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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 6, 2015 19:12:26 GMT
I use quite few lentils. Noticed last couple times shopping that Wally wants buck and half for a pound. Really? Used to be cheapest bean, with only split peas bit cheaper. Havent had to buy any yet at the new higher prices since I stocked up when Aldi had them for 79cents a pound. Just that Aldi doesnt keep them in stock. Its an occasional item for them.
Google story says Canada lentil crop not good this past year and price farmers got doubled.... to 32cents a pound. Thank you Mr. Middleman once again for multiplying this price increase many times over for end consumer. But I have noticed other beans too, have gone up noticably, except pintos.
I am cooking more pintos, they are cheap, but not convenient, take close to an hour in pressure cooker.
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Post by tenbusybees on Jul 6, 2015 20:14:03 GMT
When I ordered Lentils in March they were .83/lb.
Tomorrow's order is .99/lb.
Those are 25# bags from Azure Standard.
Last time I bought lentils in the store they were $1.29 or $1.59 at Thanksgiving or Christmas last year. I haven't looked at prices recently but I doubt they got cheaper.
We love beans. I do pintos in the crockpots mostly.
First time I noticed a jump in bean prices is when it became a WIC item a few years back. But after years of grocery retail I've learned thst's how it works...the retail price becomes the highest gov allows charged.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 7, 2015 2:50:27 GMT
I know people do beans in crockpot, but IMHO, it gives them an off taste, least I never liked them cooked that way. In pressure cooker, once its reached pressure and I turn heat way low so it just maintains the pressure, then its matter of forcing myself to sit around in same room as cooker for the hour. I do tend to get sidetracked. Set low just to maintain pressure, doesnt take much fuel.
Maybe the 79cent Aldi price this spring spoiled me. But thinking lentils were under $1 at Wally most of winter anyway. I do notice stores seem to mark up commodity foods much more than highly processed stuff. Just seeing lentils marked $1.50 kinda freaked me a bit. 50% inflation, really? Price for pound lentils 5 times price paid to the farmer....
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Post by karenp on Jul 7, 2015 10:05:45 GMT
What are you all doing with all these lentils? I love them in a beef and lentil soup (which I've never been able to master) I feel like I'm missing something.
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Post by oldmania on Jul 7, 2015 12:36:47 GMT
We don't eat lentils. We eat pinto beans nearly every day. Last week I bought 3 10-lb. bags of pinto beans at Costco for $6.59 bag, which is a great price. These are presorted and triple washed, so are very convenient. We prefer them cooked in the pressure cooker. I always have at least 50 lbs. of pintos in the pantry, and there is always a batch ready to eat in the fridge.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 7, 2015 14:31:52 GMT
The nice thing about lentils is that they cook fast, so are easy to cook with other things, rather than cook them separately. And they go with just about anything taste wise.
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Post by tenbusybees on Jul 7, 2015 15:06:17 GMT
I use lentils for vegetarian tacos, nacho topper, stretch hamburger in spaghetti and chili, burritos, side dishes, and soups.
I cook lentils in the oven, rice cooker, stove, and crockpot. LOVE its versatility.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2015 15:44:43 GMT
Off topic of the lentils themselves, but about the price increase. You want to blame it on "the middle man", ok, which one? Farmer makes 32 cents a pound selling them to a grain elevator. Elevator owner has overhead, electricity, employee wages, and now, thanks to Obama, he HAS to provide insurance to employees.
Now elevator owner sells beans to Company X.
Company X has to pay for the beans, pay to transport them to their facilities, package them, etc. Company X also has overhead expenses, employees, employee benefits, transportation charges, etc.
Now company X sells packaged beans to, let's say Walmart. Walmart buys them, transports them to and stores them in their warehouses and distribution centers, then transports them to individual stores. Each step along the way requiring employees to work, fuel and upkeep for trucks, employee benefits, etc.
Now they reach a store where an employee unloaded a truck, inventories the shipment, unpacks a box, stocks them on a shelf. In a store with high overhead costs.
Now Walmart sells them to you.
So, considering all the steps involved, all the people involved, and all the costs involved, is it really fair to complain about having to pay $1.50 for a pound of beans?
