Food Prices Up

What Can We Do?

By Elizabeth Archerd, Member Services Manager

Food prices are up. Wedge members on fixed incomes lately stop me in the aisles, not to complain about the co-op in particular, but to mention how discouraged they are. They know this is happening everywhere. The media is full of stories about food inflation, grain costs and the Asian rice crisis. Even if you are not personally feeling a pinch (yet), you may have a growing sense of urgency.

What can we do? Food prices will not drop to previous levels anytime soon, but we can work together to keep increases to a minimum. Managers and buyers negotiate good deals with vendors and keep expenses in line. There are a few ways member-owners can reduce costs for the co-op. This is our business, so its expenses are your expenses.

Bring your own shopping bags. If you use paper grocery bags for recycling, consider taking cardboard boxes from the front of the store instead. There are recycling stickers for the boxes at Customer Service.

Get electronic versions of At the Wedge and Mix if you are able. Give Customer Service your member number and email, send the information to membership@ wedge.coop or change your preferences under "Membership" on www.wedge.coop.

Everyone who receives the electronic At the Wedge will be switched to the electronic Mix as of the July issue (unless you have not been getting Mix at all).

You can also pick newsletters up at the store instead of getting them mailed - you still have a copy, but save on postage.

Consider how you pay for groceries. Feel free to use credit union credit or debit cards. Be aware that rewards cards from commercial banks are the most expensive form of tender. The rewards come directly from your co-op when the cards get used here.

How do we manage family budgets for maximum food value? Wendy Gordon discusses this in her column. She lauds bulk whole grains and beans as bargain nourishment. Out of curiosity, I spent some time on the sales floor with a measuring cup and learned that a cup of almost any dry whole grain weighs about half a pound. Rice, whole oats and millet triple when cooked (quinoa quadruples). A cup of Lundberg Nutri-farmed long grain brown rice costs 44 cents, so each one cup serving of cooked rice is just under 15 cents. Wow. If you are finding bread too expensive, replace it with whole cooked grains.

A cup of most varieties of dried beans also weighs about half a pound (is this some Mystical Esoteric Truth?). Dried beans at least double when cooked, and half-to-three-quarters cup of cooked beans makes a satisfactory serving, so again you are spending a few dimes per plate or bowl. That leaves most of the food budget for veggies, condiments and select portions of eggs, dairy and meat if you so choose.

If you use Jennette Turner's What's for Supper? recipes, you'll find good eating that is quick and easy as well as affordable and delicious. The archive of What's for Supper? recipes is on our website. Jennette also has a new monthly subscription menu service, Dinner with Jennette, that provides 12 full dinner menus every month for a small fee. Since she shops here all the time, you can be sure that everything in those recipes is available at the Wedge and are the best seasonal values. Go to the Customer Service Counter for information on how to sign up for Dinner with Jennette.

Shop our sales, use your coupons and register discounts. And please, let your friends who shop here know that joining the co-op can save them money! We will get through this together. Now, go out and get some free vitamin D from the sun!