Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you're gonna get hung up on names, it's gonna cost you a lot of money.
All good points on name brand items, Mircea. There are plenty non-brand names that taste the same but some don't. And when it comes to eating any of them, if you don't like the off-brand flavor, it's useless to buy it. You're better off not eating it. I've tried off brand tuna and I don't like it so why would I want to eat it if I don't like the flavor?
The point of my post was that food manufacturers are still stiffing consumers, even though it was reported back in '89, followed up in 2005 and with my testing of weight is still happening in 2023. It's shameful and doesn't help any of us save money on groceries.
Well, yeah, if you are working out heavily you can eat carbs early in the day and you'll be fine. But the heavy workout schedule *allows* the carbs, the carbs don't really support it and could be reduced or eliminated, particularly if one wants to lose fat.
When my son was training (Rowing) he was supposed to eat 5000 calories a day minimum. Not going to hit that without carbs. Still he was supposed to eat s much fish and chicken as possible. (And he is a lightweight rower).
All good points on name brand items, Mircea. There are plenty non-brand names that taste the same but some don't. And when it comes to eating any of them, if you don't like the off-brand flavor, it's useless to buy it. You're better off not eating it. I've tried off brand tuna and I don't like it so why would I want to eat it if I don't like the flavor?
The point of my post was that food manufacturers are still stiffing consumers, even though it was reported back in '89, followed up in 2005 and with my testing of weight is still happening in 2023. It's shameful and doesn't help any of us save money on groceries.
I don't like off brand tuna either. I will buy off brand mustard, but only buy name brand on mayo. There are differences in quality of canned veggies. I may buy them from one store, but not another. It just depends on what it is. I'm willing to try an off brand.
I also look for clearance items. I don't care if a box is dented. I'm happy to buy it at half price if I think my family will eat it.
I just found out last night about an App called Flashfood and checked them out. They were offering for $5 a box with four good sizes bell peppers of various colors, about five zucchini, and maybe seven of some kind of long green pepper. They take food that is nearing its' suggested "sell by" date or at the peak of ripeness and offering them at half price or less. They also had foods like canned beans, fruit boxes with contents displayed, smoked salmon cereal, canned soups, sausages, etc.
They work with Stop & Shop, Hy-Vee and a bunch of others. So what you do is pick out what you want from what is available that day, pay for it and pick it up (apparently at some location in the store). They keep your frozen things frozen, your cold foods cold. I'm going to give them a try. What the grocery stores do is take all the food that is nearing an expiration date or even a day past perfection and THROW IT OUT so this cuts down on that hiddeous process and saves us a ton of money on food as well
Another way to save money is not buy name brands, like Chicken of the Sea.
There's little reason to buy name brand anything.
Why would I pay $2.48 for an 8.0 oz package of frozen vegetables when I can get the same frozen generic brand vegetables at either Krogers or Walmart for $1.00 and I get 12 oz instead of 8 oz?
12 oz is perfect for portion control which saves money and helps reduce weight gain because you can do 6 oz of veggies per person.
I get the 3-pepper onion blend for fajitas that Krogers and Walmart have but Birdseye and the other name brands don't make.
Same with French mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery) and Cajun mirepoix (onions, celery and green peppers). Unfortunately, no one makes Eastern European mirepoix (onions, carrots and parsnips).
There is no good reason to buy name brand condiments.
You couldn't possibly tell the difference between Plochman's mustard, generic mustard or even my mustard.
There are subjective differences. I like a more vinegary/tart ketchup, and fortunately either generic Kroger or Walmart brands work. Same for pickles whether dill, sweet, bread-n-butter.
When I was in college, I worked at the Kroger bottling plant at 8th and State. We'd mix up a batch of Kraft ranch dressing, run 10,000 bottles and then switch labels to Krogers and run 10,000 bottles.
Why would I pay more for Kraft when I can pay less for the exact same thing?
We didn't do jams or preserves, but we did do jellies and we'd mix up Smucker's formula and run 10,000 jars and then run 10,000 jars with the Kroger label slapped on them.
Why would I pay more for Smuckers?
Why were we bottling for Kraft and Smuckers? Costs.
It's way cheaper for us to bottle those products and then distribute them to all Krogers stores in the region than it would be for either Kraft or Smuckers to operate their own facilities and distribute them.