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 7, 2015 17:58:30 GMT
Off topic of the lentils themselves, but about the price increase. You want to blame it on "the middle man", ok, which one? Farmer makes 32 cents a pound selling them to a grain elevator. Elevator owner has overhead, electricity, employee wages, and now, thanks to Obama, he HAS to provide insurance to employees. Now elevator owner sells beans to Company X. Company X has to pay for the beans, pay to transport them to their facilities, package them, etc. Company X also has overhead expenses, employees, employee benefits, transportation charges, etc. Now company X sells packaged beans to, let's say Walmart. Walmart buys them, transports them to and stores them in their warehouses and distribution centers, then transports them to individual stores. Each step along the way requiring employees to work, fuel and upkeep for trucks, employee benefits, etc. Now they reach a store where an employee unloaded a truck, inventories the shipment, unpacks a box, stocks them on a shelf. In a store with high overhead costs. Now Walmart sells them to you. So, considering all the steps involved, all the people involved, and all the costs involved, is it really fair to complain about having to pay $1.50 for a pound of beans Look at it this way, price was around 16cents per pound (actually bit lower but to make math easier...) to the farmer and retail it was 79cents a pound. Now due to weather the crop was bad, so price to the farmer doubled to 32cents per pound. Added an extra 16 cents per pound to cost of the product. So how does this raise retail price 70cents per pound? Other costs didnt increase. Nothing else changed, just the raw wholesale price. So where did the other 54cents of price increase come from, if not just opportunity by the middle men to increase their profit. Oh and by way most lentils are raised in Canada, so dont blame it on Obamacare. Canada has a sane single payer government health care system. Obamacare was written by the PRIVATE insurance companies to benefit themselves, not the consumer. And you can look at a less than $1 increase in a product as minor, but you need to look at it from a bigger perspective, a short term nearly 100% increase in price. If you cant tell the difference, then I want to loan you some money and you can pay me 100% annual interest.... Or perhaps you wouldnt mind price of houses you are considering going from $200k to $400k overnight? Its only a measly 100% increase..... surely trivial to your budget. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2015 23:09:23 GMT
Being a wisecrack doesn't make you seem more reasonable or intelligent, quite the contrary actually. Look at it this way, its called supply and demand. You said yourself there was a bad crop. Meaning lower supply. So bidding starts and the highest bidder wins. And, ok, so most lentils are grown in Canada, are they also packaged, boxed, stored, shipped, etc only in Canada? Now let me ask this. Let's say you own a small company and distribute widgets. You sell them to retailers across the country, and they sell multitudes of them. Now, let's say one of your widget manufacturers burns to the ground. Now you only have half as many widgets to sell to retailers but all of the retailers are asking for more. Then, they start offering you more money for your widgets to ensure you send them some. Are you going to accept the higher bid or say, no thank you, sell what remaining widgets you have at your old price and then your company loses profits? Well, what would you do?  |
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 0:39:56 GMT
Being a wisecrack doesn't make you seem more reasonable or intelligent, quite the contrary actually. Look at it this way, its called supply and demand. You said yourself there was a bad crop. Meaning lower supply. So bidding starts and the highest bidder wins. And, ok, so most lentils are grown in Canada, are they also packaged, boxed, stored, shipped, etc only in Canada? Now let me ask this. Let's say you own a small company and distribute widgets. You sell them to retailers across the country, and they sell multitudes of them. Now, let's say one of your widget manufacturers burns to the ground. Now you only have half as many widgets to sell to retailers but all of the retailers are asking for more. Then, they start offering you more money for your widgets to ensure you send them some. Are you going to accept the higher bid or say, no thank you, sell what remaining widgets you have at your old price and then your company loses profits? Well, what would you do???? Uh, the middle man's cost only increased 16cents. Their processing/transportation didnt increase in cost. Thus they COULD just temporarily increase wholesale and retail price by 16cents and everybody makes same money. Demand hasnt increased since raw commodity only went up 32cents. Oh pretty sure amount of those lentils they were exporting to India and that were selling for 25cents a pound retail over there (cause people there cant pay more) now shrank. The commodity is going to go to the most profitable market first until demand there is satisfied. The 16cent increase in retail cost for first world market, would probably eliminate some demand, not much, but maybe few people. However doubling the price might get people to go buy the pinto beans for less than half the price and develop a taste for pinto beans over lentils. So customers for lentils then dont return when price goes back down. Lentils will have smaller market share due to short term greed. Then to get market share back after normal year crop of lentils returns, price lentils might have to be lowered to super attractive price, for an even smaller profit. Widgets are far different than unprocessed commodity. Unless you are stupid enough