Food hacks to deal with rising food prices/inflation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t been so affected by the price increases, maybe $10-15/week because I’m a nanny and one of the DCUM poors. I just refuse to pay $4.50 for bagels when they used to be $2.50, so I don’t buy bagels. Same with bread. I’ve cut out a lot of things I used to eat, just because I won’t pay the price increases and now make food from scratch. I feel like the poors will fare better, only because we know how to tighten our belts more than DCUM with their designer goat cheese.

I'm. a long time budget shopper and I tend to agree, however, my big challenge has been that I've used the sale/buy ahead strategies for years and the sales are no longer there. Most staples were on a 6 week sale cycle (or sales around certain holidays). So I would always buy butter when it was on sale for the lowest price and get enough to last until the next sale or buy enough baking supplies during the pre-christmas sales to last for 6 months and that strategy is just not working anymore.

I agree. I used to do this strategy, but the stores don't do sales like they used to.

I do this with Costco for cleaning supplies. They discount on a regular schedule, so when I see laundry or dishwashing soap, I pick one up and store in the basement until we actually run out. Saves a few dollars each, and helpful for things we go through regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who use a freezer, do you have a back up generator? If not, what happens when you lose power?

This is the reason I haven't bought a big freezer here - the power goes out too often. And falling for the buy 2 get 3 ice cream deal is a guarantee that our power will go out.

We have a battery backup on our deep freezer plus we keep 2 gallons of frozen water inside to help keep the temp down incase the battery backup runs out. We don't know exactly how long the backup will run but we were okay at 2 hours. I'm guessing it would last for around 4 hours. It was $250 on Amazon.

A well insulated full freezer will last a very long time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t been so affected by the price increases, maybe $10-15/week because I’m a nanny and one of the DCUM poors. I just refuse to pay $4.50 for bagels when they used to be $2.50, so I don’t buy bagels. Same with bread. I’ve cut out a lot of things I used to eat, just because I won’t pay the price increases and now make food from scratch. I feel like the poors will fare better, only because we know how to tighten our belts more than DCUM with their designer goat cheese.

I'm. a long time budget shopper and I tend to agree, however, my big challenge has been that I've used the sale/buy ahead strategies for years and the sales are no longer there. Most staples were on a 6 week sale cycle (or sales around certain holidays). So I would always buy butter when it was on sale for the lowest price and get enough to last until the next sale or buy enough baking supplies during the pre-christmas sales to last for 6 months and that strategy is just not working anymore.

I agree. I used to do this strategy, but the stores don't do sales like they used to.

I do this with Costco for cleaning supplies. They discount on a regular schedule, so when I see laundry or dishwashing soap, I pick one up and store in the basement until we actually run out. Saves a few dollars each, and helpful for things we go through regularly.

I do that at CVS on detergent + paper products- many weeks- it's spend $30 + get $10 off my favorite P+G products.

[Anonymous]

We're definitely buying less steak and eating more chicken thighs. We're eating primarily chicken and pork right now. I'm careful with the fruit and vegetable buying so to lessen any waste. We don't often eat canned or frozen foods but I'll sometimes incorporate it. It's not something the family really likes, though. I'll buy some stuff from Amazon, like Kodiak pancake mix. It's cheaper there than in our stores where we live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t been so affected by the price increases, maybe $10-15/week because I’m a nanny and one of the DCUM poors. I just refuse to pay $4.50 for bagels when they used to be $2.50, so I don’t buy bagels. Same with bread. I’ve cut out a lot of things I used to eat, just because I won’t pay the price increases and now make food from scratch. I feel like the poors will fare better, only because we know how to tighten our belts more than DCUM with their designer goat cheese.

I'm. a long time budget shopper and I tend to agree, however, my big challenge has been that I've used the sale/buy ahead strategies for years and the sales are no longer there. Most staples were on a 6 week sale cycle (or sales around certain holidays). So I would always buy butter when it was on sale for the lowest price and get enough to last until the next sale or buy enough baking supplies during the pre-christmas sales to last for 6 months and that strategy is just not working anymore.

This is what I do in a world without sales with inflation/corporate greed driving up food prices: I just buy the good stuff. The organic berries cost the same as conventional, filet mignon is the same price per pound as ground beef. Why pay 6 bucks a pound for pink slime when you can dine on steak? When you start comparing prices, you'll be surprised at how "cheap" the expensive stuff has gotten.

?? Where are you shopping where the organic berries cost the same as conventional?

safeway. but that's only because regular berries are 4.99, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rule #1: Never go shopping while hungry.

