Khane
Got something right about marriage
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The Eating on a Budget Thread
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Chukzombi
Millie's Staff Member
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Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Well.
Stuff rots, and it isn't easy to grow in bulk everything that you see in the supermarket in the same geographical location. So you end up shipping stuff. You also need to make sure it arrives within a certain window, and then that window extends until its "shelf life" ends and you get rotting veggies in the produce aisle. This also has to be refrigerated during the trip and when it arrives, but it still has that same window of being "fresh."
Then you have frozen veggies (or canned, though that stuff is generally terrible and typically full of preservatives and other crap) which you can harvest from whatever location is most convenient, take your time to get them frozen and put together and then you hit the window that is -much- larger for both shipping and selling by the store receiving it. It has a natural effect of lowering the cost in that process. Fresh, unless you live near an easily attainable farmer's market (and preferably one that hasn't swallowed the organic cock shaft and balls) will typically be more expensive because the shipping process and the freshness on the shelf add costs to it that frozen kind of passes off.
Most fresh vegetables also have to have a certain aesthetic to them. You generally can't get away with super retarded looking carrots in the market. But if you are peeling and slicing and freezing? Doesn't matter what they look like before; they're going to be usable. So that is also another cost saver for the frozen stuff.
Costco sells 10lb bags (maybe more, maybe less. They are bulk though) of various mixed frozen veggies for like 7 bucks. You can easily get 7-8 meals out of that if you are heavy on the veggie train, and substantially more if you are just eating 1.5-2cups per meal. Getting the same mixture of fresh veggies in the same quantity would easily be 15+ dollars for the same, and you'd be stretching some of the veggies to their shelf life maximums before consuming the entire amount at the same rate. 85-90% the flavor at half the cost. Definitely fits the eating cheap motif pretty easily.
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Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Fresh while not the cheapest is the way to go imo. For example I can only get Okra frozen and while its not bad, my garden grown fresh off the plant Okra is sooo much better.
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Denaut
Trump's Staff
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As I mentioned in another thread, I started baking my own sourdough.
I generally avoided eating grains before, but my fiance is typically Norwegian and likes to have bread for lunch. Bread in the market here is surprisingly expensive bread for how the crap quality is, this annoyed me so much that I learned to make some instead.
What I didn't expect was how god damn good homemade sourdough tastes and how ridiculously filling it is. Normally I could kill a whole store bought loaf (which is why I avoided it) but like 2 slices of the this stuff with butter and I feel like I am about to burst. I just make new loaves as we go and we end up eating it like 3 days a week now.
Our food bill has tanked pretty hard because of it. Even splurging on the good high protein flour (about twice as expensive), mixing in expensive whole wheat and rye flours, and with Norwegian prices/VAT the bread comes out to about $1 a loaf (weighs about 1kg out of the oven). 2 loaves last for a weeks worth of lunches, snacks, and dinners. If you have the time and enjoy making, I think making sour dough is extremely cost effective in terms of eating on a budget.
I generally avoided eating grains before, but my fiance is typically Norwegian and likes to have bread for lunch. Bread in the market here is surprisingly expensive bread for how the crap quality is, this annoyed me so much that I learned to make some instead.
What I didn't expect was how god damn good homemade sourdough tastes and how ridiculously filling it is. Normally I could kill a whole store bought loaf (which is why I avoided it) but like 2 slices of the this stuff with butter and I feel like I am about to burst. I just make new loaves as we go and we end up eating it like 3 days a week now.
Our food bill has tanked pretty hard because of it. Even splurging on the good high protein flour (about twice as expensive), mixing in expensive whole wheat and rye flours, and with Norwegian prices/VAT the bread comes out to about $1 a loaf (weighs about 1kg out of the oven). 2 loaves last for a weeks worth of lunches, snacks, and dinners. If you have the time and enjoy making, I think making sour dough is extremely cost effective in terms of eating on a budget.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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TASTE
and no, properly prepared meals using fresh ingredients will always be cheaper than if not, more quantity than premade/storebought/fastfood.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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bitch, turn in your Guinea card.i like Chef Boyardee beef raviolis cold in the can. i know the feels. its still WRONG though!
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Aldarion
Egg Nazi
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I thought this was the "eating on a budget thread", not the "FOH gourmet chefs thread"
Frozen vegetables are way cheaper, available year round, have more consistent quality across different stores, and nutritionally nearly identical to fresh.
