W/ food prices going up, what are you cutting back

[Katrina-Sisu]

What are you cutting back on as food prices climb higher?

We honestly don't eat that much rice so we've not had a problem. Rice here is still very available and affordable...probably not for long though.

Instant oatmeal here (preflavored..I'm picky lol) is outrageous. 3.33 us bucks for 6 daggum packets. I'm just going to buy the big cheap box and nuke it and add the flavors myself.

Wheat still hasn't really went up nor corn. Prepackaged stuff is getting more expensive but at least it makes me cook from scratch more lol!

I pray and hope beans and our subsidy veggies don't go up, we'll be up a creek that's rather brown if that happens lol!

Kat

[lateaprildawn]

Hi Kat,

It is the pre packaged, processed stuff that is spiraling in price here too.

Here in the UK Instant powdered coffee (the most popular type) is climbing quite quickly but i am buying packs of "damaged" coffee beans off the reduced shelves for home use anyway.

Basic vegetable prices are going up slowly at the moment. If i see them at a low price I am buying and preserving them or starting to plant them in my garden.

Bread (due to wheat prices) is climbing a little, but i have already stocked up on flour and yeast.

I am quite lucky that my everyday diet doesnt have much processed food in it, or carbohydrates .I rarely eat rice and probably potatoes or bread only a couple of times a week,but i am keeping a wary eye on the staples and buying a little extra each week.

I havent seen a massive hike in any particular food prices just a very slow increase in all of them.

The biggest increase of all here is heating costs, electricity and gas prices. I have had a major drive here to reduce costs. (and i am embarrased to say it was very easy to save quite a flot). So much so that in 3 months that I was able to buy quite a good vacuum packing machine with the savings.

I only have a very small freezer so (as per my posts about canning) I am learning more about "zero energy use" storage like canning and drying.

Best wishes,
April

[Shamrock1121]

I still maintain a $50/week food budget. I'm just really careful about getting REAL food for the money I spend and we eat very well and want for nothing. I try not to spend more than $10/week on meat, but we're not big meat eaters and eat several meatless or low-meat meals each week. Monday is usually a big meat meal (roast turkey, roast beef, pork tenderloin, etc), but that also serves us for sandwich meat for brown-bag lunches and additional meals during the week.

I quit purchasing commercial flour last winter when I ran out because it's gone up so much, but I used very little of it anyway so haven't missed it at all. Now I make everything with freshly-milled flour using an assortment of grains/seeds/beans.

It takes 10 cents worth of my most expensive wheat to make a 1-pound loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread. And don't look now, the price of wheat is going down and should continue to go down until after harvest (a few weeks off). It looks like we're going to have an excellent wheat harvest in the 3-county area with yelds expected to average over 5-bushel more per acre than last year - and around 10-MILLION acres are planted to wheat in Kansas.

I make my own cereal mixes. Nothing like spending $4 dollars on 17 cents worth of grain in a box of cereal that's mostly air. I noticed at Wal-Mart they had 2 boxes of namebrand cereal (one was Cherrioes and can't remember the other) on an end-cap 2/$5. I also noticed the boxes were VERY tiny compared to "normal" boxes. Be sure to check unit prices folks.... How much is it per ounce, not whether it's 2/$5 and just SOUNDS like a bargain.

I get more bang for the buck if I avoid processed foods and quit paying for things in a bag, box, can, jar and the high-price advertisements that go along with it.

So far I have extra money in the budget for the year-to-date, and I've already purchased $80.99 worth of Morning Moo's (whey-based milk substitute), and a large amount of grain - all out of that $50/week budget. I've spent $915.55 out of $1,000 so far this year.

-Karen

[leera]

My big hang up is pop,or soda,depending on what it's called where you live......I have cut down to one a day though.

I have cut back as much as we can,and homecook pretty much everything anyway.If I'm feeling lazy,we will have a frozen pizza........

I quit buying prepackaged flavored oatmeal years ago.....I buy the big container of quick oats and add my own died fruits to it when I add the water....if I'm feeling fancy,I'll add vanilla too.

