effing I.

[RagAss]

39. The Fascists won...haven't you been watching?

[phusion]

42. look into the "Subscribe and Save" program at amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Keebler-Golden-Vanilla-Wafers-12-Ounce/dp/B000AYFDQ2/ref=sr_1_5?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1312235280&sr=1-5

The SNS program has hundreds of different grocery items, and if you "subscribe" (which you can cancel at any time) and have it sent at 1-3-6 month intervals, you save a certain percentage. And shipping is free...

For example, your Nilla Wafers go for $15.52 for a pack of six 12oz packages. That's $2.58 per box.

[FourScore]

45. I paid almost $12.00 for 3-1/2 lbs of grapes.

$7.50 for 4 avocados
$8.50 for a qt of blueberries
$12.00 for a gallon of Tide

That's $40.00 and that's just for healthy snacks and detergent.

I was stunned!

[smirkymonkey]

71. Holy Crap - Where do you live?

I live in Manhattan and I don't think produce prices are even that bad here - even at whole foods - $8.50 for a quart of blueberries??? I think at that point I would start eating grass and tree bark.

[FourScore]

73. It was at Wegman's in Ithaca.

And they weren't even organic.

[peace frog]

46. I've learned to love store brands

and use coupons for national brands to lower the cost. Also have had good luck finding favorite items cheaper at the dollar / discount stores. Seek and ye shall find.

[RebelOne]

52. Yes, and the store brands are comparable in taste to the name brands. n/t

[cali]

47. Might I suggest going to some place like Ocean State Job Lots?

Or Big Lots? I buy most of my dried/canned goods at those places and it saves me a lot of money- plus they have interesting and good imported cookies and stuff like Pannetone.

[Raine]

56. I also go to bakery outlets like Webers and Orowheat

of course it depends on if they're in your area. I'm lucky though because they aren't far from me.

[cali]

58. Me too. It's not that close, but I go once a month.

[Sherman A1]

59. Be sure to check the dates on those cans

They may be items remaindered out from brokers and such, which means they could very well have been sitting somewhere for a long time.

If they are a good deal, that's great, but just exercise caution.

[RebelOne]

90. Shop at Big Lots quite a lot, but often,

their prices are not much less than the grocery store prices.

[Obamanaut]

53. We have four places to buy groceries in my small town - four other than

WalMart. Before the super Walmart came to town, there were several smaller size mom/pop stores - they're gone now. Miz O pours over the twice weekly local paper for the two for 1 sales for those four stores, and checks the in-store sales as well.

By making a sort of a circular route, she visits all four of them with her 'lists', and also stops by the library to restock the movies she gets from them (we don't have teevee service, and our dial-up connection prohibits streaming Netflix, but we have the 3 at a time plan)

It helps a bit.

[SoCalDem]

55. And yet every shopping trip shows us all the NEW/IMPROVED

stuff..at higher prices of course:grr:

Somewhere along the line, "competition" went nuts, and everyone just had to make everything. I liked it better when certain companies made certain things, and did it well and for a fair price, but I guess there was just not enough money in it for them..

There are many things I just no longer buy unless they are on crazy-cheap-sale. Realistically there is not much IN a grocery store that is really "good for you" anymore, so perhaps we do ourselves a service by buying less :evilgrin:

When we want cookies, I just splurge & get the Pepperidge farm cookies and then we go for a long time with what I make at home, or none..

Have you looked at Big Lots or the 99cent stores? Lots of times they have name brand stuff...

[JVS]

60. I have a bright spot. Last week I saw a 1.75 L bottle of whiskey on sale for 18.99 and stocked up.

The normal price is around $23 (give or take) and up until last week I'd only seen it go on sale for $19.99.
I got 2 of them.

[mnhtnbb]

68. Two of them? Uh, I think I would have bought more.

[JVS]

72. They were the last two on the shelf.

But yeah, you can't go wrong going long on Evan Williams.

[Bluebear]

61. Good thing Democratic leadership wants to reform entitlements

Those checks need to be smaller.

[muffin1]

62. Exactly...

I'm so TIRED of having money left over every month. :)

[rusty fender]

63. $4.58 for Hellman's mayo at Smith's(Kroger)!

:wtf:

[Snoutport]

78. best foods mayo is just as high....

crazy..

[slackmaster]

65. Try Trader Joe's Ultimate Vanilla Wafers

Much better IMO and significantly less expensive.

[Snoutport]

79. Trader Joe's prices have been jumping here in oregon

[slackmaster]

84. They're up in SoCal too, but I just want to mention that I rarely go to "mainstream" supermarkets

I honored the picket line when workers at Von's, Ralph's, and other big chains stuck in 2003. I started buying most of my food at Trader Joe's, and Costco for things that I could handle in large quantities.

I go to a Von's for my medication and pet supplies only.

[Name removed]

66. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[eShirl]

69. still only $1 for a frozen pound of taco-seasoned ground turkey at Walmart

made a big pot of "Mexican" "American Chop Suey" casserole with it
(w/ macaroni, salsa & cheese, topped w/crushed tortilla chips)

I know, I know, I'm going to Hell for multiple reasons...

[Recursion]

70. Are you sure that wasn't the "mini" kind?

The regulars are still $3 here (just checking peapod) and the mini wafers are 4 and change.

[roamer65]

74. 2 boxes of Triscuit wheat crackers and a jar of Cheese Whiz - $15

Each one is $5 a piece...but there's no inflation....LIARS.

[Snoutport]

81. no way... time to switch to real cheese, I guess

[blkmusclmachine]

77. Everything's up, except wages, employment and outlook.

But we can't have everything, right? That wouldn't be "adult." Now go eat your peas (if you can afford them).

[LondonReign2]

80. Not to pile on, but....

...wait until the effects of the current drought in South work their way through the system. Another jack up of prices is in store.

[SOS]

83. Nabisco is owned by RJ Reynolds tobacco

After the huge merger, the new CEO stacked the board with cronies and they
paid themselves astronomical salaries.

The CEO of RJR/Nabisco wants a new summer mansion in the Hamptons, so we have to pay more
for cookies.

Corporate Kleptocracy at RJR/Nabisco:

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/09/corporate-kleptocracy-rjr-nabisco.asp#axzz1TzBFs36Q

[katnapped]

86. Ground beef is WAY up

Even the bottom-end 73/75% stuff is well over $3 a pound now

[jtown1123]

88. If you're fortunate enough to have an ALDI near you, that store is a lifesaver

pretty much halves my grocery bill as opposed to shopping at a Giant or Harris Teeter.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

89. Now you know why gold is $1666 an ounce the dollar is becoming worthless but there is not inflation

or Social Security recipients would have received a cola raise, right? We all sit around and watch it go down the toilet but we should vote Democratic while they are pulling the flush lever on all of us. FUCK Politicians, except Bernie Sanders, he is a real oddity, a politician whose actions reflect what he is saying. Don't even listen to Obama just watch what the sneaky bastard is actually doing.