These two bags of groceries (plus a couple gallons of skim milk) were a whopping $107 at Target today.
I’m old enough to remember when our grocery bags averaged $15 each. That rule of thumb was from 35 years ago (in 1990) when we first got married and watched every $ closely.
Related: Cut Those Prices In Half!
I know prices have been rising, but these groceries are 3.3x as much as they were ($50/bag vs $15)? That’s really surprising.
Average inflation growth across all industries has been 2.5x from 1990 to 2025. That would mean these bags should average about $37 – quite a bit less than $50.
I suppose one factor is that we are choosing more expensive foods to put in the bags now than we were back then. Still, I thought groceries had inflated less than other industries.
I know the politicians like to blame each other and big business when prices go up, but I blame them. Taxes, regulations, debt-spending, and tariffs all end up in the price of goods and the sticker shock is a bit jolting at times.
What is happening with the price of groceries by you? Do you pay much attention to the price of groceries?
Image: (c) MrFireStation.com
MrFireStation 
what I found shocking was that those are paper bags from Target. I don’t think I have ever seen one.
I don’t pay much attention to the price of groceries since it is only two of us, but I do get shocked at the amount of the check at restaurants
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The restaurant tabs reflect California’s high minimum wage that Newscum passed and some very high rents. My family gets takeout from a nice little Mom and Pop Korean Fusion restaurant in what I would call a not high profile location. No parking by the door. The food is fresh and it appears they have the whole family is cooking. They told me that they were getting squeezed by their rent being increased to $10,000 per month.
There is another restaurant which is a high quality and reasonably priced fast Asian food. They had been located in the same strip center for around 20 years. Their rent got jacked up by an additional $10,000 per month. The chain closed the location.
Some of our other favorites were burned in the Palisades Fire.
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Our next-door neighbor owns the most popular Chinese restaurant in our city of Woodbury. They are a terrific family and do a great job running the restaurant. Minimum wages for restaurant workers have been moving up in Minneapolis & St Paul proper, but the suburbs really haven’t been affected yet.
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We have the choice of “paper or plastic” at Target. Not at Walmart. I thought California had banned single use plastic bags?
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The plastic bag ban goes in effect starting 2026.
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I just had a Ralph’s delivery yesterday and the total came to $157 for four bags and a case of beer. Let’s do the math considering a case of beer the same as a bag. $157 / 5 = $31.40 per bag. This order contained several high cost items including bottle of wine, a case of beer, nine pounds of chicken thighs, pasture raised eggs, two half gallons of organic whole milk, plus a bunch of produce. Almost every item came from the parameter of the store. The prices may be holding up better out in the parameter than the center aisles?
Sweet corn has been much better this year than during the recent past. The ears are bigger and cheaper. My theory is that the pro energy policies currently in place are making nitrogen fertilizer cheaper. Fertilizer is made from natural gas.
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