I am a very price aware shopper, too. I have bought foods by using a list, and have been the list maker and budgeter for nearly twenty years. I remember when deli ham was $0.99, or just a few years ago (5 years to be exact), when I moved to this area Ham was about $2.99, London Broil was 99 cents a pound, and petite sirloin steak was $2.29. Today, that london broil is over 3 dollars a pound, and petite sirloin went up to over 7 dollars, but is now back down to around $5, $4 or so on a good sale.
Milk in this area used to be $0.99, at most $1.69 (for whole), just last year, and is now over $2.89 most of the time. Cheese has nearly doubled in the last two years, even at the bargain store (We only have Sam’s, not Costco, here).
I wish I could find whole wheat pasta at that good of a price, every once in a while, it’s about $1.19. Sauce is through the roof, too. Either the price goes up, or the price goes up AN the package size decreases by 20%. I remember shopping with my dad in the 90’s, an hundred dollars would fill 2 carts. Now $200 may not even fill one cart.
Man, things are cheap where you live. Milk in $4 a gallon in Houston. Bore’s Head Deluxe Ham, the only ham worth eating, is now up to $9.29 a pound.
I still get pretty good bread at Target for $1.15 a loaf.