What are you doing to deal with the rising cost of groceries?

[Ciel21]

Rising food prices are forcing grocery shoppers to change habits: ‘It’s been hard’ (msn.com)

Remember how I posted that Western Canadian ranchers were selling their cattle this summer because hay could not be attained? That explains the price of beef.

[sirandrewr]

I lost every single shopping strategy as of March 2020 so new ones needed to be created.
-Neighbourhood is using the top and bottom of the community mail box and laundry room as a food exchange program. Some of the families have been placing their rejected food bank items there because they don't know what to do with those items.
-I searched for online recipes using hard to use or unfamiliar items.
-Bananas and applesauce have replaced butter, margarine, oil and eggs in recipes.
-Zero food waste. Everything is used including boiling shells of nuts for flavouring in recipes or tea. Banana peelings can also be boiled and chopped up to sautee or frozen to make mushy for banana bread. Egg shells can be ground up for calcium.
-Think outside the box. I needed strips of chicken so bought takeout pizza with chicken for 50% off.
-Office supply stores are fully stocked with hygiene and cleaning products but employees are staying at home. Lots of sales on unknown brands.
-Signed up to 3 places that delivered fruits, vegetables and other perishables. All of them had sales or lower prices on imperfects.
-Bans, delays or summer spoilage on Canadian companies doing US mail deliveries caused a lot of 75% off sales on staple grocery items.
-Liquidators were full of items that were suppose to go to institutions like schools, gyms and movie theatres.

[HermanH]

Those are some pretty awesome ideas.

[HermanH]

Egg shells can be ground up for calcium.

How do you eat the ground egg shells? Do you use them as a garnish or cook them into dishes?

[sirandrewr]

I just googled ideas to eliminate food waste. You need to boil the egg shells (save water for the garden) and let dry. Grind them into a fine powder. You can consume by a 1/4 tsp (with blackstrap molasses for magnesium) or add to smoothies, porridge, soups, cake batter, tea, coffee, quiches, ground beef, omelets, cookie dough, juice, gravy, cat & dog food, garden soil.
Save your egg shells in the freezer for boiling. Store powder in an airtight jar.

[Ciel21]

Think a member posted that one of her older female relatives used a rolling pin to crush egg shells and put the shells into almost every food. The food had that constant gritty texture of the shells. Her relative must be pretty tough or frugal to have kept up the routine.

I'd have not thought of using banana peels for human food. I know that roses LOVE banana peels' potassium, so diced peels during spring and summer land around the base of rose bushes and get worked into soil. Ditto Epsom salts (magnesium).

On the topic of food bank items left for exchange due to recipients not knowing or wanting items unfamiliar to them: UK's Jack Monroe has provided one of her cookbooks with foodbank boxes to help recipients take a turn using unfamiliar items into meals they can eat. She's on Twitter! I like the food exchange idea because that means they are taking the no food waste issue seriously. Hope everyone who contributes to the exchange is able to get desired items from other residents. Win-win.

[Ciel21]

I noticed one upcoming flyer shows a net bag of lemons at $2.99. I just bought a package of reduced price lemons (they are on the small side, about 9 in wrapper) for $2.49. The plan is to zest and juice them for the freezer so I don't lose fruit due to spoilage (can happen fairly quickly in humid kitchen). Then baking and cooking flavour boosts will be a sprinkle or cube away!

If I was daring and patient, I'd attempt adapting a Greek spoon sweet for oranges by using the lemon peels. The last hot dogs splurge was because the packages were half-price and had about a week before the best before date.

Since I've had to use Band-Aids for 4 months, I try to get most of them on sale. I never found the sale ones listed 2 for $10 at Shoppers (the sale labels seem hit in miss in non-food depts) so my usual places are Walmart or Fortinos. Yes, I've paid $6 or even $7 for certain large bandages. Cannot always get stuff on sale without skimping elsewhere on purchases.

Some staple items only get purchased if I have a points offer or notice a sale. But I need to get back to making a master list of items out of stock that I want to get over the months. Ideally a big shop for fall/winter would be lovely, if I gave up online shopping for other things. I have to get quick cook oatmeal and stock up on tea. Spices on hand should get me through November then it's time to stock up again. Impulse buys for beverages and snacks are a big issue for me-$ sailing out of the wallet. Cooler weather will help lower the urge unless I forget to eat at home then I'm in trouble. So far, I can still walk and pull a cart but my load limit is getting smaller. When the snow comes, I won't be hauling heavy things and when I cannot go out, I'll be having to make do with what's in the house (but 1/2 of the time, I cannot eat what the other two eat because our tastebuds/preferences are very different). Also some household supplies like trash bags and green bin bags run out fairly quickly--think only once this year did we have 2-3 months' supply on hand and that was a relief. Lineups are an issue for me if they don't move quickly as I tire easily. Fortinos 1 year and three months on is still doing one master lineup for customers and an employee calls out the checkout lanes. Most self-checkout customers know to skip the line and head for the machines at one end of the store.

Right now, I'd love Mom to get some things from Costco for the freezer(Mortimer pies). But her timing is to wait for however long then she'll go. Space is at a premium and she has not bought a second small freezer. My brother's frozen foods often take up most of the space in the top freezer (I even have to watch if he tries to stack something on top of my ice cube tray-it has happened and I try to protect those two little metal shelves with my stuff).

Members here have talked about stock-outs in store. If logistic issues are a headache in relatively dry weather, wait until lake-effect snow or some hail make deliveries more sporadic as companies try to make things work or stretch supply (lower volumes to stores). We know the fresh produce prices are going to be higher anyway and some of you have been stocking up on frozen produce deals.

[crafter]

Sorry to hear you've had to use so many bandages @Ciel . If you haven't already, I would suggest calling Johnson and Johnson and see if they can help you out with coupons. I can't remember what brand they are but my Mom regularly buys bandaids for my Dad at the Dollar Tree.
Best of luck on stocking up on spices etc for your winter supplies. Hopefully your Mom goes to Costco soon.

[HermanH]

Think a member posted that one of her older female relatives used a rolling pin to crush egg shells and put the shells into almost every food. The food had that constant gritty texture of the shells. Her relative must be pretty tough or frugal to have kept up the routine.

I gotta agree that the constant grit would prove irritating, to me. I might get away with it in liquids that I quickly swallow, but to always grind through it would annoy me in the long term.

[Silk]

@Ciel21 - J&J used to have a website where you could print coupons. Maybe someone knows if it's still around and remembers the url

Also, if you do a search for banana peel recipes, many recipes would come up I've wanted to try a couple but if and when I do, i would use peels from organic bananas. A local grocery store sometimes sell organic bananas for the same price as the regular ones. So many recipes I want to try, so little time

[Ciel21]

I remember those J&J coupons-they were huge until I could resize them to get at least 3 per page. All those background designs were full of lines as well.

Using a bigger bandage cuts down on number of smaller Band-Aids used. Will look around for deals as I'll need more large ones after next week.

Yesterday, the produce clearance racks had a wide assortment of marked down fruits. I got a large papaya for $2.49. Fortunately sweet and tasty, not mushy. I cut it up today for an afternoon snack (half for me, half on table for family). Usually it's hit and miss in terms of variety but I usually shop those racks for fruits and some vegetables *cucumbers, celery, carrots, sometimes tomatoes*, with occasional full price purchase for peaches or plums or watermelon (not been craving watermelon lately).

[Ciel21]

Speaking of shortages in grocery stores! This article is for the US yet some common themes appear that we've discussed in Canada re: stockouts and hard-to-find items:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...21/8911946002/

Pet food and peppermint surprise me. Need candy canes but aren't fussy on the flavour? Try the (sticky) red Swedish Fish candy canes at Surplus Xtreme. Think it was under $2 for about 12 canes in a box (I bought some in Sept?). Just note that the canes have deteriorated a bit, thus are sticky under the wrapper.

[SassyAshley]

Dinner was amazing even without the dinner rolls. It is all about the Mushroom Gravy it adds so much flavour.

Got the Lemon Cake done for dessert but skipped the Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake for a few reasons, one I forgot to take out Cream Cheese, two it was a lot of work and I still do not feel my best, three one of my containers of heavy whipping cream went off so I didn't have enough for the lemon cake and cheesecake.

Still have a fever and it spiked again. Looked it up and fever is a common side effect from the vaccine.

I feel like I need two days of feeling well and just spend two days putting things back where they should be. Right now it feels like there is stuff everywhere and my house is caving in on me.

Part of the reason Christmas gives me anxiety is the stuff everywhere. There are boxes and jars and various things in the kitchen on the counters and floor we do not normally have but I needed for Christmas. Everywhere in my dining room there are containers full of Christmas Treats that need to be packaged.

I just need two days to get all of the odds and ends put away, but back the things that are not in their home and just feel like I have control of my house again. But not until I feel better.

[harbie]

For us the single best way we have saved $$$ on groceries is by going WFPB 🌱 (Whole food plant based)

Since then we have saved a TON by not purchasing meat and dairy. Yes, we buy lots of veg but also we buy what’s in season and on sale. We have found that the meals stretch further because we are solidly full with the higher fibre items.

When beans are $1/can we stock up ( I mean STOCK UP!). Lentils, couscous, and rice are inexpensive and last. Costco sells organic tofu cheaper than the one at the supermarkets and it’s really good so we load up.

Besides the cost savings we have never felt better and have lost major weight. I’ve taken up running and hubby and I completed our first Vancouver Sun Run last year (10k) and are doing it again in April.

We rarely eat out since there really isn’t a lot of options around here unless we go into Vancouver which is a good thing 🤗

[Ciel21]

@harbie Do you and DH have any particular favourite veggie burger (frozen) product that you enjoy? I'm partial to Sol Cuisine and one of the ones carried by Farm Boy (Forget the brand name) for occasional change in protein.