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I've seen kinda closeish prices for food at places like Big Saver and Food 4 Less around here. The trade off is the quality, things tend to be pretty lovely. Mealy unripe 'maters, bruised bland avocados, etc.
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Apr 13, 2012 20:19
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CzarChasm posted:Depends on the veggies, but in general chop > put in single layer on cookie sheet > Freeze until solid > Baggie > Freezer Huh. Thawing them just made sense at the time. Thawed in fridge before cooking. Was horrible. I see I got my process wrong as well. Seems like the cookie sheet would aid in quick freezing, and maybe get rid of a bit of moisture in the process. Cool. Thanks kindly. Also, crap: I need a bigger freezer.
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Apr 13, 2012 20:29
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squigadoo posted:WHAT. You can get 2-5 manila mangoes for $1?! Please tell use where you live. I am glad that I am not overpaying. The quality is actually really good. I am very picky, and refuse to get things unless they are fresh and looking good. I live in Los Angeles, (near North Hollywood) and I shop at http://elsupermarkets.com and http://superiorgrocers.com. Every Wednesday they have really good sales. The only drawback is that it just like a farmers market where you have to weigh out things. But it is worth it. Coming up with recipes has been a struggle too, but you guys have been very helpful.
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Apr 14, 2012 00:26
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haha. I've shopped at El Super and Superior, I get their circulars, too. I would not put them in the "really good" quality produce tier. Probably more like "edible, not choice."
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Apr 14, 2012 01:05
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GrAviTy84 posted:haha. I've shopped at El Super and Superior, I get their circulars, too. I would not put them in the "really good" quality produce tier. Probably more like "edible, not choice." What is "choice" for you? Sounds like you have money to spare, and plus I grew up on a farm and know good produce. Good for me though, more selection. 
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Apr 14, 2012 01:48
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MuffinShark posted:I am glad that I am not overpaying. The quality is actually really good. I am very picky, and refuse to get things unless they are fresh and looking good. drat. I grew up in North Hollywood and my family still lives out there. I'm going to have to look into these places.
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Apr 14, 2012 16:29
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The Lord Bude posted:Holy crap food is cheap where you live. Do you live on the moon or something? How the christ are mushrooms $12/kg? O_O @MuffinsShark: He /does/ have money to spare. XD Choice for him means tomatoes that were watered with virgin's tears, and grown in the clear moonlight, picked only by newborn babbies, because only their skin is soft enough not to mar the perfect tomatoes.
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Apr 14, 2012 16:36
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dino. posted:@MuffinsShark: He /does/ have money to spare. XD Choice for him means tomatoes that were watered with virgin's tears, and grown in the clear moonlight, picked only by newborn babbies, because only their skin is soft enough not to mar the perfect tomatoes. This is funny cause it's true. About everything which pleases gravity.
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Apr 14, 2012 17:22
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GrAviTy84 posted:I've seen kinda closeish prices for food at places like Big Saver and Food 4 Less around here. The trade off is the quality, things tend to be pretty lovely. Mealy unripe 'maters, bruised bland avocados, etc. El Super and Superior are the same tier of market as these. Some things are better than others though. Cilantro and scallions are usually dirt cheap and are just fine there. Other things like jalapenos (mild. as. gently caress.), tomatoes (mealy as mentioned), etc are just not worth getting at places like these.
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Apr 14, 2012 19:37
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dino. posted:Do you live on the moon or something? How the christ are mushrooms $12/kg? O_O That was the current price at the woolworths supermarket I work at in Brisbane, Australia for basic, taste like nothing button mushrooms. Proper mushrooms would be a lot more expensive, though I imagine you could get them cheaper at a farmers market. I wouldn't know, because farmers markets involve being out of bed really early in the morning.
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Apr 15, 2012 04:32
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GrAviTy84 posted:El Super and Superior are the same tier of market as these. Some things are better than others though. Cilantro and scallions are usually dirt cheap and are just fine there. Other things like jalapenos (mild. as. gently caress.), tomatoes (mealy as mentioned), etc are just not worth getting at places like these. If any of you are living in SoCal why are you buying tomatoes anyway? You can grow tomatoes in Trona, for goodness sake, so you can grow them in LA.
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Apr 15, 2012 05:03
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The Lord Bude posted:That was the current price at the woolworths supermarket I work at in Brisbane, Australia for basic, taste like nothing button mushrooms. Proper mushrooms would be a lot more expensive, though I imagine you could get them cheaper at a farmers market. I wouldn't know, because farmers markets involve being out of bed really early in the morning. Surely you can go to a greengrocers though? Also, I dunno why you'd need to wake up "really early in the morning" when your weekend farmer's markets are open until 12pm, and your CBD one is open every Wednesday until 6pm. 
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Apr 15, 2012 10:48
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SonicDefiance posted:Surely you can go to a greengrocers though? greengrocers typically have higher prices than Supermarkets, and compete on quality, not price. Australian retail (particularly food retail) is controlled largely by two companies, who are easily able to undercut small independent grocers. Woolworths for example, has fingers in every stage of the process of bringing food to the store: From the farms themselves all the way to the produce arriving in the store. most farmers markets do most of their trade in the early morning. If you want to get the best produce, you show up at dawn, or when they open. By mid morning, much of their produce is gone and crap remains. Also I consider being out of bed before 11am 'early' The Lord Bude fucked around with this message at 11:14 on Apr 15, 2012 |
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Apr 15, 2012 11:08
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The Lord Bude posted:most farmers markets do most of their trade in the early morning. If you want to get the best produce, you show up at dawn, or when they open. By mid morning, much of their produce is gone and crap remains. quote:Also I consider being out of bed before 11am 'early'
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Apr 15, 2012 19:13
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Knight of the
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The Lord Bude posted:greengrocers typically have higher prices than Supermarkets, and compete on quality, not price. Australian retail (particularly food retail) is controlled largely by two companies, who are easily able to undercut small independent grocers. Woolworths for example, has fingers in every stage of the process of bringing food to the store: From the farms themselves all the way to the produce arriving in the store. I know about the Coles/Woolies duopoly; I live in Melbourne. Greengrocers here (at least, the ones in my neighbourhood - not sure if this is the norm) tend to have very competitive prices AND tend to offer better quality.What about a "regular" market (kinda like how we have Queen Victoria Market) - is there something like that in Brisbane?
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Apr 16, 2012 00:23
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SonicDefiance posted:Melbourne From my brief but much beloved sojourn there, I can tell you that Melbourne is a magical fairy kingdom where food is ludicrously cheap, you can eat out and get nice food for $10 dollars, a coffee doesn't cost $3.80 like it does in Brisbane AND has a dramatically higher chance of being fit for drinking. The Queen Victoria markets is the Jewel in the crown of that fantasy fairy kingdom. There is nothing remotely like that in Brisbane or Sydney, that's why it's such a massive tourist attraction. I would kill for something like that in Brisbane.
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Apr 16, 2012 02:19
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When I lived in Australia it was both easier and more difficult to eat cheaply. Easier because there were more prominent sales and discounts to get rid of food at the main supermarkets(6 ribeye steaks for $6 AUD!) but more difficult because food in general is expensive as gently caress out there. I can't remember what I did when I was in Melbourne, but I think I visited the Queen Victoria Market many many times (though it was a bit out of the way). I usually just got some kind of discount meat and salad at the Coles or Woolies in St. Kilda. In Brisbane I lived in New Farm so I went shopping almost exclusively at that place that connects to the Fortitude Valley train station - Wickham or something like that? Also I spent a lot of time at the Chinese supermarket nearby. I don't know if that helps, but when I was there ~4 years ago it was still more expensive than I'm used to, but not as bad as going to the regular supermarkets. Also, thank you Dino. I'm living in NYC now (East Village) and I never thought to go to Queens to go shopping. I figured Chinatown was so close, but even that isn't as cheap as I would like. There is a nice and (relatively) clean new Chinese supermarket on Grand and Mott that has the best prices on stuff like meat and veggies that I've seen in the city, but when I get a little more time I'll make the trek out to Jackson Heights. Trying to eat cheaply means that salads should be good to go. Unfortunately salad dressing is expensive and balsamic vinegar with olive oil can only go so far. So I'm interested in ANY kinds of salad dressing recipes. To contribute, I absolutely love that Makoto japanese ginger dressing, but it's $5 for a tiny bottle that'll last me 4 or 5 small salads. Instead, I got a ton of carrots, celery, ginger, and a small onion and put it through my food processer. Then, I threw it into a blender (in batches) with some rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, some sugar, and a little oil. Dear God it's good. Not exactly like Makoto but close enough. I can't get mine as creamy, and if you eat it right away it's pretty strong, but I think it'll mellow out. For about $6 I made enough of this "dressing" to last me like a month if I eat it almost every day. It's chunkier and more substantial than Makoto and it feels good knowing that you made 8 times the amount for the same price. If anyone has anymore interesting salad dressing recipes, please share. For my next one, I'm going to try this: http://ohmyghee.com/2007/03/30/krishna-lunchs-worshipable-almond-dressing/ The Hare Krishnas at the University of Florida started serving lunch on campus way back in the 70s. I don't know if they've used that salad dressing the whole time, but when I was there it was the best thing about any meal they made. So much so that people would always ask them for the recipe. It's a little unconventional as far as salad dressing goes, and the ingredients will be more expensive than most dressings, but still cheaper (and probably healthier) than buying bottles of Hidden Valley at the supermarket.
