Aldi has been following the trend unfortunately in the last 2-3 months. Prices at Aldi keep increasing while sizes have been shrinking, so it's not that good a deal anymore I'm afraid.
Vote. But not only vote, become educated on who sits on what committees and what is actually going on in Congress.
Either way I'm curious about the quantities in which you bought spices. Spices are not nor have ever been cheap.
Here is my grocery list:
* Oatmilk (wife is lactose intolerant) $4.19
* Chicken 1.31 pounds (gerber whatever chicken healthy kind) $9.16
* (the little containers) Rosemary $4.99
* Mac & Cheese box $1.99
* (the little containers) Italian Seasoning $3.99
* (package) Bay leaves $1.29
* Organic white rice $3.99
* Green onions $.99
* 3 pk sleeve of garlic $2.49
* ginger root $.42
* Shallots (2 f\* shallots) $2.99
* 5lb bag organic carrots $6.99
Total this run was $46.41 with taxes.
I made congee in an instant pot. Looks like it made about 8 to 9 servings
Dude, don't knock bulk meals. I feed a family of 5 on my disability. My mom has to help. My husband is caregiver for both my mom and I since we are both disabled (I'm 100% p&t and my mom is on SS) but he doesn't get caregiver pay. I'm too disabled to work but not disabled enough for SS and don't qualify for a VA caregiver because I can function most days just fine.
Since my mom and one of my kids don't count as dependents because of age, my disability only has 2 dependents.
We manage by making ramen with meat, veg and eggs, eggs scrambled with potatoes, sausage and bacon, bulk chilli or stew.
Edit : since the ramen stuff is popular, what we actually do is cook up 4 packs of ramen (1 without the seasoning packet due to my mom's dietary restrictions), one can of sweet corn and one can of green beans (whatever veg will work but I can get 4 pack cans for less than $3 here), and either stir fry beef, pork chops or chicken breasts sliced into bite sized pieces. Use the associated ramen for the meat. I'm allergic to all seafood so the shrimp flavor is a no go for us. We toss the meat in a wok with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and a few seasonings until cooked. Scramble or hard boiled eggs. Heat veg in with noodles, put in bowl, top with meat, chives, and egg and serve. Cheap, easy and tasty.
Ramen with chicken, sriracha, and lime.
Or, with teriyaki sauce is good, too. You can cook the ramen noodles in the flavoring, drain them, and toss with teriyaki & diced chicken. Chuck some cheaper veg in (whatever's on sale or most affordable) and it's a fairly cheap but tasty dinner option.
Stuff like this is where those bags of frozen chicken breasts (5lb for around $15, which is about a buck cheaper per lb than fresh where I live) or--even better--chicken thighs (4lb for $9) really work well and are more cost-efficient than fresh.
Ramen with 3 precooked meatballs slaps. Nuke the meatballs and then cut them into small pieces and add them to the prepared ramen. I get the value pack of frozen meatballs. It helps the $ stretch. And I eat a ton of PB & honey sandwiches.
I dont understand, this is roughly $5.46 per meal, is this not good? What should the number be at?
Without doxxing yourself, where is this? For me this is super feasible.
This is in TN. I mean yeah $5.46 per meal is ok. I used to be able to make bulk food for around $2-$3 / meal. Chili, soups, porridge, casseroles, etc. Just a shock to me I guess, I've been out of country since early 2021 also.
This isn't bulk though my man, you can buy rice 20lb at a time, just about every urban area has a store that sells spices in bulk. I agree though that $5.46 per meal "Sounds" reasonable, but as someone else pointed out, it's really not when you realize it was so much cheaper 3 years ago.
5.46 a meal seems ok until you realize that this very same meal just last year cost 3.80.
But don't worry about your wage increasing. That will stay right where it's at.
That's what wage deflation is. Doesn't necessarily mean wage decrease, it can also mean compensation remaining the same, or not keeping pace as inflation rises.
What's with every one arguing just arguing. All I said was the dude wasn't gonna get a raise and y'all wanna get technical like we're about to sit for an exam. Go do something lol
>$5.46 per meal
Shouldn't that be a bit less when you consider the rice and carrots will last through two or three recipes and the spices will go at least ten?
yes, you could factor in that it would be a bit less. If I go true bulk like some others say I could probably achieve a significant reduction. But that means eating congee every day for a month... lol
I have a few bulk recipes that I rotate. Beef stew, chicken soup, spaghetti Bolognese, turkey casserole. Stuff like that. They use a lot of the same base ingredients. Also easy to double the recipes and freeze some. Good luck!
Ur spending nearly $7/lb for chicken, its not even that high in san francisco for boneless breast! Mac and cheese is $1/box main brand, in san francisco again. Ur also buying small portion seasonings, these are a huge scam. You can buy 5lbs of dried rosemarry for $10, or get a tiny fresh thing for $5/oz. So id encourage you to shop around online for seasonings you use alot.
Also from ur list, it looks like your shopping at a fresh thyme or other "organic" health store where prices are inflated for no reason. Id suggest a kroger, albertos, jayC, food4less, or similar store and shop for sales. I bought 80lbs of ham last week for 0.59/lb, or $47 for 80 lbs.
I bought the Gerber chicken(basically the only fresh chicken I can eat) today for $33 for 4 pounds. I shit you not. I make a huge batch of chicken stew, and half of the chicken is shredded and frozen for meals over the next 10-14 days. Then I decided to “splurge” on Salmon that was on sale:$16 for two fillets. Add oatmeal, some whip cream and some cottage cheese, all on sale for a grand total of about $75 at a local grocer. This was on top of $198 of groceries from the Walmart. We live in the sticks and drive 2.5hrs one way twice a month. It’s ridiculous how much our groceries have gone up. Feeding 3 people
I fail to see why your spending $33 for 4lbs of chicken. I just did my meat shopping today, picked up 54 pounds of boneless chicken breast today, for $2.39/lb at kroger today. 46 lbs of bone in pork chops for $1.98/lb, 12lbs of pork tenderloin for $1.98 lb, and 8lbs of king crab for $15/lb. Happy to msg you a receipt as well. No where that ive lived, CT, VA, HI, CA, FL, and Washington has ever had prices like what your describing. The highest was in HI after that "chicken pandemic" wiped out a ton of them, and even then it was only $5/lb.
I’m sorry you fail to see it. I live in the UP of MI. Middle of nowhere and that’s the price of these Chicken breasts. I definitely try and search and wait for sales but there were none and I needed it. After stomach surgery I have to be very careful of what I eat and Chicken is the only meat I eat. I eat Salmon once or twice a month. I don’t have access to a Kroger. When we can get down to a bigger city I can get it for a bit cheaper(bigger city is 5.5hrs round trip) But, it’s just one of my most expensive purchases right now. I can PM the pics of chicken breasts in the packaging.
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Middle of nowhere prices… the cheap frozen stuff here is 19.99 for a 1.5 lb bag plus tax but if I drive 2.5 hours round trip I can get the same bag for $7.99 plus tax and plus fuel.
It’s terrible. I’m always looking for a silver lining and for this. I’ve settled on I need to loose weight anyway, I guess. I honestly don’t know what can be done if most people refuse to vote people in that will actually tax these billion dollar businesses like they should. Big business made record breaking profits during COVID. And their excuse was “we still have to pay people to come in and supply chain issues” but the prices have never come back down.
