So what don't you buy... - Page 3

[UUMom]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

Tomatoes
Grapes

Those used to be staples, but prices are sky-high right now.

It's all that dang cold in Vermont. I think it's 19 degress outside where I live, and you are 5 hours up and away from me. We can put humans in space, but we can't invent a cherry tomato that grows year round in our zones? What's up with *that*? Where's Monsanto when you really need them? lol

[Merilin]

We buy strictly seasonal. No strawberries, tomatoes in winter, etc. they don't taste good and they are wicked expensive. There are so many delicious winter vegetables out there, which are fairly cheap and very healthy (Greens, Beets, carrots, squash, pumpkins, wintersalads).

[UUMom]

Originally Posted by Merilin

We buy strictly seasonal. No strawberries, tomatoes in winter, etc. they don't taste good and they are wicked expensive. There are so many delicious winter vegetables out there, which are fairly cheap and very healthy (Greens, Beets, carrots, squash, pumpkins, wintersalads).

'wicked' and your avatar puts you at the sea? Are you in MA or RI? (Don't have to say on the public board).

And I agree, they are wicked $ and mostly taste nasty.

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by lilyka

holy cow. it is $2.85 here.

Yeowch! That's expensive for noodles and dried cheese.

If you ever get the craving, Amazon sells mac n cheese by the case. 18.80 for 12 boxes or 1.57 a box. Free shipping!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ocery&v=glance

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by rootzdawta

Yes, I too find myself not buying things but with a picky toddler, sometimes I just have to bite the bullet. Soy yogurt can sometimes be up to $1.10 PER CUP. And he loves grapes and tomatoes.

I end up just closing my eyes to the prices at the grocery store and buying what we need.

.

This sounds like me, right now we are spending at least $10 a week on grapes but with a picky toddler who will always eat them its worth it to me. Its more dh who has given up most of his cereals, now he only gets the sale stuff. In order to comfortabley afford the cheeses and yogurt and stuff we have been eating less meats. Right now I do a lot of soups and stews.

Shay

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

I buy whatever produce is on the reduced rack. You can get a whole package of fruit for $1 at Stop 'n Shop. I usually get avacados, apples, mushrooms, mangoes, etc. dirt cheap. As for not on the reduced rack I usually only buy apples in a huge bag, onions in a huge bag and banannas. I don't buy premade baby food. I got the book First Meals from the library and have been making my own and saving a ton. I don't buy laundry detergent, I make my own. It costs pennies per gallon to make. I also plan to start making bread and homemade pizzas.

[amyamanda]

I used to buy myself something fun as a reward for grocery shopping. A pint of ice cream or a loaf of GF bread or chocolate or a bottle of juice or something else fun and yummy. I don't anymore. Now, I might buy myself an avocado if they're on sale. My definition of "splurge" has changed a LOT.

We already don't buy dairy, gluten, or soy. That cuts out a lot of options. Not eating dairy is supercheap for us because we don't substitute anything. Not eating gluten is much more expensive, but I bake from scratch using the cheapest flours (brown rice and tapioca) and I'm considering cutting back on the xanthan gum. Not eating soy cuts out some cheap options (tofu) but it also rules out a lot of spendy/processed options.

We don't buy juice, except for one cheap can of OJ a week, which is DH's special request. And I have these teensy-tiny juice glasses for the kids so we can stretch it over 2-3 days.

I used to buy a lot more dried fruit, like figs and dates and apricots, and now I only buy the cheapest kind of organic raisins unless something is on sale.

I used to buy all organic nuts but I don't now. The organic ones are way too expensive.

We eat apples all winter long (buy at an orchard and store in a cold closet and our extra fridge). Plus raisins and one can of OJ a week for the six of us, and frozen berries that we picked ourselves last summer, and that's our fruit for about nine months of the year. I only buy other kinds of fruit in season or on huge sale. Occasionally I buy bananas but I've been cutting those out lately, too.

I generally buy only in-season veggies. In winter we eat kale, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic. I buy about one head of broccoli a month, because DH likes it so much. And we have frozen peas, green beans, corn. In the summer we really appreciate our garden produce.

We hardly ever buy deli meat anymore, except to use very sparingly on pizza (ham and pepperoni).

I am trying to buy less meat. We eat more eggs and peanut butter than meat. I am working on cooking more beans and lentils.

I don't buy nondairy milks anymore, at all. I used to make myself yummy warm sweet drinks with maple syrup and cocoa or decaf or vanilla, but I cut that out when prices went up.