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Apr 16, 2012 04:25
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Charmmi posted:6 avocados for a dollar?! I'm lucky if I can find them 6 for $5. To make you feel lucky again, over here in Korea they're usually $4 apiece.
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Apr 16, 2012 08:25
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Grand Fromage posted:To make you feel lucky again, over here in Korea they're usually $4 apiece. Purely out of curiosity, what are the cheap eats over in Korea?
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Apr 17, 2012 01:38
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Just made this: http://www.goonswithspoons.com/New_Orleans_style_Red_Beans_and_Rice Tasty as hell, and I've got a metric fuckton of food now. Gonna be eating this for a while.
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Apr 17, 2012 01:41
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redmercer posted:Purely out of curiosity, what are the cheap eats over in Korea? Most seafood is very cheap where I live, since there's an ocean right there. Some things like crabs are still pricy but compared to where I'm from (Ohio), still not bad at all. Typically you can get a whole (small) fish for three bucks, a kilo of mussels for two, ten bigass shrimp for four for example. About twenty shucked oysters for two bucks. You can pick up a box of reasonably good supermarket sushi for 40 cents a piece. A 1 kg chicken is about five bucks at the market. Pork isn't too bad. Beef, welp, that's $20+ a pound so it's a rare thing. Fruit prices vary wildly depending on the season but are usually quite expensive. I live near Daegu, which produces lots of apples so during apple season you can get those cheap. Jeju mandarin season is the best, kilos and kilos of mandarins for just a few bucks. Some fruits like limes simply don't exist outside of one store in Seoul. I did find them online though, happy day. Vegetables also vary widely. Something like asparagus is a dollar a spear at the grocery store (but you can get it much cheaper online), cabbage is basically free. Onions, garlic, garlic scapes, potatoes (sometimes), carrots, leeks, various leafy things are cheap. Korean cheese is cheap, but Korean cheese is basically a war crime so you have to drop mad dollaz on imported cheese. Basically rice, seafood, and noodles are cheap most of the time, as are various pork and chicken dishes. Anything not Korean will start going up in price pretty steeply since most Koreans don't have any interest in anything outside the country, so there's not a lot of import volume. The free trade agreement with the US just went into effect though, so that's dropping some prices. You can also find a lot of stuff cheaper once you learn enough Korean to go to street markets and butcher shops and do a little negotiating. The issue with those is that nobody lives alone here and there's no breaking up the set quantities, so you either buy the sack of 30 onions or go to the supermarket. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Apr 17, 2012 |
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Apr 17, 2012 05:24
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Just made some stuffed green peppers using this recipe as most of the ingredients are things that I had. Only needed to get meat, green peppers, and tomato sauce. Really good and pretty cheap http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Stuffed-Peppers-4/Detail.aspx Love https://www.allrecipes.com so many awesome dishes on there, I get lost just trying to figure out what to try next. Tomorrow I'm going to try and make this pie http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-pie-by-grandma-ople/detail.aspx using this crust http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pastry-for-double-pie-crust/
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Apr 17, 2012 06:02
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Just chiming in to say that I actually do shop at the markets in Brisbane and the prices are pretty comparative to supermarket prices for most things and quality is not necessarily better. However, if you go to the city markets on a wednesday they do really good deals at the end of the day towards closing time. At the wednesday/saturday markets at Rocklea you will have to search a bit to find good/better deals or produce but it can be worth it and one of the meat guys there makes a killer pie. Also they're open until like 7 or something on wednesdays so being lazy is not an excuse  Edit: Also, it's not really related to budget-eating so much but is someone able to tell me why seafood is so cheap in other places adjacent to the ocean but not here (Australia)? I went to the seafood market the other weekend and it was still stupidly expensive. Eden fucked around with this message at 09:14 on Apr 18, 2012 |
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Apr 18, 2012 09:05
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Eden posted:Just chiming in to say that I actually do shop at the markets in Brisbane and the prices are pretty comparative to supermarket prices for most things and quality is not necessarily better. It's good to know, though this will never be more than an academic exercise for me, I still live at home and have never actually had to spend my own money on groceries, or do my own shopping for that matter. Even though Australia has extensive coastline and farmland, and is in a position to be able to largely grow its own food; (except for all the idiots who insist on having everything available year round), our food is significantly more expensive than say, the US, because of a variety of other costs which impact on retailers. retail rents in Australian shopping centres are some of the highest in the world, petrol is significantly more expensive here than it is in the US (and we are more spread out) so transport costs are higher, and our minimum wage is very high - American retailers can hire staff at $8 or so an hour, but over here the average adult supermarket grunt earns $19 - 24. All these factors add up to higher prices, and while It doesn't specifically address the cost of seafood I imagine the reasons are similar. You only have to look at how much cheaper it is to buy imported poo poo like vannamei prawns and basa fillets, both of which come from the chemical ridden sewage pits of south east asia.
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Apr 18, 2012 11:05
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MuffinShark posted:I live in Los Angeles It's been mentioned many times before, but if you have the great good fortune to live in a city with a substantial immigrant population, shop at their stores and stay the gently caress away from Von's, Ralphs, Safeway or whatever the local giant supermarket chain is. These stores will probably be full of fruit flies, they'll smell funny, and angry grandmas from The Old Country will throw elbows into your ribs to get you out of the way when they're lunging for the nopales or chicken feet or whatever. Get over it and save you some money. (This advice applies to meat, produce, and bulk things like beans and rice only; name-brand prepared foods are always more expensive at these places but you shouldn't be buying that poo poo anyway.) Chicken feet, incidentally, make a really great stock. spite house fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Apr 19, 2012 |
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Apr 19, 2012 00:59
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Cube steak, milk, and potatoes are pretty cheap, and they make delicious chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy.
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Apr 19, 2012 01:27
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This was a while ago, but...vectorsprint posted:[...]use a nice wooden cutting board when breaking down whole cuts of meat; plastic harbors bacteria[...]
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Apr 24, 2012 05:53
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spite house posted:It's been mentioned many times before, but if you have the great good fortune to live in a city with a substantial immigrant population, shop at their stores I'm in the UK but there are a bunch of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean places nearby to me, grocers and butchers and supermarkets. Most of the food seems to be cheaper- most importantly the staples everyone runs through (vegetables, canned goods, milk, meat). I know lots of people that will go in there but also a fair few who, despite knowing they could save money and that these shops are closer, will still keep going to Tesco and Sainsbury's and refuse to even try them once. They won't even step into these places! It makes me sad, it's like they think the food in there is so "other" that they won't be able to find anything, when it's a hell of a lot of the same stuff and some delicious new things. Nothing beats finding a jar of jalapenos or roasted red peppers that costs the same as the nearest big supermarket...only it's about five times as large.
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Apr 24, 2012 09:24
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wutheringbites posted:I'm in the UK but there are a bunch of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean places nearby to me, grocers and butchers and supermarkets. Most of the food seems to be cheaper- most importantly the staples everyone runs through (vegetables, canned goods, milk, meat). I know lots of people that will go in there but also a fair few who, despite knowing they could save money and that these shops are closer, will still keep going to Tesco and Sainsbury's and refuse to even try them once. This is also true of the larger discount stores in the UK like Lidl and Aldi, so many seem to dismiss them but there is some great value if you spend the time looking. The large stores like Tesco really see to have a hold on everyone.
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Apr 24, 2012 14:48
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Zettace posted:This was a while ago, but... Wood is also hygroscopic as all get out, so it's going to suck the moisture out of anything and kill it. Provided there aren't gouges in it deep enough for moisture to collect and impede evaporation (absorption can only handle so much), a wooden cutting board is actually easier to keep safe than plastic for the home cook. Note that the different conditions in a professional kitchen, or even a really high-volume home kitchen, flip this around - the wood cutting board needs a rinse and a few hours to work its magic. Plastic cutting boards are faster to sanitize right up until the point where their surface becomes a varied landscape of tiny cuts and scratches (so about a week into its lifespan). Glass is, of course, right out. Don't use glass cutting boards 
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Apr 24, 2012 16:15
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To be fair, most materials are porous to some degree. There are also varying degrees of plastic. Of these, there are numerous that are food safe / food grade, and some are specialized for certain types of foods. Sorry, plastic breeds pedantry in me, it's a quite diverse medium.
