What grocery items are always worth the extra $1-$5?
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I'm going to sound like a hater, but the food in season and local is what you should be eating, and that will always be the cheapest. If you're talking processed food brands and shit in boxes in the middle of the store, I'd argue none of it is worth the extra money, its all bad for you, stop. That said, the frozen arby's curley fries are bomb, and no one does cheesey things like cheetos or smartfood.
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Prices keep climbing, so I’m trying to pick my battles in the supermarket. Which items do you refuse to cheap out on, and why? Taste, health, longevity, peace of mind… I’d love to hear what’s worth the few extra dollars for you.
For me, it’s honey from local beekeepers—supermarket brands locally are known to sell fake or adulterated sugar syrup as honey.
Honestly a lot of stuff I like to get the nice version. Most packaged products you can get away with cheaper, but paper products you wanna splurge on, and produce you wanna get from a local store with good stuff rather than your local megamart when possible. A farmer's market or even just a neighborhood grocery store is usually gonna have fresher, tastier veggies in my experience. A little more expensive, but worth it.
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Honestly a lot of stuff I like to get the nice version. Most packaged products you can get away with cheaper, but paper products you wanna splurge on, and produce you wanna get from a local store with good stuff rather than your local megamart when possible. A farmer's market or even just a neighborhood grocery store is usually gonna have fresher, tastier veggies in my experience. A little more expensive, but worth it.
The paper thing stopped being true in the past year around here. Name brand paper towels are now so thin, store brand is thicker at half the price. Q-Tips don't have the same cardboard in the middle, less cotton Kroger brand is closer to the old q-tips (but still a step down from what I grew up with).
Toilet paper is basically a toss-up, the nicer store brands are about comparable to the non-specialty name brands now. For the extra strong or extra soft, name brand still wins, but it's changing.
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it’s just a bit slow. i’ve waited 20 minutes just to buy a battery before
have you done this? what did you think?
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I like buying local California olive oils, then I know it's real.
Yep. Read “Extra Virginity” and you’ll likely never buy imported EVO again.
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Real parm instead of the canned stuff.
Chicken breasts - you can get massive pumped up chicken breast for the same price as "normal" chicken breasts. The problem is when you cook the big ones, they just leech out all their liquid.
150% on real parm.
I’d also argue for getting whole chickens (and spring for the nicer ones too). Roast it, pull off the breasts and eat those, eat the drumsticks if you enjoy them, or use the entire rest of the carcass for making really good stock.
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If the IBD folks don't unite under this answer they are probably living with bidets.
No, just perpetually constipated.
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My god...never heard of this...
https://www.smartfood.com/products/smartfood-cheetos-cheddar-flavored-popcorn -
Fresh corn tortillas.
Tequila.
Haircare stuff
Husband bought "the good eggs" once and has not looked back since. I used to keep chickens and the bougie store eggs are much closer to those than they are to the factory farmed thin shelled light yolked ones.
I got a tortilla press and masa harina. I will not buy premade corn torillas again. Masa isn't that expensive, add salt, water, mix, press, and cook on a dry pan (or super lightly oiled, i put a very light layer on mine since it's cast iron)
So much tastier than store bought and better texture.
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Good ketchup
Real butter, not reconstituted which should be illegal
Good bread, fresh or at least not the cheapest stuffReal butter for things where you can taste it. Store brand for things where the other flavors are more overpowering and don't really notice the butter.
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Kroger diet cola. It's better than diet coke. Always fucking out of stock though around me.
But…it’s Kroger.
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Farmer’s market tomatoes. I went through my whole life thinking I hated tomatoes. Turns out, I hate grainy tomatoes that taste like nothing, and real tomatoes grown nearby and picked ripe are wonderful.
I grew up eating garden tomatoes. Went to college, for the first time bought a grocery store tomato. Cut into it, tasted it... turned to my friend, what the fuck is this shit?
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It's pretty easy to make those with some high fat milk, rennet, and cheese salt
How long does it keep once you make it?
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There's nothing wrong with new england maple syrup, but yes, real maple syrup not "pancake syrup" with maple flavoring.
That's me, I don't really care where the maple syrup came from as long as it's real
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Farmer’s market tomatoes. I went through my whole life thinking I hated tomatoes. Turns out, I hate grainy tomatoes that taste like nothing, and real tomatoes grown nearby and picked ripe are wonderful.
Hank buying food from a co-op instead of megalo mart
https://youtu.be/OBLqzGrq8T0 -
Real butter for things where you can taste it. Store brand for things where the other flavors are more overpowering and don't really notice the butter.
Having two butters to manage seems like a lot of work.
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While I agree, the price difference between "maple syrup" (maple flavoured corn syrup) and maple syrup is way more than $5. A bottle of genuine maple syrup is $20+.
Even as a Canadian, I honestly prefer the cheap butter flavored syrup. I grew up on that stuff and I fucking love it so much. Real maple syrup is still delicious but I'll always choose some good old butter flavored syrup.
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That sounds like a big increase in pain-in-the-ass for not that big an increase in savings. I'm happy to trade money for convenience on this one.
It is. What makes it worth it for me is the combination of extremely high quality and very low price. If I could buy deli meat of that quality, I probably would, but I haven't encountered it.
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Aldi is two different companies, North and South. One owns Aldi America, the other bought Trader Jones.
This sounds like the beginning of a math story problem.
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Yep. Read “Extra Virginity” and you’ll likely never buy imported EVO again.
I feel like that title calls for a joke but I'm too tired
