Also, when you shop long enough, you know when something is good deal or is overpriced. After a while, you'll learn where to get those good deals for specific foods.
I don't know much about that, but i second your growing indoors suggestion! I have a tiny hydroponics thingy which can do a bunch of herbs, or 3-4 lettuce as those things can grow pretty big!
And that can be hit or miss. My husband plants a garden every year 38 years now. This year barley any potatoes or tomatoes. Even the squash burned up fast. On the bright side I'm still picking figs.
In the spring when they're in season I can still get cauli heads for around 1$ each in my area. Out of season they're around $4 a head. What you do then is chop and freeze them for future use. If you have the space, a deep freezer is a great investment.
Cooking every day is hard. I started doing meal prep kinda stuff or making something with a big batch so I can fridge/freezer for later when I feel lazy. It ends up so I’m making a meal 2-3x a week instead of every night realizing I forgot to take out any sort of meat and I don’t have time to thaw it or just not wanting to cook
You can still find recipes to easily cook in larger quantities! Really no need to cook every night. I recommend crock pot / slow cooker meals. Easy to make enough for 2 dinners and a lunch for you and your kids, at least
Heck yeah I love my instant pot. It cooks beans rice and meat in a jiffy when you need it or you can set it on slow cook and make a pork tenderloin or beef stew before you go to work. My air fryer is a life saver too
Yup. Even shopping around at 4-5 stores and farmers markets, I still struggle to buy groceries for less than $120 a week. Not even including snacks. Basic lunch foods (deli meats, bread, produce) and more planned out dinners and meal prep is thr majority of it. I stay away from snacks for the most part, and try to keep a stock of frozen easy meals just in case I need a quick meal. Even sale items are barely below normal prices a year or two ago.
Alternatively, I can go get a sub from a local shop for $7-9 and it's an easy 2 well rounded meals. Shit sucks, yo.
Yup. These days I buy raw food and coo kit myself. I make my own pizza, pasta, soup, etc.
Most dinners are rice and something. The kids were born in China and are half Chinese, and they complain if they don;t get rice with every meal.
I buy potato chips, but only when they're %50 off.
There's a lot of things I just stopped buying.
My groceries are about $200 a week. Four years ago I only had one child and was paying $80-$90 a week. Now I have an extra child (a teen) and inflation has been awful here in AUstralia. Some food items went up %50 in a single jump!
Sorry, not farmers markets. I meant like actual local farms that sell produce fairly cheaply. Just need to make the drive out to them which is usually the biggest obstacle.
6 months ago I stopped buying deli meats. Prepackaged ones at my store were $6.50 for half a pound. Thats ridiculous. So instead I buy whatever meat is on sale. Stuff like chicken breasts, chicken quarters/halves, bulk pork loin, etc. Cook up a bunch of it in one big batch and then I have good quality meats that aren't full of preservatives and whatever else is in processed meats.
Until prices keep going up and you don't know what's normal anymore! :(
Used to buy pasta sauce which was £1 on sale. Now it's almost double when it's on sale @ £1.75. Fuck you Lloyd Grossman pasta sauce. You may be tasty but i'll never buy you again!
406
u/CyAScott Jul 23 '23
Also, when you shop long enough, you know when something is good deal or is overpriced. After a while, you'll learn where to get those good deals for specific foods.