On 6/22/2011 5:37 PM, cshenk wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Been a bit since we have had a thread on this and the scene has changed
> a bit in both produce and items we may be finding. I'd be interested
> in what items the rest of you are using now that you enjoy.
>
> One item almost out of our purchases is beef. Thats not a good sign
> for our economy in the USA but the cost is now radically higher than
> pork, often $2 a lb or more. Fresh seafood is generally cheaper now
> than beef.
>
> Major brands are reducing sizes in small increments while store brands
> and 'off brands' are not. Salt and sugar addition to major brands
> seems to be increasing while store brands overall seem stable.
>
> Thoughts?
> Carol
>
One thing I've done for years is to buy the store brand of canned
whatever, usually they will stock canned goods with a prominent label,
"No Salt Added." Since I try to avoid oversalted foods that is what I
buy. Where the major brands cost in the seventy to ninety cent range,
the store brands usually start at forty-nine cents per can and up. Even
those prices in store brands haven't risen and the cans are still the
same size whereas the major brands are down sized and over priced.

Reasonably priced meat can still be found. I frequent the "used meat"
bin at the local Kroger. Stuff going off the "best by" date on the next
day is marked down 20 to 50 percent dependent upon the cut. A couple of
months ago I bought several large ribeye steaks that had tags indicating
that the regular price was over eighty bucks. I spent forty-seven bucks
for them. One steak feeds the wife and I a meal so it works well.

I had been buying bison meat from Kroger, packaged by Maverick Ranch in
Colorado. A few months back it was cheaper than store brand chuck, at
about $5.99 a lb. Two weeks ago I found it for $7.99 and last week it
was $9.99. I think that probably reflects the transportation cost what
with diesel and gasoline going up a lot.

I occasionally find seven-bone chuck steaks, four to five lb ones, on
sale in bulk. I buy them cheap and then repackage in vacuum bags for
later use. When some of our large family comes to visit we have a big
pot roast with lots of veggies, home made bread, and some sort of
dessert from fruit we've canned ourselves. Feed eight or ten people a
good meal for a reasonable price.

You have to shop smart. Wife drinks canned fruit juice, used to buy one
specific brand, name slips me at the moment. Nowadays we buy the twelve
ounce cans of Jumex, various fruit juices including some we never heard
of before we started buying that brand. Get them two for 89 cents routinely.

Of course we're both retired now so we have the leisure to shop wisely.
A friend hops from store to store buying stuff listed in the weekly
grocery flyers. He spends more on gasoline than I would do but seems
happy with it. I shop the one store and know where everything is and go
straight to whichever aisle my computerized list tells me to go. I don't
shop Walmart, they change the blasted aisles every other week to
encourage impulse shopping. Don't shop Sam's anymore because we don't
need bulk groceries just for the two of us. We do use coupons whenever
we can find some for the things we use, don't use them for things we
ordinarily don't buy. I don't buy Sam's or Walmart meat because, due to
labeling laws, the ingredients include "WATER."

The best part is we have a small vegetable garden, about 17 X 25 feet,
plus several dwarf fruit trees. Unfortunately we've been in a deep
drought for about two years and our city now rations water. Fortunately
we've gotten over an inch of water in the last three days, that helps.