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Why Are Food Prices so High? Because We're Eating Oil
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K
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29 May ’14 - 8:39 am
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that's a pretty good summary

Regardless of what we eat, we're actually eating oil.

Anyone who buys their own groceries (as opposed to having a full-time cook handle such mundane chores) knows that the cost of basic foods keeps rising, despite the official claims that inflation is essentially near-zero.

Common-sense causes include severe weather and droughts than reduce crop yields, rising demand from the increasingly wealthy global middle class and money printing, which devalues the purchasing power of income.

While these factors undoubtedly influence the cost of food, it turns out that food moves in virtual lockstep with the one master commodity in an industrialized global economy: oil. Courtesy of our friends at Market Daily Briefing, here is a chart of a basket of basic foodstuffs and Brent Crude Oil:

http://www.oftwomind.....l5-14.html

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spotted-horses
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30 May ’14 - 8:16 pm
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I heard a news article recently. 

Asparagus grown in Peru is sent to china for packaging then shipped here. 

Except for dog and cat food, I spent less than $50.00 at the grocery store in May. 

Be RADICAL Grow Food

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K
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31 May ’14 - 9:56 am
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we use 2 different food suppliers. We use iqf spinach, 36 pounds was around 45 dollars, they come in 12 sealed wax and paper  3 pound boxes. I asked the other supplier if they carried spinach, they said yes, 24 dollars.

For 36 pounds? 

Yep, 12  3 pounders.

So I ordered it, truck came in the next day, I opened the box and it was 12 3 pound plastic bags with air in them and the spinach was all freezer burned.

I flipped the bag over.

Product of China.

I sent it back.

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spotted-horses
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1 Jun ’14 - 6:49 pm
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KVR said
we use 2 different food suppliers. We use iqf spinach, 36 pounds was around 45 dollars, they come in 12 sealed wax and paper  3 pound boxes. I asked the other supplier if they carried spinach, they said yes, 24 dollars.

For 36 pounds? 

Yep, 12  3 pounders.

So I ordered it, truck came in the next day, I opened the box and it was 12 3 pound plastic bags with air in them and the spinach was all freezer burned.

I flipped the bag over.

Product of China.

I sent it back.

Are there no local growers that you could buy from seasonally?

Be RADICAL Grow Food

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K
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1 Jun ’14 - 9:49 pm
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I could, but it's what we battle with, I could totally utilize local beef, produce, etc, but the cost would push our menu prices so high, we would be closed within a year, case in point, we have a small local beef guy that has been trying to get into our place for the last couple years, but, he is almost double from what I pay through sysco, so do I support the local guy and risk my business or keep buying through sysco?

that's what I find with a lot of local sources, the prices are very prohibitive for it to be profitable for us, it would be almost double to source locally and the community could not support the plate costs to make it worth it, heck, 80 percent of our menu is under 10 dollars and people still complain we are expensive, that totally blows my mind when a whopper value meal is 8 dollars 

And that's why I tell everyone I meet and talk to, plant a garden, plant it now, it's only going to get worse, we are trying to figure out our exit strategy 

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easytapper
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2 Jun ’14 - 10:42 pm
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Dumb question, but could you grow your own beef?  Chickens?  (I mean for use in the restaurant).  If so, would there be a (bigger?) tax break?  Are there local farmer markets where you may be able to get fresh/local stuff more affordable?

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K
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3 Jun ’14 - 7:43 am
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to be able to sell it, it would need to be inspected by the usda, off the top of my head, I can't think of any of the local butchers that have usda inspection, our local farmers market is pretty pitiful 

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spotted-horses
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6 Jun ’14 - 7:30 pm
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I'm so glad I'm not in the food business. 

Be RADICAL Grow Food

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