to compete in market with many other small manufacturers making very competitive product and everybody is trying to get an edge by shaving fractions of a penny.... If I am selling unique widgets at a profitable price without significant competitive products in the market, guess what, I am not going to zoom the price for quick buck, I am going to think long term. If I zoom the price, not only am I going to get my customers mad, but some Chinese guy is going to quickly be selling knockoffs for significantly less and ruin future buisiness significantly and maybe my reputation for quality since some people will think the knockoffs are made by me. I will make a short term killing, but lose market share in the LONG TERM. Its a shame American buisiness cant think long term, its all about short term quarterly profit. Thats why we now import a huge portion of our consumer goods. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2015 1:25:30 GMT
I see you infact do not understand supply and demand.
I see you also think the middleman sets the price. Sometimes he does, but in bigger markets the retailer, Walmart for example, tells the distributor/manufacturer what they will pay.
But, that's fine. I will bow out of this conversation and you can continue to whine, cry, and pout because you have to pay a dollar more for a meal or two meals worth of protein.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2015 1:45:37 GMT
I like lentis and rice.
Its the perfect protien and it seems who ever is in charge of pricing products don't want us even to have this for a source. First beef,chicken and now lintels! argh! Stop the madness!
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 10:21:14 GMT
I see you infact do not understand supply and demand. I see you also think the middleman sets the price. Sometimes he does, but in bigger markets the retailer, Walmart for example, tells the distributor/manufacturer what they will pay. But, that's fine. I will bow out of this conversation and you can continue to whine, cry, and pout because you have to pay a dollar more for a meal or two meals worth of protein. Uh, its Walmart that is charging $1.50 for pound of lentils. They sure didnt hold the line on price!!! Perhaps its them as one of middlemen chain between farmer and consumer that is making the huge profit? Though I imagine its complete chain of middlemen looking for last nickel of profit, each bumping up price just cause they can. Apparently its you that dont understand its a global market. Yep shorter supply so guess what, its the Indians that suffer. India imports a lot of lentils, as its a staple commodity in their diet. They depend on them. Once existing contracts are filled, supply goes to the most lucrative market first, namely Europe and USA. So shouldnt be any shortage at all in USA. You arent ever going to get significantly more money from the Indians, their income is too low, they just eat less and/or die. However doubling price to USA where demand for lentils is not great at best of times, you just sell far less product as those eating significant amount lentils move to a cheaper source of protein. Only people that dont care will be those using a pound of lentils for special dish once in a blue moon. They'd give $5 a pound since its not a staple in their diet, just an occasional treat. Like buying a pint of Haagen Daas.... If nothing else, I understand my personal demand for buying lentils has been squished completely since they are no longer a bargain protein, they are now more than twice the price of pintos. I will buy pinto beans at price cheaper than the old price for lentils despite them being less convenient. Inelastic market. You sell anything and double your price for whatever reason, and I stop buying it. Hope the lentil sellers enjoy eating their own lentils as I doubt their are enough occasional yuppie buyers making grandma's special lentil soup, to keep their profits up even at double the price.. But hey you go ahead and pay $400k for a $200k house..... LOL Tell me how that works out for you. The price of small things does matter, not just the big stuff. Thats why I have no debt and never will. I dont just shrug it off when price on anything doubles. People get greedy, then they lose me as a customer. Matter of fact if I had known there was lentil shortage earlier, maybe have given up lentils at any price, just so those that truly depend on them in third world have enough. I have lot more sympathy for some destitute guy eating his daily half cup lentils than I do for BloatMart and their fellow middlebloaters. |
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 10:33:57 GMT
I like lentis and rice. Its the perfect protien and it seems who ever is in charge of pricing products don't want us even to have this for a source. First beef,chicken and now lintels! argh! Stop the madness! I do too. One cup brown rice, one cup millet, and one cup lentils cooked together is even better. Had only found this out earlier this year. Not sure why the millet and rice do so nicely together but they do. Alas developed diabetes this spring so no more rice for me, ever. Even small amount spikes my blood sugar like nothing else. And now lentils gone too. Oh well. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2015 11:45:04 GMT
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 14:18:39 GMT
$1.61 a pound total shipped cost.... Your point being that I can buy more expensive lentils online than at Wallyworld????? Who would have ever thought such a miracle was possible.... When you find some online place that shipped cost is 32cents per pound or even 79cents per pound, please post a link.... |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2015 15:34:04 GMT
I wonder how much of this is actual cost and how much is the devaluation of the dollar...
