Are You Worried About the Cost of Food?
There was another great radio hour Monday morning on KUOW (94.9 fm). If you missed it, you can hear it at kuow.org. The discussion was about the cost of food, and I found it truly scary. While food shortages approach a critical point in many poor countries, the World Bank says global food prices have gone up 83 percent in the past three years putting huge stress on some of the world's poorest nations. In Haiti there has been rioting over higher prices for staples like rice and beans. Food prices in America went up four percent in 2007 (although you wouldn't know there's a problem by looking at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website; a January, 2008 news release is titled: American Food: Still the Best Deal in the World - it probably is). Costco is rationing rice, and speaking of prices, there's a new record for the price of a gallon of gas in Seattle ($3.71 as of Saturday, although I paid $3.83 in Wallingford).
As the Boston Globe reported on March 9, 2008: After nearly two decades of low food inflation, prices for staples such as bread, milk, eggs, and flour are rising sharply, surging in the past year at double-digit rates, according to the Labor Department. Milk prices, for example, increased 26 percent over the year. Egg prices jumped 40 percent.
Escalating food costs could present a greater problem than soaring oil prices for the national economy because the average household spends three times as much for food as for gasoline. Food accounts for about 13 percent of household spending compared with about 4 percent for gas.
Are you worried about the cost of food? Will food staples price us out of being able to buy organic?
A journey into the world of "real food" with Seattle-based journalist Rebecca Morris
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5 comments:
I am very concerned about food prices, not only for myself, but also for the world. As a practicing yogini, we are called to be mindful of all actions and their consequences to everyone and everything else. It becomes not even so much about whether or not I can afford these foods, but having the sensitivity that there are so many others whose basic needs may not be met.
My husband emailed me a news story about a prison inmate who placed a lawsuit against the prison for "starving us to death" on an average of 3,000 calories a day, causing him to lose 100 pounds -- he was well over 400 pounds at start. Though I sympathize that his food is served cold, at least he GETS food! Not all of the world is so fortunate. I can only guess that HIS food wasn't organic.
When the price of something goes up, I do often decide to go without, even though I have the money to cover it. There is a principle involved. In the meantime, I am glad I am on friendly terms with my neighbor, who has one amazing vegetable garden. He gave us some amazing purple broccoli that could only be super expensive in a natural foods market.
I think it depends on how much one values food. We'll cut into other budgets in order to continue eating organic and somewhat local. I believe that organic food has more nutritional value.
To cut back on the food budget, I'll plan meals further into advance, making bigger portions of soups and other meals for leftovers. Vegetables cost less than meat, so by cutting back to meat only 2 days a week (including weekends), we save a lot of money on the food budget.
Food tends to be a low priority for most Americans. Some people would rather spend $50 a month on cable television, new clothes, or gas.
Definitely. It's shocking to me how the prices of milk, eggs, bread have increased over the last year. I have to wonder if we're finally starting to pay for the real cost of getting that food to our tables. Same with gas. Many other parts of the world have been paying much more at the pump than we have here for a long time. I think we're just starting to see the real costs moving down the line.
I definitely think it will have an impact on how much organic food I can buy.
We are living on a very tight budget right now. We've reduced everything down to it's minimum levels, and I get so frustrated trying to buy groceries that I can afford, that will feed my husband and I through the week, AND are healthy.
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