Soaring food costs

Not too long ago, USA Today did its part to offer some suggestions for surviving the increasing cost of food. Nancy Hellmich, the article's author, cites "government statistics" regarding those costs:

Overall, food prices climbed 4% in 2007, the biggest annual increase since 1990, and prices are projected to rise 4.5% to 5.5% this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,016 adults, 46% said the higher cost of food is creating a financial hardship. They said they have noticed an increase in the cost of milk, fruits and vegetables, meat, bread and eggs.

I found the article interesting if a little long on "grow-your-own" solutions. I do, however, wonder at those "government statistics." I hope to do some more delving into them, mostly because the price increases that I have seen are much higher. Almonds at Sam's Club doubled in price in four years. Milk has almost doubled in price in the last few years; it is no longer economical to buy a gallon of milk if there is any risk of not using it all before it spoils.

I did find a couple of ideas I hadn't already thought of:

Instead of buying packaged instant oatmeal or fancy rice pilafs, she [Linda Vance] now gets those foods in bulk and packages them in small plastic bags. She also buys fresh vegetables in bulk, and to make sure that none of the produce goes to waste, she roasts the vegetables right away and stores them in the refrigerator.

For the first idea, I was already thinking of doing something like this. Not that it was my idea in the first place. Alton Brown (I love this man) did a Good Eats segment on making your own "instant" pancake mix, which gave me the idea of making my own "instant" cornbread mix (see my practice run in "Cornbread"). Ms. Vance is apparently applying the concept to other favorites for her family. A related issue that needs consideration is food storage for all of these "instant" mixes, but more on that later.

The second idea is, however, one of those hand to forehead moments when I wonder why I didn't think of it myself. We are buying more fresh vegetables these days in order to get more fiber and generally better nutrition. Some of it is going to waste when I cook fewer meals than I thought I would or travel sooner than originally planned. I hadn't thought about just cooking them up and storing them. I already do that for ground beef and sometimes for other meats. The problem will be storage space in the freezer (if I'm leaving town, the refrigerator won't be an option because I'm not leaving an actual cook behind in either my home or Mama's home).

Another problem will be what on earth to cook with these leftover veggies. One solution is soup: I made a big pot of it before I left Houston last week, intending for it to be used for the Friday night gathering. I heard that the "girls" didn't feel like soup on Friday and turned it into Sunday dinner instead, but either way we got a good meal for Mama and used up the veggies. Except for the broccoli, of course; Big Kid Cousin don't like no stinkin' broccoli!