Posted on 12/07/2022 6:08:23 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Okay, inflation is taking a bite out of our wallets in large part due to rising food prices. However, I think I might actually be paying less for food than before because of planning my food purchases with much greater care.
This, of course, includes stocking up when there is a good sale on a food item. I did this just a couple of weeks ago when I bought a couple of extra frozen turkeys that were on sale at Publix for just 49 cents per pound. If I had a foot freezer I probably would have bought 10 such turkeys.
Another thing I do was download and use more restaurant apps. Yeah, yeah, I know. Some of you look down on fast food restaurants but for me I like stuff like burgers and don't notice and unhealthy side effects. I've mainly been using my McDonalds and Burger King apps. For example today I got BOGO Big Macs at McDonalds. Yesterday, I got maybe the best deal ever at Burger King where it said if you make any $1 purchase then you get a FREE Whopper Jr so I got a Rodeo Burger for $1.59 and a Whopper Jr for just $1.92 (with the tax) total. In fact, I liked the Rodeo Burger so much that I did that same deal AGAIN although I technically wasn't supposed to.
Besides apps, I also use GroupOn and Local Flavor for restaurant deals. In October they had the best deal yet with a 50% promo code discount for any restaurant which applied to the already discounted price. I used that deal on a Brazilian Steakhouse buffet that I've been wanting to try out but was put off by the price. At some restaurants, the discounted deals are cheaper than cooking at home.
Speaking of cooking at home, I am saving money by cooking cheap food in a way to make them quite tasty. Last week I saw chicken wings on sale for 99 cents per pound and then smoked them in my Weber grill after marinating them overnight. Right now I am sort of experimenting with Cheese Chicken by brining chicken leg quarters which sells cheap in the 10 lb bags at Aldis and then marinating them in buttermilk. I'll find out tomorrow how it works out.
One final thing: I wish I never took the $6.99 Prime Rib buffet at the Seminole Indian Casino in Hollywood (FL) for granted. They no longer have that deal but if they did, I would probably be eating there almost every day.
Eat rats, they are plentiful.
Eat 20% less!
I would prefer to use COUPONS to save me 50% more than eat 20% less.
The end result is we buy less food because we rarely throwaway leftovers.
Braunschweiger and Swiss cheese sandwiches (with meat cut thin).
Fried egg sandwiches with one slice of deli ham cooked well done.
Hamburger helper with 1/3 pound of hamburger.
Sausage gravy over bread.
When you grocery shop, stay away from the center of the store and shop the periphery, which has cheaper, less-processed foods than those found in the center.
Agree with you about the McD’s app. Using their various deals, I’d imagine that you’d spend perhaps 35% less on average compared to if you just walked in an ordered off the menu. Not to say that some of the various 2-for-1 deals aren’t available if you asked, but they may not be posted. With the app, you’re dealing with full information.
For staples like butter and bacon, I stock up when a dirt-cheap sale pops up... and then stick it all in the freezer.
Vote Democrat.
There won’t be any food to buy.
Rice and beans. Throw in a little chicken all in a crock pot. Dinner is ready when you get home from work.
alpo is not that bad with lots of hot sauce
Joan Rivers once joked that she was once so broke that she added helper to her hamburger helper aka Helper Helper.
Try time restricted eating - I have black coffee only almost everyday; I lost 25 pounds in about 4 months, and all my blood work was much improved. You really don’t need three meals a day.
More like about 50% less with the BOGO deals. One such deal I've used for the past few weeks is the BOGO Whopper deal on the Burger King app. They don't have that deal right now because they are hyping their Christmas deals on their app.
Understood.
I’d prefer to live longer than eat 50% more
😂
buy frozen and dried food only, most of the excessive price increases are on highly processed foods or those requiring shorter shelf life and temperature control. Lots of this food is still the 2021 summer crop, we are just bleeding into the 2022 crop. These foods will always trail the inflation increases.
My biggest issue has been these get cooked in bigger batches and you have to figure out a system to consume this with a mixture of fresh and spreading it over 2-3 days where you are eating alot of the same batch.
Take a good look at what liquids and drinks pass through your household and what condiments, and see if any of them are just habits or really worth the money, or if there are cheaper replacements.
If you are stopping at the 7/11 or Quickstop on the way to work, or during the day, then stop the impulse and snack buying.
If you don’t cook much, force yourself to learn at least one dish from scratch, a good bean dish, or how to bake or fry a chicken, or something.
Always remember, leftovers are food, some of us see it as ‘fast food’, it is already cooked or prepared, freeze it for a lazy day if you don’t want it the next day.
Yeah, I know that a BOGO deal will save you 50%. But then maybe you add in fries or a drink at the regular price, and your average savings dips a bit.
One of the challenges for older people is that most of the stores make you buy a large quantity of produce or meat, because it is already packaged, when there’s only one or two of you. Or, the smaller packs cost more. You may end up with potatoes growing sprouts in the pantry, or having to cook all of a large pack and freezing it in portions; and some of it just gets wasted anyway, pushed to the back of the fridge or freezer because you’re sick of the same thing over and over.
I’ve asked several neighbors if they want to be “share buddies.” If I see a better deal on a large pack of something than the same thing in a smaller pack, I shoot my buddies a text right there in the store to see if any of them would like half the pack at the deal price. If one of them takes me up on it, I go ahead and buy the 20 pounds of potatoes or tray of 12 hamburger patties or whatever, and drop by their house on the way home.
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