Anonymous
10/28/2025 11:48
Subject: Re:If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
We mostly shop at Aldi, but Aldi has not been immune from price increases, shrinkflation, or decreases in product quality. Mostly the latter two as they try to manage the first. We’ve had to make some adjustments in what we buy there.
We supplement as needed with items on sale at other stores, shop Costco/BJs for good value items there, and we stock the freezer when there is a particularly good sale on meat.
I find it helps to be flexible in meal planning and buy staples that can be used multiple different ways. I’ve gotten honest with myself that I don’t have the time or inclination to cook certain things from scratch, so while bagged dry beans are the cheapest, we buy cans because that is what I will actually use on a weeknight when I have 20 minutes to throw dinner together.
We supplement as needed with items on sale at other stores, shop Costco/BJs for good value items there, and we stock the freezer when there is a particularly good sale on meat.
I find it helps to be flexible in meal planning and buy staples that can be used multiple different ways. I’ve gotten honest with myself that I don’t have the time or inclination to cook certain things from scratch, so while bagged dry beans are the cheapest, we buy cans because that is what I will actually use on a weeknight when I have 20 minutes to throw dinner together.
Anonymous
10/28/2025 11:37
Subject: Re:If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
We have five main reasons why we have been shielded from the price rises.
1st - We mainly eat to eat home made from scratch meals and try and use organic ingredients. We also buy locally as much as possible.
2nd - We are comfortable cooking foods from many different cuisines and are able to put together meals from diverse list of ingredients. We probably cook three times more diverse vegetables than most Americans. We buy in bulk, have the infrastructure to store food, and buy from many ethnic stores too.
3rd - Our emphasis is on primarily on vegetarian meals (though we will consume organic animal products sourced locally), and so we are comfortable using many kinds of produce, grains, fruits that are common in other cuisines.
4th - We do not consume junk food and so I am not buying snacks, baked goods and soda etc. I make my own tortillas, roties, breads, noodles, broths, sauces, nut milk, teas, ghee etc.
5th - and lastly I grow most of my herbs and micro-greens myself, so that I can incorporate it in our daily diet. It not only saves us money on groceries, but we are eating very good food, and eating good-for-our-health food.
1st - We mainly eat to eat home made from scratch meals and try and use organic ingredients. We also buy locally as much as possible.
2nd - We are comfortable cooking foods from many different cuisines and are able to put together meals from diverse list of ingredients. We probably cook three times more diverse vegetables than most Americans. We buy in bulk, have the infrastructure to store food, and buy from many ethnic stores too.
3rd - Our emphasis is on primarily on vegetarian meals (though we will consume organic animal products sourced locally), and so we are comfortable using many kinds of produce, grains, fruits that are common in other cuisines.
4th - We do not consume junk food and so I am not buying snacks, baked goods and soda etc. I make my own tortillas, roties, breads, noodles, broths, sauces, nut milk, teas, ghee etc.
5th - and lastly I grow most of my herbs and micro-greens myself, so that I can incorporate it in our daily diet. It not only saves us money on groceries, but we are eating very good food, and eating good-for-our-health food.
Anonymous
10/28/2025 11:23
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I no longer buy any soda or potato chips, or pretty much any snack / junk food. They were special treats before, but now we don't buy any. Too expensive.
Have one meatless dinner per week.
Only buy what is discounted that week and make dinners based on what is on sale, rather than the other way around.
Avoid items that are going way up in price; when eggs were high, I just stopped buying and eating eggs. Now that beef is high, I'm minimizing beef.
this is the way.
Seven meatless dinners per week.
Anonymous
10/28/2025 11:22
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I used to drink a coke every day at work because I would buy one at the work vending machine. Now that I'm furloughed and no longer have access to that machine, I've stopped drinking coke entirely. It made me realize how many things I eat just out of habit, and how easy it is to break those habits.
