Rising inflation rates have hit a good portion of the world thanks to a number of factors. One of the most visible ways the average person sees that inflation is in rising food costs, especially of certain foods. I personally have cut down on some foods whose prices have rapidly increased over the last 18 months, replacing them with less costly alternatives when possible. What about you all; has inflation changed your eating habits?
Yeah totally. We’re eating a lot more dried beans, eggs, rice, and basic fruit and veg in my household. Much less cheese and meat, and when I do buy them we use them more as a relish or topping; for example, a single cut up pork chop to help flavor a big pot of lentils. We used to frequent a local fish market as well but now the only seafood we eat regularly is canned tuna. My husband has started making bread for us as well, and arepas (he’s Venezuelan).
I buy almost everything at the discount store now and visit the “nice” grocers only when we need a special ingredient, or when we have a nice weekend lunch.
Honestly it’s not been that bad, although the rising cost of everything is of course worrying. Eating more vegetarian meals is something I’ve wanted to do for awhile. And the nice meals we have now I feel very appreciative of.
I went from spending 100/week on groceries to easily over 150/week. Trying to get it back down to 100, I’ve noticed the following:
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I still buy the same stuff, I just complain about the bill more.
One thing I have been doing more is trying to cut back on any food waste. Throwing out a $12 pack of chicken breasts that have gone bad in the fridge is painful. So I’m focusing on using up all my fresh produce in a timely manner and doing a lot of meal-prepping and freezing extra food that won’t be eaten within a few days.
It’s amazing how much lower my food bills are since I started eating real whole foods instead of processed “food”. I just buy extra frozen vegetables when on sale. Meat goes on sale frequently, buy and freeze. Shop the perimeter of stores. My bank account is happy and so is my waistline.
My partner and I decided to change up our weekday dinners last November. We were eating a pretty healthy but not-so-cost-effective dinner regime of a meat (chicken thigh, salmon fillet) w/ green veg, a small amount of carbohydrate like potato.
We wanted to get into batch cooking, so we bought a chest freezer (honestly one of the best purchases I’ve ever made), and now we have a healthy rotation of mostly vegan/vegetarian meals, such as curry (chickpea curry, lentil dal), three-bean chilli, a peanut-butter/sweet potato West African stew, mushroom stroganov. Served with either rice or potato, and green veg that we buy frozen.
Our food bills have gone down considerably due to this. We’re not really eating meat (other than tinned-fish) in the weekdays, and saving it for the weekends, which I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a change I was considering at some point anyway…
I was already eating less dairy and meat but after seeing prices jump up, particularly my favorite colby jack cheese sticks go from $3 for 12 to $4.50 for 12, I had to give up.
It’s been a great reason to start eating more plant-based like we’ve been wanting to. My partner is Korean so we eat plenty of rice, kimchi, tofu, beans/bean sprouts, spinach, seaweed, stuff like that. It’s definitely money-saving, especially when inflation is getting to the point that it’s at.
luckily I went vegan right before inflation started, so I’ve been immune to rising meat, egg, and dairy costs. Legume & grain prices have stayed relatively low but produce has certainly increased. My grocery bill for two in the DMV area has increased from ~75/week to ~90/week. Trader joes has been very good on produce prices - the increase is a result of having to shop around during supply chain food outages.
I eat beans and quinoa because I’m poor. And fat. I’m poor and fat. I guess I eat it because I’m lazy too. So yeah, I eat beans and quinoa because I’m poor and fat and lazy.
Slow cooker beans are actually super easy and great nutritionally. Salt, pepper, vinegar, worcestershire and spices, and a little butter maybe.
Yes - I am eating more “basic” produce and I already miss the variety. For example, I can still get spinach and kale affordably, but not escarole or arugula. No problem getting carrots but eggplant is now an indulgence. Bananas and oranges are fine but forget fresh berries, etc.
We buy frozen steamable veggies at Walmart. They are usually 88 cents to a dollar. The big 10lb chicken with skin and bones also lasted us two weeks with a thing of pork stew cut and a 3lb thing of ground turkey. But the steamables are a lifesaver, because they’re cheap.
Yes, literally everything has risen and since I am vegan, it’s extremely expensive buying weekly natural and Whole Foods.