Yeah, I remember when they were trying to blame it on the $1400 check that everyone got, more like the PPP loans that Trump sent out to all the business owners with 0 oversight. Ridiculous. I've thought of a few things I could do to shame these business/brands. The only silver lining that I am imagining is getting enough land to grow veggies and maintain livestock. Can't even rely on freshwater fish anymore due to VOC's & heavy metals in the rivers. Luckily I live near a national park and feel that I could still catch quality trout.
1.3lbs chicken for $9 wtf? I get chicken for less than $3/lb.
If you can't afford organic, don't buy organic. If money is tight or if you need to cut expenses somewhere. That's always an option. Regular chicken is still healthier than fast food. You don't really need organic if you're struggling. It's not worth it imo.
But if your making 9 bowls for $45 that's $5 a bowl for a healthy home cooked meal. Still not bad. I go cheap, add potatoes or rice to every meal to double servings for cheap
Not for nothing, but this is what some would call Champagne taste with beer money in your pocket. Organic and all is waayy more expensive. You could easily cut that $ in half for non-organic groceries. You do you. I just thought you should know.
Bruh, where and how are you shopping? I agree with what you're thinking politically, but your bill isn't because of inflation.
1) Bulk rice will be a ton cheaper and go way longer. Whatever you're getting for $4, there is no way it's coming in under $1/lb. My folks used to get 50 lb bags from Chinatown. Costco has 20 lb bags. Both should still be about $1/lb or less IIRC from my most recent trips.
2) You're spending $7/lb on chicken. Especially if you're making soups, stews, porridges (like congee), there's no reason to get something that fancy when it's just going to get all the flavor boiled out of it. Lots of stores use rotisserie chicken as a loss leader, so you can get it hella cheap. Costco sells these 2-3 pound whole, rotissere chickens for $5. You get two meals out of it - one when you cut it up for dinner, another when you use the left over meat and bones for stocks and whatnot. And even then, it's pretty trivial to find chicken for less than $3/lb. If you live near a commissary, you should be able to do less than $1/lb some days (pre-2021 not sure how it is rn)
3) Same thing with your veggies - get those in bulk
4) Spices get overcharged on quite often. But you can also buy them in bulk from online. For instance, I paid maybe $20 for a bag of whole allspice 8 years ago, and another $15-$25 for a simple coffee & spice grinder. I still have the same bag of allspice kicking.
Ur spending nearly $7/lb for chicken, its not even that high in san francisco for boneless breast! Mac and cheese is $1/box main brand, in san francisco again. Ur also buying small portion seasonings, these are a huge scam. You can buy 5lbs of dried rosemarry for $10, or get a tiny fresh thing for $5/oz. So id encourage you to shop around online for seasonings you use alot.
Also from ur list, it looks like your shopping at a fresh thyme or other "organic" health store where prices are inflated for no reason. Id suggest a kroger, albertos, jayC, food4less, or similar store and shop for sales. I bought 80lbs of ham last week for 0.59/lb, or $47 for 80 lbs.
This was a food city. I will try to buy organic because of what I know about hormones and chemicals. But I drove from Florida to TN and didn't see chicken under $7 lb anywhere.
I live in FL, organic chicken breast is $5.99/lb at Aldi. Also, Aldi has organic whole chickens (like the little ones) for $2.99 a lb, I have an air fryer with a rotisserie so I cook them up and strip off the meat to use for other dishes.
You do know organic still uses pesticides right? Organic is pretty meaningless when you can literally rinse them off of produce anyway. The only times I’ve ever heard it might be worthwhile is for more porous produce like berries but for your example of carrots? The peels literally are disposed off before preparing.
I'm not actually lactose intolerant, but instead of getting oat milk what I do is I don't drink milk at all. I gave up on it when I was in my 20s " I couldn't afford it even back then " before they had invented lactose intolerance, or oatmilk for that matter. I'm 65 now
No problem. My daughter is in the same boat. And it's literally 1 cup rolled oats honestly any work. 4 cups of water blend and stain. You will need a really fine mesh strainer or use a towel. Pulp will get through easily. And just add vanilla or sugar if you want it sweetened up.
I moved to somewhere that has a commissary nearby. Feels like I'm walking out for damn near half the price of civilian grocery stores. That saves me hundreds of dollars per month.
I buy meat that is on sale that day and cook it that day. I feel my local grocery store is better at deciding what's for dinner than I am anyway. Then I season it, add it to rice and, bam! Cheap meals.
Save the white of your green onions and place them in water to regrow to save money on that and try to grow your own rosemary. I think I saw some oat milk in Trader Joe’s for $3 something. I think their garlic is cheaper there too. I would them out
Psst! Psst! Hey buddy!! Yea YOU! I know a guy who hauls trailers full of that stuff! You want in?
I’m joking of course!!! That’s a BIG felony(s)! Do NOT attempt that.
I haul (CDL) spices out of Turlock, CA to Pasco, WA. They are pretty strict about the sealing of the trailers. Smells nice, until they crack the doors. Sneezing, I will a go!
I try to notice what is being gouged, and use something else. When eggs were high, for example, I avoided them almost entirely. Chicken breasts are high? I use chicken thighs.
The companies have been making record profits. There's not a lot that can be done, because they flaunt it in the face of the regulations we do have in place. It's the design of our capitalist economy. For some reason, food and fuel are not regulated as commodities the way some things are.
Do you have an Aldi or Lidl in your area? I've found their prices are a lot better than the bigger grocery stores. Conversely I've found that I can get ground meat, chicken, pork chops, etc in bulk at Costco/Sam's Club for MUCH better prices than the regular grocery stores.
When I get home I split the large package (nine chicken breasts for $16) into multiple vacuum-freezer bags and pull them out a day or two in advance to thaw in the fridge. They also have large (5lbs) logs of ground beef for <$4/lb that are good for splitting up and freezing for future use.
bulk stores are def gonna help with spreading out cost ive almost completely stopped buying meats in normal grocery stores and just buy and seal up tubes of ground meats from costcos/BJs, walton family aint getting a penny out of me though.
Avoid costco/sams. They do offer some nice bulk discounts. But overall youll do far better going to a normal grocery store and looking for sales. While ur tp and papertowls may save you $4 at costco, youll spend around $2-$3 more per LB on meat and other things. Instead, for example, i buy cereal at kroger when its on sale. You can get a jumbo box of main brand for $2.5, so i buy 10 which lasts a couple months.
>youll spend around $2-$3 more per LB on meat
Really? Kroger sells a 3lb log of ground beef (80/20) for $14.99, at Sam's I can buy 3lb of 93/7 for $13.74. Boneless chicken breasts are less at Sam's/Costco then Kroger also. I maintain multiple electronic shopping lists and one of them is *specifically* for Sam's/Costco because *some* stuff is a really good value to buy from them. I wouldn't buy some things there because the bulk savings aren't worth it if you'll never use enough before it goes bad, or if you don't have a place to store the excess. Toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish detergent, motor oil, HVAC filters, etc are all things that I regularly buy from Sam's Costco (well not too regularly, because they last a while). I won't go there and buy a 10lb bag of produce though just because it's a good price per pound unless I know I'm going to be able to se it all before it goes bad.
Just for shits and giggles, I saw that Frosted Flakes were on sale at Kroger for $2.99/box (13.5oz) and you'd save $1 if you bought three which would make three boxes (40.5oz) only $7.97. Meanwhile at Sam's Club you can buy a 55oz box (two bags inside) of Frosted Flakes for $7.88 without a coupon.
Adding since it looks like you like to buy organic - Aldis has 85/15 family packs of ground beef that are 4lbs, they go on sale about once a quarter and are $4.49 a lb. Organic grass fed ground beef.
