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I recently discovered that the new organic hippie store down the block sells bulk spices, for very cheap. I needed some paprika for a recipe but did not want to buy a whole container because I knew it would go stale before I used it all. I got a couple tablespoons from the bulk jar at the store and it cost me a grand total of nine cents. This is a really great discovery for me personally because 99% of the time I am only cooking for myself. Being able to buy a tiny amount of something saves money from throwing away the rest that would go bad. This place also sells bulk rice, grains etc which is great because I can get stuff at "bulk" prices without actually having to buy the 25-lb bag of rice. And it's a 3-4 minute walk from my house which makes it extra convenient.
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Dec 30, 2011 20:17
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 03:35 |
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wormil posted:Exactly my point, buy one or two a month and learn how to use them. The worst thing to buy are those spice kits because most of them will sit in your cabinet until it goes stale. I have a 24x30 drawer filled with spices but most of them are used for rubs so I buy in bulk but it isn't something I would necessarily recommend to someone starting out who can barely pay for groceries. By "buy spices in bulk", I don't think people are implying that a person go out and buy a giant amount of spices at once. I think they are just suggesting that you buy them from the bulk bin. For example, I needed some onion powder a while back. The McCormick's or whatever brand at Wal-Mart was more than three dollars for a 2 oz container! I went to another store that sold spices in bulk, and bought about 1/2 cup of onion powder for I think 49 cents. The only downside to buying spices like this is that you might want to buy containers to store them in, but hell when you're saving so much money buying spices in bulk, a couple little glass jars aren't going to break the bank.
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Jan 9, 2012 15:40
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wormil posted:Maybe some in the city but any savings would probably be eaten up in parking fees. Near here we have Krogers, Food Lion, Walmart, International Foods (Hispanic Market), A&C (Asian market), & Lowes Foods. Spices are cheaper at International but I haven't seen anything not prepackaged except chilies. Spices are such a small portion of my grocery bill that savings become fairly negligible except on certain stuff (cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin) that I buy in big containers and even those last me months. I get my spices at the organic all natural locally owned co-op hippie grocery store that is WAY to expensive for me to shop at. But the spices, my god, are cheap and they are plentiful. Looks can be deceiving. Right next to the $11/lb organic ground bison meat and $8/lb whole free-range chickens, there are spices for pennies an ounce.
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Jan 11, 2012 01:22
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I recently discovered the wondrous grocery store that is Aldi. This week's special is 26 cent avocados and 99 cent pineapples. If you've never been in an Aldi and you have one near, check it out - pretty interesting. They don't "stock" the shelves, rather they just set out the products in their original pallets/boxes, and they don't advertise so the prices are ridiculously low on some things (but not everything). Their pasta is ridiculously cheap too - I got a 2 lb box of spaghetti for like $1.26. They also apparently have really, really cheap meat/poultry sometimes, but since I don't buy meat I didn't look. But you can go online and look at the weekly specials for the store in your area. It's not a club, you don't have to sign up, it's just a regular store. That oddly does not take credit cards.
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Jan 29, 2012 18:40
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Oh that reminds me, Aldi's broccoli is awesome. At first, I picked up a package and was like "Holy poo poo, this is a tiny broccoli for $1.26!" and put it back down. But then I dug around a little bit and there were identical packages (just a foam tray with cling-wrap type packaging) with MEGA GIANT 2 HEADS OF BROCCOLI TOGETHER so huge they were sticking a couple inches over the side. Easily 3 times the amount of broccoli as the first one I picked up. And it was DEFINITELY a bargain at $1.26.
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Jan 31, 2012 03:29
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If I shoot my own meat and get eggs from a local farmer and buy most of my veggies at Aldi does that make up for buying everything else at Wal-Mart?  Also I worked at Wal-Mart for a year. I stole a LOT of candy bars while I was working the register.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:11
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Someone told me that Target is anti-gun and has donated money to anti-NRA causes before. As a hunter (even though not the NRA member gun-totin' conservative redneck type) that's a decent enough reason for me to not shop there. Plus ours doesn't have a full grocery section.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:51
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CzarChasm posted:There's a great technique for peeling garlic in a flash: I do it the even lazier way: 1. Place clove of garlic on counter 2. Whack with bottom of hand 3. Remove paper
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Mar 19, 2012 21:29
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You can use your EBT in another state, Dabbo  . I've done it, I just called the social service office and let them know.
