How am I supposed to live laugh love in these conditions?

[Razp_Sorbet]

• Baby salad mix
• 2 avocados
• 4 carrots
• 4 onions
• 4 capsicums
• 1 cucumber
• Bag of garlic
• Dozen plums
• Pork shoulder
• Duck butterflied
• Shaved ham
• Milk
• Yoghurt
• Oil
• Rubbish bags
• Hot chocolate powder
• Chicken stock
• Pasta
• Ketchup
• Deodorant
• Toilet paper
• Dishwasher tabs
• Cat litter
• Cat food
• Pastry
• 2 Gatorade

My grocery shop today... $180... 😵

[Amy10223]

Did you shop in Wholefoods or some similar place?
You can save money by buying a whole lettuce, and not getting that duck unless it’s all you eat. Believe it or not some stores will sell those same items for much cheaper, especially Asian food markets that sell fresh produce and hard to get products. I bought much more than you did at one ( minus the deodorant and dishwasher tabs ) for about $100.00 yesterday. And at the dollar store it’s possible to buy dishwashing liquid.

[Razp_Sorbet]

We don't have places like that. I go to the cheapest supermarket. I would buy in bulk if I had the space. The duck was on sale which is why we bought it. Was about the same price as a pack of chicken breasts

[Amy10223]

I think from your writing you might be in the UK. There might be stores that sell items a B lot cheaper, I don’t know. I know I get produce from certain cheaper markets, and meats at others. However I’m not much of a meat eater., I eat more fish and buy salmon only on sale.

[Razp_Sorbet]

I'm in New Zealand. It would be cheaper to get vegetables from a farmers market but unfortunately In my town they're on a Saturday and I work that day

[Amy10223]

Oh well, I least you try. The only other alternative would be if you had some land that you could grow somw vegetables on, or at least in pots to grow your own herbs, smalelr tomatoes, etc. If you love in a large city then it's certainly harder.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Yeah definitely don't have that. I live in a small apartment. Housing market is also f*cked

[Phoenix98]

Either buy cheaper or cut out expensive items like duck.

In other words shop smarter. When I shop I tend to go for stuff that’ll last a while and make cheap meals that fill me up.

for instance white rice and chicken with frozen mixed vegetables.

its on the cheaper side and pretty filling and taste decent.

of course I also hunt and fish as well and I know a lot of farmers who I can buy eggs from. And we grow our own vegetables and bake bread.

so there are ways to cut costs. And you don’t have to go to the store for everything.

people rely way to much on it 😕

[Razp_Sorbet]

I do buy cheaper. The duck was reduced to clear which is why we bought it. Was the same price as a pack of chicken breasts for more meat. I like more variety in my dinners.

And yes I agree. I use to bake my own bread though I just don't have time to anymore. But I make my own chutney for sandwiches.

[Fireguy17]

the store had stuff on the shelves, you were able to go to the store, you had money to purchase the items, all things that many people are not able to do.
Count your blessings, even if they seem small, others would be glad to trade places with you.

[aWes0MeNeSs]

Prices are going up like crazy where I live, it sucks!

I always try to buy generic brand names for most things rather than

[aWes0MeNeSs]

Sorry, accidentally hit send too soon!

I try to buy generic over name brand for most things, as it's usually a bit cheaper, while many products (especially food) are actually the same, just with different labels. It probably won't make a drastic difference, but helps some.

I also don't bother with organic foods. From what I can tell, there isn't any real benefit for me, so I just buy regular stuff at a lower price.

I tend to shop at cheaper stores over the more expensive ones, too. In my town, I don't find there to be much of a difference in quality.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Yeah I shop at the cheapest supermarket and mostly buy the cheapest things available with a few exceptions. I don't even think the store I shop at has any organic food 🤣.

[nawtee_me]

It is like that here too. I got a small roast, a gallon of milk, a bag of frozen beans, breakfast sausage, a dozen eggs and some cheese and it was $53.00. It is getting where you can not afford to eat...

[Razp_Sorbet]

Cheese is basically gold.

[nawtee_me]

@Razp_Sorbet yes, thinking of buying some cows and goats...

[Razp_Sorbet]

The cheese my boyfriend loves which we make an exception for cost wise much to my distaste is close to $20 for 1kg.

[nawtee_me]

That is expensive... Is it goats milk cheese? Sheep's milk or cow's milk?

[Razp_Sorbet]

Cows. It's aged cheddar

[nawtee_me]

If I thought it would make it there I would send you some...

[Smartman5]

You have to hold on like this for a while. Some unnecessary things should not be bought. I don't know if this cost will end in every country, but I believe it will end in my country. How many dollars do you earn per month? How long will this shopping last you?

[Razp_Sorbet]

Some of this stuff is stuff that will last a few weeks. But I'm noticing the price hike for sure.

[Smartman5]

price increase is a problem all over the world right now. How many dollars do you earn per month?

[Razp_Sorbet]

I'd rather not disclose my pay. Plus this is fir 2 people

[Smartman5]

then even worse. There's really no harm in saying it. After all, we don't live in the same country and I want to know how things are in other countries.

[Razp_Sorbet]

It's not like I can't afford it but a couple years ago we could spend $80 for a weeks worth of food with a good variety

[Smartman5]

I understand. the same problems exist in my country (not the USA or a country in the Americas). I believe this problem will go away.

[TrueConfection]

It's hard to believe that the O'Biden Administration is not calculating food or fuel into the inflation numbers. 😡

According to O'Biden you're supposed to live, laugh, and love while staring at your ceiling fan.

[Razp_Sorbet]

It's hard to believe Americans think.

[TrueConfection]

Wowza

[jshm2]

Yeah well. No one should "live laugh love" to begin with - it's asshole behaviour.

As for inflation, what did you think was going to happen after all these years of cheap?

That's the problem with democracies - boom and bust.

[Razp_Sorbet]

It wasn't cheap before 💀

[Anonymous]

Who'd a thunk it shutting down the entire worlds economic system for 12-18 months and running a deficit stimulus that gave cash out like King Creases, would have an impact on the economy at large

Don't live, laugh, love... that's for depressed middle aged women with a habit for wine and/or cats

The solutions are simple either earn more or spend less, my business is luckily allowing me to earn more in this time of economic uncertainty

[shaysh87]

There are people who can afford this. And plus it seems like you don’t know how to be thrifty. Eat less meat , use plastic bags as trash bags , buy only the necessary

[Razp_Sorbet]

Vegetables are also expensive. Plastic bags are banned. I'm allowed to complain about food cost ☺️

[shaysh87]

plastic bags still exist. in the produce section when you gather your tomatoes, scallions, and stuff.

[shaysh87]

I grew up in a thrifty family, we never complained about the food cost and we still made it. Often times, its the choices of food that you make that adds to your bill. Meat is one of those. Veggies tend to be cheap.

[Razp_Sorbet]

I don't use them. It's such a waste. Like I said vegetables are expensive. 4 capsicums were $6, in order to get enough out of vegetables you need a lot of them. I'd be eating those 4 capsicums plus a bunch of other vegetables every night in order to have enough food.

[shaysh87]

Tomato’s are a 1 dollar-2 dollars a pound. Eggplant is probably just 1-2 dollars a pound too. Spinach is probably 2.5 a bag.

Meat is like 5.99 a pound. Salmon is 9.99 a pound

[shaysh87]

I think many Americans simply don’t want to give up life’s luxuries to save money. You want to eat the best yet also save money. Thrifting simply doesn’t work that way

many Americans can’t afford an additional 500 dollar electric bill. Why? Because they don’t try to save money,

[shaysh87]

Personally I grew up in a very poor family where my parents could only buy things that were on sale. In general society , this is unheard of

[Razp_Sorbet]

I'm not American.
Tomatoes are 1.99 per KG (my partner is allergic so we don't buy them). There was no eggplants in my store. Spinach is $4 a bag (120g). Like Jesus Christ a cauliflower is $7.

Yeah I can bulk things out with vegetables which makes it cheaper but both me and my partner need to eat some proteins to be healthy. Plus like I said you need A LOT of vegetables to get the same amount of filling and I'm not living on carrots and potatoes 🤣

[shaysh87]

I don't know where you live but I live in new york city , one of the most expensive cities in the world and I've never seen cauliflower cost 7 dollars. Spinach cost varies from store to store. Most expensive I've seen being 3.99 and the cheapest to be 2.50.

[Razp_Sorbet]

https://ibb.co/h1zKbhT

Dunno what else to tell you 🤷🏻‍♀️ cheapest is about $6 at the moment and they're not big ones either

[shaysh87]

cost will go down. don't worry

[Wonderer89]

This has to be Aus or NZ, prices are crazy here at the moment! My weekly shop for 3 has gone from $170 to $220

[Razp_Sorbet]

Yep sure is. It's ridiculous. Then you see the price of petrol as you walk out 😵

[Wonderer89]

So depressing. It hit $2.09 for 98 a few weeks ago but has gone down slightly (NZ is still much worse especially as the dollar is nearly equal). A Costco opened not too far away so I try and share some bulk shopping with family and grab petrol while I’m there but still expensive.

No more live, laugh, love ☹️

[Still-alive]

quite astute.

you guys having supply chain issues effecting your prices? happening in america a bit

[Razp_Sorbet]

@Still-alive yeah there's some supply issues. But even things that are grown here like strawberries which are usually $2 a punnet in summer are still at $4-$6 I suppose it's because there's less people coming in from overseas to pick the vegetables and fruits.

