Food and Prices in the New Year

In My Kitchen January 2025

Kitchen prep and its rewards…Shared with Sherry at Sherry’s Pickings…

Ingredients for lamb chops au poivre, a New York Times recipe.

A nice red wine was good with this dish, which I made using a New York Times recipe.

Len made this dinner, using another NYT recipe.
About half the meals depicted here are his, and about half are mine.

First pizza of 2025…

The second pizza — different cheese.

A recipe from Ottolenghi’s Flavor.

The famous Roman dish cacio e pepe was the subject of scientific research by 8 Italian physicists.
The conclusions of the study supported the method of Ottolengi but did not mention him.

Ottolenghi and his pasta.

A very delicious chicken dish: another from the New York Times

Sauce Grenobloise contains lemon, capers, and butter. Its origin is in Grenoble, France.
The sauce is traditionally served with trout or other mild fish.

Len’s rye bread topped with broiled steak and mushroom sauce.

I love Len’s rye bread and convinced him to bake two more loaves.
This time the accompanying dinner is meatballs, fruit salad, vegetable salad, and savory sour cream sauce.
The meatballs were a new product: chilled and ready to cook from Trader Joe’s.

For Lunar New Year: Fish-Fragrant Eggplant, smashed cucumbers, and buckwheat noodles.

On the Fridge: Magnets, Of Course

Bird magnets again this month.

I now have bird magnets on the side of the fridge, not just on the front.

Birds shared with Eileen’s Critters

All photos © 2024 mae sander for maefood.blogspot.com

Food Prices

This week: egg prices ranged from $3.49 to $6.99 a dozen, with the highest price being charged for pasture-raised organic eggs. (In 2020, the average price of eggs was around $1 per dozen.)

In kitchen news this month, the ever-rising cost of food is a central topic, especially as the campaign promises of our new overlords — promises that food prices would be reduced — were almost immediately acknowledged as a lie. Prices for many foods, especially produce, are likely to take another jump in US supermarkets if tariffs are levied on Mexican imports. Specifically: “The United States imported $9.9 billion worth of vegetables and more than $11 billion worth of fruit and frozen juices from Mexico last year.” (source)

Especially noted in recent discussions of food costs is the globally increasing price of cocoa and all chocolate products. I have a way to compare prices from the past with current prices for the same items; specifically, amazon keeps a record of my purchases, including orders from Whole Foods. Thus I can see what I paid in the past and compare to the price they are charging now for the same items. For example: Pepperidge Farm Milano chocolate cookies ordered from amazon have gone from $7.32 for three bags in 2020 to $10.50 for the same product at amazon.com this week.

From Investopia, I found a discussion about international commodity prices for cocoa. To quote their “takeaway” points about cocoa prices at the end of 2024:

• Global cocoa prices have surged to almost $12,000 per metric ton, an increase of 88% in just three months.
• While production is expected to increase by 11% this year, it won't be enough to rebuild depleted inventories.
• Chocolate makers typically respond to rising prices by reducing bar sizes, adding fillers, and using more artificial flavors. (source)

Prices of tropical and sub-tropical commodities like chocolate, coffee, bananas, and olive oil have been rising because of climate change affecting the areas where these products grow. Crop yields for wheat, rice, soy, potatoes, and feed crops are also being negatively affected by climate change.

The rapid increase in the price of eggs is due to a widespread outbreak of bird flu, which is infecting large numbers of chicken farms. This may be relevant only in the US, see this article in the NYT — "Egg prices are high." Locally, here in Michigan, the cost of eggs is also increasing because a new state law took effect on January 1 that requires large-scale egg producers to install cage-free housing with nest boxes, perches, and other animal welfare measures.

This week 365 brand olive oil is $15.99.
The record of my order from 2020 shows a price of $12.99. 

If you prefer to see a chart, here’s the US Bureau of Labor Statistics presentation of the average price of ground beef over the past 30 years in the US. Current price: the highest in history.

Shared with Deb at Readerbuzz.