So true! And, don't take kids if you can avoid it.

I concur!

Yes! I order online and pickup so I avoid getting things I wasn't planning on getting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What ideas/changes have you made to deal with/react to rising food prices?

For us, I order meats when they are on sale at Omaha Steaks, Kansas City Steaks and Schwanns + keep them in our freezer and have enough food for a month (small fridge/freezer). Then, when my dh goes to store,we do not have any meat costs. I do not eat meat, so we save that way too. Empty-nesters.

What do you do?

We eat less meat and feel better and save money and planet.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes it's cheaper to eat all vegetarian. So, it's not that bad but I do not stay full for too long. Sometimes, I do need my meat.

[Anonymous]

We buy bags of frozen shrimp when it is $5 a pond. We make:

- shrimp cakes
- shrimp stir fried lo mein with mixed veges
- shrimp fried rice
-shrimp
-shrimp omelettes
-shrimp tortilla soup
-quesidillas
Peel + eat shrimp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1) Omaha Steaks are really gross, terrible quality meat, and 2) they're still more expensive than decent steak at Costco.

Buy some ground beef or beans if you want money saving hacks. "Shop sales for terrible meat shipped next-day air" is some Boomer Susceptibility to Targeted Advertising nonsense.

What? My anecdote says that the meat is very good at Omaha Steaks. But I am buying filets, T-bones, etc. Kind of hard to have one person provide "authoritative opinions" on the quality of a business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t been so affected by the price increases, maybe $10-15/week because I’m a nanny and one of the DCUM poors. I just refuse to pay $4.50 for bagels when they used to be $2.50, so I don’t buy bagels. Same with bread. I’ve cut out a lot of things I used to eat, just because I won’t pay the price increases and now make food from scratch. I feel like the poors will fare better, only because we know how to tighten our belts more than DCUM with their designer goat cheese.

I'm. a long time budget shopper and I tend to agree, however, my big challenge has been that I've used the sale/buy ahead strategies for years and the sales are no longer there. Most staples were on a 6 week sale cycle (or sales around certain holidays). So I would always buy butter when it was on sale for the lowest price and get enough to last until the next sale or buy enough baking supplies during the pre-christmas sales to last for 6 months and that strategy is just not working anymore.

I agree. I used to do this strategy, but the stores don't do sales like they used to.

I do this with Costco for cleaning supplies. They discount on a regular schedule, so when I see laundry or dishwashing soap, I pick one up and store in the basement until we actually run out. Saves a few dollars each, and helpful for things we go through regularly.

I do that at CVS on detergent + paper products- many weeks- it's spend $30 + get $10 off my favorite P+G products.

I do CVS coupon like this too! Costco used to have better sales, but now it's less dollars off what it used to be. For example, I love Kerrygold butter. Costco had it sometimes on sale $5 off per pack ( 4- 8 oz each sticks); but few months ago, it was only $3.5 off. I'm running out of butter, and wait for Costco to put them on sale; but I'm afraid, it won't be a big sale, or it might not do it at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Omaha Steaks are really gross, terrible quality meat, and 2) they're still more expensive than decent steak at Costco.

Buy some ground beef or beans if you want money saving hacks. "Shop sales for terrible meat shipped next-day air" is some Boomer Susceptibility to Targeted Advertising nonsense.

What? My anecdote says that the meat is very good at Omaha Steaks. But I am buying filets, T-bones, etc. Kind of hard to have one person provide "authoritative opinions" on the quality of a business.

OP here- looks likesomeone else in addition to my DH lokes Omaha Steaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Omaha Steaks are really gross, terrible quality meat, and 2) they're still more expensive than decent steak at Costco.

Buy some ground beef or beans if you want money saving hacks. "Shop sales for terrible meat shipped next-day air" is some Boomer Susceptibility to Targeted Advertising nonsense.

What? My anecdote says that the meat is very good at Omaha Steaks. But I am buying filets, T-bones, etc. Kind of hard to have one person provide "authoritative opinions" on the quality of a business.

OP here- looks likesomeone else in addition to my DH lokes Omaha Steaks.

Hopefully, that poster has enough sense to realize that she's not saving money by purchasing them.

[Anonymous]

buying meat on sale at the grocery store is going to be far cheaper than any of the places mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Eating less meat, 2-3 oz or less per serving, and many dishes where the meat is a minor ingredient rather than the main ingredient. Also lots of alternative proteins like lentils and quinoa. Cooking enough for two meals and freezing half. Paying more attention to what's in the fridge so that less goes to waste. Drinking less alcohol and water with lime instead of selzer.