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Quoted: Make friends with someone who owns chickens or get your own. I get very high quality pasture raised local eggs from my co-worker for $2 per dozen. But meat direct from the farmer, especially beef. Buy a deep freeze and split the cow with friends and family. Doing just these 2 things have allowed me to weather much of King Biden’s inflation mess as far as food prices. typically even all the local small farm /homestead people charge $5/dozen for organic eggs, I have never been able to find anything under that. Unless you go so far out in the sticks, like rural WV, might bring it down to $3.50/dozen. Chicken feed is getting more expensive too. |
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Quoted: I love the people who say to skip the frozen section. Frozen veggies, fruit, and meat are to be skipped? It depends. I know the bags got smaller. I’d normally keep bags of mixed veg, green beans, spinach and and peas in the freezer. I still buy fresh but I don’t always got to the store right away when the fresh vegetables are gone. It’s always nice to have some set back in the freezer or even a few cans when you have a weekend blizzard and can say F it, I am not leaving the house. I don’t use those every day that is for sure. Especially canned vegetables as I am not a big fan. Cans also now come with more liquid than product. It seems they’re half loading the cans like the tuna. I quit buying canned tuna altogether. Frankly I could buy tuna steaks as cheap per pound of actual flesh received. |
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Quoted: It depends. I know the bags got smaller. I’d normally keep bags of mixed veg, green beans, spinach and and peas in the freezer. I still buy fresh but I don’t always got to the store right away when the fresh vegetables are gone. It’s always nice to have some set back in the freezer or even a few cans when you have a weekend blizzard and can say F it, I am not leaving the house. I don’t use those every day that is for sure. Especially canned vegetables as I am not a big fan. Cans also now come with more liquid than product. It seems they’re half loading the cans like the tuna. I quit buying canned tuna altogether. Frankly I could buy tuna steaks as cheap per pound of actual flesh received. Quoted: Quoted: I love the people who say to skip the frozen section. Frozen veggies, fruit, and meat are to be skipped? It depends. I know the bags got smaller. I’d normally keep bags of mixed veg, green beans, spinach and and peas in the freezer. I still buy fresh but I don’t always got to the store right away when the fresh vegetables are gone. It’s always nice to have some set back in the freezer or even a few cans when you have a weekend blizzard and can say F it, I am not leaving the house. I don’t use those every day that is for sure. Especially canned vegetables as I am not a big fan. Cans also now come with more liquid than product. It seems they’re half loading the cans like the tuna. I quit buying canned tuna altogether. Frankly I could buy tuna steaks as cheap per pound of actual flesh received. I'm single. Buying fresh means I usually don't use it all up. Using frozen really cuts food waste. Plus, I find things like frozen chicken to be cheaper than fresh. |
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Quoted: My house payment just jumped $300.00 a month to cover escrow / home insurance / property tax increases, electric bill is $150.00 higher than previous 6 years that Iv been keeping records, last 6 years electric bills for January ran $250-$275 , this January it’s now suddenly $400.00. Not catastrophic increases, but definately cut into my extra money, that’s not including the other increases, fuel, water, food, everyday items, etc. it adds up quickly and I have no doubt it’s totally fucking millions of people who are not as well off and like a rising tide, it’s drowning more people every day who before we’re barely making it, and taking millions more who were “ ok “ and pushed them down into the “ barely making it” categories. And prices still climbing. It’s like the titanic. Rich people on deck eating dinner, and dancing, nothing wrong to them, meanwhile the lower decks are flooding, some already drowned, others knee deep, others waist deep, others neck deep, and waters / consequences are rising deeper by the day. Yep, the Titanic metaphor is pretty apropos. In that eventually the entire boat sinks and even the wealthy ones find themselves under water, with their paper profits disappearing. It's the super wealthy, the elites who are insulated. And the rest of us thrown off the boat to the sharks. Get the picture?  |
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Quoted: Yup. I set a new spending record doing a grocery run yesterday. Nothing fancy, just the usual stuff on the shopping list.  It's no accident that food costs are not included in inflation numbers. Just unbelievable. CPI is just total fraud. they way they calculate, if the price of new 4K TVs goes to $299, you are better off and that can replace some of the other thing that went up. They got zero credibility. |
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Quoted: I don't know where you all are shopping or what you are buying, but my world doesn't resemble the one described by the "have you seen the grocery prices?" crowd. Try visiting one of the major metro centers around the country from your fly-over rural paradise.. you know, places like DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta...etc. Places where most of the country lives and works. Of course comparing podunk wasteland in New Mexico or such with Northern Virginia is going to be a flawed comparison. The earning potential is much higher there as well as everything is more expensive. Obviously. |
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Quoted: Eggs are good for months past their “expiration” date. I routinely use the. 3 or 4 months past that date. Yep and the float test posted here is very useful. I had some that were about 2-3 months old, and they were beginning to stand up vertically, but still good, while the really fresh ones were horizontal in the water pan. Thanks for posting. Optimal I think is within 1 month My homestead egg person gets lazy sometimes, doesn't scoop out eggs on time so right off the bat one per box floats on the surface, I can easily tell without breaking it. But the good ones are better than the best organic ones at wholefoods. |
