Canned vegetable prices... latest paradigm
 

Before anyone berates me for 'buying' canned goods, you should realize we're in the second year of a drought, and the gardens hereabouts died in March and replantings died in April and May... so zilcho from the garden this year.

In previous years, the loss leader sales on green beans, corn, and peas was a sweet 4/$1. Late summer, there was a short 3/$1 for 'house brand' canned vegs...

Now, several stores here have 2/$1 Libby's brand. I could stand to get a couple dozen cases, but I'm wondering if 2/$1 is the new paradigm, and finding 3 or 4 for a buck is gone forever???

I'd rather have the grub here in the house, than to not have it, and still have some cash in my pocket...

I have joined a coupon group on facebook. I download and print coupons from the internet with them.
In this past Sunday paper there was a coupon for $1.00 off 4 Libby's canned veggies.
Also check dollar general's website and wal greens. They sometmes run sales on veggies.

Several of our stores here in central Arkansas have their store brand special this week - I think it is Best Choice brand -- for 3/$1; I think one store is .38 ea. They are of decent quality imho.
This is the best price I have seen in awhile.

I long ago gave up on 4/$1 veggies....

I am also having issues with pork loin for over $2/pound.

And whole picnic for over $1/pound.

And ground beef.

And....:grin:

Wal mart ad has 4 packs of Libbey for $2 this week. Brookshires has Del Monte .50 ea limit 12, on corn, carrots and green beans. Haven't been in HEB lately, but most were in the .60 to .89 a can then.
Hillside farm brand is the cheap stuff at HEB, has some good stuff, HEB brand with the white label and dark green band on top is some really good stuff IMO. Better than Libbey or Del Monte I think.
Some Mexican mkts are running some good sales on Hunts, and Parade, but mostly I don't like Parade.
Generally, .50 a can is a good price nowadays in this area.
Ed

I haven't seen anything less then 2/$1 on canned veggies in ages so when I come across that, I buy what I can(no pun intended). I'm still kicking myself for not buying a bunch more canned fruit this spring(?) when Kroger's had it 2/$1.

No berating here. I buy canned regularly. Gotta do what I gotta do.

Last week special at Kroger's was buy 10 cans of Del Monte veggies for .49 cents each. Had to buy in groups of 10. Mix or match Mega event, other stuff included, various sale prices.
Nice to have a few cases of can goods on hand.

Every year I buy a few cases of store canned veggies - just in case the garden doesn't produce one year. Those cans can be good up to 3 years (by the date). We have one chain of stores here with a sale - 3/$2.00. It's the best I've seen in a while.

Same three stores here... same sales. Been a few months since HEB had the 3/fors, and they have that low limit, without multiple trips. Brookshires I go into several times a week anyhow, getting meat, so will probably hit them up for a couple of cases each trip.

I did have several hundred canning jars ready for the couple hundred pounds harvest of green beans expected/planned this summer... but it wasn't to be. Still have the jars though....

Remember, Brookshires has 12 can limit at sale prices, so hit em every time you go in. I got some canned tomatoes there a while back, was gettin store brand, looked up on top shelf and RedGold was on sale for .15 less than store brand, reg $1 a can. Pays to ck ALL prices and brands in that store. Kraft cheese is sometimes cheaper than store brand as well, just 2 examples.
I still prefer HEB for most of my purchases, but it is about 5 miles further.

And , of course, I share your gardening experiences the last few years. Drought and grasshoppers this year took everything.
Ed

Currently can get canned corn and green beans at .39/can at only one store. My guess is that next year it'll be up ten cents a can. The Stupidmarkets where the sheep shop have most canned goods at about $1/can.

The Sav A Lot near here had canned vegetables 3/$1 a couple weeks ago and I had a friend pick up $30 worth for me after she called me about it to add to my pantry to back up what I froze and dehydrated from my garden.

When she whined about having to lug the cans to me I reminded her who keeps her computer free of cyber cooties from her kid surfing to gaming sites all the time.

Anyone that would berate you for buying canned food would be a real jerk.

