I saw something in the grocery store I've never seen before:

[Le Taz Hot]

They're now selling half-loaves of bread. We're talking MAYBE 12 slices here for $1.50. Granted, it was the good, whole wheat bread but $1.50 for 12 slices??? Has anyone else seen this?

[RockaFowler]

1. WOW

I just paid $1.50 for a whole loaf. That's awful.

[elocs]

31. I can buy a whole loaf of 12 grain bread for $1.50 where I live.

I think that those who would be willing to pay that for a half loaf do so because they want that particular bread.

[supernova]

2. You mean 1/2 of an "artisan" loaf

not 1/2 loaves of Wonder Bread?

Not much wrong with that, esp when the fancy loaves are about $3.50 $4 a loaf. There's one bakery here, their farmhous loaves are so big, Whole Foods, cuts them in 1/4s. :crazy:

[Le Taz Hot]

6. I was amazed that they were selling

1/2 loaves. I rarely buy bread (I make my own) so this was just a real shocker.

[supernova]

14. Yeah, making your own bread

is pennies per serving.

I wish I could eat it more often to make making it worth while. I'm wheat sensitive. :-(

[Shakespeare]

27. The ones I've seen are the half loaves of plain old sandwich bread.

The kind that used to be a buck and a half for a whole loaf, is now a half loaf at the same price. More package downsizing, it seems.

[supernova]

30. Now that's odd

I admit I haven't seen that.

I'll look for it next time I'm in Kroger's or Harris Teeter to see if they are doing it.

[Shakespeare]

40. I only noticed this past weekend.

We were at Fresh & Easy, and when I picked up the loaf--on sale, big freakin' deal--it was half the size it used to be just a month or so ago. Yeah, some sale.

I haven't checked Ralphs or any of the bigger stores around here, but I'm certainly going to check next time. They're already pulling that crap with cereal, and now they've apparently moved on to bread.

[Retrograde]

42. some local bakeries have been making half-loafs for a while

a couple of them make half-sized sourdough loafs, which is great for households like mine, who often can't get through a full-sized one before it becomes rock-hard. I'd like to see smaller-sized sliced breads as well, for the same reason.

BTW, besides French toast and bread putting, stale bread makes good breadcrumbs. Break up the pieces as well as you can and give 'em a whirl in the blender.

[mwb970]

3. I live alone and end up throwing away bread.

For me, half a loaf is not only better than none, it's better than a full loaf!

[Lebam in LA]

7. Debbie Meyer Bread Bags Work

I use the green bags and they work too. I haven't thrown away any bread or produce since using them. I to live alone and they have been great. Saved me $.

[zanne]

26. Thanks for the tip. nt

[Bryn]

34. Thanks

I will try the green bags. I hate wasting bread and veggies. :hi:

[Maru Kitteh]

37. I can second that. I was shocked at how well they work.

When I get to lazy to use them or forget, I notice the difference immediately and am sorry for it. Veggies last WAY longer, and stay nice and fresh in the green bags. I need to get some more.

[mwb970]

41. I'll definitely get some - thanks.

:)

[Le Taz Hot]

8. When I lived by myself and before I started making my own

I'd buy bread and put the whole loaf in the freezer, getting out 1-2 pieces as I needed them. I'm not saying there's anything wrong in offering 1/2 loaf of bread, it's just something I'd never seen before.

[Kali]

9. freeze it

works fine

[pipi_k]

21. I freeze my bread too

The trick is to put it in a couple of plastic bags to keep it relatively safe from freezer burn.

I also freeze green peppers (wash and slice them first) and fresh blueberries. Sometimes when carrots are on sale I will blanch and then freeze them too. I freeze leftover spaghetti sauce....deli meats like sliced ham or turkey. Individually wrapped American cheese. Actually, almost anything can be frozen, which is a blessing when you live 20 miles away from the large grocery stores. There's a huge chest-type freezer out in the barn that can hold weeks worth of frozen food, in addition to the freezer in the fridge in the house.


Er, but anyway, to the topic...I've never seen the half loaves of bread, but it does make sense for single people or families that don't use a lot of bread.

[NashVegas]

28. I Freeze Mine

But still rarely end up finishing a loaf.

[JSK]

22. Keep it in the freezer

and use it as you need it!

[zanne]

24. BRAVO!

In England, they used to sell things for singles or couples. Here, all you can get, at any time, are family-sized items. I hate wasting food,and not all food items can be frozen. I think it's time to consider the singles and couples in this country and start selling smaller amounts of food (at reasonable prices). I wonder if a supermarket could be set up that way and make money? Something to think about in a recession.

[ensho]

35. buy unsliced bread - it lasts longer

nt

[gollygee]

4. Before I got married, I never finished a loaf of bread, and that felt really wasteful

I just don't think it tastes the same or has the same texture or something after it's been in the freezer.

And real whole grain bread is around $3 a loaf, so if it were half a loaf of that it would be a reasonable price.