There really isn't much more we can do.We don't have cell phones,cable tv or a bad habit of dining out everyday......

[Faye]

I seldom buy prepackaged food items and I cook from scratch. I gave up soda a while back because I really don't want to put something in my tummy that will clean my toilet and also the road grime off my windshield but i drank my share of before I learned that. We only eat out if we have to go to Mobile to the doctor and will be gone most of the day. We have a large garden and I can and freeze everything I can. My husband likes meat but I have also cut down on that.

[JENNIFER_IN_AL]

Just when we decided to start eating better the prices sky rocket.

I have cut back on MEAT. Preacious meat. I sure hope deer season comes fast. I have learned a few tricks to fool the family though.

Since I am the meal cooker I have learned how to cook and bake from scratch. It is lots cheaper. So the prepackaged junk is out!

We got rid of the microwave a few months back so that helped stop the junk buying.

[Vinland]

It's hard times for everyone. I have cut back on electricity for more spending $$ as our strict vegan diet doesnt allow for many shortcuts.....produce my friends has gone up considerably at the store....thus we have a larger garden now....even bigger than last years....hope it does well. Many dont think about it, but a healthy, organic, plant based diet is very expensive if you have to rely on someone else to provide the food. Again....we hope to have a HUGE amount ths year weather providing. Another way I have found to save $$ Is by collecting other people's soda cans from work(Im in upstate NY) where I can get about $10 extra a week.

[bookwormom]

I really don't know what else we could do, I told husband I cut so many corners I am going in circles. Fresh fruit is my biggest expense. I shop at ALDI, an amish store and a road side stand. today I got bananas for 37 cents, oranges for 4.89 for an 8 pound bag and two lemons for a dollar.Also two cucumbers. I wish I could do better in the lemon department as a lemon a day is supposed to keep prostate trouble at bay. My grandmother used to say that health is wealth.
Once a month I hit the salvage grocery store and the prices there are going up, too. but mustard was still 35 cents for a squeeze bottle. I notice there are more and more cars there. I got five packages of toiletpaper , at a saving of 1.59 each. My bottle of shampoo is getting low but I did not find anything to replace it. Press a bottle cap (not a twist off but the kind that is on beer bottles) in a cake of soap and make sure the bottle cap side is down. it will last a lot longer.
the only mix I have in the house is a really old sloppy Joe packet.
I have not been in a regular grocery store for several years, (aside from ALDI) when I had to go because I needed some ginger root to plant, I nearly fainted at the prices, aside that the ginger root was 4.69 a pound. Unless you really make a heck of a salary, I am wondering if it is really worth the effort for moms to go to work or wouldn't it be cheaper to stay home and cut corners and do real cooking.
Make your own yoghurt, easier yet is kefir. (Last week my culture got thrown away. I am afraid the person helping with the dishes (company) thought what is this and chucked it.
:'( :'(
cereal and potatoe products to me seem like giant rip offs. I just ignore them. Oatmeal at the amish store is around 1.80 for five pounds. I add fresh ground flax seed to it, some ground pumpkin seeds, pinch of salt and a mashed banana. We notice that everything is way too sweet anyway. A bag of sugar lasts me for six months. (not in canning season). I do not feel deprived one bit, mainly because I am not. I feel we are eating better for less. I also do not mind second hand, except for underwear.
right now we have to make adjustments to the gas prices, make sure we combine errands etc on one trip. for instance today I went to the salvage store because we had to take our son to town and that is more than half way there, so we went on and saved half a trip. a nursery I wanted to stop at is along that road too, and I picked up a couple of bargains in blueberry bushes and grapes,which we lost year due to the drought , so it was a worthwhile trip.
so, really, I cannot cut anything back. We have neither TV nor cell phone, for fun we walk in the woods and identify plants, answer back when the owls are hooting, and other inexpensive entertainment. Once in a while we get an icecream cone at the country corner store. Mostly we share one.

