southsamurai,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

It ain’t fun, not even close.

DuckPuppet,

Hallowed is the Aldi.

Terrapinjoe,

Stay away from prepared foods and buy more cheap staples like rice, beans, and potatoes. Shop the meats that are the best price per pound and know the highs and lows of fresh fruits and veggies to get better deals. Beef and fish have been basically unaffordable lately while pork and chicken have been more reasonable.

The prepared foods and snacks are getting ridiculous. A half gallon of cold brew coffee is up to $7. I can make it myself for a fraction of that, but it’s more labor for me. A bag of cool ranch doritos was going for $7 a bag… I chose some cheaper chips I don’t like as much, but got 2 bags for $4.50. A can of pad-Thai sauce is $12 at my grocery…

raynethackery,

Is it cheaper to make your own?

ohlaph,

Yeah, chips are outrageous. I simply stopped buying them.

Nollij,

A half gallon of cold brew coffee is up to $7. I can make it myself for a fraction of that, but it’s more labor for me.

I mean, only a little bit of labor. Even with premium grounds, I can’t imagine it costing more than 50 cents to make a half gallon. As for labor, just throw it all in a pitcher, give it a quick shake or stir, then leave it in the fridge for a couple of days. Pour it through a standard filter. I use the basket from my regular coffee maker.

Making your own cold brew is one of the most cost-efficient DIY foods out there.

Terrapinjoe,

I’ve been making cold brew with an in-jar filter that is more complicated than it should be but still not hard except for the pre planning for a few days in advance when I’m traveling for work. I’m definitely going to try it the way you describe though.

2xsaiko,
@2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

For the past month I’m paying around 30% more than I was in July 2022, and 10% more than I was in April 2022. (I just picked two random months from where I wasn’t yet either too lazy or busy to track everything I bought on the computer. Really need to catch up on that tbh because I haven’t updated the file for more than a year.)

The amount of stupid bullshit such as energy drinks I buy varies so to get any actually usable stats I’d have to average it over a longer time frame but it seems fine to me.

Why, how bad is it elsewhere?

PP_BOY_,
@PP_BOY_@lemmy.world avatar

Rice, brother. Lots of rice.

Contramuffin,

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.

Zarxrax,

Prices haven’t gone up that much where I live, and some of the things that have risen in price have actually started going back down recently. But I guess it all varies from one place to another.

But in general, I shop the sales flyers, I get things that are discounted such as meat that will expire soon, and I get the cheap staples like rice and beans. I stopped buying name brand items and unnecessary snack foods. I also use the Ibotta app which gives me some cash back. Usually not a lot, but over the course of a year it’s meaningful.

antlion,
@antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Grocery Outlet and Trader Joe’s. For GrocOut just go and see what’s cheap, don’t shop off a list. Make sure the prices of the stuff you’re buying is about 50% off or more. At TJ’s everything is priced pretty fairly, just buy what you want to eat.

Don’t drink alcohol or soda, or anything canned really.

wintermute_oregon,

I spend between 250-300 a week. Before the pandemic it was about 80-100 a week.

acchariya,

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.

LibertyLizard, (edited )

Decent cost of living wage increase, then switched jobs to higher pay on top of that. But I was never struggling to pay for food. Housing is the big one in my budget. But I have a fixed rate mortgage so inflation has not affected that.

Seems like prices have stopped increasing much lately too so I haven’t given it as much thought as a year ago.

KpntAutismus,

i’m gonna assume this post refers to the US’ prices.

it’s definetely noticeable in germany, but i’ll manage. my worker’s union is currently negotiating prices with my employer, and so far it’s looking pretty good.

but i pray for you guys, they really don’t seem to make life worth living over there.

can, (edited )

Could easily be Canada too

ETA: Here’s a good video on Canada’s and the states’ inflation problems from an outside perspective.

return2ozma,
@return2ozma@lemmy.world avatar

Yes, sorry. I’m in the US.

InEnduringGrowStrong,
@InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works avatar

Groceries will blame inflation and whatnot, yet they’re printing record profits.

dustyData,

That’s because the truth is the other way around. It’s the hoarding of record profits by the corporate class what drives the inflation

skydivekingair,

That’s their point.

wintermute_oregon,

Margins are down.

reuters.com/…/albertsons-beats-profit-revenue-exp…

. So it isn’t the stores gouging you. Somewhere in the chain. Someone is though

OsrsNeedsF2P,

Left it all behind and moved to a cheaper country

return2ozma,
@return2ozma@lemmy.world avatar

Where did you move to?

blunderworld,

I buy staples as cheaply as I can, and most other things I only buy on sale. Plan my cooking for the week around that.

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