54% of young Americans say food costs are the biggest strain on their finances
Over half of young Americans say that rising food prices are the most noticeable effect of inflation.
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I remember having to spend $20 a week on groceries 15 years ago. Now I'm spending ~$30. It's disgusting.
Edit: I don't know why I am getting downvoted.this is really about what I spend on groceries.
I may also have some advantages here. I eat almost a vegan diet. I do a large amount of cooking from scratch. I also will look for the discount items at stores and plan accordingly from what I find. The most expensive thing I get is Yogurt because it's where I get my protein besides beans.
This week I was making vegan Bahn Mi sandwiches. (Cilantro, Pickled carrots, Pickled radish, cucumber, green onion, tofu, and Avacado that was bought the previous week, baguette)
$6 Yogurt $12 vegetables/fruits $1 Bread $3 sting cheese Cheese $2 Tofu $5 premade non perishable food items $12 bulk energy drinks, this will last me a while. Found them on discount. $3 pickles
So, we are up to over $40, but because I bought stuff in bulk this week. Next week it will probably be $25 or so.
If anyone is in a bind that wants food ideas, hit me up. I love cooking.
... You're spending $30 a week on groceries? That's it? Are you being facetious, or have you been living on ramen, beans and rice for 15 years?
Not ramen, but rice and beans are definitely a staple. I figured it was a little low, but judging by the comments this is super low.
I spend about that if you exclude my splurge on Soylent for breakfast (substitute oatmeal, for example). I eat wraps that are 90% veggies for lunch and the premix Birdseye veggie/chicken dinners where I can get 2 meals per bag.
Soylent alone averages $3 each, so that's already more than 2/3 of a $30 weekly budget on breakfast alone. Birds Eye Veggie Made Garlic Chicken is $7 for a 21 oz bag, if that's what you're talking about it's (7*7/2) about $25 a week. So now we're at $46, or more than 150% of a $30 budget, and we haven't accounted for a single lunch.
I literally said in my comment that Soylent is a splurge that could be replaced with oatmeal. I don't get it to be cheap, I get it because I like it and it's pretty good nutritionally. Make that change and you're under $30, like I usually am outside of that.
Here was this week's cost, including splurging on a 1lb bag of nuts for snacking: https://i.postimg.cc/GmSJWVxp/Screenshot-20240509-111904.png
More importantly I was replying to your "only ramen or rice and beans" comment, because I don't eat either of those. I could reduce my costs further if I did, but I like what I eat and don't need to save money on my food budget.
Probably not buying pre processed garbage. I feed a family of 3, well not some rice and beans every night shit, for about $65 a week and I'm not out looking for ways to stay inexpensive.
Honestly curious about what you're cooking and what, if any, dietary restrictions you're working with. I've got a family of 4 and we're lucky to get out of a grocery run in less than $150-200.
Wife is celiac and so the house is 98% GF. Once in a while I might grab buns for a hamburger.
Lots of pork and chicken. I'm my local you can buy pork loin or chops in 3-4 lbs portions for like $7. Chicken, especially whole is inexpensive but breasts and thighs can also be bought in 4-5 lb quantities. Produce wise, nothing fancy onions or all types, green beans, ginger, peppers, broccoli, potatoes. We typically have beans of different varieties as well as jasmine and basmati.
You add 30 or so spices, oils, flour, and a few other pantry items as well and you have the ability to do a wide variety of food.
I did exclude gf frozen pizza and bread in my og pricing viewing it as an exception. Yeah that shit is fucking expensive and making your own is 40 different flours and praying to a god for success.
I'm also considering just buying a few pigs each year in bulk but you need space for that which I understand you ain't getting in a small apartment.
Vegetarian, I edited by first comment explaining that and my grocery picks that week.
Thank you!!! I'll save your comment and check it out after work. I definitely appreciate knowledge to try to curb these grocery prices
Feel free to hit me up. If there is a community here on Lemmy to post cheap recipes I'm down for sharing them there.
For fuck's sake, let a person have some ice cream...
I make my own I've cream. $2-3 dollars for a gallon of the best custard vanilla bean you've ever had.