[hillbillygal]

I am sticking to a $35/week grocery budget. I have also started using coupons which I use if an item is already on sale so it is discounted deeply. I am trying to hang in there on the produce until the farmer's produce stands start opening. We are also planting more for canning this fall. We have also stopped eating out unless we have saved money everywhere else that week and can afford to go for the lunch specials at the local mexican place.
I had been shopping at Save-A-Lot but it seems their prices have risen to the point I'm better off stocking up on loss-leaders at the larger grocery store with my $35 budget.

[RNMOM]

Everything! Wow, it's unbelievable to see what is happening at the pump and the store.

I have always felt that we were pretty frugal with the grocery part of our lives but I am learning new things all the time. I have a huge store of wheat, sugar, bean, rice, pasta and various canned goods. I use much of my budget each week to lay up on really good sales. I need to do better with milk. I can't stand powdered milk, but I am going to break out the morning moo and start mixing it half and half with real milk. Everyone tells me that we won't notice a difference. So we'll give it a try, 3 gallons a week is a bit much.

My garden is bigger this year and I have planted more intensively. I'll keep planting stuff as I harvest an area. My growing season is limited, but I'm committed to extending it by any means possible to get those last tomatoes.

I've already done some canning, chicken that was on sale last week got put inside the mason jars. I'll can or freeze as much of my garden as will grow this year.

[Katrina-Sisu]

Beans went up 3 more cents at our local grocery and hotdogs went up 30 cents per large package

Soy sauce went up 20 cents here too for the cheapest storebrand one. Coffee went up 30 more cents for the good brand here too.

Any price increases in your area?

[Terri]

EVERYTHING is going up, and I try not to think about it. It costs to eat what it costs to eat: we pay it.

My garden is half in: I plan for a big one this year. I am trying to double the size from last year. I do not intend to restrict the food: I intend to raise more of it.

[Shamrock1121]

Because I already have such a large variety of food in storage to plan meals from, I nearly always focus on things that are on sale and still don't have a problem sticking to my $50/week budget. In fact, I've spent 20% less than my budgeted amount for the year-to-date. I'm probably making more money on my storage food than I am in my IRA account ;).

Normally, I use around $10 out of the $50 for meat each week, but today I purchased:
2 large flat roasts
2 packages of Hebrew National Beef Hot Dogs (Hebrew National and Nathan's are the only hot dog brands we eat)
2 packages of chicken terderloins

All were buy one get one free and I still had money left for fresh fruit, 100% frozen concentrate orange juice and grape juice, cabbage and carrots, and a few canned goods to go into storage. I try to spend at least $5 each week for food that goes into storage. Last week ground beef was on sale, and I stocked up on that. We have more than enough meat now to last us the rest of the year.

Since I keep a grocery price book, I knew they were all good sales - and about all the room I had left in my freezer ::) since I only have the refrigerator/freezer.

I'd rather be PROactive. Just paying WHATEVER because the prices are going up all the time is being reactive. Being proactive means:

- planning meals
- wise use of leftovers
- more whole foods instead of high-priced processed foods
- carefully watching serving sizes
- using less meat and more meatless dishes
- avoid food waste
- avoid junk foods
- make your own mixes
- make your own snacks
- find reasonable substitutes or cheaper brands

Don't get in a grocery rut. Find some new recipes that use inexpensive foods and whole foods which tend to be more nutritious and filling. Avoid expensive dry cereal. What a waste of money for such a tiny amount of processed food. You can do much better with fresh fruit and homemade wholegrain muffins, pancakes, or French Toast from 100% whole wheat bread. Make extras and store them in the freezer.

-Karen

[leera]

I have just about cut my shopping down to once a month.I have to go this week....we're low on dog food and cat food.......

With the sales and coupons I'm still saving an average of 70% off full price.Sometimes more,sometimes less.

We too have cut down on our meat purchases,now only having meat in one meal a day and using less in the meal........when the local produce starts coming in,I'll be able to do more vegan meals and omit the meat completely.I just can't afford fresh produce at the store all the time.