[Wonderer89]

@Still-alive combination of things… fuel prices went up and we had a massive shortage of adblue which saw transport costs go up.
Meat prices were still affected by the fires in 19/20 but then we had a lot of flooding in 2021 which affected crop quality and being able to harvest.
Add to that a labour shortage that we usually have seasonal workers for and prices are just up all round 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Oigit]

Think about the fact that their are people out there who are unable to go to the store and buy what you did.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Just because people have it worse doesn't mean I don't have a right to complain.

[petitedollbabee]

When reading things like this, I’m glad I don’t eat much. I spend maybe $60-$70 a fortnight on groceries.

[Razp_Sorbet]

I wish

[DiegoO]

Many times we buy according to the brand. Sometimes a brand only sells a good name. Check the ingredients of packed food, and the amount. Compare infos and choose.

[Razp_Sorbet]

The stuff that I don't buy the cheapest brands are kinda unavoidable. Cat food, and litter, also rubbish bags as I buy compostable ones. Though it really doesn't make that much of a difference

[Citizenkirk]

The cost of living isn't going down, but you can still turn that frown upside down, by finding something whimsically humorous in this response 😉

[dreamstar72]

Yep food prices are getting bad and becoming hard to find. Shelves are becoming empty. Most people do not want to work low paying jobs today.

[Still-alive]

feel free to donate any excess to me.

sincerely... guy from america.

[Redstang88]

Yep I here ya. Last trip was a pack of chicken legs, pack of ground beef, yogurt, strawberries and milk - $65

[Waldoe]

stop buying crap you cannot afford... that would be a good start... Expensive Food is not the Root of all Happiness...

[Razp_Sorbet]

I buy the cheapest things available 🙂

[Waldoe]

Pork shoulder
Duck butterflied
Shaved ham

[Razp_Sorbet]

Pork shoulder $13 will do 3 nights
Duck $17 will do 2 nights and a lunch
Shaved ham $3, lunches for the week.

[Waldoe]

$35 of Ground beef... a month

[Razp_Sorbet]

Ground beef is $16 a kg basically the same as the pork

[Redstang88]

I don’t know where $35 worth of beef lasts a month but it ain’t here

[Razp_Sorbet]

@Redstang88 maybe if you also bulked it out with $30 of vegetables and had no taste buds, and a ton of freezer space.

[Redstang88]

Yeah I suppose you could stretch it out a bit, but like you say it sure as hell wouldn’t be fancy

[Iron_Man]

You can blame all that on Joe Biden horrible to spend that much money

[Razp_Sorbet]

I'm not American.

[loveslongnails]

Use coupons, eat less. LOL But yeah, it's a lot of money.

[Razp_Sorbet]

We don't have coupons

[noohair]

Voting has consequences.
Deficit spending causes problems.
Inflation is a tax on the poor.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Has nothing to do with voting. This would have happened no matter who was in charge

[noohair]

So inflation just happens? Not really. Politicians in the United States cause this inflation by a Ponzi scheme of creating Treasury Debt and selling it to the Federal Reserve to print money. The debt was not issued on the open debt market. Sorry Ms. Sorbet, you are uninformed or stupid. Uninformed can be fixed with the search for truth, stupid, not so much. Pull your pretty little head out of your behind and stop consuming fake news. The truth is out there.

[Razp_Sorbet]

A global pandemic will cause inflation. An unavoidable issue.

[noohair]

There was no Global Pandemic when Carter caused 20% interest rates. Believing that it is not caused by humans distorting economies, allows politicians to cause economic hardship and not be blamed. Every monetary catastrophe in history was caused by governments. Not germs. My minor is in economics and you are consuming socialist progressive propaganda that is false.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Sorry did I say that the pandemic was the only cause? Not sure how you got that impression.

[noohair]

When you don't know what you are talking about, it is better to say nothing, instead of proving that you know nothing.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Ditto

[driven159]

i wish I got out of the store with that low total it is around $300.

[Razp_Sorbet]

We buy very small amounts of food because of the food costs. As you can see for the amount i got it was really high.

[driven159]

yes $300 does not fill the cart

[driven159]

some of the ways I save money like on gas i make sure I do everything in one trip not go out and home back out again I am retired so I don't have to work but if I did then on my way home, I would get stuff, so I didn't have to make an extra trip I have a freezer so when there are sales, I take advantage of it like turkeys during Thanksgiving buy chicken in bulk divide it up and bag it steak when it's the price on hamburger buy a bunch of that don't eat out waste of money make big meals and make left overs

[ALastStand]

Even though I'm in the U. S, where I work I have seen 200 dollars worth of groceries (I'm a cashier at a food co-op)