Coke is the one habit I cannot break. It's my vice for when I feel stressed, so trying to stop drinking it when I'm stressed about stuff like high grocery prices is just counterproductive. I will always break down and go buy some. It's actually better for me to assume I'm going to drink it and buy it in bulk when it's on sale (Harris Teeter will do a Buy 2, Get 3 Free special on the 2 liter bottles, which will last me for weeks) than to try to avoid it and them wind up breaking down and buying it for a premium at the corner store because I am so desperate for one.
To the person who claims you can make it at home using online recipes: ahahahahahahahaha, you obviously don't drink Coke.
The Coke is probably contributing to your problems more than curing them.
Anonymous
10/28/2025 10:57
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
I make my meals from scratch out of mostly cheap staples and base my meal plans around what meat is on sale that week. I make big batches and eat leftovers for several days.
If I want to splurge on a nicer meal I offset it with "poverty rations" - a jar of store brand spaghetti sauce and a pound of store brand pasta is 4 filling meals for less than $4 total. Rice, a can of beans, a pound of chicken thighs, and a can of rotel is another 4 big meals for under $6. Bagged frozen veggies or mixed greens with oil and vinegar adds some greenery for just a few dollars more.
If I want to splurge on a nicer meal I offset it with "poverty rations" - a jar of store brand spaghetti sauce and a pound of store brand pasta is 4 filling meals for less than $4 total. Rice, a can of beans, a pound of chicken thighs, and a can of rotel is another 4 big meals for under $6. Bagged frozen veggies or mixed greens with oil and vinegar adds some greenery for just a few dollars more.
Anonymous
10/28/2025 08:04
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Grow 10% of our food - eggs, fruit, vegetables
Make 25% of our food - bread, yogurt, crackers, chips, applesauce, fruit leather
Cook 85% of our meals
Shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Costco and part of a CSA
You aren't very good at math are you?
Seems fairly obvious that some of these are ingredients in meals, doesn't it?
I'd actually be surprised that a household that produces their own eggs, fruit, and vegetables (probably not in the DMV unless you eat apples all year?) still buys 15% of meals outside the home.
I should have clarified that's the rough breakdown over a year. And we do live in the DMV area so we tend to have less homegrown produce in the winter (still have an indoor garden for avocados, citrus and lettuces/herbs year round) and so we eat out more in the winter
How are you growing avocados indoors??? Tell me more!
We just took store bought organic avocados, and my kids sprouted their seeds with the toothpicks in water. We transfered them into larger and larger pots. Now they are in large, rolling pots. We roll them outside for the summer, where the fruit gets started. When it gets cooler, we finish them off inside. We have a temperature controlled orangerie / sunroom that's basically all glass.
It took like a decade before any of them bore fruit. They're not big avocados, like the size of duck eggs, but they're tasty and it's kind of weird we grew them so we like that.
Anonymous
10/28/2025 07:25
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:We have a personal chef and they source our groceries from Whole foods/Mclean butcher/TJs/Farmer Markets and Hmart/lotte. If I have to pick something up I usually go to TJ or Safeway.
Satire is pointless on DCUM.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 20:14
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:We have a personal chef and they source our groceries from Whole foods/Mclean butcher/TJs/Farmer Markets and Hmart/lotte. If I have to pick something up I usually go to TJ or Safeway.
if yo have a private chef, then the cost of groceries is probably not a concern to you.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 19:58
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:I no longer buy any soda or potato chips, or pretty much any snack / junk food. They were special treats before, but now we don't buy any. Too expensive.
Have one meatless dinner per week.
Only buy what is discounted that week and make dinners based on what is on sale, rather than the other way around.