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May 1, 2012 10:50
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PopeCrunch posted:Glass is, of course, right out. Don't use glass cutting boards
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May 2, 2012 03:28
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I'm not a fan of shopping at Vons, but they have had some great "just for u" coupons. Right now I can get $3 worth of free produce. While that doesn't seem like a lot, over the last three days I was able to pick up 10 packs of tofu and 12 mangos for $2. Long story short, if you have a Vons nearby it is a good idea to get a Vons card. Everything is overprices, but the coupons they send me are worth the trip.
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May 3, 2012 08:17
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I find the happy medium is to buy a huge plastic gently caress off cutting board for 5 bucks from k-mart or whatever, use that for anything you're not iffy about cleanliness, and get a decent wood cutting board for prepping vegetables and chicken because goddamn if you don't get off on the sound of a good knife hitting wood I don't know how you manage to enjoy actually preparing meals. Then you've got two boards and you're not completely shafted if you need two for whatever reason. also its probably been said a million times already, but if you live near fruit stores, check them out. A lot of the time their prices will be a little higher than the supermarkets, but they'll have some absolutely astounding specials going on, the place down the road from me was selling potatos for 9c a kilo the other day for an entire week and I lost my loving poo poo This week I think its like broccoli for 79c a kilo hello broccoli soup and more weed and rum drowned in pussy juice fucked around with this message at 09:01 on May 3, 2012 |
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May 3, 2012 08:55
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Plants with a bulb will often quite happily regrow for you if you put them in water or a pot! Spring onions and leeks are perfect for this: do whatever you were going to do with them, save the white ends and keep them in water. Just refresh the water once or twice a week and you'll be able to get at least 4 or 5 extra uses out of them. They grow amazingly fast, one bunch usually nets me fresh spring onions whenever I feel like it for a month. If you plant them in a pot once their roots have developed enough they will last even longer and grow even faster! This will also work for lemongrass, although I think it's better to leave the stems attached when you put them in water. Lemongrass tea is the most delicious thing ever. 
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May 6, 2012 11:31
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Love this thread. Just wanted to throw in that kale is a fantastic green to stock up on, for one reason: it gets better when you freeze it. It's a cousin of cabbage, that has tons of vitamins and nutrients in it, including one that assists in DNA repair and my inhibit the growth of cancer cells. But more importantly, it was mainly grown in cold countries during winter, because it is hearty and actually benefits from a good frost, so you can buy tons of it on sale, throw it in your freezer, and pull it out whenever you need it. Also, if you have a small home garden and you live somewhere cold, you can grow it during the winter. Edit: because I didn't make this clear before: the benefit of it freezing is it ends up tasting better. It loses a bit of bitterness. Riven fucked around with this message at 22:57 on May 10, 2012 |
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May 9, 2012 23:17
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Kale is awesome indeed, especially here in Scandinavia and further north, just plop it down in your garden and it'll give you cheap as hell tasty salad that can last forever in a freezer.
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May 10, 2012 18:06
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No poo poo, I never would have guessed that! I know what I'm buying next time I need produce.
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May 10, 2012 18:28
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spite house posted:These stores will probably be full of fruit flies Goddamn is this true. If you get these little motherfuckers in your house, set out a little dish or ramekin or something full of vinegar (red wine vinegar works really well) and add a few drops of dishwashing soap. The flies will be attracted to the vinegar and land in it, only to get trapped by the soap. Then they die and you are victorious. This also reminds me that different types of vinegar can often be incredibly incredibly cheap and are great to have around - a lot of recipes call for them and doing something as simple as adding a dash of red wine vinegar to a sandwich can bump up the flavor significantly.
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May 11, 2012 20:58
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Does anyone make onion or garlic powder themselves? Google makes it seem very simple. Would this be worth it or just a waste of time? Onions are like 70cents/pound. Garlic is normally $1 for 5 heads.
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May 13, 2012 00:17
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