Grocery Receipt from 2008 verses the same items today in 2026 (Almost 20 years later!)

I was going through some old files on my external hard drive, downloaded over the years from various laptops or computers we had at the time.   I saw an old receipt from Costco... Spring of 2008.

Just for fun, I decided to look up what the same items would sell for today, in spring of 2026 - almost (almost!) TWENTY YEARS LATER.

Honestly I was surprised as everyone wants to complain how expensive groceries are right now, but they were very, very similar to the price we were paying almost 20 years ago!!! 

Obviously beef is higher now, and the one I found to be really kind of crazy is the cost of GUM now compared to then, but also, bagged snack foods are really high now compared to then.

Many items are CHEAPER today than they were back in 2008.  

A couple items I didn't have a comparison for today when I looked it up this morning using Costco and Sam's - but I also wasn't sure what one or two of them even were... like the 'juice blast'.   

We buy many of the same items today but back then I had three (3) kids still at home so we were buying just a few things different that I don't buy now (like a package of oreos, juice blasts or the gel cups or frito snacks).  But generally speaking we ate similar meals back then as we do now so it was easy to know immediately what they were, and even what I pay for them now. 

 

 

My receipt from Costco, 2008

 

Crumbled feta            5.49                7.28
HB White                    2.99
mangoes                        6.99             9.88 (for an 8 pound box)  
bacon                           10.75            12.83
6# freezer patty            11.49            30.57
Hoagie rolls                1.95                6.98
Breaded tilapia            11.88             13.96 
Fuji apples                    7.99               7.96
Sour cream                    3.79            5.54
cereal                            6.95            6.78
green beans                    6.29          5.74  
juice blast                    7.69
hamburger buns            2.45           3.84 
orange chicken            13.89            12.98
spring rolls                    8.99            8.96
organic broccoli            5.59            6.36
asparagus                        3.99            8.86
garlic potato                    6.59            8.78
romaine                            3.49        4.96
1 % milk                        2.79            2.94
broccoli                        4.49            3.74
strawberries                    8.99        4.37
onions                            4.79         6.22   
pizza sauce                    2.69            
hellman mayo                5.15        9.48
large kiwi                        5.99          7.96  
salmon burger                11.69       14.96 
soy sauce                        3.92         
oreo cookie                    5.08        10.98
org egg 18 count            3.99        5.94
part skim mozzarella        11.72        12.17
org med rice                    5.85          4.98
strbk 2 lb                            9.99        21.78
crumbled bacon            6.99            8.98
1 lb butter quarters        6.32            10.96
fancy mixed nuts            10.99        14.98
3 lb. cream cheese            4.99        6.47
dole fruit gel                    5.99            9.98
celery                             3.79                4.24
sliced swiss                    7.99            7.82
eclipse variety gum        9.79            18.98
pretzel sandwich            6.79                
frito snack 36 ct                8.45            18.48
whole fryer                    6.86            15.87





I've always loved keeping track of the price of groceries and comparing them, so I have various odd excel spread sheets I've made, or word docs I randomly (for fun) did comparisons on.   I'll have to post some of those!

One I'll have to look for I found interesting at the time was the spreadsheets I was tracking during Covid - when prices and shortages were all over the place.  It was fun to keep track though (for a geek like me it's fun anyway!).  ha ha.

So... tried the Carnivore Donuts.... you know, the ones made with just egg, milk powder, baking powder....

 

In the last 3 or 4 years, I don't pay much attention to recipes online and almost never to recipes on social media.  Life has been .... different.... over the past few years so this website came to a screeching halt more or less and is just now showing signs of life again.

If recipes come across my feed I'll sometimes stop to watch, once in a great while I'll save one.  Almost no time or interest to try many of them but it just so happens I was free today, saw this one, and had the inclination and the ingredients to test it.

Carnivore Donuts.

There are a few (many, actually) different versions of this floating around.  I initially saw one in which a young woman who looked and acted like she'd never baked a day in life, was trying a recipe video she saw of a man who was making them.  She was using a video inside a video type thing that is so popular on social media.  