Avoid items that are going way up in price; when eggs were high, I just stopped buying and eating eggs. Now that beef is high, I'm minimizing beef.
this is the way.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 19:57
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:I know this is off-brand for DCUM, but the regular item I have found hardest to manage is Diet Coke. Prices got stupid at "normal" grocery stores but also went up insanely at Costco. I started actually googling who is selling it as a loss leader (Target, Giant, and Safeway on my rotation of places to check) and stocking up.
the best soda prices recently have been at dollar general.
or do without. that's what i am doing.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 19:48
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:I used to drink a coke every day at work because I would buy one at the work vending machine. Now that I'm furloughed and no longer have access to that machine, I've stopped drinking coke entirely. It made me realize how many things I eat just out of habit, and how easy it is to break those habits.
Coke is the one habit I cannot break. It's my vice for when I feel stressed, so trying to stop drinking it when I'm stressed about stuff like high grocery prices is just counterproductive. I will always break down and go buy some. It's actually better for me to assume I'm going to drink it and buy it in bulk when it's on sale (Harris Teeter will do a Buy 2, Get 3 Free special on the 2 liter bottles, which will last me for weeks) than to try to avoid it and them wind up breaking down and buying it for a premium at the corner store because I am so desperate for one.
To the person who claims you can make it at home using online recipes: ahahahahahahahaha, you obviously don't drink Coke.
Anonymous
10/27/2025 19:41
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
We have a personal chef and they source our groceries from Whole foods/Mclean butcher/TJs/Farmer Markets and Hmart/lotte. If I have to pick something up I usually go to TJ or Safeway.
Anonymous
10/26/2025 23:56
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
I started buying generic for a lot of things.
I agree with the PP who said they save money shopping online. While delivery means extra fees, I find it much easier to avoid impulse buys and to compare prices. It also helps me meal plan around sales. DH hates when I get delivery so I stopped for a while but our grocery bill skyrocketed.
I’m happy to eat vegetarian which would reduce our costs but DH likes his animal protein. DD recently had to go on a very restricted diet and chicken, beef and fish are pretty much all she’s allowed so that has made the bill increase on top of inflation. In the past, I cooked vegetarian all but 2 nights.
I have moved away from prepackaged snacks. I still buy the huge cheap box of granola bars at Costco but I’m no longer buying anything else. Those individual servings add up.
I’ve stopped with organic produce unless it’s on sale for the same price as conventional.
I stick with less expensive fruits (cut back on berries as one person can eat a pint in a sitting).
I’ve always baked so I don’t spend much on grocery breads and desserts. It is much cheaper to make them if you enjoy the process.
I agree with the PP who said they save money shopping online. While delivery means extra fees, I find it much easier to avoid impulse buys and to compare prices. It also helps me meal plan around sales. DH hates when I get delivery so I stopped for a while but our grocery bill skyrocketed.
I’m happy to eat vegetarian which would reduce our costs but DH likes his animal protein. DD recently had to go on a very restricted diet and chicken, beef and fish are pretty much all she’s allowed so that has made the bill increase on top of inflation. In the past, I cooked vegetarian all but 2 nights.
I have moved away from prepackaged snacks. I still buy the huge cheap box of granola bars at Costco but I’m no longer buying anything else. Those individual servings add up.
I’ve stopped with organic produce unless it’s on sale for the same price as conventional.
I stick with less expensive fruits (cut back on berries as one person can eat a pint in a sitting).
I’ve always baked so I don’t spend much on grocery breads and desserts. It is much cheaper to make them if you enjoy the process.
Anonymous
10/26/2025 23:38
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Grow 10% of our food - eggs, fruit, vegetables
Make 25% of our food - bread, yogurt, crackers, chips, applesauce, fruit leather
Cook 85% of our meals
Shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Costco and part of a CSA
You aren't very good at math are you?
😂
Anonymous
10/26/2025 23:18
Subject: If you have NOT found it hard to manage grocery prices, what are you buying where?
Anonymous wrote:I know this is off-brand for DCUM, but the regular item I have found hardest to manage is Diet Coke. Prices got stupid at "normal" grocery stores but also went up insanely at Costco. I started actually googling who is selling it as a loss leader (Target, Giant, and Safeway on my rotation of places to check) and stocking up.
Make it yourself. Recipes online.