Agree with @abasket about demand. Always production costs - family farms are decreasing. Exporting of some foods and better foods increasing. Corporate farms. Gov’t agriculture programs and how they affect supply.
We totally switched to butter a few years ago. We eat healthy and try to limit caloric intake to be at the right personal weight. Trying to take some of the ‘processed’ out of our food.
$3.99/lb from our local dairy milkman, delivered every Tuesday morning. We get our milk, cottage cheese, eggs, sour cream, other cheeses all delivered.
Groceries (and most things, in general) are very expensive in the Seattle area. We were in the Reading Terminal Market this past weekend and prices were about 80% of our grocery store prices.
Wow. The Reading Terminal Market isn’t exactly cheap – you pay a premium for the “scene” there.
I am paying the same supermarket price for butter that others seem to be. $2.99 store brand, usually somewhere short of $3.99 for Land O’ Lakes or equivalent.
What has really gone up in price is cream cheese. I used to be able to get 8 oz. packages of perfectly good store brand cream cheese for $.79 - $.99 on sale (and it was “on sale” 3 weeks out of 4). Recently, the base price has moved to $3.00 ($6/lb), and the “sale” price ranges from $1.50 - $2.00.
I keep waiting for the strong dollar to bring down the prices of European cheeses, but that hasn’t happened at all as far as I can tell. Someone is making a ton of money on that.
Euro cheese makers are not dropping prices in the US any time soon. Their (very significant) exports to Russia fizzled out due to the sanctions.
Even US cheese. On trips to WI, even my ‘lower cost’ places are holding at higher prices.
Made me look. Just returned from Von’s (owned by Safeway) Challenge and Land o Lakes 6.99. Store brand 5.99. Tillamook on Club card sale for $5.49 lb.
I buy my butter at Costco and freeze it. We don’t go through a lot and I’m guilty of just grabbing it off the Costco shelf and not even checking the price.
@mom60 I would be buying Costco pack of 4 and freezing some too at your area grocery prices for butter. Wow.
I just paid $2. 89 for store brand at my market.
I think my eyes must have been deceiving me. > $5 per pound at WalMart for Land’O’Lakes today.
My store has its storebrand on sale this week along with Egglands Best eggs. I think I’d better stock up for the holidays.
Thought I’d bump this thread.
I bought butter at Trader Joes yesterday for 2.99 a lb.
Safeway has it for $2.99/lb.
I stocked up on Land O’ Lakes this week for holiday baking as my store had it on sale at 2/$5
So the price is probably going down temporarily for people to stock up for holiday baking. Come December it will go back up again.