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Quoted: Try visiting one of the major metro centers around the country from your fly-over rural paradise.. you know, places like DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta...etc. Places where most of the country lives and works. Of course comparing podunk wasteland in New Mexico or such with Northern Virginia is going to be a flawed comparison. The earning potential is much higher there as well as everything is more expensive. Obviously. Gotta love the folks who think their local prices for whatever (groceries, gas, etc.) are going to be the same across the entire US. |
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Quoted: Gardening seems such a logical choice. Especially crops that are pretty simple like potatoes and tomatoes. Here they grow without much effort." Potato is my fav crop. it can last through the winter. and you can cook it in 100 and 1 ways. Yup, ramping up our potato garden this year. I have a few started in grow bags in the basement that will go out in a month. I'm planning to stagger on a monthly basis so we're in potatoes through the growing season. Stupid easy to grow. Did these last year as a fucking casual: Attached File Four grow bags. |
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Quoted: Yup, Walmart curbside with the wife today. Over $80 for just a few items plus noticed gas prices had gone up too (haven't switch to summer blend yet either). People telling you inflation has gone down are lying to you. Inflation going down means you prices are still rising but not as fast. Deflation is when we see prices start falling. |
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Quoted: Yup, ramping up our potato garden this year. I have a few started in grow bags in the basement that will go out in a month. I'm planning to stagger on a monthly basis so we're in potatoes through the growing season. Stupid easy to grow. Did these last year as a fucking casual: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/310106/20230924_122918_jpg-3141338.JPG Four grow bags. lovely |
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Quoted: Inflation going down means you prices are still rising but not as fast. Deflation is when we see prices start falling. Quoted: Quoted: Yup, Walmart curbside with the wife today. Over $80 for just a few items plus noticed gas prices had gone up too (haven't switch to summer blend yet either). People telling you inflation has gone down are lying to you. Inflation going down means you prices are still rising but not as fast. Deflation is when we see prices start falling. True...but Biden is still lying to us. |
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Quoted: True...but Biden is still lying to us. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Yup, Walmart curbside with the wife today. Over $80 for just a few items plus noticed gas prices had gone up too (haven't switch to summer blend yet either). People telling you inflation has gone down are lying to you. Inflation going down means you prices are still rising but not as fast. Deflation is when we see prices start falling. True...but Biden is still lying to us. Oh, 100% on that front. Bureau of Lies and Scams. |
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Quoted: I love the people who say to skip the frozen section. Frozen veggies, fruit, and meat are to be skipped? Skip brands like Stouffer's, Hungry Man, Marie Calendar's, PF Changs, etc. Mainly the heat & eat meals single-serving meals, not frozen ingredients. My exceptions are the 8-pk burrito or chimichanga bags (still cheap fortunately), store-brand family-sized lasagna (on sale recently for $5.99) and pizzas. Frozen pizzas often go on sale plus the store has coupons for them, so a four-meat large pizza is $3.50-4.00 (normal price $7). I throw on extra cheese, green pepper, black olives, and a diced Roma tomato which yields a pizza dinner for two for under $10. BTW black olives are bloody expensive now! Since I'm no longer commuting to work I only go to one store, as it's not worth my time and the gas to go to the one ten miles away. I read the circular and whatever is on sale that week is what's for dinner - or stocked up in the pantry or freezer for weeks when even the sale prices suck. |
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Quoted: Laundry stuff too. Safeway and Fred Meyer(Kroger) regularly have soda on sale buy 2, get 2-3 free. Regular price $10/12 pack. Soda is going on sale because nobody drinks it any more. Sales have fallen off the charts in the past ten years. Born in 83. I usually had some kind of soda in the house growing up - even if it was diet or store brand. One of the best parts of summer - getting a few dollars in quarters and riding bikes with my friends up to the grocery store to buy a bunch of ice cold 25 cent sodas from the machine out front, had all the best flavors. Now? My kids don't drink soda. We never have it in the house unless for a BBQ. I haven't drank a soda in years. We have some flavored sparkling water and that's it. |
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Quit buying the ultra-processed crap. We usually buy a rib roast ($10/lb) or a NY strip roast ($6/lb) then slice it into steaks. Roast per week for 3 of us. Going to swap some of that with tri-tip now, buy a large package of 4 tri-tip roasts for $5/lb 5 dozen eggs a week for $15. Bacon in large packs at Costco or US Foods Chefs Store works out to $4-5/lb. Along with some cheese that hasn't gone up in a while now. Our food prices are pretty stable. |
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Quoted: Soda is going on sale because nobody drinks it any more. Sales have fallen off the charts in the past ten years. Born in 83. I usually had some kind of soda in the house growing up - even if it was diet or store brand. One of the best parts of summer - getting a few dollars in quarters and riding bikes with my friends up to the grocery store to buy a bunch of ice cold 25 cent sodas from the machine out front, had all the best flavors. Now? My kids don't drink soda. We never have it in the house unless for a BBQ. I haven't drank a soda in years. We have some flavored sparkling water and that's it. 2022 the Feds spent $119 Billion on food stamps. 10% of that went to sugary drinks, almost all of it soda pop. The soda companies are being heavily subsidized by tax dollars. |
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Quoted: Quit buying the ultra-processed crap. We usually buy a rib roast ($10/lb) or a NY strip roast ($6/lb) then slice it into steaks. Roast per week for 3 of us. Going to swap some of that with tri-tip now, buy a large package of 4 tri-tip roasts for $5/lb 5 dozen eggs a week for $15. Bacon in large packs at Costco or US Foods Chefs Store works out to $4-5/lb. Along with some cheese that hasn't gone up in a while now. Our food prices are pretty stable. I buy center cut hormel when Safeway has it for $4-5. Get your four packages and deep freeze them. I made the mistake of buying a bone in NY Strip Loin once for steaks. Huge pain in the ass to debone, never again. Rib Roasts during the holidays for $5-6/lb is the way to go. I have a freezer full of ribeyes I cut myself. |
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Quoted: 2022 the Feds spent $119 Billion on food stamps. 10% of that went to sugary drinks, almost all of it soda pop. The soda companies are being heavily subsidized by tax dollars. Well, 10% are buying soda, but who knows how much they drink?  WKYT Investigates: Pop Train Also people in states with bottle deposits buy water and dump it for the $0.05 per bottle. People work hard being thieves. |
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Quoted: My daughters and wife use Native deodorant only. Even at the Wal-Marts, it's $13.25/stick and they go through it quick. Quoted: Quoted: That's another one. Stick of Old Spice pit stick was 7 bucks at the grocery store. I checked Walmart and it was 6. I swear we were paying a little over 3 bucks a stick a couple years ago. My daughters and wife use Native deodorant only. Even at the Wal-Marts, it's $13.25/stick and they go through it quick. We stopped using all that phosphate soap, aluminum powder deodorant chemical cleaner crap years ago. Natural goat milk soaps, etc. We currently get Beekman's off HSN but they're having trouble keeping up with demand. The cost is skyhigher than store brands but we don't get those funny rashes anymore, the underarms don't collect all that deodorant scum and then rot out, stuff like that. |
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Quoted: Will be buying steaks at the dollar store soon Attached File |
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Quoted: I pick up a 4lb bag of sugar about every 3 months. It was always around $2.69. Saturday it was $4.69. WTF ? Walmart Tampa FL Generic Great Value sugar's price is $3.24/4lbs (81c/lb). 10lb bag $7.68 (76.8c/lb). Sugar stores about forever, so buy larger bags and get some savings. |
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Quoted: What do you do with five dozen eggs?!? We routinely toss out half a dozen because we didn't eat all of them.before they expired Dude I've kept eggs for like 2-3 months past expiration and they are fine. I usually do that, actually, and I've never had a problem. |
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Quoted: Dude I've kept eggs for like 2-3 months past expiration and they are fine. I usually do that, actually, and I've never had a problem. Quoted: Quoted: What do you do with five dozen eggs?!? We routinely toss out half a dozen because we didn't eat all of them.before they expired Dude I've kept eggs for like 2-3 months past expiration and they are fine. I usually do that, actually, and I've never had a problem. I think the longest I've used eggs past their best by dates was 3-ish months. The taste was....stale? Hard to describe. definitely edible but not as flavorful. Wife had been sick and as a result, couldn't use some stuff fast enough or, as with the eggs, she wasn't into them until she was LOL. The water trick will tell you. If they sink, they're ok. If they float, bad. |
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Quoted: Try visiting one of the major metro centers around the country from your fly-over rural paradise.. you know, places like DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta...etc. Places where most of the country lives and works. Quoted: Quoted: I don't know where you all are shopping or what you are buying, but my world doesn't resemble the one described by the "have you seen the grocery prices?" crowd. Try visiting one of the major metro centers around the country from your fly-over rural paradise.. you know, places like DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta...etc. Places where most of the country lives and works. The grocery whiners are just not willing to break out of their normal patterns of doing things. We see this, ad_nauseam. |
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Quoted: I work in Cleveland. Is that major metro enough? The grocery whiners are just not willing to break out of their normal patterns of doing things. We see this, ad_nauseam. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I don't know where you all are shopping or what you are buying, but my world doesn't resemble the one described by the "have you seen the grocery prices?" crowd. Try visiting one of the major metro centers around the country from your fly-over rural paradise.. you know, places like DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta...etc. Places where most of the country lives and works. The grocery whiners are just not willing to break out of their normal patterns of doing things. We see this, ad_nauseam. Care to share your secret cut-rate shopping location in NE Ohio that doesn't include the food bank? |
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Quoted: We stopped using all that phosphate soap, aluminum powder deodorant chemical cleaner crap years ago. Natural goat milk soaps, etc. We currently get Beekman's off HSN but they're having trouble keeping up with demand. The cost is skyhigher than store brands but we don't get those funny rashes anymore, the underarms don't collect all that deodorant scum and then rot out, stuff like that. |