Best price I've found here was 59 cents a can for corn and green beans. Canned potatoes were well over $1.20. I bought the corn. I like store bought canned corn a lot more than home canned sweet corn (but don't tell my mom or brother). I would have bought green beans if I didn't have an abundance of home canned.

I think I'd go for them, before they are all gone. Everyone else in your area has the same plight as you this year.

geo

The cheapest prices we've found locally in the past year have been about .55 to .59 cents per can and that's purchasing by the case. Haven't seen the 3/$1 level for quite some time.

From south central KS., we are used to hot dry summers but nothing like this. I raised a total of 3 tomatoes this summer, about the size of a quarter. $300 water bills, and yes, I will be buying canned veggies this winter too. I shop several stores and buy only the specials, takes time and gas but I think it helps.

I saw canned vegys on sale last week 3/$1, Del Monte brand. We have canneries close and great prices at times. We like our home grown frozen corn. We grow a mild green bean because it is the only type Sweetie likes....James

We used to be able to get 3 and 4 for $1 here as well. However, now 49¢ a can is a good sale. We've started buying in larger cans to save.

texican, this is for you and the rest of us Texans that have access to H.E.B. stores. I'm dating a woman that works at H.E.B. and she enlightened me to the fact that H.E.B. WILL take printed coupons, a fact I wasn't aware of before and also that other coupons, printed or otherwise, can be combined with in-store coupons (the yellow ones) for some good discounts. You have to look for a code on the in-store coupon, I think she said it will be either an M, B or an S, to determine if that particular coupon can be combined with any others. Some can be combined, some can't. Check with a store employee, they can tell you which ones can be combined. Might be worth looking into. Hope this helps.

P.S. Just found out that all store employees aren't aware of the coupon combining thing and some don't know about the codes on the in-store coupons, so, be sure and find someone that knows about the combining codes.

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No berating from me, I'm in the same boat, lol! The best price I've seen advertised around here is at Reasor's (a small local chain) at 5/$3.00, or 60 cents a can. I'm headed to Aldi's tomorrow to see what theirs are and stock up at one or the other before it gets any worse.

2/$1 is the best I've found around here since Spring. Associated Grocer stores had them at 39 cents last Apr. or May, but I haven't seen those prices since. If I were you, I'd go fer it at 2/$1, especially if you can get name brands.

HyVee has corn and green beans for $.39 ea this week. Other than that, 2/$1 is about as good as I've seen lately.

Dave

This thread is timely for me.
I have to go buy for the Boy Scouts food drive tomorrow.
It gives me an idea what I'll find out there.
I don't buy many canned veggies.
I'm thinking of actually trying to coerce the manager into giving me a break on some items!
Wish me luck!

Aldi beats everyone around here.I think they are 40cents a can.We raise a garden so we seldom buy veggies.

Canned goods are 14.5 oz now, and if I am not mistaken that includes the liquid. So maybe 10 oz of actual veggies in the can? Frozen are still 16 oz packages except the "steam in" packaging for the most part. And that is all veggies, no liquid. So I buy frozen, I think they are a better buy and the quality is better. I understand wanting canned veggies for pantry stocking, but if you just want the most bang for your buck look at frozen. Last good recent sale I saw was .59 for 16 oz frozen bags of Hy Vee brand.

Hard (but not impossible) to imagine anyone being so uppity, "berating" anyone who buys canned vegs, for whatever reason.

Most of the ones we get are vegatables and water

We had too much water and then none, so our garden stunk this year, also.

DW does the shopping, but I would think canned goods would be going up, just like verything else.

Today, At Wal Mart and Brookshires in closest town, most cans of regular size were .68 to .86 a can. This isn't counting the specials. I'm going to another town tomorrow to get some things and will see what HEB prices are running here.
ED

So making a suggestion is uppity? Sorry you took it that way, it was only intended to be helpful.

My opinion has always been similar to Mo Cows. When discussing most bang for the buck, if you have the freezer space, my math has always worked out to buying the frozen veggies. That and I like the taste of frozen better than store bought canned. (Just my opinion) Though everyone's situation is different and some would rather store in a pantry without worrying about a loss of electricity ruining their food. In those cases, canned would be better.