Is this along with the 2 pounds of pork for $6 you claim you can buy that doesn't actually track with real pork prices?
Edit: Also, "oh boy! Vanilla ice cream! My favorite flavor!" -- no one
Make chocolate chip for all I care. It's easy and delicious.
I see, so at one specific smaller grocery store chain, if you are on food stamps, pork tenderloin costs more than you said it did.
LMAO Wegmans known for how inexpensive they are. You can go buy an entire pasture raised pig and have it butchered to your preference and vacuum sealed for $800 , get the good cuts too and have it feed your family the entire year.
What rates are you referring to?
Assuming the average person has the storage capacity for an entire pig is either wildly ignorant or deliberate trolling
I never said they do. In fact I said just that an hour ago in this thread. And a butchered pig will fit in a large chest freezer. It's not that inaccessible at all outside of city apartment living. It's a viable option for many.
Cook. I'll just drive to the nearest Wegmans.
Thanks for the money-saving tip. Which cooler brand is best for 2 pounds of pork?
So what, your probably Dayton, Cincinnati area? You a Krogers person? They are quite popular there and I found some links for similar pricing 2.69/lb. Found some pork loin out in Indy as well. Do I need to go as far as at Louis to cover my bases?
I'll ask again, what rates were you specifying for pricing?
My wife makes fresh ice cream. It's amazing.
wish. : /
Honestly, how?
We can buy a few raw ingredients and easily hit $80 unless we only buy SNAP foods.
I'm going to real, I don't know how. I thought that this was kind of normal. Usually I eat a lot of produce, yogurt, and dried beans. I also have a garden. I'm trying to avoid processes foods and breads.
I recently moved to the south and have noticed that food was 40% cheaper in the north where I originated.
We don't have a garden but have started one in hopes to cut the costs a bit. And started our first sourdough this weekend so hopefully we can achieve the same.
Ooh let me know how that goes. I wanted to try my hand at sour dough myself.
I do have a garden, Kale and collard greens grows year round which is nice. My recommendation for gardening is potato, Kale, Collard Greens, Tomato, Fresh Herbs, Squash, peppers.
Some interesting adds are prickly pear cactus, Yarrow, Rose, dandelion.
Plant with redundancy in mind, some plants fail.
I don't know why people find this hard to believe. Yeah prices are way up but if you take some simple steps you can keep your food costs relatively low. My partner and I spend about $50 per week but we live in California. We grow a lot of veggies, buy everything in bulk and eat simply - a lot of rice and beans, tofu and whole grains.
One of the key things is to eliminate or minimize processed foods. I.e. extract the value of your labor not add to some company's profit margin. As a slightly extreme example, crackers are very expensive per calorie. We make our own for a tiny fraction of the cost. Or... as soon as you buy meat your costs are way higher. We do but e.g. we'll buy a whole chicken instead of the cut pieces, and then make stock from the carcass (sorry vegans). Or instead of buying orange juice, buy oranges at a discount from road side stands and make your own. You can freeze it. And don't buy things out of season.
Not to be critical, but when I see what people have in their carts I can fully understand why they find food expensive. And then they gotta constantly work more to cover the higher costs. No thanks...
People have nearly lost the ability to prepare a full meal it seems in this thread. I can fill an entire US sized grocery cart to the top and be under $300 and that'll last a couple nearly a month.
You literally just need to buy unprocessed food. Yes it has gone up a bit, but not nearly to the extent processed shit has.
Yes it has gone up a bit, but not nearly to the extent processed shit has.
This is a great point. Big corporations always look to generate "value" out of nothing, and processed foods are a great example. And when they can take advantage of "inflation" (LOL) to pad their margins, they will go nuts. When margins are lower and the percentage of "value add" is lower, there is much less price to inflate. So to speak.
You could take an ingredient like potatoes, cook them and add flavoring and voila, huge markup. The potatoes only went up 1% 2022-2023 but the average price of a 16oz bag of potato chips went up 27% over roughly the same period.
Cooks Illustrated Best Skillet Recipes literally changed my life.
