I don’t know how they think we’re all going to survive with these prices.
Ramen keeping me alive.
Ramon is a good guy. Glad you got ‘em in your life to help keep ya goin.
Is it partly budget-time or budget only? You need nutrition.
Grocery Outlet and Trader Joe’s. For GrocOut just go and see what’s cheap, don’t shop off a list. Make sure the prices of the stuff you’re buying is about 50% off or more. At TJ’s everything is priced pretty fairly, just buy what you want to eat.
Don’t drink alcohol or soda, or anything canned really.
Carefully.
Wife has been canning for a few years now and we have a pantry of fruits, veggies, and dehydrated food. She goes to the farmers markets during harvest time and goes to town on entire cases of tomatoes, corn, beans, etc. That will last all year for our family of 5. We also pay a friend to raise a pig on her ranch and butcher that once a year. Just got ours (over 400 lbs!). Pork is A LOT cheaper that way. Haven’t found anyone to go half or a quarter in on a cow. We also would need another deep freezer and don’t really have room for it.
We also meal plan weekly so we only buy groceries for what we need to make meals. That saves a ton of money as you aren’t wasteful as much. Oh and we either do pick up or delivery as you spend more when you’re in the store and see things you want but don’t need.
We make almost everything we can from scratch. Wife recently found a recipe for baked oyster crackers with butter and seasoning on them that make dirt cheap snacks and they’re fantastic. The store brand oyster crackers are $1 for 16oz. That’s almost cheap enough to not make those from scratch too. We haven’t bothered yet.
Pork is the cheapest meat on the shelf right now
It is, and it’s even cheaper if you raise your own. Plus it’s better quality meat.
Depends on your location. Where I live, chicken is cheaper.
I’ve always been interested in the idea of canning, but it’s not really a thing in the UK. I know that veg is cheaper and gas is more expensive here than in America but still, surely it costs so much money to can things that you can’t be saving much? Is it only worth it if the produce was in season and therefore really cheap?
I’ve always been interested in the idea of canning, but it’s not really a thing in the UK
I suspect it’s more common in the more rural areas.
Or with the city people who manage to have an allotment.
I’m in a rural area, it’s really not a thing! Especially not pressure canning with ball jars. People do make pickles and chutneys etc but those are preserved with vinegar and we use kilner jars with a rubber seal to store them. I’ve never once met anyone who has pressure canned vegetables.
When I was a kid (20 years ago) my parents would make pickles, and some assorted pickled veggies. Usually the veggies would come from a farm around us or an auction where you could buy trays of veggies about the size of a flat of canned drinks. They would also do some fruits in syrup, mainly ones that my uncle would bring us from another part of the country where him and his neighbours had fruit tree.
When I think of canning vegetables, cucumber pickles are the first thing that comes to mind.
Yeah and we obviously have those here although you could just make them in any old jar and keep them in the fridge. The thing that seems to be quite different in America to the UK is the whole pressure canning scene. We do have similar food but it’s all in tins, nobody really makes it themselves and I’m not even sure where you’d get hold of a pressure canner, you’d probably have to import it.
Definitely not about cost on the veggies. At best it’s break even compared to the store. It’s more about knowing it’s the veggie and water only. Or seasoning too if you like them a certain way. We’ve found corn to be higher quality too. Plus, where we live peaches are fabulous and better than anywhere else in the country so we get to can the best and control the amount of syrup used so they’re healthier. Sorry Georgia, you don’t actually have the best peaches.
Totally get that. Much nicer to know you’re not eating too much processed crap.
Jealous of the peaches!
Yeah, I’m making a lot myself too, but I sadly don’t have the storage space for large amounts of food. And the homemade goods are often more expensive, unless you can get veggies on the cheap from a farmer
We probably aren’t saving much on the veggies overall for sure. Some are cheaper than canned but others aren’t. However, we know exactly what’s in it and we buy it once a year so we’ve budgeted for it.
That’s the way to do it. Raising pigs or cows, if you have the space or know someone who does, is way cheaper than store bought pork/beef.
I buy staples as cheaply as I can, and most other things I only buy on sale. Plan my cooking for the week around that.
Left it all behind and moved to a cheaper country
Where did you move to?
South Korea. As long as you speak English you can become a teacher. Took me about 3 years to become comfortable with the language, at which point you can move on to other careers.
Salary is less but cost of living is way less. Also very fun. Other countries are good too, so take your pick. China is cheaper, Japan is a little more expensive. South Korea is a little grindy, so one of those two might be better. You can also go Europe or Africa if that’s your taste.
A great addition to the already awesome tips here is having room mates. You’re never too old to shack up with friends or family and save. It’s only logical, it cuts down on waste, and makes you grow to be a better person and communicator in adulthood, something the world could always use more of.
it’s become very normal for people to live with their parents well into their 20s until they’ve completed their apprenticeship around hamburg, can’t speak for any other places though.
