Tag: cutting the cost of food

Hubby and I have spent a lot of time discussing what to do about the rising cost of groceries now and for 2026. It seems like every time I go to the store or get a grocery delivery, the prices have spiked week over week or another item has become a victim of shrinkflation. I have my price points for each food I buy because I keep a price book. I will not pay more than I think the item is worth to us. Because of this, we have stopped buying certain things. Many others in 2026 will be on the chopping block. Soda comes to mind after the holidays. The price for it is ridiculous. I will not pay $7.00 to $8.64 for a 12 pack. If it goes on sale for example at Dollar General under $5.00, I might if we are having company. But that will be rare. Chips and other snacks are outrageous unless you buy them at Aldi’s. We are eating a lot of popcorn these days which is healthier and cheaper anyhow. I make it in my microwave popper.

You know, I rarely buy anything that is not on sale. I look for those rock bottom sale prices when the flyers come out. That is when I stock up. I also do a lot of comparison research because it is easy today with all of the online shopping sites. It is work but with the prices rising so fast, it is worth it. For example, I always check the online prices of the specials at Niagara Produce. They put an ad out every week or 10 days.

The eggs and white and russet potatoes are a great price. I don’t need eggs for about 4 weeks so I will skip getting those. I will be picking up the russet potatoes because I have none. The squashes are priced right at $.99 a lb. I will get one or two of the largest ones. Hubby does not like squash so these will be for me. I may cut up and freeze one. The best prices on those two items are now because they are in season. The carrots I can get almost anywhere for this price. I also have many fresh carrots, frozen, and canned right now. I will pass on those. I will be getting none of the meat this time. I am trying to eat down my freezer, not fill it up. I usually do not buy cold cuts. They are way too expensive. In a pinch, when I have company, I will buy some on sale just to have a quick meal.

You also know that I shop at Top’s, B.J.’s, Walmart and occasionally Aldi. All except B.J’s are within 3-4 miles of my home. B.J.’s is about 15 minutes away. But I think we are missing out on other rock bottom prices by limiting ourselves to just those stores. When I go to B.J.’s or for a doctor’s appointment, I have other stores close by. They are Wegman’s, other Top’s markets that do price markdowns(mine rarely does), Dash’s, and Price Rite.

In another direction, about 25 minutes away we have Ollie’s, Sam’s Club( I may join this), and Traders Joe’s. I shopped at Trader Joe’s in AZ when we lived there. They are expensive but you can find some deals on sale once in a while. If I am close, I will stop in to check.

So I will be adding these stores to my shopping when it is convenient. I will not make a trip just to pick up one or two items. I need to be going for another errand or appointment so as to not waste gasoline. Our Niagara Falls outlets are very close to some of these grocery stores.

When we need to stock on meat again, I will be frequenting this butcher shop. They have weekly specials.

I have much more that I am going to be doing to cut our costs and they will all be in this series which I will continue until it is done.

I understood the inflation after Covid and why the prices went up. But the pandemic has been gone for at least 2 almost 3 years. Our gasoline prices are going down a bit so why is food going up due to transportation? When I realize that Walmart’s gross profit for 2024 was almost $ 158 billion dollars with a fiscal revenue of $ 658 billion, I have to believe that we are being gouged. It is not only Walmart, it is other grocery stores and restaurants also.

Have you eaten at a restaurant or fast food joint recently? The food quality has gone down and the prices just keep rising. No wonder I have people on here wondering if the prices are going to go down. My answer, in the 1970’s we went through this and it took 10 years for the prices to go down. And they never went down to where they originally were. So those days are gone. Until the Fed does what they should be doing with interest rates, inflation will not go down. I am seeing some prices go down like eggs but not much else.

Since we can’t control the Feds and evidently President Trump can’t either, we need to watch out for ourselves and our families. We all need to write our Congress members and let them know how bad prices are and we believe we are being gouged day in and day out. They seem to have no clue. They should be looking into the pricing of our food and keeping these supermarkets in check.

Then make your plan to cut your costs for groceries. We will talk more about this tomorrow.

If you haven’t noticed the rising cost of food, you are either a billionaire, the media, or living under a rock. Living here in NY, we have seen huge increases. And it is not the 5% that the media and the government keep talking about either. It is 25-50% depending on what you purchase. We have all seen it no matter what food you buy. We are going to continue to see it especially if the new spending bill passes the Senate. Every time the government spends money that adds to the debt, your prices will rise.

Don’t think that people making a lot of money will be the ones paying for it. We will pay for the increases in the products we purchase. Walmart, Amazon, and all of your supermarkets will pass their increased costs on to you, the consumer. They are not going to pay it. You are!

So what can you do to keep your costs down? Here are many of the things that we do to help our bottom line on food purchases.

We do not waste food. Never, ever! We eat every morsel that we buy. All leftovers are eaten either as a next night meal or made into a different meal. If we have a meal or two and we have just a smidgen of meat or vegetable leftover, we put it in a freezer bag and freeze it. We keep adding the little smidgen’s to the bag until it is full. Then we pull it out of the freezer and make a soup, stew or casserole with it. Then we eat that dish every night until it is gone.

