At our Kroger stores, there is often a shelf of clearance baked goods. Sometimes it's good stuff and sometimes, well, nothing I want. Earlier this week I scored an angel food cake for less then $3. It was really good even if it was a day away from being "best by." I'm not sure I could bake one for $2.80 and tax. I know I've checking the difference clearance areas each time I shop. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a bottle of store brand soy sauce that had a best by of 2027 for less than $2.
Our little town doesn't have a grocery store per se. We have a small Walmart and although their ads claim otherwise, Wally World isn't always the cheapest on things. I buy a lot of loss leaders at Kroger, trying to stock up on stuff when it is on sale. Anyway, today, after church, we visited Kroger again. I don't normally go twice in one week, but realized I didn't buy Jello earlier and I have the "joy" of colonscopy prep this Tuesday. We took advantage of some of the sales, and then I checked out the bakery clearance. There was a cherry pie. It was labeled a triple cherry pie and was marked down to a little over $5, but the regular price was $12.99. DH loves cherry pie and he said go for it. I haven't had time to make one from scratch, so I figured that might be a good deal. After we checked out, we discussed our purchases. Besides it being a day out of being "best by", he couldn't figure out why they cut it down to less than half. So we did some pondering. I'm wondering if people aren't buying the big, expensive stuff because they are cutting back. I could afford the $12.99 if we really wanted, but honestly, I can't see paying that for a luxury that we really don't need. We were commenting on what was in other people's carts. Most of the folks around us were buying stuff on clearance or stuff on sale. We are thinking that everyone is going through sticker shock and wanting to get as much as they can, saving where they can.
Tonight on the national news, the CEO from Bank of America was interviewed and he said that overall spending is up by 5%. He said people are still buying things. He explained this and that, but all I could think of was, people are buying what they need and spending might look like it is up, but not for the reasons he was outlining. I think it's up because stuff costs more. A can of coffee that we could buy for $9.99 a couple of years ago is now $16.99. We still drink coffee, but you can bet I'm waiting until it goes on sale before I buy some.
I'm not saying I'm an economical genius, because I'm not. But I will say what I'm observing is people are buying stuff, but buying less of it and trying to find more frugal items. Or perhaps I'm oversimplifying. What are you observing as you grocery shop?
June 15th, 2026 at 12:45 pm 1781527530
I'm no economist either... but I know what I'm paying to live my life.
June 15th, 2026 at 01:43 pm 1781531015
June 15th, 2026 at 11:51 pm 1781567478
On the one hand I am happy that I already have frugal habits, but on the other, people like me can’t convert to buying store brand because we already do, or shopping sales because we already do, and eating at home because…
I buy very little beef and use proteins as an ingredient not the main meal.
I will say though that I had to buy last minute airline tickets a couple weeks ago and the planes were nearly full…so people are still traveling. And it’s a route I fly often and the number of flights seem the same. That is a mystery…
June 16th, 2026 at 03:09 pm 1781622540
June 19th, 2026 at 09:07 pm 1781903236