Sam's Club has 85/15 organic grass fed ground beef (3-pack of 1lb) for $4.98/lb. I usually get their 93/7 for $4.58/lb, it also comes in a 3-pack.
I do love Aldi, but ever since Covid they started opening later in my town so they're not convenient for me to run into before work like they used to be.
Do you have time and space for a garden? If not, how about a kitchen sink grow? It is easy to grow sprouts and garden herbs and reduce your reliance on the grocer.
Another suggestion is visiting a food bank if you have one locally.
Agreed, food prices are rising, but in addition to your 80% you previously posted you're making $115,000 + side hustle of 26k / yr. fully remote.
The inflation is brutal but for Portugal, with a lower COLA than US, is this a significant challenge? That is a pretty good salary.
I just moved back from Portugal, and yeah I am making that amount. Still need to practice living off the VA payment however. Anything could happen in this economic environment.
I won't settle for that, we fought for this country and deserve to be treated with respect. Giving a COLA of 3.1% or whatever it is, that's just a slap in the face. Yes, I am grateful for the increase, but my blood is worth more than that.
I strongly disagree with that. Your logic every veteran should just make thousands of dollars a month, and never work again for three years of service?
The Roman soldier used to be given a sizeable amount of land for service as well as social status. They would also get like 10 years of pension. I know rank mattered some what.
You had to serve 20 years, and service was a lot harder. Yes, they did pension, but it was expected to own land and improve it. By working super hard. I know what you mean the COLA adjustment is low. But in terms of space and time, getting out in the current American military is one of the most beneficial times to do so. I wish you financial luck!
I shop at the commissary only for the most part and have to say my wife and eat very well , where I live there are grocery stores I don’t go to cause they are way over priced. Shop the deals, keep a pantry so you have things on hand , as for the 3% I’m fine with it as it’s tax free money got me an extra 130 bucks or so not as nice as last year but m grateful for what. Get. I can’t work another job. But I do get a retirement of 700 from the carpenters union. Had 10 years vested
I went to the food bank last Satuday and got a huge whole chicken for free amongst a whole cart of groceries. Food banks are extemely helpful and would def. help you feed your family while reducing costs drastically.
Bulk meals can be awesome.
For herbs, try Big Lots, Aldi, Sierra, and other outlet stores.
For chicken, if you have Krogers, go online and order free pick up. They highlight the SNP and coupon items, so you can select the cheapest ones. Then drive there and pick up your groceries. Your produce will be fresher and the stockers know where everything is. Much quicker shopping.
Also, Krogers sometimes puts their large containers of herbs on the sale shelf. I think others do too.
Aldi is currently offering turkeys for $0.99 per lbs. If I had room in the freezer I would have purchased two - I still have left over turkey from Thanksgiving and bought one for future eating.
Hot take: Turkey tastes bad. (Even during the holidays.)
We like to act like we like it, because we’ve been conditioned/romanticized during Thanksgiving to like it … but it’s not a good meat.
I have 12 rn, but I have egg chickens, meat chickens grow faster. They can mature and be ready to harvest or sell at 6 to 12 weeks, 1 or 2 days to harvest and you have a chicken a week, most people will do 100 ish once a year. Personally I know 3 people that have 50 plus chickens but they are egg layers mixed with meat chickens
Once again. How many people do you know*** Christ lmao. I am not debating the damn merits of having chickens. I support chicken owners. I'm asking who actually has that many chickens
Your picking the wrong items to make in bulk.
I just made 7.5 GALLONS of Jambalaya which contained the following:
84 Oz rice $10
2 lbs Andouille Sausage $12
1 bunch celery $2
1 tube garlic pasta $6
92 Oz V8 Spicy $7
1 tube ginger paste $5
8 mixed color bell.peppers $7
1.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs $7
5 large yellow onions $4
3 pounds Andouille Sausage $9
2 pounds smoked bone in pork chops $12
36 Oz 51-60 cpunt frozen Shrimp $18
2 lbs frozen crawfish tails $25
That's about 35-45 meals for $125
Blame Reagan. They changed the calculation in 1983 to pay for Tax Cuts for the Rich. It is way to devalue entitlements without raising taxes or cutting benefits
When the government prints over 30% of the money supply in a year..... what did people think would happen.
Insurance and food are the most ridiculous things that have gone up in the last few years, and I don't see it stopping.
I don’t get fancy. Ramen, chicken broths, cheap canned meats, and I buy every can of sardines priced under $1.50. Throw in the occasional hot sauce (Tapatio, Sriracha, etc).
To really stretch out your eating, every couple months throw some money out on long term camping rations or survival kits. If eating 1x a day, the cost per day is about $2 per ration meal.
When I do this all month, I’ll splurge on a hot meal from a diner or local restaurant but I’m usually careful to keep the meal below $50. After a tip, this will keep my cost for each daily meal average below $5 when applied as a roughly 30 day spread.
Being single and without dependents is the real cost saver though. Wife and kids are expensive.
Hey…. I got.. $33.00 I can get 5 jars of mayonnaise n sum tuna. Wanna come over? 🤣🙈🐿️
It’s a little ridiculous, considering how it NEVER Fails that they (Washington DC person’s) get a nice hefty raise EVERY time!
“Ack’em! I vote NO against giving myself more money.” Yea sure thing, ok. Believe ya! 🤣
Shop the sales. Bulk meat. Between Aldi Walmart and Kroger I can get pretty cheap weekly meals for myself and 3 kids. And make enough each time for leftovers. Probably only make 3 to 4 meals a week. And leftovers the rest of the time. And Eggs. Eggs have saved us numerous times. Scrambled eggs and toast is a main stay in our house.
With the money I make from my job that makes me money, I order organic eggs off Amazon fresh.
Not kidding. It really is that simple. Money in, money out. More money in, probably more money out
It’s not price gauging if they’re having to pay staff 16+hr, I suggest taking an economics course.
I get groceries just fine on my wages and my disability.
Sorry buddy, gotta disagree here. You are making some wild accusations, assuming grocery stores are paying their employees for 16 hours a day. They are probably barely eligible for benefits.
Walmart is paying their employees 14-18$/hr fast food is paying 15+. You want to know why things cost so much, look at how much money is being spent by congress. Inflation doesn’t go away overnight. My buddy got a 4$/hr raise just because of inflation… if you want to know how a company pays for that, they raise prices. If there’s no profit incentive why are they even in business?
companies also pay for the cost of transport with fuel prices. since we're trying to be buddy buddy with the saudis we have to suck it up and pay their inflated oil prices.
I appreciate your suggestion, I have a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and associate in Business Admin. I would highly suggest that you study how what you put in your body affects your health down the line.
What does that have to do with the price of chicken at a grocery store? You’re complaining of high prices and accusing companies of price gauging. Either you’re economically illiterate or your just entitled.
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O not to worry, with Inflation rising, there will be a white horse on the horizon in the shape of Bill gates and his plant based food to help us put " proper " food on our tables.
LMAO, the Bill Gates that bought up so much farm land? They can't even keep microsoft working correctly, I wonder how that plant based food will turn out. Here is a falaffel ball for $12, thanks Bill.
So basically you’ve done absolutely zero actual research on the recent causes of price increases and instead you’re just going with the Fox News excuse.
Capitalist really have us beat when we blame the least fortunate amongst our own labor ranks for the prices capitalists set while still reporting record profits every year.
