Knock, Knock, anybody home/how are you dealing with inflation ?

[Moe M.]

 Every day along with my morning brew I check my e-mail and my favorite forums and every day this forum shows No New Entries, and every day I wonder, is this the day it ends.

 Well, I guess if I'm still able to type on it there must be some one else on the other end to read my musings, so I'm posing this question, How are you dealing with inflation ?
 In our home I do all the cooking and my wonderful bride does all the household business like keeping the books, paying the bills and managing our financial resources, it's been like that ever since I retired and it's working wonderfully, as the camp cook I also do all the grocery shopping, and for the first time since I took over these duties these last six months or so have been a source of concern.
 We more or less live on a fixed income so budgeting is a major concern, one that doesn't allow for much wiggle room when it comes to any fixed spending like insurance, taxes, housekeeping, and groceries, when the pandemic forced social distancing, masks, the fear of infection I went from weekly shopping to twice a month, our budget allowed for $125.00 a week for all of our grocery needs (food, paper goods, cleaning and laundry supplies), and I managed quite well to stay within our budget, until this new round of inflation set in.
 For the last few months the grocery bill has gone up by about $50.00 a week on average and every shopping trip becomes a nightmare, when I get home my wife looks at me like she's in pain, mostly because she's constantly shuffling the budget to pay for the increases in home heating fuel, the electric bill, increases in insurance, and the dreaded grocery bill.
 We've worked together to make cuts in our living expenses and so far we are still managing but we're really scared that it won't be enough if this recession gets much worse.
 I'm curious as to how some of you guys are dealing with the increasing cost of living.   

[boomer]

Not sure if there is a recession these days  but pretty sure the knock on effects of Covid are neing felt in some ways

In my rural area there are no longer iindependent groceries. All are or were owned by a few large corporations. Now they are all owned by a single nation corporation. The diversity of products , already, pretty homogenized, is even less than previously and amounts of available products are less.

A recent article looking at eggs pointed out the industry wide profits are way up.  A dozen rggs go for  around $6 at the smal grocery nearby and a bit more in the supply towns around me. True an H1N1 outbreak required some culling of flocks but the cost increases came along before that happened and accelerated afterwards.

Gas prices of course remain high along with record breaking profits industry wide. Same with TP which has a limited market. Or building supplies. Or ...

The Covid lockdown cut into profits so a recouping has been underway and  it has continued to gather momentum

Consolidation  among and accross industries along with dismantling of safeguards and protections has allowed a return to the same ethics  of our previous Gilded Age  with exactly the same effects. Covid just poured fuel  on an already existing fire.

At some point Citizens may begin to realize that consolidation of markets only has one outcome. Or maybe we won't regardless of how much evidence there is.  All the Free Market stuff that started as a philosophical exercise to illustrate a point was never intended as a guide to commerce. It has been so consistently misrepresented for so long many remain confused by the concept.

In the meantime have an omelette. If you can afford one. Maybe for a special occasions anyway .

[Moe M.]

 LOL, I'm well aware of the effects of most reasons for the inflation that's eating up much of our resources, all of the recognized economic advisors say we're entering into a recession and this mornings news media are reporting massive layoffs in some of the nations largest corporations.
 Actually my question was asking what measures our members are taking personally to try to stretch their dollars to meet the times, if any.

[boomer]

Well, I'm cutting back on eggs. Likewise probably start keeping chickens again.

[Moe M.]

Well, I'm cutting back on eggs. Likewise probably start keeping chickens again.

 Eggs or their higher cost is a problem, so far I haven't experienced any shortages of eggs in my area, but that can change rather quickly, we use about a dozen to a dozen and a half eggs a week between cooking, baking, and breakfasts, I have cut down on them by using egg substitute, one of my local discount stores sells Bill's Red Mill flour products, one of which is a pretty good for egg substitute in pancakes, cakes, biscuits and such, one heaping tablespoon of the stuff mixed with a tablespoon full of water equals one large egg.
 I haven't counted, but one bag makes a couple of dozen eggs and it's only a few
dollars a bag, and it has a shelf life of about a year after opening if kept in a cool dark place, however it's not like powdered eggs and will not work for scrambled eggs and the like.
 We really haven't changed our eating habits to speak of, but we are finding inventive ways of stretching our food budget, I've thought of keeping chickens but haven't gotten past the thinking stage, I have to do some more investigating first, my folks always since I can remember kept chickens, I never had to care for them so I'm not sure what I need to do to keep them well fed and healthy, but it is an interesting possibility.

[Mannlicher]

Things are what they are, and won?t improve until the current communists running things are out of power

[Moe M.]

Things are what they are, and won?t improve until the current communists running things are out of power

I hope we can hold out that long.