The recipe used just eggs, milk powder and baking powder (although she had baking soda out on the counter when she started to make it... and then when she did the 'add ingredients' part of her video had switched to a tiny little packet of something instead of the baking soda - she called it baking powder so I assume it was.)  I also assume someone told her the difference between baking soda and baking powder so she redid that part of her video.  ANYWAY!

Supposedly these have a texture and taste of donuts and are often topped with a mixture of honey and cream cheese.  Well, I just literally made cheesecake yesterday which has a similar flavor of the glaze so I decided I'd just use that on them when it came to that point.

I halved the recipe since it was a 'test recipe' and I also just have one donut pan (these are baked donuts, not fried).

CARNIVORE DONUTS

2 eggs
1 c whole milk powder
1/2 t baking powder

Whisk like crazy to get good air, and place into a well buttered donut pan.  Bake at 310 for about 10-ish minutes.  


WHAT I CHANGED

I added just the tiniest dusting of nutmeg powder as I really like the taste of old fashioned donuts.  Not even enough to measure - not even a 'pinch' - less than that.  I also added a couple drops of vanilla and lastly, because I saw a commenter say their Carnivore Donuts didn't raise without a little bit of baking soda as well, I added about 1/8 t baking soda.   

I mistakenly baked at 350 degrees so they got a bit dark on top.  I baked for 11 minutes.  



FIRST THE PHOTOS then my opinion at the bottom 



The batter - a nice yellow, thick batter that reminded me of the consistency of royal icing when you make it into a flowing 'base'.    Because it's a MINI donut pan, it's easier to pipe in the batter and it just so happens I had a reusable icing bag out as I was product testing them for a company.   Immediately after filling - before even using, they did this.  Safe to say it went into the trash right after this recipe was made.   

Because it split, the batter was running down (and out the tip) so I just filled the donut cavities up and they looked more like pop-overs or cream puffs.  

Here you can see how I just gave up trying to pipe the batter in nicely and instead, just squished the batter out of the broken bag the best I could, and filled them up all the way instead.

  Even though the pan was buttered well, a couple still stuck a bit.
They browned more than I'd liked as the oven was preheated at 350 instead of 310.
I baked 11 minutes.  The outside top got a bit brown on a few.
 
They looked like donuts on the bottom and a cream puff on top.
The texture is... a bit 'eggy' typical of keto and low carb, wheat-free baking.
Immediately out of the oven were soft and reminded me more of a cream puff than a donut.

 I topped a couple by spreading with the cream cheese filling to be a 'donut'.
Meh.
Because they reminded me of cream puffs I grabbed the whipped cream and filled a couple.
Still meh.

FINAL THOUGHTS:   I'm very glad I took a little smidgen of time to try these.  They were and are nothing like donuts except maybe the fragrance and they must be enjoyed immediately out of the oven while they are still warm.  As they cooled, even 10 minutes later, the texture changes.  They are then more dry and not nearly as edible as when they were still hot, fresh or warm.

I'm not a fan - and have other recipes that are similar but far better.  Very happy I tried this silly 'egg and milk powder' recipe but it's not one I'd make again.  I might 'play' with the idea a bit and see if I can improve it, but I don't know if I'll even do that.  

Pavlova from freeze dried egg whites

 

PAVLOVA

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Be sure your mixing bowl and beaters are clean (even wipe them with vinegar to be sure) so no fat or oils are on them.

6 T Freeze dried egg whites along with 2 T water per egg white 
3 T powdered sugar (or powdered natural sweetener for low carb)
2 t vanilla 

Mix the egg white powder and water in your mixing bowl to soft peak stage.  With the mixer running on low, add in the powdered sugar or sweetener and the vanilla very slowly, once it's all added in and dissolved into the egg whites, increase speed to medium until it's thick and glossy and stiff peaks.

Turn it out onto parchment in a big blob and then use the back of a large spoon or a large icing knife to pull up the sides, and use your big spoon to scoop out the center a bit.  

