When did bagels get so expensive?

[Long Run]

I first started eating fresh made, good bakery, bagels in the 1980s, and they cost about a quarter. You could get them for 10-15 cents day old. You could not get fresh bagels in grocery stores then. Since then, there have been a proliferation of bagel shops to supplement the traditional Jewish bakeries, as well as regular grocery stores adding decent to good bagels to their product mix. I don't eat bagels much any more, but stopped in to two different bagels shops recently, one local and one national (the Einstein conglomerate that is buying up every reasonably successful franchise it can find). The bagels were $1.65 and $1.75, and there were more expensive varieties. And mind you, I just want the bagel -- no toasting or cream cheese, etc.

So there is nearly a 300% increase [thank you Crackpot!] in artisan bagel prices in 30 years, while the cost of most items that cost you 25 cents in 1982, will cost you 60 cents today (http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm). And guess what, I can go to Safeway and get a decent bagel for 50 cents that is not quite as good as the artisan bagels but acceptable if you get it fresh. Of course, bagels have not come close to keeping up with the quality coffee craze . . .

[Crackpot]

I think your numbers are off

[Long Run]

I think your numbers are off

300%, 400%, hey I'm a lawyer I'm not good at math. I hear that line goes over well.

[dales]

That's the price around here and a Safeway Bagel will run around $1.

REAL inflation (energy and food costs factored in) has been running around 20%/year for the last 50 years at least.

Hell, in 1969 one could still buy a candy bar for 5 cents, now you're lucky if you can find the same damned bar for less that a dollar. Lemme see thats a little over 40 years with a 2000% increase, gasoline was less than 25cents per gallon and now its 40 times that price. that's 4000% increase.

We're taking it up the backside sideways and loving it.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Whatever the cost, the bagels in our super market (Stop and ShDrop) are terrible, be it prepacked or from teh bakery department. Same with most/all of the bagel shops around my neck of the woods (Farmingville NY). I don't think anyone boils their bagels anymore prior to putting them in the oven.

But I was probably spoiled by the high quality bagels I got growing up in Mineola which is next door to East Williston and Roslyn where many Jewish bagel shops were located. A buddy of mine worked in a bagel shop when we were in high school (or shortly afterward). He would be at work at 4:30am and we would just be going home and woyld stop by to get some fresh "right out of the oven" bagels.

Don't know what the costs are now as I have stopped buying what passes for a bagel around my house and it's been a while since I have been in the East williston part of the Island.

[Daisy]

Four bagels for a pound at my local Asda (Wal-Mart), and they're pretty decent - not as good as the deli ones in Manchester admittedly, but still pretty nice.

A toasted deli one still about £1.20 each in town, but then I figure they have overheads in the city centre to pay for.

I love a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, mmmmmmm!

[Andrew D]

Have you tried adding capers to that?

[Reality Bytes]

MMMM or cream cheese & salami

The Tesco fresh baked cheese topped bagels range from nice to lush depending on which poor sap has been told they are on bakery duty that day get them done right they are soft, golden and dripping with melted cheese, if they have been too busy to get them out as soon as the timer rings then they can sometimes be a bit overdone - either way they are my usual choice for lunch on Friday's when my Tesco shop is delivered.

[Sue U]

done right they are soft, golden

That is not a bagel; that is a donut.

I don't think anyone boils their bagels anymore prior to putting them in the oven.

Yes they do, because that is what makes them bagels. If they're not boiled first, they're something else. The mass-produced steamed bread product should not be permitted to be labeled as "bagels," as it is both false advertising and a shanda fur die goyim.

[Gob]

Bagel recipe please Sue!

[Sue U]

I'm not a bread baker; if I want bagels I buy them ($5.99 a dozen) on Sunday at my grocery store, which gets them (and decent bialys) trucked in from somewhere in Brooklyn -- even though they have their own bakery at the store. I kid you not, they keep the supplier a secret. You have to get there early, because they're usually sold out by early afternoon.

There's also a local bagel shop about a mile up the street from my house that usually does a pretty good job, but they're erratic in selection and freshness and about twice the price.

[Joe Guy]

.... gasoline was less than 25cents per gallon and now its 40 times that price. that's 4000% increase.

40 X .25 = $10.00 per gallon. Gas is expensive in Antioch...

[dales]

Well at least someone caught my intentional mathematical error.

From 25 cents to $4 would be a 16 times or 1600%, so there.

[rubato]

When you express the change as a percentage of the total you are saying that the increase is equal to that many times of the original. So if you start with 25 and it doubles (2x) it increases by 100% (not 200%) if it triples it increases by 200% therefore if it is 16 times more as a percentage increase it is 1500%.

It gets clearer when you are talking about a smaller change. If you start with 100 and it increases to 125 then its a 25% increase.

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

I'll have a crack at these; http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/167456/best-ever-bagels

Unless someone has a better recipe?

[dales]

When you express the change as a percentage of the total you are saying that the increase is equal to that many times of the original. So if you start with 25 and it doubles (2x) it increases by 100% (not 200%) if it triples it increases by 200% therefore if it is 16 times more as a percentage increase it is 1500%.

It gets clearer when you are talking about a smaller change. If you start with 100 and it increases to 125 then its a 25% increase.

yrs,
rubato

So a 25 cents to $4.00 is what percentage of increase?

16 times right?

Would not that be 1600%?

[Andrew D]

From $0.25 to $4.00 is an increase of 1500%, not 1600%. The increase is the amount by which $4.00 is more than $0.25. $4.00 is $3.75 more than $0.25, and $3.75 is 1500% of $0.25. $4.00 is 16 times as much as $0.25, but it is only 15 times more than $0.25.

[dales]

Thanks, Andrew.

We can agree that the cost of both food and energy have increased a hellva a lot in the past 50 years.

[Joe Guy]

I agree 75%!

[dales]

WHAAAAAAAAAAT?