Share Your Tips To Beat Inflation.

[arakboss]

Inflation has been ramping up pretty good lately. What are you are doing or not doing to help combat the impacts of inflation in your personal lives?

I have been cutting calories and as part of that effort have cut way back on eating out. When grocery shopping I have been extra careful about buying only sale items. Safeway has been offering $10 off $50 purchase coupons often lately. If I make less frequent shopping trips on good sale weeks it will be easier to spend $50.

We use a pod coffee maker and lately I have been running the pod twice. On the second run I add a little bit of instant coffee to the cup.

Because of recent fraud charges on my debit card I have been paying cash for gas. That generally saves a few cents on fill ups.

This year I will probably make less trips to the cabin and I may try to incorporate more firearm related deals buying or selling into my trips.

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[Longwalkhome]

On average inflation you do everything to save money. As inflation grows you earn money on the side. When it explodes then your money is no good.

 

[jblake00]

Change your fiat "money" into precious metals.

 

[arakboss]

Change your fiat "money" into precious metals.

If retail stores would take silver for groceries, gas, etc at spot values that might be a good solution. I don't like the fees involved in buying and selling metals.

 

[Longwalkhome]

My first employer paid the princly sum $1.25 an hour and gasoline to get to work was $ 0.22 a gallon. Long term inflation kinda grew some since then.

If you wanted a future then you buy what grew in value.

 

[DivCurlGrad72]

Safeway has been offering $10 off $50 purchase coupons often lately.

Shop at Winco, not Safeway.

 

[arakboss]

Shop at Winco, not Safeway.

I went to Winco last night. If you don't like shopping for sales then Winco is generally the best option but you can get many items for cheaper if you buy the sale items at Safeway and Freddy's.

Edit: I am going to make a $50 grocery haul at Safeway, on my way home from work, tomorrow. Freddys has ground beef for $1.97 a lb so I might swing by there too.

Calories are king when on a budget.

 

[albin25]

- Don't buy pre-made food… learn to cook.
- Don't waste money on "luxury" crap.
- get to know your local "goodwill" type shops.
- and for God's sake, learn how to fix stuff and sew.
- Cancel your 14 streaming services and get a library card.
- Learn the difference between "want" and "need".

 

[arakboss]

- Don't buy pre-made food… learn to cook.
- Don't waste money on "luxury" crap.
- get to know your local "goodwill" type shops.
- and for God's sake, learn how to fix stuff and sew.
- Cancel your 14 streaming services and get a library card.
- Learn the difference between "want" and "need".

All excellent advice.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I save $.00001/yr on my electric bill by fapping to Montgomery Wards catalogs instead of my phone.
I see no way to stretch my dollars further.

 

[Alexx1401]

I went to Winco last night. If you don't like shopping for sales then Winco is generally the best option but you can get many items for cheaper if you buy the sale items at Safeway and Freddy's.

Edit: I am going to make a $50 grocery haul at Safeway, on my way home from work, tomorrow. Freddys has ground beef for $1.97 a lb so I might swing by there too.

Calories are king when on a budget.

The store you use can make a HUGE difference. I have both a Fredies and a Wally close. Wally is best but, is still always looking like a storm went through. Shelves empty. Not to mention I will not set foot in there 1st week of the month unless I get there when they open the doors. The nice thing is with the two stores so close I can swing into one after work. If they do not have all of what I need I can go to the other. I do watch the digital deals at Fred's too. When something is a good deal I buy plenty of it. Of course should not need to say stay the hell away from the stop'N'robs.

 

[Longwalkhome]

Learn to live in a third world country and pray the dollar doesn't collapse because of our government.

 

[BBQ Guy]

Instead of buying canned beans, buy bags of dry beans.

Lesser cuts of meat make excellent material for soups and stews.

Buy whole primal quarters and learn how to cut your own steaks and roasts, the trim goes into the grind pile.

Buy a meat grinder and make your own ground meat.

And for FFS, learn how to grow a garden. I have been eating fresh Kale all winter long. To extend your fresh harvest, learn how to preserve with canning.

Pick up a few books about foraging in the PNW. There are lots of things available in the woods and even in the city if you know what your looking at.

Buy a fishing license. Lots of lakes around the state that have fish in them. A weekends worth of fishing for a family of 4 will put some fish in the freezer or enough to put on the smoker. Smoked trout sandwiches are tasty.

Splitting up the cost of large wholesale items among a few friends or family members can keep costs down. Especially if someone has a costco card.

 

[BBQ Guy]

If you have the room for a garden, you probably have the room for a small flock of chickens.
Eggs are a solid healthy item by themselves. We sell enough eggs to buy 75% of the food for the birds.
They eat kitchen veggie scraps. Their bedding in the coop can be composted for use in the garden.

If push comes to shove they make a meal or two. Hatchery birds will start showing up in feed stores about now. If you want to raise meat birds they are ready in about 4-6 weeks IIRC. They grow super fast and are bred to be slaughtered early.

 

[Alexx1401]

If you have the room for a garden, you probably have the room for a small flock of chickens.
Eggs are a solid healthy item by themselves. We sell enough eggs to buy 75% of the food for the birds.
They eat kitchen veggie scraps. Their bedding in the coop can be composted for use in the garden.

If push comes to shove they make a meal or two. Hatchery birds will start showing up in feed stores about now. If you want to raise meat birds they are ready in about 4-6 weeks IIRC. They grow super fast and are bred to be slaughtered early.

YEP! Wife brought home 4 hens (we hope) a few weeks ago. They are already going outside for short trips. By next month they will move into their yard and house. Looking forward to some fresh eggs again.

 

[Alexx1401]

Instead of buying canned beans, buy bags of dry beans.

Lesser cuts of meat make excellent material for soups and stews.

Buy whole primal quarters and learn how to cut your own steaks and roasts, the trim goes into the grind pile.

Buy a meat grinder and make your own ground meat.

And for FFS, learn how to grow a garden. I have been eating fresh Kale all winter long. To extend your fresh harvest, learn how to preserve with canning.

Pick up a few books about foraging in the PNW. There are lots of things available in the woods and even in the city if you know what your looking at.

Buy a fishing license. Lots of lakes around the state that have fish in them. A weekends worth of fishing for a family of 4 will put some fish in the freezer or enough to put on the smoker. Smoked trout sandwiches are tasty.

Splitting up the cost of large wholesale items among a few friends or family members can keep costs down. Especially if someone has a costco card.

The meat grinder is a great thing to have. Bought one for the Wife's mixer years ago. Buy whole cuts at a place that sells to restaurants. Grind my own from good cuts far cheaper than the store and taste is GREAT. Now that we have plenty of land will have to try growing some stuff again too. I really miss when she had some cherry tomato plants. Those damn things were GREAT.

 

[BBQ Guy]

YEP! Wife brought home 4 hens (we hope) a few weeks ago. They are already going outside for short trips. By next month they will move into their yard and house. Looking forward to some fresh eggs again.

We've had a flock since my wife was pregnant with our first kid(15 years ago). She was eating a dozen eggs every 5 days. The super expensive organic, free range variety.
I crunched the numbers and looked at the whole experience of keeping birds. It penciled out money wise. And they are interesting creatures.
I appreciate the quality of eggs from our birds vs store bought. I wont order eggs at restaurants any more.

 

[BBQ Guy]

The meat grinder is a great thing to have. Bought one for the Wife's mixer years ago. Buy whole cuts at a place that sells to restaurants. Grind my own from good cuts far cheaper than the store and taste is GREAT. Now that we have plenty of land will have to try growing some stuff again too. I really miss when she had some cherry tomato plants. Those damn things were GREAT.

My favorite burger mix is Tritip and bacon.
Make a half pound patty and smoke it, then grill over high heat real quick at the end(looking for a bit of a crust).

Before cooking the burger make some caramelized onions, cook them way down. Super slow. Takes about an hour. A full cast iron pan will yield about a 1/3 of finished caramelized onions when done correctly.
Pick up some of your favorite blue cheese, or if you dont like blue cheese, use your favorite strong flavored cheese.

Take the smoked burger, place a slab of cheese on it as its finishing so it melts a bit, a bun, some of those caramelized onions, and assemble it. No other condiments needed IMO. Eat it. Do it mid day as it will be enough to skip dinner.

Brisket works real well for ground beef as well.
For folks that want to make their own bulk sausage just buy whole pork butts/shoulders and grind them. Those cuts have enough fat attached that there is no need for additional fat in the mix.

 

[BBQ Guy]

Save your bacon grease for cooking with.
You can even filter it through a coffee filter.

Any beef fat trimmings can be rendered down to use in cooking.

 

[Longwalkhome]

Get out of debt.