Parents Are Going Broke Buying Berries

[00:00:00]Parents are going broke on berries, the fruit. Specifically though, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. One mom in Kansas told the post that she brought home more than $30 worth of berries from Costco. She expected it to last her twin toddlers a week, but they were gone by lunchtime.

[00:00:19]Oh my gosh, the struggle is real. If you are a parent, this I would think sounds very familiar. Podcast host Kylie Kelce, who's married to former NFL star Jason Kelce, joked that the single biggest expense of raising her four children is berries. Are yours also surviving on fruit, carbs, and air? There is one thing I've spent the most money on in my life, it is packs of berries. Berries.

[00:00:42]It has to overcome diapers. It has to have at this point.

[00:00:46]>> chart Joe in the Washington Post piece that shows just the amount of fruit at grocery stores in the US on a per person basis over the last 20 or 25 years. And you see a strawberry skyrocketing, pineapple skyrocketing, blueberries, raspberry skyrocketing. Since 2000 when we imported about $134 million worth of berries, last year $5 billion worth of berries. There also is a serious side here because as things have gotten more expensive, there's a income inequality component to this that higher income families can afford berries whereas lower income households, as these berries have gotten more expensive, cannot. And berries are super nutritious. Pediatricians will tell you that. And it's hard in some parts of this country to get healthy snacks.

[00:01:32]>> And of course, with kids, they sometimes throw their food or they're just not into it even though they say they're in the mood for a strawberry, you wash it, you cut it up, you give it to them, and then they don't want it. So, that just adds to the extra frustration about the cost of berries.

[00:01:49]>> Totally. You try to be strategic in how much you give them in the bowl, and then there's not enough, and then they ask for more, but then they don't finish it, but then they like touch the fruit, and like, you know, squeeze the fruit and rub it on the table. So, then I can't even finish the fruit. Maybe this is just my household chill, but maybe it's the struggle many of you have.

[00:02:05]>> No, it's clearly universal, although I didn't realize that until this article came out.