No one disagrees fresh veggies taste better. Of course. So does eating at 4 star restaurants every night.
If people are gonna obsess over the appearance of produce, or eating lots of variety, or buying local, or all these other dumbshit things that latte-sipping sorority girls think are important, they are not gonna be able to eat on a budget. Insisting on fresh vegetables instead of frozen goes on that list too.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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when the option presents itself always go for fresh, in some instances depending on the fluctuating market fresh is cheaper.
obviously now where temps are -40f in chicago, thats not likely, but it's close.
this is about 1.30/lb
this is 1.89/lb
even in this frozen climate, fresh is comparable, frozen is almost a set price. Also frozen brocc is like mush when thaw'd or steamed or just ewh
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Vinen
God is dead
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Lets not forget that Frozen Veggies are healthier then most store bought "Fresh" veggies. The frozen veggies are closer to their picked state than the veggies, etc which have been sitting in a refrigerator for days/weeks waiting to be shipped to your grocery store.
Saw a better article and discussion a while back but can't seem to locate it. Sometimes frozen vegetables can be even healthier than fresh — here's why
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moonarchia
The Scientific Shitlord
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Fifey
Trakanon Raider
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God damn Chuks autistic racism is painful to read.
I'd say I probably place a higher importance of vegetables cause it's the bulk of my diet so no way in hell I'll use frozen unless it's a stir fry or fruit for smoothies. I had never set foot inside a Trader Joe's until I moved to the east coast and that's just cause it's the closest store to get weird non meat things. I shopped at Krogers, Grocery Outlet or Winco out in Portland, it's only till I moved out here that I've had to adjust, shit a while back I needed basil and the closest grocery store to me didn't stock it.
I also think there's a difference between eating frugally and trying to Min/Max your diet, cause if you're eating a bunch of dollar store items, you're sodium intake is going to be through the roof.
I'd say I probably place a higher importance of vegetables cause it's the bulk of my diet so no way in hell I'll use frozen unless it's a stir fry or fruit for smoothies. I had never set foot inside a Trader Joe's until I moved to the east coast and that's just cause it's the closest store to get weird non meat things. I shopped at Krogers, Grocery Outlet or Winco out in Portland, it's only till I moved out here that I've had to adjust, shit a while back I needed basil and the closest grocery store to me didn't stock it.
I also think there's a difference between eating frugally and trying to Min/Max your diet, cause if you're eating a bunch of dollar store items, you're sodium intake is going to be through the roof.
Denaut
Trump's Staff
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Frozen veggies are perfectly fine in taste and nutrition. Depending on what produce and season it is, they might even be better (frozen berries in the winter for example). Their main issue is texture when thawed, which may not always be suitable for every dish. However, precise texture doesn't matter it lots of preparations, especially those involving wet cooking methods like braises and stews.
Frozen veggies are great and they are especially useful for saving money, and having around for those days you don't feel like going to the store. They get an up vote from me.
Frozen veggies are great and they are especially useful for saving money, and having around for those days you don't feel like going to the store. They get an up vote from me.
Aldarion
Egg Nazi
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it goes without saying that for the few weeks or months when fresh is cheaper or equal, you buy fresh. Or it should go without saying if some body didnt cherry pick counter examples to argue a really silly point.when the option presents itself always go for fresh, in some instances depending on the fluctuating market fresh is cheaper.
obviously now where temps are -40f in chicago, thats not likely, but it's close.
this is about 1.30/lb
this is 1.89/lb
even in this frozen climate, fresh is comparable, frozen is almost a set price. Also frozen brocc is like mush when thaw'd or steamed or just ewh
My argument was obviously "dont insist on buying fresh because its often much more expensive", rather than "never buy fresh cause then the hippies win"
Chukzombi
Millie's Staff Member
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Any suggestions on what to do for lunches when doing a bulk foods sort of thing? I'm trying to minimize the amount of garbage/impulse-eating foods I buy, so I'm trying to just buy a bunch of staples that I need to spend time cooking. It's easy enough to figure out what to do for breakfast and dinner when it comes to bulk foods, but what to do for lunches escapes me other than just making a bunch of soups. Ideas that are preferably time consuming to make and aren't bingeable would be preferable.
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Make a lasagna. Cut it into squares and take one for lunch each day. Get you through a week easily, and not expensive.
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Bread means fresh which means the need to visit the store often, which is the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve.