How are you handling rising food and energy costs?

[Pea-n-Me]

My DH ran into the grocery store to get a jar of mayo for sandwiches and came home complaining it cost $7. Yup.

 

[TwoMisfits]

My DH ran into the grocery store to get a jar of mayo for sandwiches and came home complaining it cost $7. Yup.

My son eats siracha and mayo combined as a dip, so I know mayo prices...I stock up at $4.99 now b/c that's usually the best price for his favorite (Hellman's) - $7.29 is the reg price now...

 

[DCLMP]

Diesel fuel touches every single thing in our life…

Even the higher interest rates are because diesel fuel is so expensive

If only it was that simple.

 

[DCLMP]

The best thing you can do is buy in bulk. When you see things on sale that you use on sale buy multiples. I spent about 2k last month stocking my pantry and freezer. We're well stocked and I can just add here and there when things are on sale. We didn't do much in the way of Christmas presents this year.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Diesel fuel touches every single thing in our life…

Even the higher interest rates are because diesel fuel is so expensive

Things like drought, heat/cold, trucker shortage, etc all impact crop production, output and supply.

This is just one article from my state from this past fall discussing the ramifications of crop production on pricing and gas. https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-09-2...rops-could-make-you-pay-more-for-gas-and-beef

The western half of my state gets drought usually first and it makes its way east. Our summer in NE KS was hot and dry and it extended into fall. We started seeing soil separation from our foundation and started watering it.

The avian flu has had an impact obviously.

We've been through droughts before. Things like hay is vital, feed for the animals. One year I remember we were buying hay out of state just to feed the cattle because the production was so low. And we have a lot of cattle (typically the 2nd to 3rd most in the U.S.).

Yes diesel fuel is important but you're missing a lot by ignoring other things involved.

 

[AndreaDM]

I paid $4.99 for pasture raised brown eggs at Trader Joe's last week. Overall, I find that TJ's is an all-around good place for grocery shopping. Yes, prices have gone up in the last year like everywhere, but it's still reasonable. This week I'm going through the freezer/fridge/pantry and using up what we have. Always a good way to start the year. I want to try and do better with respect to food waste.

This! Now that the hoopla of holiday meals/parties/hosting is over, I'm determined not to waste food! We too are using up the meat in our freezer before buying more, and last night I cut up several green peppers that were starting to get soft to throw in the freezer to use for soup later. It's just the 2 of us eating here full time so sometimes it's hard to use up all the produce before it spoils which seems to happen a lot faster in my opinion!

 

[tzolkin]

This! Now that the hoopla of holiday meals/parties/hosting is over, I'm determined not to waste food! We too are using up the meat in our freezer before buying more, and last night I cut up several green peppers that were starting to get soft to throw in the freezer to use for soup later. It's just the 2 of us eating here full time so sometimes it's hard to use up all the produce before it spoils which seems to happen a lot faster in my opinion!

We used to do a "no spend" challenge a few times a year where we would take an inventory of everything in our pantry and freezers and try to make as many meals as possible using only those foods. We would then put the leftover money into our vacation fund (ex. if we only spent $30 of our usual $600 grocery budget then $570 would go toward a trip) Bonus was that it was a good way to use up those items instead of having them sit there until we needed to throw them out.

I have been making a habit of cleaning and prepping all of our produce the day I buy it, then storing it in clear containers in the fridge. This has drastically reduced the amount that we have been throwing away to almost zero. I also can easily see what's there and know that I need to plan recipes or make myself lunches to use up the cabbage or kale or whatever.
Before we used to joke when we grocery shopped together like, "Would you like to buy a pineapple to leave on the counter to rot and then throw away?" (I can't even count how many pineapples/cucumbers/lettuce/etc we have wasted in the past.)

 

[kanerf]

The best thing you can do is learn to cook and bake from scratch. It is almost always cheaper if you make it yourself. Usually better too, once you have mastered it.

 

[mrodgers]

We used to do a "no spend" challenge a few times a year where we would take an inventory of everything in our pantry and freezers and try to make as many meals as possible using only those foods. We would then put the leftover money into our vacation fund (ex. if we only spent $30 of our usual $600 grocery budget then $570 would go toward a trip) Bonus was that it was a good way to use up those items instead of having them sit there until we needed to throw them out.

I have been making a habit of cleaning and prepping all of our produce the day I buy it, then storing it in clear containers in the fridge. This has drastically reduced the amount that we have been throwing away to almost zero. I also can easily see what's there and know that I need to plan recipes or make myself lunches to use up the cabbage or kale or whatever.
Before we used to joke when we grocery shopped together like, "Would you like to buy a pineapple to leave on the counter to rot and then throw away?" (I can't even count how many pineapples/cucumbers/lettuce/etc we have wasted in the past.)

My issue is my children don't live near me. So I buy food, produce specifically, then the constant calls that the kids need me (they are post high school) for something or my mother needs something, and it's 6 days before I can eat the food I bought because I wasn't home all week. It's all rotten by the time I am home.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My issue is my children don't live near me. So I buy food, produce specifically, then the constant calls that the kids need me (they are post high school) for something or my mother needs something, and it's 6 days before I can eat the food I bought because I wasn't home all week. It's all rotten by the time I am home.

Sounds like you need to adjust what's going on such that people around you don't rely on you that way. You get to control that

 

[DisneyHardin]

I buy eggs every week and they have been $4.39 for the 18 count for a couple months now.

