29 Once-Affordable Groceries That Are Now Expensive

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a day ago

Turns out I'm not the only one giving grocery prices the side-eye. After asking the Tasty community which everyday staples now feel like splurges, the comments lit up. You flagged everything from breakfast basics to weeknight proteins, plus the little 'treat yourself' snacks that now need a sale tag. I read through every response, gathered the items that came up most often, and pulled a few quotes that capture just how painful the checkout total can feel.
"Experimental meals. I love finding dishes that I've never made and that my family has never tried. I like spending Sundays in the kitchen testing new recipes. They don't always work out (either I mess up the cooking or the family doesn't like it), and we always have a backup pizza in the freezer. Now that the grocery bill has doubled, I can't justify spending cash on food that may not be eaten. Meal plans are back to things I know I can eat and that my family will enjoy. I've also started planning meals that will create enough leftovers for a few work lunches as well."
—catsarebetterthanpeople21
"Steak. I can't afford $17 for a rib-eye (don't mention a New York Strip or filet) when everything I need — veggies, fruit, coffee, eggs — has gone up. I get ground beef once in a while, but I sure miss a good steak."
—sweetduck172
"Most meat and carbonated drinks. At most, I get a two-liter of store-brand soda, and sparkling water is off the table unless there's a sale."
—luxahoy"I'm having to put limits on my Diet Coke habit!" —Anonymous
"Fresh flowers. Before kids and COVID, I used to pick myself up a $20 posy every few weeks, and I loved the joy it would bring just taking them home and putting them in a vase. Now I can't even imagine splurging on something so frivolous. Sucks how utilitarian everything has become."
—mummypig1978"I used to do a bouquet a week every week from the supermarket. Grocery prices aren't the only thing increasing." —trinityzaysia, Threads
"Mainly lunch and snack items. We skip lunch most days lately. I really miss cheese strings and pepperoni sticks."
—purplewalrus89
"Snacks. I love my snacks so much, but they are not essential."
—kilodelta5
"The obvious answer, but eggs. I avoid eating meat, and eggs were, like, 60% of my diet and 90% of my protein. We all know what's going on with the egg prices. Now I live on cottage cheese and sadness."
—Anonymous
"Non-dairy ice cream. I'd buy it once or twice a month, especially when a new flavor was available. Not anymore. It was one of the first items I had to eliminate from my grocery list while trying to pinch pennies."
—lindseybarrett
"Quality olive oil. Wholesale prices have spiked two and a half times the price from three years ago. Olive oil prices can be volatile based on the annual harvest, but this year is nuts."
—markh63"Three liters now costs over $60. I just use canola oil for everything. Haven't had any complaints yet." —Anonymous
"Assorted bags of candy. I like to have one candy dish on my coffee table for guests and another on my desk at work for coworkers. It was fun to find new seasonal candy throughout the year, but a bag that was once $7.99 is now almost $15. Nope. Can't do it."
—lindseybarrett
"A box of cereal. Can someone explain to me why Corn Flakes are never on sale? Every other Kellogg's cereal is on sale. It's really weird."
—morgretbeth531
"Granola, I love a particular brand, and it's normally $5 for a 12-ounce bag, and that equates to about four servings for me. I now wait until it goes on sale about every four months and buy the limit I'm allowed (four bags) and thoughtfully use it as more of a treat."
—Anonymous
"Deli meat. It's now like $16.99/lb, which is double a good steak sale."
—bandinibaseball
"Beef roasts. I love pot roast so much, and even cheaper cuts like chuck roast have gotten pricey."
—gilliganseyes, Threads
"Brand names. Now it's a pantry full of off-brand food, but the pantry is still full."
—judydguay, Threads
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"Bacon, pork roasts, hams, and eggs. We buy a half cow from friends, so that helps. I used to buy eggs by the box because I often bake and have breakfast on the weekends. Now coffee has skyrocketed, ugh."
—get.real2023, Threads
"Higher-end chocolate chips — NINE DOLLARS A BAG."
—eringallagherjordan, Threads
"Berries, beer, sparkling water, anything pre-made, bread, or baked goods. We are now a scratch kitchen, which would be fine if I weren't working six days a week with two young kids."
—secretsparkleplanet, Threads
"Roquefort cheese (or any other 'fancy' cheese). Yes, fancy cheese is already expensive, but before we could buy a nice Roquefort for $6 for like two ounces (in my country) and be happy, but now those same ounces are like $13, and I can only buy it on extremely special occasions because everything is too expensive."
—stephanie9556, Threads
"Publix flour-free chocolate cake. It used to be $8.99, now it's $12.99. Absolutely the fuck not."
—caitlyniscrafty, Threads
"Talenti and all of the stress that goes with opening that container."
—lulabink, Threads
"Chuck roast used to be considered a cheap cut of beef. Now there are no cheap cuts. Also, lamb chops. Fish in general. Soft drinks (soda, pop, whatever). Sliced deli meats. Bacon. I could go on and on."
—knitvspurl, Threads
"Salmon! Or any seafood. We love it and used to get it all the time, but now we can barely afford chicken."
—Anonymous
"Yesterday, I bought fruit and veggies (yes, just fruit and veggies!) for the week and spent $106. Whaaaat?!?"
—the_parrot_lady, Threads"The cost is wild. Sometimes I even check my grocery receipt, thinking there's a mistake." —kyliesrun, Threads
"Organic strawberries. I'm not Rockefeller."
—ckimoko, Threads
"Bags of chips, because why are Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles $5.99?"
—dwanmodkins
"I shop the flyers and try to buy items on sale so they're more affordable, but even doing that, there are many items that are out of my price range most of the time. For starters, any fresh fruit that isn't in season, with grapes being as high as $5/lb or blueberries at $4 or more for a small pack. Strawberries are in season now, so I've bought some, but we tend to stick to apples and bananas otherwise."
"I no longer buy the items I used to 'splurge on'. I don't buy San Pellegrino or other specialty pops, and I don't buy the expensive chocolate bars or truffles I used to get occasionally. No bakery cakes, cookies, or muffins. And cheese. We used to eat so much cheese, but now I can't even buy a block of cheddar for cheese and crackers, never mind something nice like Gouda or havarti."—Anonymous
"A full gallon of regular milk. I live in the dairy state of Wisconsin, and a gallon of milk was always a staple in the fridge. Occasionally, the last dregs might spoil before the full gallon was finished, but that was rare. Now, a gallon of milk is too expensive to risk wastage, so I only get a half gallon at a time. More often than not, I run out of milk now, but a half gallon costs more than a gallon used to. It's the most Wisconsin problem to have, but it's how I always gauged grocery prices."
—Anonymous
"Legitimately, most groceries. The past year or so, my shopping trips have mainly been filled with me saying, 'I'm not paying that much for that.' I've learned to live without certain things now. The worst part is that people keep paying these prices, and once someone indicates they'll still pay that much for something, that's the new base price. It will never come back down. Consumers have the power, but we don't use it. If you're not buying something, the retailers will have no choice but to consider lowering the price or stop carrying the item altogether."
—Anonymous
That's what's off the menu or strictly rationed for a lot of shoppers right now. Did we miss the product that makes your wallet wince? Tell us in the comments, or drop it anonymously right here:
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