I tend to buy more dry grains in bulk and see weekly specials for fruits and veggies. Things like bread, milk, or pantry items did rise quite a bit so I tend to always look for the cheaper option even though sometimes it’s not the healthiest (in US most of our food is highly processed and organic or approved by FDA costs more than the crappy stuff corporation sells us).
No, I increased my food budget $100 per month, I got a raise at work around the time, so it wasn’t a big deal. Get a lot more money for the same hours now. Inflation sucks, but switching jobs a bunch has me saving more than before inflation.
Actually, I think the fish and nuts made up that $100. I was generally under budget before though. I’m usually over by a few bucks lately. Probably the sushi and chips. I gave them up, so I’ll see.
I have noticed no difference. The prices have remained the same or are on sale for items I buy. We don’t buy much processed food, mostly fruit, veg, tofu, beans, some non dairy milks and the occasional meat substitute. Don’t eat meat, dairy, or eggs.
This is perhaps going to be an unusual answer.
I didn’t buy ground beef for about ten years because I kept waiting for the price to go ‘back down’ to what I expected. This wasn’t a concious decision - I have a general sense of what things cost when they are on sale and tend to buy those things at those prices. If the price is higher, I just wait until it’s a good deal and stock up on soda when it’s 12/4 or whatever. At a certain point the price of ground beef went above my mental threshold and stayed there - forever. Ten years later I figured out why I hadn’t bought ground beef in so long and that I was just going to have to buy it at the ‘too high’ price. Since it’s still cheaper to make burgers at home than to go out, I now buy ground beef at 5.99/lb.*
*as it happens I’m vegetarian so I don’t eat it myself, and when I do buy, I prefer pasture raised meat. It usually costs about the same as Impossible Meat, which seems weird.
Not really for me. Animal products that aren’t factory farmed are still expensive (plus necessitate a two hour bus trip to the organic market; thanks indirect routes), so I don’t eat a lot of them. Think $11 for a gallon of milk - but it’s milk from grass fed, pasture raised cows in a low cull rate herd that’s been imported without ultrapasteurization into an area where people can’t raise cows, so that’s about what it costs.
The other stuff I was eating - whole wheat flour/bread/tortillas, oats, in season produce, refried beans, almond butter or almond meal, etc still costs roughly the same. I take a a vegan multivitamin too even though I’m not strictly a vegan because I was getting a vegan’s deficiencies after over a decade of vegetarianism.
I did increase my budget a bit. I considered 40-45 good (up from 30-35 in college 10 years ago), but I decided up to 50 is okay. Otherwise I start thinking things like “Guacamole is too expensive; I can’t eat that,” but it’s better for me to eat Guacamole than say cheetos if I want a fatty food so I want to tell myself to have as much Guacamole (or other healthy convenience foods that don’t require prep) as I feel like. Then I’m less likely to reach for the junk.
The pandemic SNAP benefits help a lot. They are giving more (like $250 a month) than I can spend in a low cost of living area. Of course, they will eventually decrease to like $40 for me after they declare pandemic benefits over, so anything I save is still good.
Not at all. We buy pasture raised eggs and grassfed milk and local meat because we support the industries, not because of price.
I don’t want to support factory farmed eggs or milk or anything, really. :(
Yeah, per doctor’s instruction, I’m on a ketogenic diet. Because the cost of beef has risen so dramatically, and because I do prefer organic, grass-fed beef, I’ve started buying much cheaper cuts, and those on sale as often as possible. I have also had to be less particular about the organic, grass-fed preference, too.
Meal planning is now geared to what’s on sale compared to what we felt like eating for the week. It’s actually been cheaper or at times the same amount as pre Covid. We only eat out once a week now as well. We buy everything in bulk and use a vacuum sealer for freshness. The only thing we buy weekly are veggies and some fruits. My teenage son has noticed we hardly eat red meat anymore lol.
Yes, I’ve been buying plants instead and started growing my food. My sister has done the same. She and her husband built a greenhouse and are growing their food now.
Currently we have cut back on grocery stores completely and try to get food at farm stands instead. It’s so much cheaper.
Eating out in general is insanely pricey… for a family of 3 at a non fancy restaurant it’s easily 70$… so we do more home cook meal, we did lower some amount of veggies and buy cheaper alternatives, same for fruits…
Loads of eggs 😅