I just bought a $7 dollar box of Weetabix - what's the deal with cereal prices?

I just got home from the store. Bought some regular stuff I like, didn't pay attention to prices. Just decided to open my cereal - Weetabix biscuits - and noticed the price on the box ... SEVEN DOLLARS???? OMG, what's the deal with that? I am horrified.  Someone please tell me why is cereal so expensive????????

That is really expensive.  I get my weetabix in Rhode Island or Massachusetts and it only costs $2.50-3.50. 

*cries*

What size of a box was it?

Original Post by thesnarf:

What size of a box was it?

My boxes are 15 ounces/24 biscuits.

Original Post by nycgirl:

I just got home from the store. Bought some regular stuff I like, didn't pay attention to prices. Just decided to open my cereal - Weetabix biscuits - and noticed the price on the box ... SEVEN DOLLARS???? OMG, what's the deal with that? I am horrified. Someone please tell me why is cereal so expensive????????

Maybe this can help

http://www.amazon.com/Weetabix-Organic-Cereal -15-Ounce-Boxes/dp/B000Q7ENH8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1 ?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1208640893& ;sr=8-1

If you sign up for the "subscribe and save" you can get it for $17.66 (for6 boxes) You can set it up to deliver every 1 or 6 months (or just wait till you first shipment comes and cancel you subscription , I've done this a lot)

Not too shabby, no tax and free shipping. $2.94 a box)

Thanks for all the advice etc ... it was a 24 biscuit box, regular size. I am not so upset about this one box in particular and since I am unmarried and live alone buying in bulk won't work (plus who wants to eat the same cereal from now until eternity, I am an addict of variety!).

I just want to know why cereal is so expensive???? I don't get it?

its like 3 bucks over here... if you got it from a  health food store they definitely jack up the prices.

Wow!!!

 I live in Freeport Bahamas, the Land of Sun, sea and sky high prices 

Cereal here is NO LESS than $5.49 thats for the regular Corn flakes, Apple Jacks etc.. When you start looking at the healthy stuff ie Kashi, Branflakes etc your talking $6-8

and that's with shipping to get them here and duty which run from 20% up. 

Sounds like you got had babes

Commodity prices are increasing too FYI- all cereal prices are increasing because the global price of grains has tripled of late; crop failures of rice in australia, use of food for biofuels (this raises the price and decreases availability). Thats also why milk is more expensive too! Just so you know ;) (NYTs has had some good articles on it, and on increasing organic food prices)

Meat will be affected...   Grain fed cattle etc.  Plus the US$ (and the GB£) isn't doing well on the currency markets.  Any imports are going to be more expensive.

It's the same in the UK. Until I got to uni and started doing my own shopping I didn't realise how much food cost ... now I realise just how incredibly expensive cereal is. A small box costs between £2 and £3 and supermarket brands aren't much better.

Although, to be fair, if you are having a very lazy day then cereal can be eaten for every meal.  It is the universal food.

Weetabix aren't made in the US, they're imported from Australia... I think they have them in the UK too. But the round-the-world transport makes them very expensive, especially since they don't have a large market in the US and they're more of a 'special interest' cereal. The price of cereal (and food in general) has skyrocketed anyway... we usually eat Fiber One in some form, and that's almost five dollars a box!

Although the other posts indicate that the store you are shopping at is charging a great deal, there are other factors.  Wheat in particular is a commodity which normally sells for approximately $3 per bushel .  Due to increased world demand, and a substandard growing season for wheat last year, the current worldwide stocks are at their lowest point since World War 2.  That has driven the price up to as high as $12 or more per bushel.  The current high energy prices have also made it cost more to ship the wheat to the cereal mills, and the cereal to the grocery stores.  The cereal makers and grocery stores have to pass those costs on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. 

looking at your name i assume you live in NYC? i'm not sure why you're surprised then.. unless you just moved here.  i live in  NYC also and $7 for cereal is standard price at the grocery stores.

try buying cereal at the drug stores.. cvs, rite aid, duane reade etc as its usually cheaper.

I never pay more than $1 - $1.50 per box of cereal, ever.  Name brands, not generic. 

Right now in the trunk of my car (because I have no room left in my condo) I have a box of Special K Almond, Fiber One Honey Clusters, 18oz Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and a couple others I can't remember now... none of which I paid more than $1.50 for.  Some of them I paid $0.50 or $1.00.

I'm happy to share what I do, send me a PM if you want to know. 

cereal is something like 80% more expensive than it was in the 70's, probably because it is so "popular" with kids, and why just push up the price of kids cereal when you can push up the price of grown up cereal. 

you should shop around for your food, take mental notes of how much it costs here and there, you'll save a bunch

rsbritt was right on. My husband has taken up baking bread recently and the price of flour has gone up drastically in that time. Even buying in bulk it's getting to be an investment! We have some Amish/Mennonite stores around here that we get much better deals at than regular grocery stores but they aren't immune to the increases. There have been a number of stories on the nat'l news about bread prices going through the roof. Cereal would do the same. Gosh, can beer be far behind???

The only reason I have a membership to Costco is so I can buy cereal (and chicken breasts). They have Kashi Go Lean, Nature's Path & All Bran Buds in giant boxes that last forever. You can twice as much for the same price as the small boxes!

Food prices are up everywhere in the world because the price of crude oil (gas) has risen.... this hurts every industry because all commodities (esp. food) are transported.. and that's where it hits consumers the worst.. because the cost of getting the product from A to B is transfered down to the consumer with an increase of price....

It is also true that the price of wheat/grains is up.. but again that is due to crude oil prices.... it increases the price/bushel - again, farming uses a lot of gas (farm vehicle's, etc) that one might not think of... basically it's costing more for producers and retailers to make/sell the products.. and we (the consumers) are paying for it...

In Canada (especially in Vancouver) food prices are at a record high!... An average box of cereal is about $6.50 CAD which will end up being somewhere around $7 USD.. :( Eggs are about $4.50 CAD for 1 dozen!!!!

I live in Manhattan (the Financial District), so the delis and little grocery stores assume that everyone is a wealthy i-banker and they therefore price gouge like crazy...it's usually $5.50 for a box of cereal and $1.50 for a single serve yogurt.

I remember reading in the WSJ not too long ago that food prices are also up due to increases in fuel prices (mentioned above) and the fact that US farmers are receiving subsidies for producing ethanol...