Have any of you changed your eating/cooking habits to compensate for your decreased spending power with Bidenflation?

If so, post some ideas you've tried to save some cash

Smaller steak, bigger potato.

Yep.

I am including more rice and potatoes. We are eating less steak.


On the plus side, I've learned some new stuff while looking for ways to make the cheap food more appealing. Arroz con pollo doesn't feel like poverty food. Tortilla de patata is actually made of all cheap ingredients and the family loves it.

There are ~87 interesting rice dishes, and at least that many potato ones.  

Shopping at Aldi's and buying meat when on sale at other stores. That alone has saved me a good bit of money. Bulk buying meat (10lb bags of chicken, not half cow) has also helped.

When bulk packs of bone-in skin-on chicken thighs are on sale I get 4-5 and put them in the chest freezer.  Now that it's just me and the hubby at home (daughter away at college) I can roast them in the oven over the weekend and use the meat in recipes through the week.

I'm buying half beefs from a farmer so I don't have to pay high grocery store prices, the quality of what I get is better, and I have it cut & packaged to my specs.  For instance, the roasts are 2-3 lb so the fit into my Instant Pot easily.  It hurts to pay for that all at once but it means when 80/20 ground beef is "on sale" for $4.99/lb I laugh.

Pork loin was just on sale so I bought a few and dropped them in the freezer.  Otherwise I wait for butt roasts to go on sale, slow roast them in the oven, and portion the cooked meat out for later use which then goes in the freezer.

I stay out of the center aisles and make more stuff from scratch.  The exception is pizza - I'll get a frozen "meaty" one on sale w/ coupon for $3-4 and add extra tomato, green pepper, black olives, and shredded cheese of my own.  The same pizza delivered would be $25.

Menus for the week are based on what's on sale.  If there's really nothing of note then I raid the freezer for pre-cooked proteins and use them in recipes.

We don't eat potato chips or other salty snacks.  If I want to snack I make air-pop popcorn which thankfully is still pretty inexpensive.

No more "ready to drink" tea or soft drinks, we make iced tea using tea bags.  No more soda, no ice cream, no cookies, no candy.

My spice collection has expanded to include curry powder, garam masala, etc. and the pantry has more Asian sauces so I can make stir fry and curries at home.  These recipes are easy to play with and very forgiving so I'm having fun with them.

Portion control and menu planning. If you buy meat in bulk of "family size" packaging, portion it out into smaller meal sized bags at home.

Check your fridge and pantry before going grocery shopping to avoid buying stuff you already have. My wife would religious buy things like shredded cheese, pasta, avocados etc without checking to see what we already had. Adds up.

More chicken.

Beans (cooked with a saved ham bone of course) and cornbread.

I got a haul today at my local restaurant supply store

17# Brisket
16# Pork Butt
6# eye of round roast

$82 with the sale they had running

Chest freezer is almost full

Well, my freezer WAS full.

STL ribs $1.77/lb and spare ribs $0.97/lb this week.  I'm gonna fix that situation.

Lucky.  Brisket prices have been rape for a while in my AO.  I guess too many fuckers bought smokers and drove up prices.

It is interesting to watch different cuts of meat vary in price as they gain or lose popularity

Brisket and tri tip roasts used to be dirt cheap until they were "discovered" by different influential grilling gurus

Eye of round was always cheap, but some body builder types now pimp it for being lean and purportedly better than other cuts for building muscle(sure, whatever) and now it's often $5 per pound.  I still grab one when they're on sale