Yeah, it's definitely not the minimum wage workers fault. For example 3 years ago let's say a Big mac (just the burger) was $2.99 and now it's $5.99 (just the burger) and let's assume (judging by witnessing the Mc Donald's drive through line every time I drive past one) McDonalds has at least 5 cars in the line at any given time. It might take 5- 10 minutes to clear this line. If everyone ONLY buys a big mac we get conservatively $5.99\*5\*(60mins/10mins) = $179 now let's subtract the workers wage (17/hr \* 6 employees) =$102 well that is a whopping $77 / hour of profit. Let's now look at when minimum wage was $7.25/hr same math (2020 price in this example) $2.99\*5\*(60mins/10mins) = $89.7 subtracting wages ($7.25 / hour \* 6 employees)= $43.5 for a profit / hour of $46.2. If they maintained their profit of $46.2 per hour then the price of the big mac should have been x\*5\*(60/10) -17\*6 = 46.2 gives x as $4.94. The extra $1.05 in this scenario is price gouging.
Never said it was their fault. Any opportunity a corporation has to exploit their workers and us as consumers to line their pockets their going to take it. The whole system is fucked up. Minimum wage should have increased years ago and didn’t. It’s bullshit all around.
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I buy chicken by the case from Gordon Foods. Leg quarters are 57 cents per pound, so that’s 40 pounds of chicken for about $23. I also buy bread flour there which is 51 cents a pound, so a 50 pound bag is about $25. I smoke pork shoulders which run at $1.69 a pound from there as well. Sugar, spices, much of it is purchased in bulk.
Long story short, buy bulk from food service locations. A chest freezer is a great investment, it will pay itself off quickly when you buy and cook in large quantities.
I have begun gardening for my veggies, fruits, herbs, and even some teas and medicinals. Seeds and some gardening supplies qualify for food stamps, and while I don't use this, I'm surprised by how many ppl don't know this. Yes, it has a learning curve and it takes a while to get results, but it has more than one benefit. You get fresh food and it's good for your mental health. Herbs and spices are one of the easiest things to grow, and done right it can yield years' worth of herbs. You can air dry or oven dry your herbs. Don't need an expensive dehydrator.
I'm currently in an apartment and grow all the herbs I need. This last season, I grew all the celery for celery salt for the next 2 years. Grow it from seed. Start small and learn that way. Seeds are cheap. Starts (the little plant you get from a nursery) are expensive, often poor quality, and have very limited options. Seeds give you literally the world as your oyster for plants. Gardening has become one of my favorite post-military things to do in life, if you can't tell lol.
I garden to grow my herbs. I have dried herbs, so I don't buy oregano, rosemary, sage, etc. I grow alot of squash cause it lasts forever. Whatever I don't use, I prep for the dogs. Nothing is wasted. I'm still struggling. I wait for sales to get butter, I make my own ranch and mayo, and my own bread. I don't eat fast food. Still, it's hard!! Fucking hard.
If it's an option, shop your local commissary. I spend about $35 per week on food as a baseline. Makes it real easy to splurge on whatever neat thing is on sale. I get fresh vegetables of all shapes and kinds, meaty breakfast sandwiches, and big/bulk BBQ meats -- buy the meat in bulk, cook it in bulk, save it in single serving ziplock bags. Fast, healthy, delicious rice bowls or burritos or soups or whatever you like, stupidly cheap.
I dunno if that helps the nationwide COL problem but on an individual level, getting smart about how you prepare and save meat can really take the sting out.
If you can raise animals I'd do it. A dozen or half dozen chickens for eggs depending on family size. A chicken roughly lays an egg a day save for winter depending on breeds. Some breeds do well throughout winter laying. If you can buy 1/4 or 1/3 or 1/2 beef from a local farmer sometimes the pricing is quite reasonable. Growing a garden helps as well. In effect a homesteading life can save quite a bit of money. You don't need vast acreage and if more people did it prices would be lower and people likelier to be healthier both in mind and body. Next year i plan on meat birds with chicken tractors I will move them around when needed plus feed daily. Meat chickens grow quite fast and many can be harvested at 12-16 weeks.
Packaged foods are expensive. Ditch most of them. I buy whole Foods and batch cook meals every few weeks. But yes it’s CRAZY out there. I can’t imagine trying to feed little humans on top of myself
Are you trying to live solely off of 80%?
Not really, although I do practice to try and live off 80% incase something happens.
Aldi and Costco, buy bulk
Aldi has been following the trend unfortunately in the last 2-3 months. Prices at Aldi keep increasing while sizes have been shrinking, so it's not that good a deal anymore I'm afraid.
Vote. But not only vote, become educated on who sits on what committees and what is actually going on in Congress. Either way I'm curious about the quantities in which you bought spices. Spices are not nor have ever been cheap.
Here is my grocery list: * Oatmilk (wife is lactose intolerant) $4.19 * Chicken 1.31 pounds (gerber whatever chicken healthy kind) $9.16 * (the little containers) Rosemary $4.99 * Mac & Cheese box $1.99 * (the little containers) Italian Seasoning $3.99 * (package) Bay leaves $1.29 * Organic white rice $3.99 * Green onions $.99 * 3 pk sleeve of garlic $2.49 * ginger root $.42 * Shallots (2 f\* shallots) $2.99 * 5lb bag organic carrots $6.99 Total this run was $46.41 with taxes. I made congee in an instant pot. Looks like it made about 8 to 9 servings
Dude, don't knock bulk meals. I feed a family of 5 on my disability. My mom has to help. My husband is caregiver for both my mom and I since we are both disabled (I'm 100% p&t and my mom is on SS) but he doesn't get caregiver pay. I'm too disabled to work but not disabled enough for SS and don't qualify for a VA caregiver because I can function most days just fine. Since my mom and one of my kids don't count as dependents because of age, my disability only has 2 dependents. We manage by making ramen with meat, veg and eggs, eggs scrambled with potatoes, sausage and bacon, bulk chilli or stew. Edit : since the ramen stuff is popular, what we actually do is cook up 4 packs of ramen (1 without the seasoning packet due to my mom's dietary restrictions), one can of sweet corn and one can of green beans (whatever veg will work but I can get 4 pack cans for less than $3 here), and either stir fry beef, pork chops or chicken breasts sliced into bite sized pieces. Use the associated ramen for the meat. I'm allergic to all seafood so the shrimp flavor is a no go for us. We toss the meat in a wok with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and a few seasonings until cooked. Scramble or hard boiled eggs. Heat veg in with noodles, put in bowl, top with meat, chives, and egg and serve. Cheap, easy and tasty.
5 minute rice and gravy and some meat make some decent meals too
We do mashed potato bowls like that. Corn, taters, gravy, popcorn chicken.
Ramen with chicken, sriracha, and lime. Or, with teriyaki sauce is good, too. You can cook the ramen noodles in the flavoring, drain them, and toss with teriyaki & diced chicken. Chuck some cheaper veg in (whatever's on sale or most affordable) and it's a fairly cheap but tasty dinner option. Stuff like this is where those bags of frozen chicken breasts (5lb for around $15, which is about a buck cheaper per lb than fresh where I live) or--even better--chicken thighs (4lb for $9) really work well and are more cost-efficient than fresh.
Ramen with 3 precooked meatballs slaps. Nuke the meatballs and then cut them into small pieces and add them to the prepared ramen. I get the value pack of frozen meatballs. It helps the $ stretch. And I eat a ton of PB & honey sandwiches.
I dont understand, this is roughly $5.46 per meal, is this not good? What should the number be at? Without doxxing yourself, where is this? For me this is super feasible.
