Ask Lemmy

I am lucky that my income to expenses is a good ratio so I can buy what I want without undue hardship but I cringe because I used to feed myself for about half the money.

I do buy items in bulk when the bulk unit price is significantly lower if it will keep and I will use it eventually. I will also try to get these items while they are on sale. This is a one time high expenditure that pays off in the long run and unfortunately the people who need to do this most are the ones who can't afford the extra expense at one time of buying bulk. I do this with things like rice, beans (I'm vegetarian so I'm not eating beans because I can't afford anything else, it's a big part of my diet). Also things like flour, salt, pepper, anything that doesn't easily spoil and will get used eventually.

I also allow the store to track the fuck out of me on their app by clipping store coupons. Unfortunately this is a necessary evil because it usually saves me $10 to $15 per week.

With fruits and vegetables, buying what's in season during the growing months saves a lot and buying frozen vegetables instead of fresh has the same or better nutritional profile but can be much cheaper.

I've just stopped eating, I'm hoping it will make the survival aspect a moot point after awhile.

I still have 50 lb of COVID rice in my pantry.

I've been slipping over to Aldi or Costco for produce. Sure I have to buy more at Costco, but the price is there are still lower per pound than they were at my grocery store before inflation.

I make a lot of stuff from scratch I don't rely on a lot of mixes. The price of bulk flour and the price of bulk rice hasn't gone up nearly as much as Purdue chicken breast.

A great addition to the already awesome tips here is having room mates. You're never too old to shack up with friends or family and save. It's only logical, it cuts down on waste, and makes you grow to be a better person and communicator in adulthood, something the world could always use more of.

I haven’t starved yet. I know from experience that if I get calorically restricted for too long, I will do anything to fill my stomach. So fortunately, it hasn’t got to the point where my morality starts to degrade yet.

Step 1) plant potatoes Step 2) cry

Spending a few hundred a week for the two of us to eat a basic equivalent diet to that available in Europe. I brought back all my shampoo, body wash, moisturizers, etc in a 50 lb suitcase which I loaded up at carrefour on my last trip to France.

"real food" is the most affordable. I stick to that. The outside of the store. Not the middle

I'm doing a lot more cooking that's for sure

Pancakes can really go with anything, they're basically a large flat biscuit. Not to mention they keep quite nicely if frozen or simply put in the fridge

i shop bulk as much as i can, eat oatmeal for breakfast daily, and after i had my gall bladder removed i got in the habit of eating 2-3oz portions of animal protein no more than 5 times a week. i spend a bunch of time in the kitchen every week but it definitely softens the blow. it also helps that i have a couple of cheap staple meals i can make for less than $5 per serving.

i also shop around for value. i live near 4 different grocery stores so i dont spend a lot of time doing it, but i do make a run to grocery outlet every month in order to get discounts on bigger items but it can be hit or miss.

Ramen keeping me alive.

Carefully.

My spreadsheet shows my grocery costs are about 12% higher than last year. A difference of around $10/wk.

Haven't noticed any difference. I buy non-processed foods only (meat, vegetables, grains, spices) and everything has been pretty stable for decades.

I shop at grocery outlet and ultimately eat very little.

I mostly buy ingredients and cook bulk batches of food. Before, we were splurging on instacart, but they got crazy expensive with their upcharges (MINIMUM 15% increase in item cost, + service charge, +delivery fee (or the annual delivery fee), +tip (it started to feel like 15% was too low, on top of the 15% grocery upcharge).

We stopped that and we actually spend less now even after this inflation.

Buying cheaper stuff. Doing fine I guess

I was actually contributing a fair bit to savings with the last job I did, but for anybody making 14 or less I can imagine it's a real struggle.

My prices have come down quite a bit over the past few months. It was a stretch to feed myself on $250 but now I’m ending the month with a few dollars left over

Bought instant noodles in bulk. I could have gotten the cheap, tasteless kind, but I prefer the more expensive Asian ones. Still ends up being much less expensive than groceries anyways. I have a good portion of the pantry filled with just different types of instant noodles, all of which were bought in bulk. I do buy groceries, but I avoid the more expensive foods as much as possible. Just stuff like milk, eggs, spinach, fruits, etc.

I don't eat instant noodles every day, but if I don't feel like cooking or if I'm running low on food, I can "supplement" the meal with instant noodles. Having instant noodles as "backup" helps takes a bit of the edge off with regards to grocery spending, although I do admit that I could take more drastic measures to save. Despite living in an area where the cost of living is absurd (one of the highest in the country), I feel somewhat well off in that I can get by with just supplementing my meals with instant noodles every now and then.

Bulk buys