All this talk of inflation. Prices continuing to rise along with company profits. Gas is up! Groceries are up! Car prices are up! The sky is up! A bunch of various numbers are listed. 8%. No! 6%! No! 7.5% Cancel the Thanksgiving dinner! It’s too expensive! No one can afford anything! Etc., Etc.
It may feel like you’re hopelessly trapped, in this endless cycle of money that’s evaporating faster than you create it! Perhaps that’s true in some aspects. But for others, I find it really quite simple, especially for food stuffs. You want to minimize and perhaps avoid a massive grocery bill that’s not just 7% inflated, but perhaps even up to 50% or more inflated? Well… Just don’t buy the pie!
A Story of Three Pies – Pie #1
I like pie. Apple pie. Strawberry Rhubarb pie. Blueberry pie. I don’t eat it often, but I do enjoy it when I do. I even bid on a pie for a work fundraiser not too long ago. Unfortunately I lost. Drat!
However, seeing those pies on display, I thought to myself that maybe I want to get one anyway. I decided to make one. From scratch! That’s an interesting endeavor, let me tell you! My first time making a pie. I had my eye on this apple pie recipe on YouTube by Brian Lagerstrom. He makes good stuff, and has tasty recipes fairly easy to follow.
It took a bit of time, but it turned out really delicious, even with some small mishaps. I used margarine instead of butter. The dough was too wet and ended up tearing a few times, causing me some strife to get it into the pan in one piece. But regardless, it was sweet. Literally! It’s even more awesome if you sub out 50% of the flour topping for oats! It adds just the right amount of crispy texture that we all need!
And it was overall fairly easy to do. The apple filling? Simple! The crumple top? Simple! The homemade pastry bottom? Not as simple. But that’s more from my lack of experience in pastry making than anything else. I’m not normally a crust person, but damn, that crust turned out good! So good I actually looked forward to it!
Now, this recipe was a little bit fancy, with some crumbled pecans. But overall, this “sheet” pie recipe cost me about $12.50 to make. It would have cost me ~$10.50, but I bought the pecans at the local expensive grocer instead of being more patient and waiting to go to No Frills or Walmart.
Pie Number 2 and 3
I’ve made that recipe twice, and also a 3rd time in a normal glass pie plate with and thus a much thicker apple filling middle. It’s all good.
But then I was curious, what do store bought apple pies go for these days?
Right now at No Frills, you can get a 1 kilogram, 10 inch “Farmer’s Market” brand apple pie for $7.50. Ok, not bad right? Better than my $12.50 homemade pie? Maybe not buy taste. But, what I didn’t mention, is that the pre-cook weight ingredients for the homemade pie came to 3.2 kilograms! And accounting for some of the moisture weight lost during baking, it still probably weighs about 2.5 kg. I didn’t actually weigh it, but it feels frigging heavy!
Also, I’m really going to compare them fairly, the No Frills pie doesn’t have pecans. Subtracting that cost from the homemade pie brings it down to $8.
Then, calculating the weight per kilogram, brings the homemade pie cost down to $3.20.
Less than HALF the price!
Ok. So what about pie #3? Out of curiosity, I looked up apple pies at Loblaws (which also owns No Frills).
You can get the EXACT SAME 1 kilogram, 10 inch “Farmer’s Market” brand apple pie for $11.99!
The…exact…same….
Just Don’t Buy The Pie
We all need pie. But sometimes, you can make the decision to just not buy the pie today. Or at this store. You thought 6 or 7% inflation was something to be concerned about, well this pie problem means that you’re in essence, paying a price premium equivalent to a 60% inflation on the EXACT SAME product at the EXACT same date! Tell me I’m crazy!!
Just say no! No to pie! Not this time! Not any time for $12!! Who buys $12 pies anyway?!?
I can see having slightly higher prices at Loblaws versus No Frills. “Fancy prices” for a “fancy store”. But this is ridiculous! There is just no excuse for the price gouging here. I don’t care how “pretty” your store looks! And these prices are the regular prices.
Does it cost 60% more to run a store like Loblaws than No Frills? Does their lighting system cost 60% more to maintain? Do they have checkout counters that cost 60% more to buy? Do they pay their employees 60% more than No Frills employees?
Yeah right. Just don’t buy the pie. Don’t do it! Don’t you do it!
Choosing Stores
It’s a similar story at other stores. You’ve got the cheaper end of the range, such as No Frills, Walmart, Food Basics. Then you’ve got the fancy pants Sobey’s, Loblaws, Metro, etc.
I would hypothesize that the majority of people have access to a variety of different types of grocers where they live. So, if you’re going to buy groceries, especially if they have the exact same bloody products, just make the better decision and go to the economical store.
Just because it is, doesn’t mean you have to!
This applies to lots of other things as well. The CBC radio was interviewing people recently about the price of food inflation and how it’s becoming un-affordable to eat. That’s a bold claim. One woman they had on for part of the interview was talking about how she wasn’t going to be able to keep up her standard of living because of the rising prices. She said that buying supper has nearly out-priced her, with the cost of a head of broccoli and two chicken breasts costing about $17.
Now some communities are unfortunately restricted from suitable grocer prices, such as up north, and/or remote communities where it’s hard to get fresh fruits and meats there consistently. These places have real and actual food insecurity concerns. But I’m pretty sure the $17 dollar broccoli lady wasn’t from one of these communities.
The answer here is pretty simple. First, all this talk about “standard of living”. You can still have a standard of living, but unless you have unlimited finances, then you may have to have it adjusted slightly. This lady wants a vegetable and protein. She wants to eat healthy.
Second, there are other items readily available. Perhaps make the choice to NOT buy broccoli and chicken that night. You can always wait for a sale to come along. Maybe choose pasta for supper instead. Or rice and beans. Or pick up a can of green beans. Or maybe try brussels sprouts. Or you could choose pork chops instead; they’re usually pretty cheap. Or go for the bone-in, skin-on chicken which is often 1/2 the cost of boneless skinless. Or make a delicious omelet. Or have a tuna sandwich!
There are lots of alternatives! Broccoli might not be cheap all the time. But you know what is? A big frigging bag of potatoes. You know what else? A big frigging bag of carrots! Mmmm! A nice roiling veggie boil in a salty pot of water! Delish! Those veggies boiled up are pretty much as good as broccoli! And cheaper. WAY cheaper!
Accountability For Poor Choices
If you can’t be flexible at least a little bit with your “standard of living”, then yeah, you’ll end up not being able to afford dinner.
And don’t bother blaming the government for food prices. All this talk of them trying to force the grocer monopolies into “Stabilizing” food prices… Yeah, I doubt it. At the end of the day, YOU are still the one in charge, making your own decisions on what you’re going to buy. YOU choose what stores to go to. YOU choose which pies to buy. The government won’t save you from inflation, especially you’re own self imposed inflation. You must save yourself from your own poor decisions!
Let me help you! Look at this chart to see the ridiculous markups for the same products between two different stores.
Some of the foods shown have as high as an 80% inflated markup! For the EXACT SAME item! That’s CRAZY! And this is not two different store companies. One parent company owns both these stores!
There are cheaper stores, and more expensive stores. There are times when there are sales and steep discounts, and other times when there’s none. There are times when certain fresh fruits and vegetables are in season, and other times when they’re not. When canned is better than fresh, or even frozen is the best option.
Remember, you make the decisions. You have the information. Know better. Then do better! And just for goodness sake, don’t buy the pie!
