I can only eat "clean" food because I have a large number of food sensitivities. So if it isn't organic or free range it doesn't go into my mouth. At the beginning of 2013 I could shop at Whole Foods and pay $100 for 2 full bags of groceries. I never purchase anything "pre-made". Last week I spent $100 and the one bag I used was just over 1/2 way full of vegetables and a dozen eggs. Talk about inflation!

They haven't been hiding inflation. They let us know every time they print tons more dollars. That is inflation. It does take a while to trickle down to where our prices go up dramatically.

Can't eat a full meal with 2 drinks for each of 2 party table for under $75 with tip and middling restaurant.

In general grocery for similar is about 20% higher than last year. In restaurant, wines that were $6/glass are now $8-$9/glass; a prime ribeye steak is now $60 when 2-3 years ago $35. Micro Brews are hard to judge since the government slapped a $2 tariff on foreign beer and native micros then raised their prices and massed produced too (thankfully I don't drink much micro beer anymore).

I wrote my post before I read yours. (Got to get out of that habit) We're in the same boat. We've been retired longer than you and foolishly thought we had it made. Everything was paid for, and we could coast until death did us part. Ha! I've got a feeling that we'll be doing a lot more financial tap dancing before we assume room temperature.

Just yesterday milk, already at an extreme price, went from 4,09 to 4.19. Maybe we should start drinking gas.

As retirees on a fixed income, we moved to a smaller, less expensive home, cut back on so many things to keep our lifestyle viable; in the four years since then, we have been cutting closer and closer to the bone just to maintain even part of what we want, let alone what we need... I have no idea what they plan for us geezers next, but if we can't keep our low-mortgage home, how can we afford an expensive apartment? The food prices have gone up $600/mo now versus ($400-$500/mo. then), gas is way up, the propane to heat our home and cook our food has skyrocketed. It went to $4.00/gal. over winter, yet when they topped off the tank in late spring, it was $2.79/gal. The driver told us the propane shortage over winter was the government selling all of our reserves to Asia at $7.00/gal. last fall...We sure didn't hear about that--instead they blamed the farmers for using it to dry corn.

It’s been creeping up for years now. They hid the inflation by illusion; the packaging has been getting smaller and smaller.
Plus, grocers have been trying to swallow some of the cost on their own to keep the prices down -- more no-name brands on the shelf.

Agreed! Government by deception.

True enough, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics both knowingly and unknowingly violate the key assumptions underlying statistics.

Statistics don't lie, people do:-)

Coffee and hamburger are way up - definitely over 25%, approaching 50% versus prices a year or two ago. Beef jerkey just went up 16% the last time I bought it. Fruits, vegetables, breads, and cereals seem to be the same. If there's a difference it hasn't been enough for me to notice. I don't eat at restaurants so I don't know the situation there.

Yes. 15 to 20% increase over the past year would not surprise me at all. I didn't keep track of my grocery bills. However, a coworker did and she claims about a 20% increase over 2013.

Groceries and energy/fuel are exempted from the inflation calculation, but housing is included. Thus when home prices were cratering and groceries, energy, and fuel were increasing, that was viewed as a net inflation of a very small number. However, when home prices drop, that is a drop in net worth for most people. There are lies, damn lies, and then there is the Bureau of Labor (Liars, Damn Liars, and) Statistics.

Everything is creeping up....faster and faster it seems. And I think inflation is being hidden lots of ways, as well has job numbers, real unemployment numbers... smoke and mirrors all over the place.

I've noticed grocery bills going up, as well as some very specific goods. The wizard I live with priced noise-cancelling headphones recently - $350. The last time we bought a pair, the prices were in the 180's - 190's, Computers, however, seem to be hovering around the same price they've been at for 10 years.
It leads me to think that cost doesn't drive price now as much as it has.