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 16:52:07 GMT
Very big devaluation in very short amount time. Aldi had lentils for 79cents a pound in April or May, whenever it was. However it was one of their non-regular items at least in my area. Dont think stores sell lot lentils here in the south. More of a northern thing in areas populated by those of northern European ancestory. I know in past buying them at other stores, checkers would ask me what they were and how you cooked them. Aldi only regularly stock pintos, black beans, and some kind white navy bean.
Online, Target is showing lentils currently $1.19 in their stores. I am not even sure local Target has groceries other than some junk food. Been long time since I been there since they picked a really inconvenient location to get to. And only time been in there, I sure didnt see any bargains, just lot people milling about.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 17:31:17 GMT
You are the one mistaking this for some general chat forum and picking fights over capitalism, I am just not rolling over and playing dead. You want to argue points instead of personal attacks, then do so. Shipping is part of cost of anything bought online. For a commodity, it comes down to final total cost per pound. That includes shipping, taxes, everything. Gotta compare apples to apples, not apples to kiwi. And i am very happy for you if doubling of a price in short amount time doesnt bother you "since this is only a small cheap item". Sorry my getting grouchy over crazy high percentage price increases doesnt coincide with your pollyanna view of the capitalist world. But short term doubling of price whether lentils or McMansions, seems really strange and mostly greed based since not everything is going up. And you have to admit, the price of those lentils you gave link too, are much cheaper than Wally, if they didnt have to be shipped. Would seem to indicate either Wally isnt that strict on dictating price to their suppliers. Or that they are the part of the middleman chain that is trying to gouge their customers bigtime. My guess is one of their bean counters (couldnt resist) figured out commodities like beans arent making the profit they want so they decided to jack price way up until people significantly stop buying them. Then they will lower price to highest that most people will pay. Either people pay the highly inflated price or its most likely what they consider a non-profitable customer and doesnt matter if they go elsewhere. I usually only go to Aldi where I buy most my groceries and Wally for stuff Aldi doesnt stock. Guess be worth stopping some third local 'full service' grocery store and see what they charge for lentils out of curiosity if nothing else. like mentioned in post before this in response to somebody else, I did find online that Target supposedly sells lentils for $1.19 a pound in their stores that sell groceries. Dont think that the only local Target does groceries and its very inconvenient for me to get there from here... Oh and if it matters, I am INTP personality type on Myers-Briggs, the least popular choice of personality type for a husband out of the 16 types! LOL There no doubt is a reason! We also tend to be very solitary critters unless there is a particular darned good reason to have to socially interact in person. Interestingly the much more rare female INTP is far more popular as a wife than male INTP is as a husband. |
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 17:47:16 GMT
We don't eat lentils. We eat pinto beans nearly every day. Last week I bought 3 10-lb. bags of pinto beans at Costco for $6.59 bag, which is a great price. These are presorted and triple washed, so are very convenient. We prefer them cooked in the pressure cooker. I always have at least 50 lbs. of pintos in the pantry, and there is always a batch ready to eat in the fridge. Alas closest Costco is like 300 miles away. Its annoying but just way it is here close to Walmart world headquarters.... Kmart closed down and retreated long time ago. Costco could actually eat Sams Club's lunch if only they would move into this area. Sams Club is just same ole Walmart items in larger packages at same Walmart unit prices. Hmm, be interesting to see what Sams Club sells lentils for... well if they sell lentils. Not very popular in the southern states so they might not stock them. |
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Post by tenbusybees on Jul 8, 2015 17:58:16 GMT
The Sam's that I shop at in TX doesn't sell lentils.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 8, 2015 18:43:07 GMT
Just quick google. All Costcos dont carry lentils. But I found mention on some blog, that at least one Costco in fall 2013 had 10 pound bag lentils for $6. The guy writing the blog mentioned buying a sack and what he did with it. After downloading couple updated newer Costco pricelists from comparison shopping blogs, apparently either nobody thinks listing price on lentils is important or Costco doesnt handle them anymore. Or just some stores and the people with the lists dont have a Costco that does. For some strange reason costco carries bulk organic quinoa. Had secret hopes for bulk hulled buckwheat, but alas no. Not much else in way of bulk grains/beans other than usual white rice, oatmeal, and pinto beans.
