On the inflation front ...

[Certaindeaf]

The Grocery Outlets near me almost always have processed/prepackaged food, very little fresh fruits/produce (and often just days before they expire/go off).. and also almost always have whole aisles of just seasonal outdoors things in addition to wines of all types. They never have baby foods & supplies, never have the variety I like. Mega Foods was a lot better but theyre gone now. There's Waremart/Winco whose prices are always better than Roth's, Safeway, Albertson's and Fred Meyer. Wal-Mart Supercenter or Neighborhood Grocery sometimes have better prices than Winco/Waremart but usually equal or more expensive.

I should try the Cash & Carry grocery shop in Salem if I'm going to be using mostly cash for food...

cash and carry, now the chef's store is mainly restaurant supply. They have a great frozen and fresh meat section.. perfectly vacuum packed for long-term freezing or re-freezing.
I've been going there since the 70's as my parents had a grocery store.

Edit to add TSS has a pretty good website with prices which comes in handy.. I don't go there often.

 

[arakboss]

I have decided I would rather shop at low rent grocery stores and be able to spend more money on low rent firearms. No matter how fancy your grocery store is, the end results of the food you buy, all looks pretty much the same to the guys running your local sewage plant.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I have decided I would rather shop at low rent grocery stores and be able to spend more money on low rent firearms. No matter how fancy your grocery store is, the end results of the food you buy, all looks pretty much the same to the guys running your local sewage plant.

No one is recommending going to a fancy grocery store from what I can gather, quite the opposite actually.

 

[Alexx1401]

The Grocery Outlets near me almost always have processed/prepackaged food, very little fresh fruits/produce (and often just days before they expire/go off).. and also almost always have whole aisles of just seasonal outdoors things in addition to wines of all types. They never have baby foods & supplies, never have the variety I like. Mega Foods was a lot better but theyre gone now. There's Waremart/Winco whose prices are always better than Roth's, Safeway, Albertson's and Fred Meyer. Wal-Mart Supercenter or Neighborhood Grocery sometimes have better prices than Winco/Waremart but usually equal or more expensive.

I should try the Cash & Carry grocery shop in Salem if I'm going to be using mostly cash for food...

If that is the same company that is part of US Foods? Then its a GREAT place to buy stuff. They changed the name here but have shopped there for couple decades. Its aimed at commercial so most of what they sell is bulk but they do have some stuff in the normal consumer size and nice prices. We often buy steak there but you have to buy the entire cut, take it home and cut your own. The norm is nice steak is the same price as hamburger at the store.

 

[Alexx1401]

No one is recommending going to a fancy grocery store from what I can gather, quite the opposite actually.

We have a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods here by me. I have been to the TD's couple times. Ended up buying a couple things while there but did not see much to interest me. Don't think I have yet set foot in the Amazon place. While I do buy name brand stuff for many things if one store has it cheaper? That's for me. Sadly the Wally here got rid of the self check so that got rid of me. I will pay a little more to not stand in line. I have found Winco does a pretty good job of competing with Wally.

 

[Mikej]

Just got back from shopping at winco.. rarely buy frozen pizzas but a couple years ago, the little Totinos pizzas were round and cost $1. Now they're $2 and rectangular.
Suck it, Joe!

Oh and edit to add they used to be in cardboard boxes, now they're in a plastic sack with a dirty syringe and some fentanyl inside.
Well, probably.

THIS ^^^^^! We used to get those from time to time. What horrible little things they are. Throw a little chopped jalapeno/onion and and a little cheese and they weren't too bad, if you were hungry! And less horrible, (Face it, frozen pizza is a horrible sub for real pizza.) The ONLY reason to buy them is being cheap), was "Wild Mikes". IF you liked the crust. then they jacked their prices and we won't buy then unless there's a great coupon.

I have decided I would rather shop at low rent grocery stores and be able to spend more money on low rent firearms.

Your my kind of guy!! Everything is Winco for us. Being a "Low Rent" kind of guy, I am more comfortable around the clientele too.

 

[CLT65]

Your my kind of guy!! Everything is Winco for us. Being a "Low Rent" kind of guy, I am more comfortable around the clientele too.

I had a former coworker who was a bit of a "wine snob". He bragged that he never set foot in either Walmart or Winco. "Too many poor people and Mexicans" he said. Ironically, he was also a "progressive" who once told me that he was ashamed that he was white.

I don't care much for the Walmart here because it's so crowded, but I have no problem rubbing shoulders with all the "poor people and Mexicans" in Winco.

 

[mhayd93]

And their multiple car payments, large house payment, Netflix subscription, premium phone plans, name brand clothes, a Starbucks or two per day....

The middle class as a whole can easily tighten their belts, they just don't wanna.

Without any way to quantify whether or not the middle class is tightening their belts or not, this just further proves the point of how much damage inflation has done.

If you need to "tighten your belts" just to afford the same things you could comfortably afford for years (assuming you didn't lose a job or something), then there is a big issue in the economy.

 

[Certaindeaf]

THIS ^^^^^! We used to get those from time to time. What horrible little things they are. Throw a little chopped jalapeno/onion and and a little cheese and they weren't too bad, if you were hungry! And less horrible, (Face it, frozen pizza is a horrible sub for real pizza.) The ONLY reason to buy them is being cheap), was "Wild Mikes". IF you liked the crust. then they jacked their prices and we won't buy then unless there's a great coupon.

