Analysts say 'Spam and Ramen noodle sales up'; Hard times ahead

Matt Fischer, the author of the Official Ramen HomePage blog, says we are in for some hard times.

According to Matt, sales of Spam and other inexpesive commodities, such as Ramen noodles are up significantly, and that suggest people are tightening their budgets significantly.

According to an AP story article, consumers are turning to lower cost food products to help make ends meet.

"Kimberly Quan, a stay-at-home mom of three who lives just outside San Francisco, has been feeding her family more Spam in the last six months as she tries to make her food budget go further.

She cooks meals like Spam fried rice and Spam sandwiches two or three times a month, up from once a month previously.

Pulling Spam from the shelf prevents last-minute grocery store trips and overspending, said Quan, 38, of Pleasanton, Calif.

'It's canned meat and it's in the cupboard and if everything else is gone from the fridge, it's there,' she said.

Quan just bought a couple more cans of Spam on sale and some ramen, the instant noodle dish long a staple on college campuses. Her food and gas budgets are together, so she's had to cut back on food spending while the cost of gas increases. Her favorite Spam meal? Spam and macaroni and cheese. She doesn't skimp on nutrition, though. Quan serves her husband and three children — ranging in age from 4 to 11 — organic vegetables like salads, broccoli and carrots."

Matt Fischer noted that because there has been rise in grain prices over the past year, ramen is now more expensive. USDA data shows that in just 5 years time, the wholesale cost of wheat to make flour has gone from $8.68/100 lbs, to $27.70/100lbs, which is a 320% increase. It would be logical to expect ramen noodle prices to rise along with that increase. Matt wonders if the traffic to his website might not be a correlary with the economy.

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