Are Rising Costs Changing the Way You Cook?
August 25, 2008 by Marye Audet
Filed under Tutorials and Basics
According to this news article home baking and cooking are increasingly popular. Home Ec is finding its’ way back into schools are a serious course, and more people are spending more time in the kitchen.
Some of it has to do with the rising costs of food. I don’t know about you but my grocery bill is starting to be painful. Because of time constraints I am cooking from scratch less and I can feel the pinch. A year ago my grocery budget was 500.00 a month but lately it has been closer to 600.00
Now, granted, that is food for 8 people, office supplies, random things, and the occasional pair of socks…but still, for it to have gone up 100.00 in a year says something..and that is with me cooking very carefully, having my own chickens for eggs, and milking my own goats for milk. My garden was not much help this year. Note to self…do not take cookbook assignments during the summer…
I find myself standing in the store, holding organic carrots in one hand and regular carrots in the other and weighing the differences in my mind. We do not have alot of locally grown food available to us. The Dallas Farmer’s Market has some farmers but an awful lot of the people selling there pick up their produce at the same wholesaler that Kroger’s does. :::grrrr:::: Unless I grow it myself I just can’t be sure where it came from and might as well buy from the store. Which brings me back to the organic/not organic dilemma.
So, has your cooking style changed lately? Are you doing more cooking from scratch and less eating out? How are you dealing with rising prices?
Short of starting an apiary I am not sure what is next for me.
this is a great post… I have found the need to make more things and be more creative than what we were accustomed. We recently had a huge income loss and so the increase in commuting time, fuel costs and groceries was a change we weren’t prepared for. I’m all for tasty tips to help.
Thanks for stopping by Misty..
Hopefully we can help eachother over the coming weeks.
I think we are all in the same boat.
You’re probably also feeling the pinch due to rising costs of the raw ingredients, too.
I’m definitely cooking from scratch more.
I wish Home Ec. would re-surge in Michigan. Instead, they’re throwing in more completely useless requirements for our high school students.
Really Jen? Aren’t you toward Ann Arbor? I miss Michigan..sigh..
I dont; keep up with what our high school requirements are since I homeschool..but I know that there are some odd ones…
thanks again for the award and for stopping by.
Well, between dietary restrictions and food costs, I now cook mostly from scratch and we are eating out much much less. Still, with the predicted jump in heating costs this winter, we’re gonna be living on beans……
Oh..and I think you are right about the raw ingredients…I think of convenience foods as dry pasta rather than homemade..and I was informed that those are not convenience foods.
We rarely eat out anymore. I’ve tried to make the budget cuts more about the extras (iced tea instead of diet coke) when I can. I hope that eventually the fuel prices coming down will translate into lower food costs. The price of a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread – it’s nuts.
We really don’t eat out at all, I always cook. It’s so expensive to eat out. At the restaurant that I work at a glass of chocolate milk is 1.95. My kids would drink 2 or 3 glasses if we let them! I don’t buy soda, I make decaf iced tea all summer and winter long for the kids to drink. And I don’t buy sweets of any kind at the store, I make everything. We try to take advantage of meat sales so we can stock up the freezer which was the best investment we made! But with all this our food bill is still more than we’d like it to be.
It is difficult Michelle! I can’t imagine buying eggs anymore..we depend on them alot but it costs very little to feed out chickens.
Bunny- Yep…us too. It gets to the point you just can;’t pinch the penny any harder!
Almost no eating out now. And much MUCH more organization – menu planning, making do, not running to the store – and way more in the way of meat as a flavoring type things than meat/potato/vegetable meals. And fruit is just ridiculous – I found plums and blueberries this year on sale, and purchased in bulk and froze them so we have something for the winter.
It is getting kind of desperate out there.
(our chickens just started SERIOUSLY laying – we have plenty of eggs!
)
Heather! How fun You have to love those fresh eggs!
Most definately. I have always leaned to more from scratch cooking. But things are really tight to me due to salary cuts. Marc has the higher income by large, but the groceries are my thing. I get my organic fruit and veggies every 2 weeks for $30 and plan meals around that with shopping for mears and other items.We are both frugal when it comes to this as his parents instilled that in him.We do go out weekly but not crazy money. For example last night we chose our favorite French place for 3 course prix fixat $25 each. Wine is the costly part.In Chicago thats an amazing deal for the quality of this place.Chinatown is another great valuefor what we get. We are not into the trendy see and be seen places so much anymore.Maybe because we are an old couple now . I get the high end places a few times a year as well. But its all about the balance and eating/smart well at home so can have the extrs every know and then.Plus it tastes better!
LOL! Courtney, having drooled over your site I agree that your home cooking tastes better!
I’ve always cooked everything homemade. Eating out and buying packages scares and disgusts me. But yes, it helps that it is MUCH cheaper. How do I deal with the CONSTANT rising prices and lower pay? Grains/flours, and legumes. I like indian food, so I just look up vegetarian dishes and …there you have it..cheap, tasty meal. Spices are good for digestion, and also for covering the fact that lentils 3/4 times a week is too much.
I wish I had a greenhouse for this winter.