why's bread so expensive?

[IcyPeas]

don't we grow tons of wheat in this country? why?

[rzemanfl]

1. Because bread would spoil in the time it took to ship it from

low wage countries.

[fleabiscuit]

2. Lots of cheap bread too. nt

[applegrove]

3. In Canada grocery store chains got caught fixing the price of bread last

year.

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. CEO's need more yachts. Doncha know?

[badhair77]

5. I make my own and it's really cheap. I've had a bread maker for years but

I’ve seen them for less than $5 in Goodwill-type stores. I use flour, sugar and yeast and butter - minutes to measure. It takes about 90 min to bake. Without the baking it takes less time than to walk into the store.

[Major Nikon]

10. It's even cheaper if you're not making fortified bread

Flour, water, salt and yeast are the only ingredients. If you are making sourdough you don't even need commercial yeast.

[Buzz cook]

6. The cost of shelf space is high.

If you buy at an outlet store the cost per loaf is much lower.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. We pay around $1.60 per loaf for white bread which seems reasonable...

considering farm costs, storage, grain processing, baking, transportation, store overhead and profits....plus that lost due to out-of-date product.

In most areas of the US, the most outrageously priced and most extravagant item at the grocery which also has a high environmental cost is bottled water.....

[Ohiogal]

8. When my kids were small

and we were on WIC, I learned to shop at the bakery outlet stores. Good quality whole wheat bread 75 cents a loaf. It was a lifesaver for us, especially when they got a little older and I used to pack 4 lunches every morning (3 kids and my hubby’s). I still buy bread there sometimes.

[UTUSN]

9. Today I noticed my multi-grain was over 3 bucks. More than a gal of gas.

[Kaleva]

11. Enriched white bread at the Dollar General is $1.25 a loaf.

[Kali]

13. it's made out of petroleum

[Flaleftist]

14. It depends on the type of bread and where you buy it.

A loaf of generic white bread at Aldi is about 99 cents. A load of Pepperidge Farm at other chains can be $4.

[Codeine]

15. I buy store brand sourdough

and whole wheat and they’re both ridiculously cheap. Try a different store?

It’s easy to forget bread pricing has to account for a fairly high degree of loss for out of code product. Additionally, that short shelf life means bakery and bread distribution companies need to have daily merchandising of the product to maintain rotation and pull for codes. Those costs all need to be “baked in”, as it were.

[TexasBushwhacker]

16. Because it takes human beings to make it

And they have to be paid.

[yewberry]

17. Washington state here.

Bread is expensive here. Whole grain or seeded breads are routinely north of five bucks. Dave's Killer Bread (organic) is $6.89 at the Safeway up the street. Store brand organic is $4.09. Store brand multi-grain is on sale for $2.29.