[Lost in CT]

5. No but honestly the way I often end up throwing out

pre-packed bread 1/2 loafs might not be a bad idea....


Now fresh baked bread on the other hand never seems to last long enough to go bad...

[Warpy]

10. Actually, I have

They were common in Boston up until the time I left, 1990. They were a convenience for apartment cliff dwellers who lived alone and didn't have much of a kitchen. Only premium breads sold by the half loaf, though.

The half loaf came in handy in the dog days of summer when bread would mildew quickly and even putting it in the fridge didn't stop the process. Apartment freezers were, um, inadequate to say the least.

I'm not a bit surprised the half loaf is back. People who are living on the absolute edge are going to need things like this if they can't find anybody to go halvsies on a whole portion.

[lame54]

11. No - but I've gotten requests for us to do so

[NMMOM]

12. actually..

I did notice at one of the higher end, "natural foods" chains (Whole Foods) that this was happening.
Although I can't afford to do all my shopping there I do go there for the organic produce.
Something else I noticed lately: Some of the bigger food chains (Albertsons) are cutting back on the bigger name brands for staple items ie. cheese and milk, and offering more of their own brandname items because they're cheaper.
Pretty soon we won't have a choice at all. Sad. :-(

[2Design]

13. soda products are now 8 cans versus 12 - getting close to same price

they just make the packages smaller and keep a smaller price at first and then up the price

[Le Taz Hot]

16. The smaller packaging I've noticed.

The yogurt I've been buying is enough for maybe three or four good mouthfuls and the price has gone up considerably.

[woodsprite]

19. We've noticed the same thing, so hubby has moved to buying the

large containers of yogurt and dishing out what he wants. When we first started doing that, you could only get plain or vanilla at our store in the large size. I noticed yesterday that they now are selling peach and strawberry. Of course, they were more expensive and they had a full stock of those, where the vanilla and plain were almost sold out.

[Frustratedlady]

15. Keep an eye on many items, as they are reducing the size/weight, but not the price.

For instance, I picked up a "half gallon" of frozen yogurt, but it was actually 3 pints. Sugar, of course, was one of the first to downsize several years ago. The 5# package went down to 4#. Some cereal boxes are thinner, soup cans smaller, etc. About the only size package not affected is the egg.

Also, watch "store sales" as many at the ends of the aisles are actually more expensive than before. With the UPC codes, all they have to do is change the prices in the computer, so they can add a few cents, put it up for 4 for $5 and you think you're getting a bargain.

As for the 1/2 loaf, those are nice if you are alone. However, when going to the 1/2 loaf slice-wise, they are usually cutting down on the overall size, too. I'd say $1.50 is out of line for a 1/2 loaf.

They are getting innovative.

[Le Taz Hot]

18. Oh, I'm loving some of these "sales."

I was at Von's on Friday and they were having a buy-one-get-one-free sale on a certain type of bacon. I rarely buy bacon but I thought, what the hell, I'll buy it and freeze it. Then I saw the sale bacon was almost $7.00 a pound! Needless to say I passed.

[JSK]

23. Same thing happened with coffee years ago

A pound of coffee used to be a pound -- 16 oz. When the prices went way up (when was that--in the late 70's?), people went nuts and a pound suddenly became 12 oz so they could lower the price a little. And that's how the 12 oz "pound" was born.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

17. They sell half-size loaves of bread in the UK.

I think they usually cost around 85p. I actually prefer them most of the time because I don't use a lot of bread, so I end up wasting less.

[zanne]

25. That's great. nt

[begin_within]

20. I'm glad to see Oroweat selling half-loaves, because

we get fresher bread by buying it twice as often. Whole wheat bread can go bad faster, so we end up refrigerating it, especially in the summer. I for one was really happy to see the half-loaves start appearing on the shelves.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

29. At my supermarket they've been selling 1/2 loaves of freshly baked rye for a while. They are now

selling 1/2 pies.

[TlalocW]

32. As a childfree male who never learned to cook beyond grilling...

I can understand this. I usually end up throwing bread out, and I'm rather obsessive about expiration dates so while freezing food sounds like a solution, it would also make me want to avoid what I've put into the freezer... if that makes sense.

If I were a better cook, I would wish to live in a country where you walk to the market everyday and get your food that you're going to use that day.

TlalocW

[Profprileasn]

33. No

haven't seen that but whole loaves of really good bread go for $3.50 so not surprising.

[sinkingfeeling]

36. No, but it's a great idea for those of us that live alone. I probably have 10 half loafts of freezer

burnt bread right now! I also share the most of a loaf with the birds. I'm probably the biggest waster of bread in the world.

[Vinca]

38. I buy a multigrain bread from the Hannaford bakery that is sold like that.

I don't use much bread and - believe it or not - actually rewrap it so I can take individual slices out of the freezer to use. Waste not want not and all that.

[Holly_Hobby]

39. I just paid $2.99 for 16 slices of good rye bread n/t