60cents a pound for lentils is cheapest I've seen them since the big price run up on everything summer of 2008. They used to be about 40cents a pound at Wally before that. Think it was 2008, grains, beans, etc, literally doubled in price I remember it was strangely fascinating when they showed these people on tv news at Sams and Costco loading several huge bags (cant remember if they were 50# or 100#) of white rice into their cart and Sams/Costco were limiting number of bags they could buy. You just knew that these people probably didnt eat over a pound of rice a year and that most of it would get buggy/stale and get tossed. They just knew there was a run on it and wanted their share and then some.... I hope at least some of their horde made it to soup kitchen or something.
I suspect if one found a cash and carry restaurant supply store, that might be about cheapest place to buy bulk grains and beans, assuming they carried what you wanted. Think I looked in phone book once some time ago, didnt find any within reasonable distance.
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Post by ldc on Jul 9, 2015 22:54:54 GMT
In support for hj,I'm also aghast at the price of my 2 standbys - lentils and black eyed peas - Tuesday this week; $1.50 for lentils/lb, and $1.75 for the peas at WMT. Up a lot in the last month.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 10, 2015 0:04:34 GMT
Yea, several bean prices up considerably. Maybe bit opportunistic pricing since meat has zoomed in price? Dont want those bean eaters to have a cheap out on cost of protein... Its just downright odd that lentils and black eyed peas, which used to be the cheapest of the cheap, far as dry beans go, zoomed so high. Pretty sure weather in Canada has nothing to do with black eyed pea prices... Anyway back in the day, only split peas were cheaper. NOw lentil and black eye pea price has moved to top of the food chain.
i didnt look at split green peas, wonder if they took a quantum leap in price too? Navy beans?
I do know pintos in the big bags are definitely now cheapest (unless split peas are still cheaper).
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 10, 2015 17:48:51 GMT
Had to go into town to get package at PO so picked up few things at store. Believe it or not, the lowly split green pea is now over $1.60 a pound at Wally!!!!! I remember when if you couldnt afford anything else you could get bag rice and bag split peas. Yea, this has nothing to do with cost of dry beans down on the farm, its a middlemen price gouging party.
Cheapest bean is no longer pintos in the big bags, now at 90cents a pound. Pintos now also up in price. Its now Aldi's great northern beans at around 80cents a pound in two pound bag. I dont have receipt with me here at computer but prices I am mentioning are within few pennies.
Been long time since I cooked great northern, never was that fond of white beans just cause made whatever I put them with, look like it was setting out in snow storm, but dont remember them being bad tasting or anything. Have to cook them and see. Can always put some of that lovely turmeric on them.... LOL Still get kick out of the tv veggie cooks that want to pretend turmeric on foam rubber (tofu) looks and tastes like scrambled eggs.
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Post by hermitjohn on Jul 10, 2015 21:41:02 GMT
Cant trust anybody. I looked at my Aldi cash register receipt and they charged me $2.49 for the two pound of great northern. Somebody forgot to change the sign on the shelf..... Usually Aldi pretty accurate about such things. I suppose we are in big bean price bubble and prices change too fast.
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