We also have leftover nights where we will pull some from the week from the fridge and have a smorgasbord for dinner. That is rare though since I cook portion amounts.

We always cook the portions of protein that our bodies need. No matter what meat we have, I cook 4 oz. for each of us for dinner. That is all the protein you need each day. There are days that we will eat bacon or sausage for brunch too so those days we get 6 oz. of protein. But I limit it to 6 oz. a day on those occasions.

Fresh produce is another item that we never waste. We use it up in salads, slow cook it up with a roast, or pan roast it with any meat. If we have carrots, onions or celery that are getting old, I dice or slice them up and freeze them to pull out when we need those items for a meal. I first, lay them flat on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Then I put them in a freezer bag to pull out whatever amount I need for a meal. Matter of fact, I will be doing that today. I got 2 – 5 lb. bags of whole carrots on a B1G1F sale for dirt cheap. We are not eating them up fast enough. So I will prepare them and get them in the freezer today before they spoil.

If you have apples that are starting to get soft, make apple pie filling to can or freeze. Keep your apples in a cool place so that they last for months. We keep apples in our cold garage inside of a cooler to keep any critters out. They last for a very long time. I also keep onions and potatoes in the garage. I keep a thermometer out there to make sure they don’t freeze. If the temp is getting close to freezing I put them in the basement until the temperature goes back up. If you don’t have a garage or basement, keep them in a pantry if you keep your winter temps down in your home. Otherwise, as a last resort and if you have the space, put them in the refrigerator rather than have them spoil.

When we shop, we buy mostly on sale items. If I see that BS chicken breasts are on sale for $1.99 a lb. or less, I will buy 3 packages and can or freeze them. If I see a roast on sale for $ 4.99 a lb. I will buy a couple and do the same. These days, we are pretty much sticking to buying roasts, pork chops, chicken or hamburger because everything else is too expensive. The only exception is fish which I will pay more for but only when it is on sale.

I also have purchased cans of Keystone All Natural meats. They come from an Amish family company and the cost of them sometimes beats the price of fresh. We have tried all of them: pork, turkey, chicken, ground hamburger and their beef. They are all delicious and they are all just the meat and salt in the can. Each can has 28 oz. in it. So we get quite a few meals out of one can. They also have a very long shelf life. If you are interested in them, purchase just one can and try it. You want to make sure that your family likes it before you stockpile them.

When I buy canned tomatoes, beans, etc. when they are on sale, I buy more than one. Back in the 1970’s, when our budget was really tight and prices were sky rocketing, I would buy the 1 that we needed and 2 more for the pantry. That way I didn’t have to pay full price the next time I needed a can. That really holds true today. If you see a can that is on sale and use it all the time, buy a case if you can afford it. Prices will never be lower than today. They just keep going up. So a stockpile is better than money in the bank!

When nuts go on sale, we buy at least 3 cans. We eat nuts for snacks and to put in salads.

There are certain things I will not buy right now because I deem the prices way too high. They are soda( no nutrition), coffee unless it is Cafe Bustelo, filet mignon and other steaks, lamb chops, most snacks and candy come to mind at the moment. I know there are many others.

I will substitute other items for the high priced ones. We drink water or iced tea instead of soda. I drink tea instead of coffee. We eat the cheaper meats instead of the more expensive ones. We eat a handful of nuts or a fruit instead of chips and other snacks. We are not eating candy.

When I go shopping, I check out cheaper options. If produce is too high, I will buy frozen veggies if the price per pound is cheaper. If canned is cheaper than those two options and it is going in a soup of casserole, I will buy that. I rinse the salt off any canned veggies since we stick to a low salt diet. I do the same with the Keystone meats.

Make your food from scratch. Most of the time it is cheaper. If you have an Aldi, shop there. Their produce and their meat sales are so much cheaper than my other stores. I love my Aldi’s. I think Winco in the western part of the country is probably the alternative to Aldi.

If you like fresh veggies, always buy in season. Right now, the different squashes and cabbage are cheaper than other veggies. They also keep a long time. Apples and potatoes are also in season. Can in season veggies to that you can eat them cheaply all year round. We had lots of tomatoes from our own garden this year. We ate many fresh but we also canned a lot of them to eat this winter.

I also keep canned mushrooms, dehydrated mushrooms, and fresh mushrooms when they are on sale in our home. I buy whichever is on sale to keep a good supply. My favorite is the dehydrated because they are the cheapest at my Amish store and they are easy to use.

If you have an Amish store within 2 hours of you, you might consider shopping there. We go once every month or 2 and it is well worth the trip. Their bulk prices are so much cheaper than even the warehouse clubs. I buy oatmeal, spices, the mushrooms, seeds, fruits, 100% pure maple syrup, veggies, meats, and a few bakery products from them.

If you have the freezer space and can buy a cow from a local farmer each fall, you will save a lot of money per pound.

There are many other ways like keeping a price book to always know the lowest price. I find this to be very difficult these days with prices constantly changing. But it also gives you an idea of how fast prices are rising.

I am sure that many of you have tips to keep the costs down that I have not mentioned. Please feel free to leave them in the comments so that someone else can benefit from them.