Flour prices going down?

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ericb on 12 Nov 2008 at 04:50

For the last two weeks, almost all flour at my grocery has been on sale. A five pound bag KA All Purpose was going for 3.59, just under $0.72/lb. Even the store-brand stuff was on sale.

Could it be that flour prices are slowly dropping? Or perhaps our monolithic regional grocers is just doing a periodic marketing sale of baking supplies? If so, it sure worked on me: I purchased 25 pounds to stock up.

I'm always shocked to see how flour prices are set regionally, even within the same chain. I have family in central Indiana, where a bag of KA AP costs an additional 30-40 cents per pound.

What are you seeing in your area?

Eric

The retailer may not want to hold an overpriced inventory in a falling market...,

Wild-Yeast

 

CBOT Wheat 11/12/08 

I think every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas they do sales on flour.  I just remember always stocking up around this time of year because of the deals.  Last week here at Kroger you could get a 5 lb bag of flour for $1.50 if you about 10 bags.  I only remember seeing sales like this around this time of year.  I could be wrong though.

Flour always goes on sale for the holidays here in northern Virginia, too.  It's been reliable for as long as I can remember.

 Dave

I justed picked up 44# of Meunerie Milanaise organic winter blend (red & white wheat) for $26.43 - just under $ .60/# - I have been really happy with KA artisan so I have my fingers crossed. I think I read on TFL that Daniel Leader uses this flour at Bread Alone.

Believe it or not the KA is shipped to NY from NC so this flour was more local than our neighbor in VT.

Judy

I was surprised to find Gold Medal "Better For Bread" (the old Harvest King) in the bright yellow bag for $2.00 for 5#.  Here in Wisconsin this flour has been priced at or below the generic Pillsbury and General Mills AP flours for as long as I have been baking. Great flour for breads, getting back to reasonable pricing.

Eric 

Gold Medal "Better For Bread" flour is still $3 for a 5-pound bag in NYC. I'm fascinated by the variation in flour prices by geographic area even when one is talking about a nationally distributed brand such as Gold Medal flours.

The GM Better for Bread is now two bucks for five pounds at our local box store. It had been $2.78 over the summer. KA BF is still holding at $3.68/5# at that store (I paid $2.72 for 5# of the KA in November 2007).

On the other hand, our local grocery store had KA BF "on sale" at $4.50 for 5# today. Marked down from the five bucks they've priced it since spring. This is a large chain grocery store so there's no excuse for that price.

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Marni on 13 Nov 2008 at 15:34

Trader Joe's is holding steady at $3.99 for a 5# bag of AP flour.  The white whole wheat is $4.49 for the 5#.  Smart and Final ( a "warehouse") store, is even higher.  I stopped  checking at the large chain supermarkets because they had always been so much more. 

I don't bother to shop in the large stores anymore generally. The prices are higher and the small stores are friendlier.  That's how it is here in Los Angeles, anyway.

Marni

I just purchased a 50 lb bag of Kyrol which I used for rolls and it was only 15.00. Great compared to the 29.00 I paid in March and April.

Here in Maryland he AP KA is about 4.75 for a 5 pound bag at the local big grocery, so when I saw it at Trader Joes for 3.99 I bought 4 bags.  A few days later I was at Whole Foods (also known as Whole Paycheck) and saw that they have KA AP flour with an "everyday new price" of 3.29 for 5 pounds.  For bread I buy the Pilsbury Bread flour at the supermarket for $2.99.

Sharon

www.thebraidedloaf.com