I have my container garden in and growing,after having to replace 8 tomato plants and several pepper plants I lost in that late freeze.In the space we have,I couldn't possibly grow everything we need,there just isn't enough room here.

ALDI is finally going to build a store closer,yet it's still two towns away........I really wish they'd build one here,since their distribution center is only a mile away........and we don't have a grocery store here anymore.

I plan all driving carefully,and am trying to find a way to make it so I only need to fill the tank once a week,but have not been able to do that yet.The only real options now would be to change jobs,or move closer to work.

We are looking for a house,but thus far have not had any luck in our limited price range.

[FirestarterKY]

I'm seeing we have less variety these days.
I cooked a big pork roast, made a huge thing of bbq pulled pork, then before I cooked it I cut off about 6 chops. So, all week we had pork.
I was able to get some salads outta the garden.
Greens too.
But, so far that's about it.
I see I'm using only 3-4 squares of TP.
Exsessive behaviors are becoming very noticable in these times.
I'm not using the fly spray like I did last year, which is prob better anyhow.
The horses just go stand in the barn when the big horse flies get bad.
I have one pk and three cigs left and plan to buy no more.
Friend of mine and I are trying to quit.
Wish us luck!
I spend 100.00 per month on tobacco.
25 per wk.
HUbby has been smoking one and a half cartons per week.
Gotta figure that one out because he's not willing to let go of them yet.
I'm finding I use less soaps/detergents.

[Cutter]

I have one pk and three cigs left and plan to buy no more.
Friend of mine and I are trying to quit.
Wish us luck!
I spend 100.00 per month on tobacco.
25 per wk.
HUbby has been smoking one and a half cartons per week.
Gotta figure that one out because he's not willing to let go of them yet.
I'm finding I use less soaps/detergents.
I wish you luck on the quitting . I also was smoking 1 1/2 cartons when I quit. I used the gum and it worked for me. I smoked for 25yrs and quit 18yrs ago. After a while even the urge to smoke goes away. Best thing I ever did. Good luck.

[anna]

I'm looking into my old cookbooks from 1935 thru the 1960's for recipes that are interesting and use what is grown in the garden and/or cheap at the store. For instance cabbage. In a 1935 cookbook are recipes for 4 different ways to do boiled cabbage plus baked cabbage, red cabbage and a "cabbage special" where you hollow out the cabbage put ground beef patties in the bottom, top with celery, onion, potatoes & carrots, put the "top" back on, tie with string and boil the whole works for 1½ hours. I think that sounds like a fun and tasty meal.

We're also doing beans and rice. There seem to be a 1,000 (at least!) different ways of doing beans and rice all of which are tasty.

I shop primarly at Aldis and I have managed to build a big pantry which somewhat insulates us from price rises. We use a lot of canned fruit and vegetables which some people ridicule, but for cheap and varied they are hard to beat. Food value may be less but not significantly so especially when the choice is either canned or doing without.

[flatwater]

I gave up my wife and kids , they were costing me a bundle ,(just kidding ) on giving them up anyway , but they do cost a bundle and worth every penny as my wife holds a gun to my head :o Probably the biggest thing I have given up is my double almond , single coffee 20oz latte. ouch that hurt. I now have enough money now to buy a second pare of underwear :D The sad part is when we cut back a lot of mom & pop small businesses suffer.
Flatwater

[Clair_Schwan]

I have taken just the opposite approach. Instead of cutting back, I have been spending money building greenhouses. I have two finished and one more that will be finished soon.

The idea is to get away from the grocery store altogether, and the greenhouses help us do that in the area of produce. We will be growing over 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables.

Our plans are also to use the greenhouses for growing and harvesting vegetables year round. We don't like the marketplace, so we created an alternative.

All the greenhouses are homemade, so they are less than half of what you would pay for a commercial kit. We don't intend to heat them much, except with solar power, so they should be inexpensive to operate.

