Has the increase in food prices changed things in your household?

I love to eat out but have cut way back, infact, I was mad the other day after doing all my grocery shopping and then meeting a friend for lunch.
$13 for a crappy BLT, a handful of fries and a tiny wilted salad. Bah!
Fortunetly I LOVE having picnics and live near a beautiful river, so, a lot of my friends will be getting invited to picnics this summer.

I did just splurge and order about $60 worth of organic cheese from a coastal cheese factory the other night. But…I am a cheese lover and found several varieties I have not found in years, and, they have a 9 month shelf life in the fridge, sooo, I have plenty of cheese for the summer picnic scene. :-D

I have shopping and cooking down to science as I feed 6 very hungry people every day. We buy in bulk as much as possible and cook in batches as much as possible. I’m thinking about trying once a month cooking.

Food costs will keep going up as the cost of crude oil increases ever upwards.

Time to turn the lawn into a garden!!

We don’t eat red meat or fresh greens as often.

I try to get around this by cooking homemade meals that I know will last me several days. I also try to bake my own deserts like cakes/brownies instead of buying them. When I do eat or order out I like to eat pizza since those prices have remained relatively stable. I can still buy a large 16 in pie with toppings for under $12 at most places yet.

It has made me check out pricing for sure. And I always make a grocery list & I make most meals from scratch (including desserts) & I don’t eat out.

I had to get food stamps. What a blessing!
I go to the food bank monthly.
I am currently drooling over veggie seeds. I hope Monsanto is not involved.
Use coupons.
I would have not worried about this much before my nephew moved in.

Nope. We still choose organic, local and all natural foods. Basically our food bill is always higher than the average American grocery bill.

We have nearly stopped eating out. We now do without specialty foods like grapes unless they are on sale. We stock up on eggs when they are on sale and our garage storage units got very close to empty waiting for low prices. When the price is right, we now buy in full cases, and hubby has found a wholesale company that will sell in single case quantities.

Looking more closely at sale prices and quantities, have home grown chickens and eggs now, less baking, still irritated by the wasted veggies…

@DaphneT I miss having chickens.

I now pay more attention to the fresh produce that is on sale. I like to keep fruit in the house, and I’ll buy the ones on sale that week. I used to previously buy whatever tickled my fancy. I also comparison shop now more than before, and use coupons more frequently.

I’ve gotten very good at cooking delicious cheaper meats. It’s mostly a matter of allowing enough time to cook them long enough to get tender. I buy in bulk and freeze a lot. We rarely eat out. And I always use up the leftovers, mostly in soup. (Even leftover salad can go in soup.) I make some things myself that I used to buy like pancake syrup. I’ve lowered our food bill by 50%.

We’ve never been big meat eaters, but now we eat it even less because it’s so expensive. We’re becoming vegetarians by default.

No. Although food prices in Germany have risen as well, the increase is not that dramatic.