Turn your oven down to 225 degrees and bake for 1 1/2 hours, turn off your oven and leave it in (without opening your oven) for at least 6+ hours.  I made mine in the late afternoon and left it overnight.

Served the next day with homemade lemon curd and fresh berries (strawberries and blueberries are good - as well as raspberries).  

 

 

 

 

 

Kind of a Chef Boyardee copycat version of their lasagna or pasta but also is lasagna soup (or stew if you make it thicker like I did)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This lasagna soup was one I saw on social media from McCormick spices, and although I didn't have lasagna noodles on hand, it looked really easy and surprisingly good to me that afternoon so I decided I'd whip it up for dinner.  I don't actually love 'soup' for dinner and I'm not a huge fan of lasagna or any of its soup equivalents.   But it was really cold that day, and this recipe was so easy to throw together in a pot and forget about it that I decided to make it.

At first I didn't think it was one I'd bother putting on my website for future reference but when I had leftovers the next day I realized it tasted a lot like the Chef Boyardee version I remembered from my childhood... and decided to put here just in case I ever felt like making it again.

Another quick note - I used food storage items in this too so if you need to use your freeze dried ground beef, this is a good way to do it.

 

 

Loosely based on the Lasagna Soup recipe by McCormick - but then winged it on my own version

2 T olive oil
1 onion, diced (or used the equivalent of dried)
1 lb. ground beef (used freeze dried - with some bouillon added for flavor)
2 cans diced tomatoes (14 oz each)
1 - 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t dried oregano (I used more like 2 teaspoons)
1-2 t dried basil
salt and pepper
4 c chicken stock or made with chicken bouillon base 
A handful of pasta - lasagna noodles broken up or penne, etc.

Brown the ground beef and onion in the oil.  Add everything else, bring to a boil and then simmer until the noodles are soft.  Add more water as needed if you are using freeze dried foods or if you want it more 'soup' and less thick.  It was even better the next day - it had thickened up to ChefBoyardee style and texture and tasted a lot like it.   

 

 

Roast Beef Sliders - homemade and super quick and easy

 

I'm getting ready to make dinner, got the roast beef and the buns (regular for my husband and keto for me) and I couldn't recall where my recipe for these was!  I checked my 'go to' recipe book, didn't see them but that doesn't mean it wasn't there... I probably missed it.  I've not made these in forever... forgot about them as I don't typically buy roast beef slices when I go to Sam's... but saw them on the shelf my last trip and said "OH YEAH...."

I came to my website to get my recipe (from 11/5/22) and I figured I'd repost it as I'm literally whipping these up now and will not 'forget' about making them again any time soon... they are a favorite of both my husband and I - and need to be put back into rotation! 

Roast Beef Sandwiches

2 T olive oil

2-3 t minced garlic

1/4 t red pepper flakes

1/2 lb. sliced roast beef (mine comes from Sam's Club in the meat/deli area)

1/2 c beef broth

1 t Worcestershire sauce or, a little balsamic vinegar or red wine

2 t liquid aminos or soy sauce

2 t dried parsley

2 t dried basil

1/4 t salt and dash fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 t oregano

provolone or swiss cheese slices

buns

In a skillet, heat the oil.  Add the garlic and dried red pepper flakes.  Heat for 1 minute then add the roast beef slices, broth, Worcestershire, liquid aminos, parsley, basil, salt and pepper and oregano.  Heat through.  Lay bottom buns in a pan, top with the meat.  Drizzle the sauce over, top with cheese slices and the top bun.  Drizzle the top with a little more sauce.  Heat in an oven until the cheese melts.

 

A little more on top... optional

 

I sometimes put a wire cookie cooling rack on the bottom of the pan and the sandwiches on top, which keeps the sauce completely off the bottom bun if you don't want any liquid on the bottom.  Other times I don't bother.  If I don't use too much sauce, it doesn't really affect the bottom bun.  If you use a LOT of sauce and the bottoms get a bit soggy, just flip them over and back into the oven to crisp up the bottoms.  Flip again and serve.