What grocery items are always worth the extra $1-$5?
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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
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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.
It's the curse of discovering good food, once you make it from scratch, you never want to eat the store trash again lol
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My husband and I got curious about the variance in canned tomatoes one day, so we got one can from every brand we could find. We had a blind tasting session where we tried each one without knowing what brand it was (palate cleansers in between) and ranked them all out of 10 with some comments. We didn't share our rankings or thoughts with each other until the Big Reveal at the end when we found out which tomatoes were which.
Turned out we actually preferred some of the cheaper brands, and the most expensive ones got worse ratings. There wasn't a direct relationship between price and preference, but it was interesting.
It was a fun day. We also did the same thing with soda water.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]If I can find it, I will edit it in.
There was a great America's Test Kitchen episode where they did just this, and they talked about the oils that surface in the different cans, etc
edit: I could not locate the specific episode I was referring to. I could find other similar ones, but not the comprehensive breakdown I mentioned. ATK has changed a lot in the last several years, not surprised but a little disappointed.
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How long does it keep once you make it?
I've never managed to keep it for more than day. Presumably it's pretty shelf stable in its brine for a while
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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.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]some people at WF, will only go after certain honeys, even if they are more expensive. i will still buy different flavor sparkling waters, from different brands. but the key is to know which ones are shrinkflationed, some will only sell 8packs, while others will sell 12cans per box. stevia, i specifically only look for the ones that dont have sugar in it, more often than not most brands of stevia has sugar in it, in the form dextrose/maltodextrin. its pricier but worth it for a brand that has pure stevia powder, also one thats not mixed with ethyrthiol.
certain organic veggies are better , if you dont want to know which used the most chemicals, like org celeries.
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You can get real maple syrup in the states for around $15 (and that's honestly NYC pricing). It's not corn syrup, but it's also not Canadian maple syrup.
But one of my favorite things about Canada absolutely is the abundance of maple syrup here. Maple syrup candies are my favs.
WF sells real canadian syrup too.
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Paper Towels and Trash Bags - the cheap ones just don't hold up as well
trash bags, was very difficult to find, that isnt thin, they shrinkflation/cheapflation most of thier brands. Target had excellent trashbags, before they switched to dealworthy, which is more expensive if you notice the bags are now superthin and they sell the "up and up" ones at a markup. i went to Grocery outlet and got the same quality as the old trash bags with none of the bs of the shrinkflaiton on it.
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Yeah, if we end up with cheap trash bags by mistake I find the rim always rips apart when I go to take out the trash and I end up using a second trash bag anyway.
i noticed alot of instore brands, and some brands being sold on amazon are super thin so went to a local grocery outlet to get the normal quality ones.
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Whole Foods, oddly enough, is the place I find the cheapest good pasta. Their store brand is less than most places and really good.
it is, even thier pasta sauce cheap, and at least your getting organic as well. thier more bougie ones are usually what people buy, Raos. i also have discounts for wf. i buy the egg wraps they sell now, but there are other places that sells it for somewhat cheaper, but its out of the way and inconvient to get to those other stores.
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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.
Instant noodles. I live in South Korea and there are gazillion options, from little more than a quarter(USD for your convenience) to almost $1.5 a pack.
Huge difference. I eat 2 packs per meal almost always and yes, it's often 2x more expensive but I'd just not eat cheapest ones.
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Instant noodles. I live in South Korea and there are gazillion options, from little more than a quarter(USD for your convenience) to almost $1.5 a pack.
Huge difference. I eat 2 packs per meal almost always and yes, it's often 2x more expensive but I'd just not eat cheapest ones.
what are your favorites? would love to see if i can find them locally.