I will have to work out the direct cost comparison between the 2 again. May end up changing my mind again about which one I like.

I would much rather have my home canned over any bought, though like some here, I didn't get much anything out of the garden :grump:

I didn't really see where you, or anyoneone else in this thread, was actually berating Texican, for his canned goods purchase.

My response was in reference to his OP, about being "berated".

No offense was meant.

Texican

If I may ask - What is the source of your water - what keeps you from getting water to the garden?

We use rain we are blessed with but by July at the latest we have to run a genny and pump 700 feet up grade to storage tanks. My goal is to one day get a cystern in to catch rain,

Rick, the garden is 40' higher than the lake... I did get a 4Hp trash pump this spring, for the wildfire threat, and to keep the orchard alive. I watered the garden (half an acre) every other day, a good soaking, but nothing would grow... it was a hundred hereabouts already in April, and no ground moisture at all.

A greenhouse is in my future... next to the house. I've been thinking about breaking some virgin ground 'below' the lake, where there's always some ground moisture seeping through... trouble is, a good rain in a normal year puts it all underwater. Toyed with the idea of making a rice crop there.

On the frozen vegetables being a better buy, that may be true... but freezer space is precious. We currently have two full sized iceboxes and four working freezers... the freezers are at least 80% full all the time, with meat and cheeses... high protein/caloric foods. I do keep enough canning equipment/supplies on hand to can all that excess meat, if we get in a long term grid out scenario (more than a week).

Thanks for clarifying! I thought you took it as "uppity" to suggest frozen instead of canned. "What we have here is failure to communicate" a la Cool Hand Luke. :)

Another vote here for frozen, if possible.
Can get get 2lb bags for $1 when they're on sale.
Plus seems like they go a lot further than canned vegetables.
Have seen canned green beans going for 33¢ for Thanksgiving.
Usually canned is between 60¢ and 75¢ now, if lucky get the 2/1$.


p.s. How the heck did I miss the second page?

We had the Frys/Kroger buy-10-for-discount to 49c sale here too last week. I made several trips there with several round trips each time to mildly stock up on those Del Monte brand cans. Some of the stuff is generally pretty pricey, ie, spinach, carrots, mixed vegs, green beans, as well as the usual potatoes, corn, peas. Looked clearly less than at WalMart so that makes it one to look over for me. We just don't produce near enough from hobbyist-level container gardening to do serious home canning.

Aldi has some a little less than .50 per can & usually of good quality. Canned fruit of any kind is around .80 even at Aldi.

Garden failure here due to extreme heat and (@1-*$!!!) rabbits eating sweet potato vines, green beans and cole crops. Heat prevented good pollinization on the sweet corn. I don't have freezer space for bags of frozen veggies either but I watch sales and buy frozen veggies too. Pop them into the dehydrator, vac seal in extra quart jars and I'm good to go. Rehydrated, they taste just like they'd been cooked from frozen state. Three things though--you must own a dehydrator of some sort, you must own a vac sealer that has a jar attachment and you have to remember to soak the dried veggies in time for dinner.

MOgal, very good tip. I may start making a point to watch for frozen veggie sales, I've always thought the price on many of those per unit weight look very economical. Plus, we do have a dehydrator, vac sealer, jar attachment and tube, and supply of empties.

DryHeat, I guess I was a bit over the top saying you MUST have a dehydrator and a vac sealer plus attachments but I have found that commercial or homegrown dehydrated products stay fresher tasting longer in a low O2 container. Tomatoes in particular will oxydize, turn black and taste nasty if not vac-sealed. Sometimes they do anyway, depending on variety.

Another thing you might find helpful is measure out what the package says is a portion and dry it on a tray by itself. After the product is dry, measure it again so you know an equivalent moist:dry when you're ready to use it. I usually mark the lid with that info. I save recycled canning lids for vac sealing in jars if the sealing compound is sound. And I do store with a ring on the jar, something I don't do with canned foods. If the vac seal fails, the ring will keep the lid in place and protect the contents from mice.