Susan Pollack, a real estate manager who was shopping one afternoon at a Costco in Marina del Rey, Calif., said she was shocked that the price of a bulk pack of toilet paper had risen from $17 to $25.
At her local kosher butcher shop, prices soared even higher: over $200 for a 5-pack of short ribs.
“I told my husband, ‘We’ll never eat short ribs again,'” she said.
Global forces such as supply chain disruptions, severe weather, energy costs and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have contributed to rising inflation rates that have deterred stock market investors and put President Biden’s government on the defensive.
But the pressure is felt most directly by shoppers who flock to supermarkets every week, where some of the previously abundant items have been missing for months and where prices for produce, meat and eggs remain stubbornly high.
At a stop and shop in Elizabeth, NJ, Hagar Dale, a 35-year-old Instacart shopper, pointed out that a single pack of powdered drink mix that once sold for 25 cents had risen to 36 cents in early May. Two days later, it sold for 56 cents, she said.
“God forbid you have a big store to do,” Mrs. Dale said as she exited the grocery store with a customer’s order. “You’re squeezing.”
Such price hikes have led to sticker shock, layoffs and a determination to sniff out bargains.
“You’re looking for more deals,” said Ray Duffy, a 66-year-old retired banker in an “Unapologetically American” T-shirt that recently came out of a Lidl supermarket in Garwood, NJ.
“You’re going shopping,” he said. “It’s something you do.”
Shop hopping and bribing with banana bread
There are plenty of grocery stores in South Riding, Virginia, where Susana Yoo lives.
But she drives 15 miles to Centerville to shop at H Mart, a Korean supermarket, where fresh vegetables, such as large bunches of green onions, cost slightly less. From there, she goes to Trader Joe’s, which has “pretty good prices for meat.”
Then it goes to Costco for non-perishable bulk items that can be stored.
To save some money, “I have to go to three different places,” Ms. Yoo said.
Alyssa Sutton, a 53-year-old home theater business owner, left King’s Food Market in Short Hills, NJ, a supermarket chain where a 13-ounce jar of Bonne Maman preserves sold for $6.49.
“This inflation thing is a real problem,” she said. “If you pay twice as much to fill your gas tank and twice as much for everything, you have to say to yourself, ‘Well, do I really have to buy everything at King’s?'”
Ms. Sutton said she grabs staples at King’s and then drives to cheaper markets, such as Trader Joe’s, where she says fruits and vegetables are more affordable.
“It takes time,” she said. “It takes planning.”
Lisa Tucker, 54, of Gainesville, Virginia, drives a few extra miles to Giant because food prices are lower than in stores closer to her home. She buys in bulk when prices are right — most recently she bought eight boxes of cereal because they sold for $1.77 each — and has signed up for multiple loyalty programs.
“It’s strategic,” she said.
Mrs. Tucker also searches for meat that is about to expire – and therefore heavily discounted.
On Tuesday, Ms. Tucker bought a one-pound package of beef that was about to expire for $3.74, discounted from $7.49. To get a warning from meat department employees about such deals, she said she will sometimes bring them homemade banana bread.
Mrs. Tucker tells them, “Let me know if there’s a discount sticker on some Boar’s Head bacon being slapped.”
Eat less meat and plan on-the-fly menus
Angie Goodman, a housekeeper from Culver City, California, usually eats meat once a week. But now that the price of steaks has doubled, she said she may need to cut back to once a month.
Ms. Goodman, 54, said she earns about $15 an hour, a figure that has remained stable as the cost of living has skyrocketed.
“Basic things are very expensive,” she said. “It’s crazy.”
Isabel Chambergo, 62, a warehouse worker in Elizabeth, NJ, said meals she once planned at home are now being mapped out while she’s shopping so she can use her phone to scan items for digital coupons. That saves $10 to $15 per shopping trip, she said.
“That’s how I manage,” Ms Chambergo said as she exited a Stop and Shop in Elizabeth with her husband, Arturo, 62.
“It helps a little,” she said. “It’s not much, but I try to buy healthy things that also fill us up.”
That is, if she can find the ingredients she needs.
Ms. Chambergo said she bought a mix of quinoa and rice from Stop and Shop to make hearty soups. But it hasn’t been on the shelves for at least two months.
Mr Duffy, the retired banker, said he struggled to find square spaghetti, his favorite lo mein.
“The sauce sticks better to square spaghetti,” he said.
It is normal for supermarkets to have 7 to 10 percent of items out of stock, but the events of the past two and a half years – pandemic outbreaks, extreme weather, the Russian invasion of Ukraine – have increased that number by 3 to 5 has risen. points higher, said Katie Denis, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Brands Association.
The availability of pasta and grains has been especially limited by the war, with “both Ukraine and Russia effectively exiting the market,” she said in an email.
“Weather in Europe last year also constricted durum wheat, which specifically affected pasta,” said Ms Denis.
“I didn’t buy anything nice today.”
Shoppers also deny themselves.
At the Giant in Gainesville, Virginia, Kimberly Heneault said: she stopped in front of a display of coffee creamers and saw that they were double the usual price.
“Oh, you know what? I don’t really need that,” she told herself and continued.
Ms. Pollack, the California real estate manager, said that while inflation isn’t straining her budget, prices have prompted her to reconsider purchases that were once impulsive. For example, she almost bought an electric razor for her son, but then she saw that it cost $90.
“I go through so much money all the time,” said Mrs. Pollack, 61, “and it’s like, ‘Wow. I didn’t buy anything nice today.’”
Al Elnaggar, 22, and Hamza Mojadidi, 23, students at the University of California, Los Angeles, were also shopping at the Costco in Marina del Rey, where they bought several items in bulk, including clementines, boxes of water and ramen noodles. .
mr. Mojadidi said they have stopped buying eggs and less halal meat, which was already more expensive than other cuts, because the animals are slaughtered in accordance with the Muslim religion.
Mr. Mojadidi said they stopped in front of the meat market in Costco, looked at the lamb shanks and walked away.
He said he considers himself happier than other university students. At least he said he has a car and can drive to Costco to buy food in bulk and save some money.
“I’m just taking extra loans to pay my expenses,” said Mr. mojadidi. “I’m getting the most out of my credit cards.”