We used to eat cold cereal and now I never buy it (except for one week a year, our camping vacation). We have plain oatmeal or leftovers or homemade baked goods for breakfast instead of cold cereal.

The only frozen convenience foods I buy are burritoes on sale, which DH uses as "emergency lunch" if I haven't managed to make him something from scratch (which I try to keep up with every day). I used to buy other yummy things, but not anymore.

We buy much, much fewer bagged chips (we're GF so I am loathe to give them up completely).

We never buy "bars" anymore...Luna bars or fruit leather or granola bars. We don't buy packaged snacks at all, except occasional bagged chips and corn or rice cakes for sandwiches. I'm working on cutting down our consumption of those as well.

I want to start a new thread - what do you still splurge on, even with prices going up? Off to do that right now...

[Crystal Pegasus]

When we had cyclones up in Queensland and banana plantations were wiped out in large quantities, bananas- if available at all- were anywhere up to about $16kg!! And they were usually pretty horrible looking. Needless to say, we went without bananas for quite a while.

[tangozulu]

Originally Posted by lilyka

holy cow. it is $2.85 here.

It is $19.24 for 12 boxes on Amazon if you do Subscribe and Save (which you can cancel anytime). Shipping is free for orders over $25. This is where we get ours.

http://www.amazon.com/Annies-Homegro...bs_gro_title_2

[lilyka]

I have to be the only person in the world who thinks annies mac is totally gross (well my kids won't touch it either) but it is in the isle I stock and I looked at the price the other day and thought "what possesed me to spend that much for mac and cheese? have I never looked at the price?" I think it ihas just really gone up recently because i know I woul dnever spend nearly $3 on a box of mack and cheese.

[mommiesjunk]

Amazing! I shop, almost exclusively, at our co-op in central minnesota and dont mind speding money there! On an average week, for a family of four, I spent $100. I will say I dont do prepackaged stuff but I go all out on any produce and cheese I can use. I cook from scratch and still have enought to offer any guest that comes to our house a 3 course meal that blow their ears off. I must be doing something right.

back to what I dont buy - WATER. I think it is crazy to pay for water....and hot chocolate mix.

[Etay005]

I stopped buying coffemate and coffee filters-we got a reuseable filter and I now drink it black.

[mnnice]

This thread inspired me to buy more Annie's mac and cheese. I didn't realize I had such a good deal on my hands.

It nearly always .99 at the cheapest store in town and and I had a bunch of .55 off coupons and I used every one of them yesterday

[weliveintheforest]

We skip the out of season produce, like berries and grapes, even though they look so yummy, and I don't buy almond milk or juice except as an occasional treat for dh who really likes that stuff. We also don't buy deli meat anymore, but that's more of a health thing, and saving money is just a bonus.

[tempestjewel]

Whenever we cut out the "middle man" we seem to save the most.

All our produce (or 95% of it in case I need something for a specific meal) comes from a home-delivery organic CSA service nearby. Keeps me out of the store, and keeps us eating "in season", mostly local, and fresh.

I get my eggs from a guy 5 minutes down the street. He charges $3 a dozen, but they are pastured free-range eggs from well-cared-for chickens and they taste phenomenal compared to store-bought eggs we used to get. We only go through 4 dozen a month because my oldest DD is egg-allergic so my DH eats most of them (hardboiled in his lunch).

Beef we bought 1/4 cow last fall, and this next year we will do the full 1/2 cow from a small family farm. We only eat grass-fed beef so this is the cheapest for us.

I also was told about a fabulous grocery outlet nearby that packages their own flours. We are gluten-free and any kind of grain shopping was very expensive, but now I can get bags of organic gluten-free flours for about 1/4 of the price I had been paying at health food or regular grocery stores. I bake all of my daughter's gluten-free bread, and I bake my husband's gluten-containing bread with a homemade sourdough starter so I never need yeast. Its just starter, flour, water, and salt!

[ewp11100]

canned beans, you can get dry (and soak cook in crock pot) 1lb for the price of 1 can

stock, I freeze my kitchen scraps and bones and make stock from that

baked goods, It takes a little time to get recipes that are tried and true but once you do it's worth it. I got a bread machine off freecycle coutons are easy to make, 20 times yummyer homemade and cost a forcune.

Green cleaners- so expensive when vinager and baking soda do the trick I add EO to make the toile bowl small good, lol