About Those Grocery Store Prices. And Restaurant Prices As Well!

 

Those Grocery Store Prices, and my workarounds

I've had a number of spontaneous, casual conversations in grocery stores recently, centered around how out of control prices have suddenly become - it felt like we had a bit of a backing off occurring, and then, bamm, up, up, up they went again.

Over here, however, our grocery spend remains unchanged in spite of this most recent round of retailer shenanigans. I continue to menu plan, I continue to shop supermarket loss leaders, and I continue to purchase in season produce as much as I can. I also shop for some items at specialty ethnic markets, where prices continue to remain nicely reasonable.

I do the bulk of my repetitive items shopping (Apples, oranges, bananas, spinach, eggs, nuts, condiments, dairy, deli meats, cheeses, and bread) at Aldi's and Trader Joes's, neither of which varies their pricing much. I peruse supermarket fliers for whatever protein is on sale that week, then portion and freeze in recipe-sized quantities. I have a regular list of items in my freezer at pretty much all times - salmon, shrimp, ground turkey, ground round, Italian sausage, bacon, pork chops, chicken breast, chicken thighs, and the occasional steak.

And I'm still averaging $100 a week, the same as I spent in 2012 when I first retired! 

Most of the recipes I make combine a protein, lots of vegetables, fresh herbs (which I cut from my backyard herb garden) and a small amount of starch. We eat really well, with pretty much everything arriving at our table full of flavor and low of cost. My standard is to cook once, eat twice. I prepare our side dish produce fresh for each meal, and often add a seasoned piece of toast for my carb-loving husband. So whether a first or second time serving, the meal feels more freshly made than not.

This cookbook, in particular, is a go-to favorite for incorporating all the above.

Those Restaurant Prices, and my workarounds

We primarily eat away from home on the weekends, given that I put a lot of time and energy into maintaining our social calendar. If dining at a restaurant-type venue, we generally come in at about $60, usually comprised of one alcoholic beverage each, and two small plates we share, plus tax and tip. We have scads of great eateries in our area, with our preference being to eat small and frequent, rather than the opposite, really more to manage our calories and weight than our pocketbooks.

Happy Hours, wineries that serve food, breweries that serve food, and upscale fast casual (which I define as having really flavorful food we order at a counter, plus a full bar for ordering adult beverages) are our venues of choice when not attending dinner-included events. I admit I would feel a little cheap if we went into a traditional full service restaurant and attempted to order & eat small, so we generally don't do this type of dining out any more, other than for the occasional celebration.

One of the benefits of the alternative dining we now frequently enjoy, is that people seem more relaxed in general, and quite apt to start spontaneous conversations, as are the wait staff. It's been really fun, actually quite a bit more fun than when we 'do' traditional dining, plus our weight scale doesn't yell at us the next morning, lol.