The price of sugar

[Jori]

I know that the price of granulated sugar is on the rise. I mentioned this to DH but he didn't have an opinion. But what about the price of brown sugar and powdered sugar? Should we be doing additional stocking of these, also?

[Homemaker]

I guess all would be going up in price. Are all three types from cane, or do they make any of it from corn or beets?

 

I don't know the reason it's going up in price and whether its just the cane sugar or the others as well. I suppose if one type gets harder to find, the others will go up in price as people turn to it as an alternative.

 

I grabbed a few more bags of the granulated sugar yesterday. We don't consume sugar, just use lots in making our kombucha drinks. The little probiotic buggies eat the sugar and we drink the by-product. Gotta keep plenty in stock so our little microscopic friends don't starve!!

[Jori]

I think there are 2 reasons but the only thing I can remember is that there is a drought in India.

[Canned Nerd]

There's no shortage of sugar on the world market, but there is an import restriction in the US for the stuff which makes it more expensive for companies to make their products....so they are whining that they will run out of sugar unless the import restrictions are lifted (and lower their costs).

 

Full story (Aug 13th) at http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/13/bu...ry5239716.shtml

[CrabGrassAcres]

The brown sugar you buy at the store is just white sugar and some molasses. I don't buy brown sugar any more. I just add a little molasses to the recipe and regular sugar. I can't use powdered because of the corn starch added. You can put regular sugar in a blender or processor and make it more like powdered.

[Canned Nerd]

Not entirely correct, but close enough I guess. Raw and brown sugars are just removed from the processing at different stages so the molasses is not removed. You are taking the final refined white sugar and adding molasses to it instead of dealing with the original unrefined sugar.

 

[Crazy4Canning]

I usually buy groceries in bulk at Costco and only go into a regular grocery store once a month. It's all I can stand.

 

I have noticed over the past year that sugar prices fall and rise, sometimes by as much as a couple of dollars for a 5# bag.

 

Since I buy in a 25# or 50# bag, I've noticed about a $2-$3 variance depending on the season.

 

It seems to be the same trend with white, brown, or powdered.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Nerd, that is true of "real" brown sugar, but that is not what is normally sold in grocery stores these days.

[Homemaker]

The Rapadura sugar I use for baking is unrefined, so the "molasses" part was never taken out. It also still has the fiber and a lot of minerals. The molasses flavor is very noticeable.

I need to check if this has gone up much. I better re-stock.

[Cricket]

I paid $2.99 today for a five pound bag of store brand granulated sugar.

[Homemaker]

This week I paid $4.58 for a ten pound bag of the Great Value brand at Wally World, ( $5lb. would be 2.29.)

An interesting side note... according to their little tags on the shelf, the next size up, I think it was a 25 lb bag, cost more per ounce than the ten pound bag. Another case where buying in bulk ends up costing you more!

[snapshotmiki]

Sugar is on sale here in my part of the world at the local Food Basket. $1.47 - 5# bag

[firegirl969]

Dixie Crystal's sugar has been on sale here for a week at three 4 lb bags for $5.

[CrabGrassAcres]

There was no diff in per lb price between 10# and 25# so I got smaller packages. Easier to carry. About the same price as Homemaker got. HEB and WM tend to be about same on stuff like that.

[ayleeann]

I just paid $5.88 for 10# Great Value at Walmart today. According to Homemaker above that's a $1.30 increase in about 2 weeks !! Yikes !!

[jtsmama]

I paid $4.44 for 10lb bags at SuperOne Foods today.This is the first time I've seen it under 50 cents per pound all summer in my area.

[Grace&Violets]

I keep a small amount of white sugar at the house, but we don't use it very often. We usually use Sucanat (similar to the Rapadura that Homemaker uses). If I buy organic, it is about $2.99 for 2 lbs or non-organic is about $1.29 per lb, so not much difference there. The last one I bought has a very strong molasses flavor, but it's still got all of the vitamins and minerals of the cane. I can't stand white sugar in my coffee any more.

 

If anyone knows of a good price for bulk Sucanat, please let me know. I'd love to get a 25lb bag.