To go along with the greenhouses, we have stocked up on canning supplies and food dryers, all from garage sales. We are ready to harvest and store our produce to we can enjoy our home grown vegetables, at very low cost, all year long.

[flatwater]

Clair Schwan , good idea , I thought of the green house idea but I want to get a cost effective way to heat in the winter where we get -20% on occasion and the average runs around 0
Flatwater

[Naughty_Pines]

Rather than having pheasant under glass, I'm having chicken under saran wrap :'(

[Clair_Schwan]

Flatwater:

Same temperatures here in Cheyenne. You don't need to have heat to be successful. We are going essentially heatless this winter, and we should be able to grow about 15 types of vegetables (OK, maybe not grow, but harvest) throughout the winter season.

Our primary supplemental heat will be from solar panels and buried hot water piping. I will also be building a waste oil heater for each greenhouse, but we don't want to fight nature, we'd rather work with it.

Take a look at my website, under the Building a Greenhouse navigation button, and you'll see detailed discussion and pictures of two of my greenhouses and a third one under construction.

http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com

There is lots of other discussion and pictures of our raised beds made from steel barrels cut in half, and gobs of other useful information. There is also a page on cold weather crops and our experience transplanting seedlings on March 27th into our unheated greenhouse. Our normal planting date is June 1.

We are going to toss the produce bill right out the window and eat better than ever. Join us.

[Shamrock1121]

For those not inclined to building a greenhouse, or would be concerned someone would rob the produce from it, here are some options.

I've been using one of the best gifts I've gotten in a long time, an AeroGarden.

http://www.aerogrow.com/

I'm going to purchase one more to expand the "fleet" to get a bigger range of produce.

I also grow greens in my "cold frame" - plant in August/September and harvest until January when the weather often gets extremely cold. If it's a mild winter, I've had greens all winter long. I re-seed the cold frame in late February and get a head start on spring greens. I'm never without fresh greens.

My cold frame is nothing more complicated than two plastic basement window well covers (got them at Lowe's) held together with a couple spring clamps to form a plastic dome. They are easy to prop open when the weather is nice and easy to water. I secure it to the ground with 6 tent stakes. The dome shape is excellent against wind. The plastic dome has proven to be great because no matter how low the sun gets in the southern hemosphere, the plastic dome gets 100% of the available light.

If you need a little more protection from the north, use some black landscape fabric attached to lathe stuck in the ground to protect the plastic dome on 3-sides, or a bail of hay or straw. The black fabric will also help provide heat during the day.

I stick the dome in the garden in an area that is protected from the north winds. I place a few bricks that are painted black in the back of the cold frame to absorb heat during the day.

Another option... If you have a nice sunny south window, you can grow enough leaf lettuce, spinach, and a variety of herbs (which are very high in nutrition), in terra cotta pots or a small planter to provide for your salad and sandwich needs.

I've even grown a pot of Red Robin Tomatoes (got the seeds from www.containerseeds.com - thanks to Martin's suggestion on the BWH a couple years ago).

Adding a variety of sprouts (from seeds and beans) you make in your kitchen in a quart jar, and that will give you a tremendous amount of fresh food that is cheap to make and high in nutrition. I think sprouts are a must in the winter.

-Karen

[Maranna]

I want a greenhouse, but have to have something that can withstand 90 mph winds we get at times. But the sun breaks down plastic in just one season. It doesn't get really all that cold here, 27 for a high for today, and in the teens at night.

I can't afford a commercial greenhouse, and would need help building a homemade one.

[walls0stone]

Nothing.

Eating black Angus steaks and pork every single nite. So sick of beef! eggs a plenty I barter for my grain and had to get more chickens to cover the mountain of layer mash I was getting each week (50 lb) rather than let it spoil. Now what eggs I don't eat are pickled...can only eat so many eggs a day. had a great garden and wife made jelly and Jams. Eat Like Kings here. traded some simple work for 5 gallon of Apple jack and just ordered 25 meat chickens for .90 each. family farm next door has milk and another fellow close at hand has a maple business. Could go on and on about food.

Cheers!