We all know that gas prices in Chicago are one of the highest in the nation...But is there anybody here in Chicago have the same problem that I'm having with the food prices..Food prices in Chicago to me are ridiculously high as well..Is any of you Chicagoans having the same problem I'm having with these food prices? Is there anything that we can do?
Ale G I live in Chicago and I haven't seen gas prices at $2.67 or $3.00 a gallon for a while now..You must live outside Chicago..cause the prices are much higher now.
I consider myself middle class as well..but I still say the prices for things here in Chicago is ridiculous.

I'm not in Chicago but even where I live things have become outragously high. We have started buying certain things in bulk that have a very long shelf life and are staples such as rice, canned items, and meat and veggies that can be bought in bulk and frozen. I buy my bread at the discount bread stores of the manufacturers. They can be frozen and loaves can be bought as little as 89 cents. They may be day old from the bakery but it can still be frozen for months at a time. I grow my herbs in pots and then dry them to save money. Soups, casseroles, and pasta dishes can be made in advance and frozen. When you make these you use water or fillers to make them larger. You can stretch your food dollars making more of these during the week than 3 and 4 items at a meal. Crackers, rolls, and bread are still cheaper and fill you up. Just try to make them whole wheat to get the nutritional value out of the meal. Try to make homemade rather than instant or box meals as often as possible. You can buy bulk flour,cornmeal, sugar, and salt, and make tons of quick breads and pancakes and muffins. Sometimes if you can catch the produce guy when he has bananas that are about to go bad, ask him if you can have them at a reduced cost and make banana bread or muffins. You can even mash them with a little lemon juice and sugar and freeze them in small ziploc freezer bags to use them later for baking or smoothies. Just some ideas that we have been doing and instead of my grocery bill every week at $130 or more it is now about $70 on the average. I save extra money to the side and about every 4 months I go with $200 and buy at the bulk price rate at places like Costco or Sams Club. We figured it out and we save about $1000 a year or more doing this. Hope this gave you some ideas. Oh, and also, using coupons are good but if you can buy off brand or store brand it usually equals the cost of the coupon for national brand and many of the national brands also make the "store" brand in the same factory.

The food prices and the gas prices are actally connected. Truckers need gas to bring the food to the city so the companies pass the price of the gas onto the consumers.

But there are ways to beat it. First scout out the best stores, not the biggest or the shiniest, etc. I do my shopping at several stores: there's one on Devon that has great prices on meat and vegetables (and the quality is great), and for crap like cleaning supplies, aluminum foil, even canned vegetables (they don't spoil), I go to a dollar store. Why pay $3.50 for sandwich bags when you can go to a dollar store and get them for... well, a dollar. Forget about Dominicks, Jewel, Whole Foods, etc. You're paying for the glitz there. There are cheaper stores where the food is just as good. Anf if you have a bike, get some of those saddle bag things to put over the back wheel to transports your stuff. I've ridden to Stanley's vegetabel market on North ave. and ridden back with tons of stuf. It's great exercise and I save money. Bottom line, look around and find the best prices.

With that extra money, you can still go out and party, but you should look for bars that have drink specials. For instance, there are tons of bars around Wrigley Field. And since there are so many, they all have drink specials to attract customers. Draft beers for $3, well drinks for $3, martini's for $5. YOu can check the Metromix Website; they list all of the bars with drink specials for a particular day. You can even get cheap food on a night on the town too. For instance, there's a bar called Howl At The Moon at 26 W. Hubbard not too far from House of Blues. Tonight they have $1 beers and $1 burgers and there's always a line outside so it must be a popular place. Finally, there are tons of new comedy clubs, improv and sketch, that put on shows for $5. Sometimes it hit or miss, but it's usualy pretty fun and only costs about five bucks. It's a cheap night out with friends. Pick up a copy of Time Out Chicago Magazine; they have a weekly list of the places and cost in there.

You don't have to live like a monk to have a good time in Chicago, even with prices the way they are.

Yes, food prices have gone up a lot in Chicago. A lot of this is because since gas has gone up, its more expensive to ship food from wherever it comes from to Chicago. But look around your neighborhood, because some stores will always have some things cheaper than in others.


And Ale G., I dont know in which Chicago you live in that has $2.67 gas, because the cheapest stations are at $4.00 for regular.