razz fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Apr 12, 2012 |
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Apr 12, 2012 18:40
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loki k zen posted:Now, I get that the intent here is to be helpful, but one of the best things I learned from my poor-to-begin-with boyfriend when I went from being a middle class kid to a poor adult is this: you are poor before you are ethical, you are poor before you are an environmentalist and you are poor before you are a health nut. As a current poor person, I'm going to have to disagree with this. You can absolutely be poor and be ethical, but you will be making some sacrifices, such as not eating meat with every meal. I don't try to be vegetarian but I'd say that 75% of my meals contain no meat. Meat, particularly beef, is some of the most expensive stuff you can buy per pound. There's no 89 cents a pound ground beef nowadays like there was when I was a kid. I go to the store and I'm shocked when I see that ground beef is often > $2.50 or $3.00 per pound, and I live in one of the biggest beef-producing states in the country! Not eating meat will save you a lot of money if you are a smart shopper. Or make friends with a hunter (or shoot your own food). My $35 deer tag is meat for a year, and that's about as ethical as you can get. Also, I get my eggs from a lady who raises chickens, and they cost less than the factory-farmed cheapo-crap eggs at the store, and the chickens are nice and healthy and happy because I can see them playing around when I go over there. I also have to disagree that you can't be poor and be an environmentalist. I'd actually say that the opposite is true. The things that save you the most money are the things that are the most environmentally friendly such as: drinking tap water instead of bottled water, brewing coffee at home instead of wasting a styrofoam cup by going to Starbucks, riding your bike to close places instead of using gas and driving, starting an herb garden instead of buying small overpriced packs of basil or rosemary at the store, reusing plastic bags and glass jars, etc. Just to name a few things. Also, a person that does these types of things is often labeled a "health nut" .
razz fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Oct 22, 2012 |
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Oct 22, 2012 23:20
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I wish it was normal in America 
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Oct 23, 2012 01:18
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I like to buy fresh veggies when they're on sale and freeze them. For example, sometimes bell peppers are on sale for 25 cents and they're usually like 50 or 75 cents. So I'll buy 5 or 6 of them and use maybe 2 of them, then I'll cut the rest into strips and freeze them using my vacuum sealer. They're not really awesome to eat raw after they've been frozen but they're great for stir-fry, pasta, etc. I'll also do that with broccoli when it's on sale. I think some vegetables are pretty good frozen. I like frozen corn, peas and green beans and a lot of times, they are on sale for less than a dollar for a one-pound bag.
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Oct 23, 2012 02:17
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Growing herbs is kind of difficult. I tried to start an herb garden earlier this spring and while everything sprouted, somehow they all managed to die before they got maybe 2 inches tall. I might recommend going to a local greenhouse and starting with mature plants and re-potting them into appropriate containers. I've always been terrible with plants for some reason! Luckily my fiance's parents grow a lot of their own veggies and herbs so we usually get herbs from them. But I never buy fresh herbs because of the price. I think growing them indoors is probably where I went wrong, because I started the plants when it was still too cold to put them outside. And after they all died I just lost motivation. Probably it would be best if you had an outdoor place to grow them, it doesn't have to be in the yard but maybe in pots on the balcony/porch if you have one.
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Oct 23, 2012 04:02
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 03:35 |
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rj54x posted:I guess it depends on where you live. Adding up all the costs, venison costs me about $1, maybe $2 / pound. However, around here there are plenty of landowners (within a half hour of home) who are more than happy to let you hunt on their land for free if you ask nicely. Afterwords, hang the carcass up in the garage and process it yourself - the only real costs are tags and ammunition (the latter of which you shouldn't need too awful much of unless you're taking wild potshots all the time). The average size of the deer varies, too - the few times I've gone in upstate New York, or down in Kentucky, the deer were generally much smaller than they are here (NW Ohio, SE Michigan). Yeah, that's what I do. This year I bought a hunting license ($35) and bought three deer tags (totaling about $60). I hunted on some dude's land, my dad just asked if I could and he said sure. So for less than $100, I now have enough meat in my freezer for me, my fiance, and my roommate for an entire year. My dad and I process the deer ourselves. All you need is a sharp knife, some butcher paper, and maybe buddy who will let you borrow their meat grinder. You don't really have to have any butchering skills to cut up a deer. I think I got maybe 125 lbs of meat total. So 75 cents a pound or so? Plus I shot it myself. Ethical meat consumption and all that jazz. Even if it cost more than buying meat at the store I'd still hunt deer.
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Jan 11, 2013 03:47
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