Your my kind of guy!! Everything is Winco for us. Being a "Low Rent" kind of guy, I am more comfortable around the clientele too.

I got two, ate one yesterday and it was pretty tasty I'll admit. I usually make my own.
Back when I was ballin I'd get flying pie pizza. One piece has 5x more meat on it than 5 other like pizzas.

 

[TTSX]

Without any way to quantify whether or not the middle class is tightening their belts or not, this just further proves the point of how much damage inflation has done.

If you need to "tighten your belts" just to afford the same things you could comfortably afford for years (assuming you didn't lose a job or something), then there is a big issue in the economy.

I'm not disagreeing there's a problem. I'm saying that people would rather whine and cry while doing less than nothing to fix their own situation. If you can't afford groceries, you gotta cut something else out and people don't seem willing to do that because whining is just so much easier

 

[Mikej]

I got two, ate one yesterday and it was pretty tasty I'll admit. I usually make my own.
Back when I was ballin I'd get flying pie pizza. One piece has 5x more meat on it than 5 other like pizzas.

Only had that Flying Pie a couple of times. A work get together kind of thing. Boy-Howdy! That's been a long time ago, but if anyone ever asked where the best pizza in P-town was? That was it.

 

[arakboss]

THIS ^^^^^! We used to get those from time to time. What horrible little things they are. Throw a little chopped jalapeno/onion and and a little cheese and they weren't too bad, if you were hungry! And less horrible, (Face it, frozen pizza is a horrible sub for real pizza.) The ONLY reason to buy them is being cheap), was "Wild Mikes". IF you liked the crust. then they jacked their prices and we won't buy then unless there's a great coupon.

Your my kind of guy!! Everything is Winco for us. Being a "Low Rent" kind of guy, I am more comfortable around the clientele too.

Me too, I usually go shopping in the morning after work. My work clothes would probably get me followed by loss prevention in the nicer stores

 

[arakboss]

I'm not disagreeing there's a problem. I'm saying that people would rather whine and cry while doing less than nothing to fix their own situation. If you can't afford groceries, you gotta cut something else out and people don't seem willing to do that because whining is just so much easier

I imagine they could cut out rent or the mortgage and that would free up some grocery cash

 

[TTSX]

I imagine they could cut out rent or the mortgage and that would free up some grocery cash

 

[arakboss]

View attachment 1835810

Speaking of down by the river. We just stopped by Clackamette Park to check out the rivers. The Willamette was pretty high and really moving fast.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I imagine they could cut out rent or the mortgage and that would free up some grocery cash

Don't forget the $50K loan for that woke degree and every other decision they made NOT postponing gratification.

 

[Alexx1401]

I had a former coworker who was a bit of a "wine snob". He bragged that he never set foot in either Walmart or Winco. "Too many poor people and Mexicans" he said. Ironically, he was also a "progressive" who once told me that he was ashamed that he was white.

I don't care much for the Walmart here because it's so crowded, but I have no problem rubbing shoulders with all the "poor people and Mexicans" in Winco.

I have a few times been around people like that too and it always amused me. Since what I found was it was not the name above the door, it was all about location. I think its gone now but there was a Safeway here in a VERY bad part of town when I first moved here. It was the first time I had ever seen those anti theft deals at the door in a grocery store. Place was so dirty I was shocked the corporation allowed them to keep the name on the place. I only stopped there a few times when I was in the area and soon avoided it all together.
WinCo, for a long time had one here. It too is in a "sketchy" part of town. Used to be open 24/7 though and Wife liked it for the huge selection of bulk stuff. The area around it got so bad Wife would not go anymore unless one of the kids went with her to watch the damn car. Inside the place was a mix of a lot of people and the place was VERY well kept up. Now they built another one on this side of town and only downside was building was not as big. So they don't stock as much stuff. I do like the prices on stuff there though, they compete with Wally.

 

[Alexx1401]

Don't forget the $50K loan for that woke degree and every other decision they made NOT postponing gratification.

This is a real sore spot with me. Last time I was in school I watched as a HUGE percentage of the students worked on stuff that was worthless in the real world and used that loan money to have all kinds of fun. Now after I paid mine back here they are screaming for me to pay theirs off too.
Meanwhile many well paying jobs in trade's go begging for people to fill them. I work in healthcare and we will pay the lions share of anyone who wants to go to school to learn needed skills in the trade. VERY few will take advantage of this but boy can they complain about not making enough money. During the great hoax they were paying HUGE money to get people to cover shifts when we came out of that joke. One I work with was griping about "needing" a new video game system since her ex took theirs. I said sign up for one of the extra shifts, You will make $500 for one shift. She "could not do that" as she had a toddler at home to watch. Said pay someone $100 to watch the kid and you will still end up with enough to buy the damn game after one shift. Complaining was too easy so she of course did not. I also tried to show her how the place would pay for her to get more training. That too was a no go so I gave up.

 

[Jay Walk]

Our Winco on the way to Battle Ground is low on the Wal-Mart trash and sketchy folk.
Don't tell anyone.

 

[Alexx1401]

Our Winco on the way to Battle Ground is low on the Wal-Mart trash and sketchy folk.
Don't tell anyone.

There is or was a site called "the people of Walmart" Full of pictures that many were funny as hell. A lot of them should have come with a warning before opening as you wanted to bleach your eyes after seeing them. I have not seen a "people of Winco" at least not yet.