I too was shocked at the price of mayo recently. I prefer Hellmans, but wasn't willing to pay over $6 for a squeeze bottle of mayo, so I bought Kroger brand. Last week though, Duke's was on sale for buy one get one, so I got 2 of those and paid 5.74 total. Luckily, we aren't super brand loyal to much of anything, so I can usually just buy whatever is cheapest and we are fine with it.

 

[mrodgers]

Sounds like you need to adjust what's going on such that people around you don't rely on you that way. You get to control that

That's what my mother tells me, to ignore and not take care of my still dependent children who aren't out supporting themselves yet while going to school.

I think I'll stick with continuing to take care of the children I brought into this world.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That's what my mother tells me, to ignore and not take care of my still dependent children who aren't out supporting themselves yet while going to school.

I think I'll stick with continuing to take care of the children I brought into this world.

Then you gotta stop complaining every chance you get about it. No one is going to be able to help you but you with respects to boundaries. The other posters were talking about reducing waste in a whole 'nother way than you. Their tips to cut up produce and freeze or put in the fridge however may be a tip you can see if it works for you though.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Here, we are all mostly just riding all the crazy out as a family.

I get the egg prices with the culling a while back but the baby chick life cycle is really very short with 21 day gestation and then only 6 weeks to adulthood so this whole extended price increase business is utter nonsense as an explanation.

Grew up with the idea that waste is a terrible sin so this hasn't been a particularly difficult pivot. Still making proteins one day then a follow up soup meal another and using leftovers in new meals, no waste if I can avoid it. Today we had an amazing chickpea greek salad for lunch, the remaining feta will end up in a spinach pie or omelette, all veggie bits went into the chicken soup for dinner and the cucumber rind is flavoring cucumber water.

Mayo is actually very easy to make homemade and you can avoid all the chemicals. I actually used to make it as a deep conditioner when I was in High School, like so many things grandma taught me & she also taught me to deep clean clarify with stale beer.

Olive oil is great for hands and crisco is a great unscented lip balm and overnight hand softener. I can't stand all the fragrances in things so instead of endlessly wasting $ to find unscented products that don't seem to exist I'm just going to the pantry.

 

[disneyseniors]

My DH ran into the grocery store to get a jar of mayo for sandwiches and came home complaining it cost $7. Yup.

my husband went to the store to get 2 tubs of Edys ice cream. It cost $14 dollars for those 2 items! Yikes.
I had a tooth pulled and wanted ice cream because it's easy to eat. Wow, just Wow!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

my husband went to the store to get 2 tubs of Edys ice cream. It cost $14 dollars for those 2 items! Yikes.
I had a tooth pulled and wanted ice cream because it's easy to eat. Wow, just Wow!

Not surprised, in a way. Just to get a relatively small cup of ice cream in an ice cream shop now it’s $5 or $6 in some places.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

get the egg prices with the culling a while back but the baby chick life cycle is really very short with 21 day gestation and then only 6 weeks to adulthood so this whole extended price increase business is utter nonsense as an explanation.

I think people think the issue was just the summer so no biggie. They were having to euthanize egg-laying hens into November and December. Avian flu didn't just go away. And as things normally go it starts with the farmers and the companies trickles into the stores and then onto consumers. October 2022 reports from USDA predicted less production.

For example information found about a week ago stated egg production was down from December 2021. November 2022=8.9 billion, December 2021=9.7 billion. Unfortunately worst timing with the holidays.

As far as the chick cycle my "learn something new today" factoid is what you're thinking isn't quite accurate. From what I could find about egg laying hens process can be as high as 100 weeks for their life cycle. When avian flu hits these birds it can be more devastating in that respects because the birds are ideally supposed to be alive for a fairly long time producing more and more eggs. A bird that is raised for just their meat has (and I really hate even knowing this) an average life cycle of 5 1/2 to 9 weeks so avian flu while devastating there and impacting our ability to get chicken at the store or restaurants to get it there's more to replace and it can be quicker timing.

 

[Colleen27]

Here, we are all mostly just riding all the crazy out as a family.

I get the egg prices with the culling a while back but the baby chick life cycle is really very short with 21 day gestation and then only 6 weeks to adulthood so this whole extended price increase business is utter nonsense as an explanation.

Pretty sure that 6 weeks is to slaughtering size for meat, not until full maturity for egg laying. Our poultry materials through DD's 4H club use 18-22 weeks for the length of time it takes a hen to begin her peak laying stage. We haven't started with chickens of our own - we keep putting it off because of the ongoing flu concern, since our show animals are pets as much as livestock and right now DD wouldn't want them in the fair barn with birds from dozens of other 4Hers - but I did download some materials in preparation, and the main handbook lists time-to-maturity as 7-9 weeks for fryers, 12 weeks for roasters, 18-22 weeks for laying hens.

 

[Moliphino]

my husband went to the store to get 2 tubs of Edys ice cream. It cost $14 dollars for those 2 items! Yikes.
I had a tooth pulled and wanted ice cream because it's easy to eat. Wow, just Wow!

Sales are so necessary for good ice cream. I can still get Ben and Jerry's and Haagen Dazs 2 for $5 fairly often if I wait for the right sales (actually got 2 for $4 once last summer with a combo of sale and coupon). They're almost $5 each when not on sale and I will not buy them then.

 

[TwoMisfits]

My son eats siracha and mayo combined as a dip, so I know mayo prices...I stock up at $4.99 now b/c that's usually the best price for his favorite (Hellman's) - $7.29 is the reg price now...

Quoting myself b/c I shopped today. I guess $7.29 reg price was too good to last. With 2023 here, it's now $7.99 reg price...hopefully, the on sale price stays at $4.99 (wasn't on sale today, so didn't buy)...