Same with cheeses. And chips and damn near everything.
If you're gonna get hung up on names, it's gonna cost you a lot of money.
I agree. I only buy brand name if the brand name product has a particular taste that I am used to and prefer. For instance, I only buy Hellmann's mayonnaise as I enjoy the flavor. Same for Rao's tomato sauce. If buying hot dogs I'll buy Hebrew National or Nathan's Famous, and I'll almost always buy Bush's baked beans over other brands. Outside of those handful of items, however, I'm going for the cheapest item I can find as a matter of course.
If you really want to save money over time there is no way around cooking most, if not all, meals from scratch. The initial investment might be high as you need to stock up on base ingredients, but once you have them, the per-meal costs tends to be low.
Other tips.
Buy in bulk. That looney lefty organic flour in the bulk section of the looney hippy 'whole paycheck'/co-op is cheaper than buying a name-brand bag of flour at the conventional store. You also have the option of various other flours, nuts, legumes, etc.
In this same bulk section, buy herbs and spices in bulk. Once again, way cheaper than buying them in jars.
Buy seafood and meats from the counter or meat or seafood store.
A 16 oz. steak is four portions. A burger is 4 oz. If you need or want more protein then supplement with legumes or other sources of protein. If you don't have a legit gluten intolerance that is bothersome, and are not 'allergic to gluten, as you tell your friends', consider wheat gluten as a source of supplemental protein. It's cheap and is likely in some of the commercial products you buy, anyways, as well as textured vegetable protein.
Buy frozen or canned vegetables and fruits. Typically, both canned and frozen are cheaper than fresh. Of course, it will matter how you are using the ingredient, if you care about it being labeled as organic, etc. A main advantage to frozen and canned is that they have a long/longer self-life, so you are not going to toss out that 5 lbs of kale you never got around to eating.
Eat sensible portions. Like, legit sensible and not "I am man, give me 2 lbs of food". Obviously your activity level will dictate caloric needs, so if you are a football player you will need more. For most people, though, they may be surprised how little they need to eat to remain healthy. Protein is the key to satiation, and you need carbs and fats. Refined sugar is cheap, yes, but it keeps you hungry. Complex carbs do not.
Avoid snack foods, including those labeled as healthy. If you must have snacks, limit to one type per week/shopping. Keep ice creams, candy, cakes, etc. to a once-in-awhile treat.
MARKDOWN BINS! At least at Ralph's grocery store...slightly overripe bananas, apples, avocados, mangos, etc dirt cheap. The bakery markdown bin for day old bread, etc cheap 2. Most Kroger brands cheaper...markdown salads $1.60 each, markdown gallon orange juice a few bucks, markdown half gallon kroger egg nog $1.35, a dozen eggs for a buck, lots of markdown meat too. The deal is you have to get stuff close to expiration date which is still perfectly good. Any meat/fish you can freeze too and it will last much longer as needed.
We grow our own fruits and vegetables and raise livestock for meat, eggs, poultry and dairy.
It’s not so much for saving money, but more about eating healthy without the use of commercial pesticides or fertilizers. The money we save is a bonus!
MARKDOWN BINS! At least at Ralph's grocery store...slightly overripe bananas, apples, avocados, mangos, etc dirt cheap. The bakery markdown bin for day old bread, etc cheap 2. Most Kroger brands cheaper...markdown salads $1.60 each, markdown gallon orange juice a few bucks, markdown half gallon kroger egg nog $1.35, a dozen eggs for a buck, lots of markdown meat too. The deal is you have to get stuff close to expiration date which is still perfectly good. Any meat/fish you can freeze too and it will last much longer as needed.
I can only think of one store that has a marked down section for bakery items only. Most stores near me never mark anything down.
I mostly buy my steaks at BJs Wholesale now. They are very good and large enough to have a few meals out of one steak.
Red-meat is the most glaring example of prices gone crazy.......I no longer buy it unless
it is marked-down or otherwise in a price-point that I consider reasonable.
Mainly eating liver as my only red-meat...tasty, great nutrition at a decent price. Thankfully, liver is very much a niche-market, so the sellers know they cannot go all skitzo with
gougey pricing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
cereal, canned soups, sausages, etc.
so this cuts down on that hiddeous process and saves us a ton of money on food as well 