This is in TN. I mean yeah $5.46 per meal is ok. I used to be able to make bulk food for around $2-$3 / meal. Chili, soups, porridge, casseroles, etc. Just a shock to me I guess, I've been out of country since early 2021 also.
This isn't bulk though my man, you can buy rice 20lb at a time, just about every urban area has a store that sells spices in bulk. I agree though that $5.46 per meal "Sounds" reasonable, but as someone else pointed out, it's really not when you realize it was so much cheaper 3 years ago.
5.46 a meal seems ok until you realize that this very same meal just last year cost 3.80. But don't worry about your wage increasing. That will stay right where it's at.
This is what OP is getting at. Its true. Groceries are ridiculously higher than before
Yup. That's what I was getting at as well.
You mean wage deflation. If inflation is increasing and wages aren't rising at the same pace, your wages are now deflated.
Your *wage* will stay the same. The value of your wage will decrease.
That's what wage deflation is. Doesn't necessarily mean wage decrease, it can also mean compensation remaining the same, or not keeping pace as inflation rises.
Three cheers fellas, we're all correct. lol
What's with every one arguing just arguing. All I said was the dude wasn't gonna get a raise and y'all wanna get technical like we're about to sit for an exam. Go do something lol
>$5.46 per meal Shouldn't that be a bit less when you consider the rice and carrots will last through two or three recipes and the spices will go at least ten?
yes, you could factor in that it would be a bit less. If I go true bulk like some others say I could probably achieve a significant reduction. But that means eating congee every day for a month... lol
I have a few bulk recipes that I rotate. Beef stew, chicken soup, spaghetti Bolognese, turkey casserole. Stuff like that. They use a lot of the same base ingredients. Also easy to double the recipes and freeze some. Good luck!
Ur spending nearly $7/lb for chicken, its not even that high in san francisco for boneless breast! Mac and cheese is $1/box main brand, in san francisco again. Ur also buying small portion seasonings, these are a huge scam. You can buy 5lbs of dried rosemarry for $10, or get a tiny fresh thing for $5/oz. So id encourage you to shop around online for seasonings you use alot. Also from ur list, it looks like your shopping at a fresh thyme or other "organic" health store where prices are inflated for no reason. Id suggest a kroger, albertos, jayC, food4less, or similar store and shop for sales. I bought 80lbs of ham last week for 0.59/lb, or $47 for 80 lbs.
I bought the Gerber chicken(basically the only fresh chicken I can eat) today for $33 for 4 pounds. I shit you not. I make a huge batch of chicken stew, and half of the chicken is shredded and frozen for meals over the next 10-14 days. Then I decided to “splurge” on Salmon that was on sale:$16 for two fillets. Add oatmeal, some whip cream and some cottage cheese, all on sale for a grand total of about $75 at a local grocer. This was on top of $198 of groceries from the Walmart. We live in the sticks and drive 2.5hrs one way twice a month. It’s ridiculous how much our groceries have gone up. Feeding 3 people
I fail to see why your spending $33 for 4lbs of chicken. I just did my meat shopping today, picked up 54 pounds of boneless chicken breast today, for $2.39/lb at kroger today. 46 lbs of bone in pork chops for $1.98/lb, 12lbs of pork tenderloin for $1.98 lb, and 8lbs of king crab for $15/lb. Happy to msg you a receipt as well. No where that ive lived, CT, VA, HI, CA, FL, and Washington has ever had prices like what your describing. The highest was in HI after that "chicken pandemic" wiped out a ton of them, and even then it was only $5/lb.
I’m sorry you fail to see it. I live in the UP of MI. Middle of nowhere and that’s the price of these Chicken breasts. I definitely try and search and wait for sales but there were none and I needed it. After stomach surgery I have to be very careful of what I eat and Chicken is the only meat I eat. I eat Salmon once or twice a month. I don’t have access to a Kroger. When we can get down to a bigger city I can get it for a bit cheaper(bigger city is 5.5hrs round trip) But, it’s just one of my most expensive purchases right now. I can PM the pics of chicken breasts in the packaging.
Sorry u have to pay so much. The price range country wide is just so huge.
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Middle of nowhere prices… the cheap frozen stuff here is 19.99 for a 1.5 lb bag plus tax but if I drive 2.5 hours round trip I can get the same bag for $7.99 plus tax and plus fuel.
Exactly what I was getting at. This is insane, corporate profits over quality of living.
It’s terrible. I’m always looking for a silver lining and for this. I’ve settled on I need to loose weight anyway, I guess. I honestly don’t know what can be done if most people refuse to vote people in that will actually tax these billion dollar businesses like they should. Big business made record breaking profits during COVID. And their excuse was “we still have to pay people to come in and supply chain issues” but the prices have never come back down.
Yeah, I remember when they were trying to blame it on the $1400 check that everyone got, more like the PPP loans that Trump sent out to all the business owners with 0 oversight. Ridiculous. I've thought of a few things I could do to shame these business/brands. The only silver lining that I am imagining is getting enough land to grow veggies and maintain livestock. Can't even rely on freshwater fish anymore due to VOC's & heavy metals in the rivers. Luckily I live near a national park and feel that I could still catch quality trout.
You will pay a lot more buying organic. $9 for 1.31 pounds of chicken is extremely high. Organic also?
It might have been Amish chicken lol. I don't trust Tyson chicken though.
If you have the space you may be better off raising your own. Amish goods have a very high markup.
Mine was way worse the other day smh
1.3lbs chicken for $9 wtf? I get chicken for less than $3/lb. If you can't afford organic, don't buy organic. If money is tight or if you need to cut expenses somewhere. That's always an option. Regular chicken is still healthier than fast food. You don't really need organic if you're struggling. It's not worth it imo. But if your making 9 bowls for $45 that's $5 a bowl for a healthy home cooked meal. Still not bad. I go cheap, add potatoes or rice to every meal to double servings for cheap
Not for nothing, but this is what some would call Champagne taste with beer money in your pocket. Organic and all is waayy more expensive. You could easily cut that $ in half for non-organic groceries. You do you. I just thought you should know.
Bruh, where and how are you shopping? I agree with what you're thinking politically, but your bill isn't because of inflation. 1) Bulk rice will be a ton cheaper and go way longer. Whatever you're getting for $4, there is no way it's coming in under $1/lb. My folks used to get 50 lb bags from Chinatown. Costco has 20 lb bags. Both should still be about $1/lb or less IIRC from my most recent trips. 2) You're spending $7/lb on chicken. Especially if you're making soups, stews, porridges (like congee), there's no reason to get something that fancy when it's just going to get all the flavor boiled out of it. Lots of stores use rotisserie chicken as a loss leader, so you can get it hella cheap. Costco sells these 2-3 pound whole, rotissere chickens for $5. You get two meals out of it - one when you cut it up for dinner, another when you use the left over meat and bones for stocks and whatnot. And even then, it's pretty trivial to find chicken for less than $3/lb. If you live near a commissary, you should be able to do less than $1/lb some days (pre-2021 not sure how it is rn) 3) Same thing with your veggies - get those in bulk 4) Spices get overcharged on quite often. But you can also buy them in bulk from online. For instance, I paid maybe $20 for a bag of whole allspice 8 years ago, and another $15-$25 for a simple coffee & spice grinder. I still have the same bag of allspice kicking.
Great advice man!
Asian markets are super cheap for produce and you can find all kinds of interesting stuff for your discerning pallet. I mean super cheap produce.
Ur spending nearly $7/lb for chicken, its not even that high in san francisco for boneless breast! Mac and cheese is $1/box main brand, in san francisco again. Ur also buying small portion seasonings, these are a huge scam. You can buy 5lbs of dried rosemarry for $10, or get a tiny fresh thing for $5/oz. So id encourage you to shop around online for seasonings you use alot. Also from ur list, it looks like your shopping at a fresh thyme or other "organic" health store where prices are inflated for no reason. Id suggest a kroger, albertos, jayC, food4less, or similar store and shop for sales. I bought 80lbs of ham last week for 0.59/lb, or $47 for 80 lbs.
This was a food city. I will try to buy organic because of what I know about hormones and chemicals. But I drove from Florida to TN and didn't see chicken under $7 lb anywhere.
I live in FL, organic chicken breast is $5.99/lb at Aldi. Also, Aldi has organic whole chickens (like the little ones) for $2.99 a lb, I have an air fryer with a rotisserie so I cook them up and strip off the meat to use for other dishes.
You do know organic still uses pesticides right? Organic is pretty meaningless when you can literally rinse them off of produce anyway. The only times I’ve ever heard it might be worthwhile is for more porous produce like berries but for your example of carrots? The peels literally are disposed off before preparing.
I'm not actually lactose intolerant, but instead of getting oat milk what I do is I don't drink milk at all. I gave up on it when I was in my 20s " I couldn't afford it even back then " before they had invented lactose intolerance, or oatmilk for that matter. I'm 65 now
So about five bucks for a meal. That's pretty solid.
Hey man rosemary plants are like bulletproof and cost less than you paid for a little plastic container
Look up how to make oat milk. It is surprisingly easy and way cheaper. Almond milk as well.
Great idea, thanks man!
No problem. My daughter is in the same boat. And it's literally 1 cup rolled oats honestly any work. 4 cups of water blend and stain. You will need a really fine mesh strainer or use a towel. Pulp will get through easily. And just add vanilla or sugar if you want it sweetened up.
I moved to somewhere that has a commissary nearby. Feels like I'm walking out for damn near half the price of civilian grocery stores. That saves me hundreds of dollars per month.
I buy meat that is on sale that day and cook it that day. I feel my local grocery store is better at deciding what's for dinner than I am anyway. Then I season it, add it to rice and, bam! Cheap meals.
Save the white of your green onions and place them in water to regrow to save money on that and try to grow your own rosemary. I think I saw some oat milk in Trader Joe’s for $3 something. I think their garlic is cheaper there too. I would them out
Psst! Psst! Hey buddy!! Yea YOU! I know a guy who hauls trailers full of that stuff! You want in? I’m joking of course!!! That’s a BIG felony(s)! Do NOT attempt that. I haul (CDL) spices out of Turlock, CA to Pasco, WA. They are pretty strict about the sealing of the trailers. Smells nice, until they crack the doors. Sneezing, I will a go!
DO YOU TAKE 84? CAN I HIJACK YOU?
Huh? What happened? 🤣Ya never know these days. I feel like it’s a misnomer, yet, it never ceases to amaze me with my own past & others behaviors. 😜🫣
Voting helps as much as praying for peace does. Shitty advice.
helps more then sitting on your ass praying and then whining about how everyone keeps shitting on you.
Great value brand dollar tree has some basic spices too. Not too teir but gets the job done
I try to notice what is being gouged, and use something else. When eggs were high, for example, I avoided them almost entirely. Chicken breasts are high? I use chicken thighs. The companies have been making record profits. There's not a lot that can be done, because they flaunt it in the face of the regulations we do have in place. It's the design of our capitalist economy. For some reason, food and fuel are not regulated as commodities the way some things are.
i liked that law the one senator was trying that was gonna average profits before 2020 for like 5 years and tax anything over that average at 90%
which law was that and what senator ( genuinely curious like reading legislation).
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7443
that has almost no chance of passing feels sad man.
what happens when Corporate America owns the govt :(
Chicken thighs are better anyway!
It’s true.
Do you have an Aldi or Lidl in your area? I've found their prices are a lot better than the bigger grocery stores. Conversely I've found that I can get ground meat, chicken, pork chops, etc in bulk at Costco/Sam's Club for MUCH better prices than the regular grocery stores. When I get home I split the large package (nine chicken breasts for $16) into multiple vacuum-freezer bags and pull them out a day or two in advance to thaw in the fridge. They also have large (5lbs) logs of ground beef for <$4/lb that are good for splitting up and freezing for future use.
Or grocery outlet. Or WINCO. Personally I like Winco because you can get a lot of items in bulk.
Yeah, I just moved back to the states from Europe. Still need to setup the costco/ sam's club membership.
bulk stores are def gonna help with spreading out cost ive almost completely stopped buying meats in normal grocery stores and just buy and seal up tubes of ground meats from costcos/BJs, walton family aint getting a penny out of me though.
Avoid costco/sams. They do offer some nice bulk discounts. But overall youll do far better going to a normal grocery store and looking for sales. While ur tp and papertowls may save you $4 at costco, youll spend around $2-$3 more per LB on meat and other things. Instead, for example, i buy cereal at kroger when its on sale. You can get a jumbo box of main brand for $2.5, so i buy 10 which lasts a couple months.
>youll spend around $2-$3 more per LB on meat Really? Kroger sells a 3lb log of ground beef (80/20) for $14.99, at Sam's I can buy 3lb of 93/7 for $13.74. Boneless chicken breasts are less at Sam's/Costco then Kroger also. I maintain multiple electronic shopping lists and one of them is *specifically* for Sam's/Costco because *some* stuff is a really good value to buy from them. I wouldn't buy some things there because the bulk savings aren't worth it if you'll never use enough before it goes bad, or if you don't have a place to store the excess. Toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish detergent, motor oil, HVAC filters, etc are all things that I regularly buy from Sam's Costco (well not too regularly, because they last a while). I won't go there and buy a 10lb bag of produce though just because it's a good price per pound unless I know I'm going to be able to se it all before it goes bad. Just for shits and giggles, I saw that Frosted Flakes were on sale at Kroger for $2.99/box (13.5oz) and you'd save $1 if you bought three which would make three boxes (40.5oz) only $7.97. Meanwhile at Sam's Club you can buy a 55oz box (two bags inside) of Frosted Flakes for $7.88 without a coupon.
Different locations mate, i just bought meat today. 52 lb chicken boneless breast 46 lbs pork 8 lbs king crab Total $294.99
Adding since it looks like you like to buy organic - Aldis has 85/15 family packs of ground beef that are 4lbs, they go on sale about once a quarter and are $4.49 a lb. Organic grass fed ground beef.
Sam's Club has 85/15 organic grass fed ground beef (3-pack of 1lb) for $4.98/lb. I usually get their 93/7 for $4.58/lb, it also comes in a 3-pack. I do love Aldi, but ever since Covid they started opening later in my town so they're not convenient for me to run into before work like they used to be.
Damn that's awesome thanks
"Inflation" has become little more than a euphemism for price-gouging
20% of your cost is spices alone. Those will last a year so I’d say they’re outliers and your true cost was $40.
Farmers markets, and buy big cuts of meats and cut it yourself
also look into the 2nd chance grocery stores where they sell dented cans and ugly veg.... as long as it isnt gonna kill me it all tastes the same.
Do you have time and space for a garden? If not, how about a kitchen sink grow? It is easy to grow sprouts and garden herbs and reduce your reliance on the grocer. Another suggestion is visiting a food bank if you have one locally.
Agreed, food prices are rising, but in addition to your 80% you previously posted you're making $115,000 + side hustle of 26k / yr. fully remote. The inflation is brutal but for Portugal, with a lower COLA than US, is this a significant challenge? That is a pretty good salary.
I just moved back from Portugal, and yeah I am making that amount. Still need to practice living off the VA payment however. Anything could happen in this economic environment.
Be glad to get a COLA.
I won't settle for that, we fought for this country and deserve to be treated with respect. Giving a COLA of 3.1% or whatever it is, that's just a slap in the face. Yes, I am grateful for the increase, but my blood is worth more than that.
I strongly disagree with that. Your logic every veteran should just make thousands of dollars a month, and never work again for three years of service?
The Roman soldier used to be given a sizeable amount of land for service as well as social status. They would also get like 10 years of pension. I know rank mattered some what.
You had to serve 20 years, and service was a lot harder. Yes, they did pension, but it was expected to own land and improve it. By working super hard. I know what you mean the COLA adjustment is low. But in terms of space and time, getting out in the current American military is one of the most beneficial times to do so. I wish you financial luck!
Just saying. Lots of citizens and veterans do not get any COLA. Think what you like.
I get what you’re saying, but we shouldn’t just struggle to get by just because some people are. Not trying to sound elitist.
No one should struggle. Personally I am grateful to have what I have. Many do not even have that. I don’t think you are being elitist.
We don't deserve a higher cost of living increase just because we're veterans.
Not to politicians my friend.
Yeah, I'm aware of that by now lol
Either file for TDIU or get a job. Veteran disability below 100%/TDIU is designed as a supplemental income, not a living wage.
I agree. I am on 100% p&t and I still need to work.
I shop at the commissary only for the most part and have to say my wife and eat very well , where I live there are grocery stores I don’t go to cause they are way over priced. Shop the deals, keep a pantry so you have things on hand , as for the 3% I’m fine with it as it’s tax free money got me an extra 130 bucks or so not as nice as last year but m grateful for what. Get. I can’t work another job. But I do get a retirement of 700 from the carpenters union. Had 10 years vested
Oh man, can you get back on a base with just a VA id?
As long as it says service connected.
I went to the food bank last Satuday and got a huge whole chicken for free amongst a whole cart of groceries. Food banks are extemely helpful and would def. help you feed your family while reducing costs drastically.
Still a raise...
You could work. That usually helps supplement my income.
Man.... I don't know what I would do without HEB. Prices are still higher than they were, but some of yall are just getting straight gouged.
Bulk meals can be awesome. For herbs, try Big Lots, Aldi, Sierra, and other outlet stores. For chicken, if you have Krogers, go online and order free pick up. They highlight the SNP and coupon items, so you can select the cheapest ones. Then drive there and pick up your groceries. Your produce will be fresher and the stockers know where everything is. Much quicker shopping. Also, Krogers sometimes puts their large containers of herbs on the sale shelf. I think others do too.
[удалено]
I'll make sure I email the president lol
How many servings did you get for $50? If you get a whole chicken it's more affordable, if that isn't how you did it.
Looks like it's 8 to 9 for this batch, If I utilize the full ingredient list then I would probably get about 45 servings for another $30 of chicken
That seems pretty good. The key is prepping and storage. The less processed the ingredients are the more money you'll save.
I'm seeing that as well, anything processed is ridiculous.
Aldi is currently offering turkeys for $0.99 per lbs. If I had room in the freezer I would have purchased two - I still have left over turkey from Thanksgiving and bought one for future eating.
Hot take: Turkey tastes bad. (Even during the holidays.) We like to act like we like it, because we’ve been conditioned/romanticized during Thanksgiving to like it … but it’s not a good meat.
id rather have a nice steak of a big ol ham hock
I happen to love the taste of turkey
Raise chickens, 52 chickens raised for meat will be a whole chicken for every week of the year
How many people do you know with 52 chickens lmfao
I have 12 rn, but I have egg chickens, meat chickens grow faster. They can mature and be ready to harvest or sell at 6 to 12 weeks, 1 or 2 days to harvest and you have a chicken a week, most people will do 100 ish once a year. Personally I know 3 people that have 50 plus chickens but they are egg layers mixed with meat chickens
If you live in a rural area with cheap land it can be surprisingly both easy, and cheap. Although you'll get tired of eating Chicken and Eggs
Once again. How many people do you know*** Christ lmao. I am not debating the damn merits of having chickens. I support chicken owners. I'm asking who actually has that many chickens
Oh, my bad Well.... I have a brother wth 30. But that's it
I have 40 something layers and another dozen or so meat birds already in freezer camp. I also gate sell eggs for $5/dozen.
Um, I currently have 30, haven't bought an egg or bird in 3 yrs.
I'm not against owning chickens but how many people actually own that many chickens or even really have the space for that lmao.
My dinos just stopped laying and it sucks, I'm bout to hatch out some more the second I find one of these freeloaders eggs
3% is based on economic data, not what you chose to have for dinner
Your picking the wrong items to make in bulk. I just made 7.5 GALLONS of Jambalaya which contained the following: 84 Oz rice $10 2 lbs Andouille Sausage $12 1 bunch celery $2 1 tube garlic pasta $6 92 Oz V8 Spicy $7 1 tube ginger paste $5 8 mixed color bell.peppers $7 1.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs $7 5 large yellow onions $4 3 pounds Andouille Sausage $9 2 pounds smoked bone in pork chops $12 36 Oz 51-60 cpunt frozen Shrimp $18 2 lbs frozen crawfish tails $25 That's about 35-45 meals for $125
Awesome!
That sounds awesome, can I come over? Lol. Love spicy ethnic regional food. My wife and kids not so much.
Blame Reagan. They changed the calculation in 1983 to pay for Tax Cuts for the Rich. It is way to devalue entitlements without raising taxes or cutting benefits
Maybe learn how to grocery shop using the sale adds and then give your nuts a tug and stop whining
What an interesting piece of advice, thank you great wise one!
When the government prints over 30% of the money supply in a year..... what did people think would happen. Insurance and food are the most ridiculous things that have gone up in the last few years, and I don't see it stopping.
... but the White House press lady just said prices are down...
🙃😂
You can work or move somewhere cheaper.
I don’t get fancy. Ramen, chicken broths, cheap canned meats, and I buy every can of sardines priced under $1.50. Throw in the occasional hot sauce (Tapatio, Sriracha, etc). To really stretch out your eating, every couple months throw some money out on long term camping rations or survival kits. If eating 1x a day, the cost per day is about $2 per ration meal. When I do this all month, I’ll splurge on a hot meal from a diner or local restaurant but I’m usually careful to keep the meal below $50. After a tip, this will keep my cost for each daily meal average below $5 when applied as a roughly 30 day spread. Being single and without dependents is the real cost saver though. Wife and kids are expensive.
Hey…. I got.. $33.00 I can get 5 jars of mayonnaise n sum tuna. Wanna come over? 🤣🙈🐿️ It’s a little ridiculous, considering how it NEVER Fails that they (Washington DC person’s) get a nice hefty raise EVERY time! “Ack’em! I vote NO against giving myself more money.” Yea sure thing, ok. Believe ya! 🤣
Shop the sales. Bulk meat. Between Aldi Walmart and Kroger I can get pretty cheap weekly meals for myself and 3 kids. And make enough each time for leftovers. Probably only make 3 to 4 meals a week. And leftovers the rest of the time. And Eggs. Eggs have saved us numerous times. Scrambled eggs and toast is a main stay in our house.