I’ve had some roommates who are amazing friends
Never again
It’s just my partner and myself forever.
No way
Groceries will blame inflation and whatnot, yet they’re printing record profits.
That’s because the truth is the other way around. It’s the hoarding of record profits by the corporate class what drives the inflation
That’s their point.
Margins are down.
. So it isn’t the stores gouging you. Somewhere in the chain. Someone is though
somehow these poor struggling grocers can still buy one another for twenty five billion dollars.
That’s all debt. That isn’t from profits.
Their margins are low and declining.
The point being is the cash grab is further up the line. If it was the grocery stores, we’d see margins increasing. Food has doubled to tripled in many cases and their margins went down.
The point being is the cash grab is further up the line
It’s certainly not the farmers getting paid more.
If anything, the agrifood business that they sell to are pushing the farm gate price down, while at the same time input costs continue to rise.
I buy beef from my local farmer. His cost of went up and his prices have adjusted. He’s 3x more expensive but about about to quit because he can’t turn a profit.
I also buy local and they’re thinking about calling it quits. You work all day and margins are so low, they can’t keep fixing / replacing what breaks without increasing debt.
That is the issue he is running into. He has tripled the prices but his margin is lower than before.
I get many people want to blame the stores but this problem is further up the chain and someone is miking the system. I have two customers who are grocery store chains and they have said, the only reason they are profitable is they can’t hire people and they have to use corporate staff to help in their stores. I know the director of security has to stock shelves two days a week.
I am not one for the government getting in the middle of everything but they need to audit the supply chain and figure out what is really going.
Tell that to the billionaires who’s net value doubled in 12 months.
What grocery billionaire are you referencing?
overall sales are up, prices are waaay tf up.
gross margins are down slightly, but they’re taking that 27.7% (vs 28.1%) from a larger pie.
profits are up.
Grocery has some of the lowest margins of any industry. It’s not your local store milking you and I doubt it’s the local farmer.
i’m homeless personally. where once i could survive on $5 a day, i’m always coming up short on the $20 needed nowadays just to eat. so i fast lots, my skating suffers.
Look for little food cabinets outside churches and libraries. Sometimes people put in tuna-cracker kits, a fresh fruit, bottled water, hot cocoa or instant coffee packets. The kits are nice because no can opener, heat, utensil needed. It’s not ideal but not least ideal, either.
those are amazing little places indeed. Sikh temples and Methodist churches are helpful too
Sikhs and Methodists are really nice. Catholic Churches often give out grocery cards and/or have food pantries.
I started harvesting stinging nettle to replace spinach
Grow my own raspberries and strawberries. Blackberries grow on the property as do salmon berries, huckleberries, and elderberries.
I have a cherry tree but the squirrels and the jays get to those before I do lol
In the garden I can grow a handful of veggies that’ll last the year.
For meat I hunt or buy directly from the rancher/butcher when I can. I can get crayfish out of the creek every now and then as well.
Spending a few hundred a week for the two of us to eat a basic equivalent diet to that available in Europe. I brought back all my shampoo, body wash, moisturizers, etc in a 50 lb suitcase which I loaded up at carrefour on my last trip to France.
Decent cost of living wage increase, then switched jobs to higher pay on top of that. But I was never struggling to pay for food. Housing is the big one in my budget. But I have a fixed rate mortgage so inflation has not affected that.
Seems like prices have stopped increasing much lately too so I haven’t given it as much thought as a year ago.
i’m gonna assume this post refers to the US’ prices.
it’s definetely noticeable in germany, but i’ll manage. my worker’s union is currently negotiating prices with my employer, and so far it’s looking pretty good.
but i pray for you guys, they really don’t seem to make life worth living over there.
Yes, sorry. I’m in the US.
Could easily be Canada too
I went to Germany this year and couldn’t believe how cheap groceries were, easily half the price of Canada plus your salaries are way higher on average
I spend between 250-300 a week. Before the pandemic it was about 80-100 a week.
Just curious, how many are you shopping for? I’m spending about $100-150 a week just for myself.
Three.
Thanks! I’m considering a move to Oregon in the next few years, so that’s at least good to know that it’s not drastically different from what I’m paying right now.
I split my time in three locations due to work. Prices are similar in all three places. I will say the beef I get in Oregon is a lot better than the beef in the Midwest. It’s odd.
The hardest thing to adjust to is no sales tax. So some prices are higher but no tax in the end.
Dining is more expensive in Oregon than in Chicago. Though you know the staff is paid better. So I’d rather pay more.
Not having to pump your gas is nice.
with a fair amount of help. food pantry, when i can get there–once or twice a month, for a bag of close or past-date produce and other perishables, and a few other things; and ‘leftovers’ brought to me by others a 2-3 times a week.
my ‘grocery bill’ hasn’t gone up–because it can’t. i spend the same, but get a lot less for it.
