feeds
We have to eat, but what if you had to choose between gas for your car and extra food for your family? With soaring prices, that’s the reality faced by some lower- and middle-income families.
Daily you hear about the credit squeeze, foreclosures, lost jobs and stagnant wages. The economic forecast is gloomy, and as I pick up the paper or watch news reports, I feel gray and gloomy, too. Even as my favorite season – summer -- is around the corner, who can afford to go anywhere with gas hitting $4 a gallon?
It’s inconceivable there is hunger in the United States in 2008, yet government officials project 28 million Americans (1 in 10) will receive food stamps by the end of the year. And there’s a new face to hunger: many former middle-income earners who have lost jobs, fallen into debt and had their homes repossessed are swelling the ranks of the working poor.
Food stamp benefits average about $1 per person per meal in 2007, but according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food prices rose 4 percent in 2007, compared with an average 2.5 percent annual increase for the past 15 years. And 2008 could be worse, with a rise of as much as 4.5 to 5.5 percent. The reality is food stamp benefits don’t keep pace with the rate of inflation and with current soaring prices, many families run out of food mid-month and have to rely on food banks.
Staples you buy each week can’t be taken for granted any more. As per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, certain foods have seen dramatic spikes in prices – eggs are 30 percent more expensive than in 2007, milk 13 percent and cereals nearly 9 percent.
Dramatic price increases don’t just affect food at home, but also the apple pie you buy at the local bakery, the half-pound of chocolate at the candy store or that plate of pasta at your favorite Italian restaurant. The cost for food away from home is forecast to increase 3.5 to 4.5 percent in 2008.
Rice is one staple I have an intimate relationship with, being of Hong Kong Chinese descent. It has such an important place in the Chinese culture that a popular greeting is translated as “Have you eaten rice yet?” Meaning, “Have you eaten yet?”
Rice is central to the diet of more than half the world’s population, and with shortages and prices rising to a 19-year high in March 2008, according to the World Bank, you can understand the United Nations setting up a task force to deal with the looming threat to growth and stability as 100 million people globally may be pushed into hunger if stocks remain low and prices continue to climb. Already shortages and high costs have sparked political instability, riots and protests.
Rice producers, such as Bangladesh, India and Vietnam, among others, have imposed tariffs or export bans, as they need to keep enough stock for their own populations and costs in check.
Should I be hoarding rice?
Experts say there are no domestic food shortages, although stocks of basics, such as wheat and soybean are uncommonly low. However, “The era of cheap food is over,” say many officials, including Robert Zoellick, World Bank president.
Whether you attribute food prices to the weak dollar; a growing middle-class in developing countries buying more food; more crops planted for ethanol; high oil prices or drought in Australia – a big food exporter – the fact remains, it affects what you put into your shopping baskets.
The one money-saving tip I can share is buy seasonal produce at farm stands or farmers’ markets for quality, taste and cost. I’ve become a “localvore” – someone who buys locally grown foods that support a healthier environment and lifestyle, part of the “ethical eating” trend in 2008.
OK, I’m not making my own detergent from natural soap, Borax, baking soda and essential oils, as suggested by one mom online when researching for money-saving tips, but I can certainly make my own pizza for less than half the cost of a delivered one.
I surveyed my friends in the Capital District and elsewhere on their groceries, and everyone is feeling the pinch at the stores. They’re paying $5 to $50 more on their weekly shopping bill compared to last year. All are concerned about the higher costs for dairy; eggs; produce; rice; bread; pastas; cereals and orange juice, and can’t see an end in sight.
They offer several money-saving ideas:
• Plan meals and buy only for the week. One big shop per week and that’s it.
• Shop around stores for better prices.
• Buy generic and “specials,” and use coupons, but check price per unit.
• Buy fewer packaged foods and cut “indulgences,” such as cookies and soda.
• Buy less meat and deli meat and substitute cheaper ingredients in recipes.
• Buy frozen vegetables for versatility and cost.
• Buy locally grown produce in season.
• Cook more.
• Use up foods in cupboards.
• Cook inexpensive and healthy beans.
• Cook cheaper “breakfast” items for dinner.
• Eat leftovers.
• Take packed lunches.
• Don’t complain about the same meals!
Some of these things you may be doing already, but if anything people are now more conscious of food. More are buying and using it wisely and definitely not wasting it.
Sobering lessons in a country regarded by many across the world as the land of plenty.
Thanks to Anthony, Arlyn, Carmelina, Doohee, Elaine, Melissa and Teena for their input.
June 4, 2008 - Page 17
Lifestyles in the Spotlight
Trends & Technology
SUSAN S. CHEUNG