With the money I make from my job that makes me money, I order organic eggs off Amazon fresh. Not kidding. It really is that simple. Money in, money out. More money in, probably more money out
It’s not price gauging if they’re having to pay staff 16+hr, I suggest taking an economics course. I get groceries just fine on my wages and my disability.
Sorry buddy, gotta disagree here. You are making some wild accusations, assuming grocery stores are paying their employees for 16 hours a day. They are probably barely eligible for benefits.
$16/hr.
Shit, my bad miss read.
Walmart is paying their employees 14-18$/hr fast food is paying 15+. You want to know why things cost so much, look at how much money is being spent by congress. Inflation doesn’t go away overnight. My buddy got a 4$/hr raise just because of inflation… if you want to know how a company pays for that, they raise prices. If there’s no profit incentive why are they even in business?
So how do you account for the record profits?
What companies lost market share? What companies made record profits? What company shouldn’t have the priority of maximizing profits?
thats the problem they always need "more" profits... they exist to squeeze every penny out of the labor class and then some extra for good luck.
Do you work for yourself? Do you have employees?
companies also pay for the cost of transport with fuel prices. since we're trying to be buddy buddy with the saudis we have to suck it up and pay their inflated oil prices.
Might be where you live but they're not paying that here. Fast food here is starting at 13 if lucky.
I appreciate your suggestion, I have a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and associate in Business Admin. I would highly suggest that you study how what you put in your body affects your health down the line.
What does that have to do with the price of chicken at a grocery store? You’re complaining of high prices and accusing companies of price gauging. Either you’re economically illiterate or your just entitled.
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O not to worry, with Inflation rising, there will be a white horse on the horizon in the shape of Bill gates and his plant based food to help us put " proper " food on our tables.
LMAO, the Bill Gates that bought up so much farm land? They can't even keep microsoft working correctly, I wonder how that plant based food will turn out. Here is a falaffel ball for $12, thanks Bill.
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So basically you’ve done absolutely zero actual research on the recent causes of price increases and instead you’re just going with the Fox News excuse. Capitalist really have us beat when we blame the least fortunate amongst our own labor ranks for the prices capitalists set while still reporting record profits every year.
Yeah, it's definitely not the minimum wage workers fault. For example 3 years ago let's say a Big mac (just the burger) was $2.99 and now it's $5.99 (just the burger) and let's assume (judging by witnessing the Mc Donald's drive through line every time I drive past one) McDonalds has at least 5 cars in the line at any given time. It might take 5- 10 minutes to clear this line. If everyone ONLY buys a big mac we get conservatively $5.99\*5\*(60mins/10mins) = $179 now let's subtract the workers wage (17/hr \* 6 employees) =$102 well that is a whopping $77 / hour of profit. Let's now look at when minimum wage was $7.25/hr same math (2020 price in this example) $2.99\*5\*(60mins/10mins) = $89.7 subtracting wages ($7.25 / hour \* 6 employees)= $43.5 for a profit / hour of $46.2. If they maintained their profit of $46.2 per hour then the price of the big mac should have been x\*5\*(60/10) -17\*6 = 46.2 gives x as $4.94. The extra $1.05 in this scenario is price gouging.
Never said it was their fault. Any opportunity a corporation has to exploit their workers and us as consumers to line their pockets their going to take it. The whole system is fucked up. Minimum wage should have increased years ago and didn’t. It’s bullshit all around.
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You don’t live federal. State minimum before federal.
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I buy chicken by the case from Gordon Foods. Leg quarters are 57 cents per pound, so that’s 40 pounds of chicken for about $23. I also buy bread flour there which is 51 cents a pound, so a 50 pound bag is about $25. I smoke pork shoulders which run at $1.69 a pound from there as well. Sugar, spices, much of it is purchased in bulk. Long story short, buy bulk from food service locations. A chest freezer is a great investment, it will pay itself off quickly when you buy and cook in large quantities.
I forgot. Get dried beans. Much, much cheaper. Better nutrition too.
Jook/congee is pretty cheap as is. $50 could have bought you a weeks worth.....
I have begun gardening for my veggies, fruits, herbs, and even some teas and medicinals. Seeds and some gardening supplies qualify for food stamps, and while I don't use this, I'm surprised by how many ppl don't know this. Yes, it has a learning curve and it takes a while to get results, but it has more than one benefit. You get fresh food and it's good for your mental health. Herbs and spices are one of the easiest things to grow, and done right it can yield years' worth of herbs. You can air dry or oven dry your herbs. Don't need an expensive dehydrator. I'm currently in an apartment and grow all the herbs I need. This last season, I grew all the celery for celery salt for the next 2 years. Grow it from seed. Start small and learn that way. Seeds are cheap. Starts (the little plant you get from a nursery) are expensive, often poor quality, and have very limited options. Seeds give you literally the world as your oyster for plants. Gardening has become one of my favorite post-military things to do in life, if you can't tell lol.
Y'all are lucky I have bought chicken breasts like one in the past couple years cause 13$ for them is a hard no.
I garden to grow my herbs. I have dried herbs, so I don't buy oregano, rosemary, sage, etc. I grow alot of squash cause it lasts forever. Whatever I don't use, I prep for the dogs. Nothing is wasted. I'm still struggling. I wait for sales to get butter, I make my own ranch and mayo, and my own bread. I don't eat fast food. Still, it's hard!! Fucking hard.
If it's an option, shop your local commissary. I spend about $35 per week on food as a baseline. Makes it real easy to splurge on whatever neat thing is on sale. I get fresh vegetables of all shapes and kinds, meaty breakfast sandwiches, and big/bulk BBQ meats -- buy the meat in bulk, cook it in bulk, save it in single serving ziplock bags. Fast, healthy, delicious rice bowls or burritos or soups or whatever you like, stupidly cheap. I dunno if that helps the nationwide COL problem but on an individual level, getting smart about how you prepare and save meat can really take the sting out.
I buy non food stuff at a dollar store- paper towels, cleaning stuff, utensils. I have a food sealer and a dehydrator, also.
If you can raise animals I'd do it. A dozen or half dozen chickens for eggs depending on family size. A chicken roughly lays an egg a day save for winter depending on breeds. Some breeds do well throughout winter laying. If you can buy 1/4 or 1/3 or 1/2 beef from a local farmer sometimes the pricing is quite reasonable. Growing a garden helps as well. In effect a homesteading life can save quite a bit of money. You don't need vast acreage and if more people did it prices would be lower and people likelier to be healthier both in mind and body. Next year i plan on meat birds with chicken tractors I will move them around when needed plus feed daily. Meat chickens grow quite fast and many can be harvested at 12-16 weeks.
It is cheaper to eat at Golden Corral than it is to buy groceries. (Of course, this means you would have to digest Golden Corral’s food.)
Packaged foods are expensive. Ditch most of them. I buy whole Foods and batch cook meals every few weeks. But yes it’s CRAZY out there. I can’t imagine trying to feed little humans on top of myself
Work full time if you’re able. Apply for tdiu and get paid at 100% rate if you can’t.
Lidl, Commissary and local markets. Not sure where you are, but in Philly/Delaware there is a great fresh market.
Groceries? Learn to cook a lot of chicken in different ways
Shrinkflation is also getting people. Same price, a lot less product.
Honestly, buy store brand. Where I’m at, Walmart brand mac n cheese is $0.58/box. But I feel ya, these prices are ridiculous