"It's So Prohibitively Expensive": People Are Sharing The Grocery Store Staples That Are Basically Unaffordable These Days
If you've stepped into a grocery store lately, there's a high probability you'll be intimately familiar with just how darn expensive food has become lately — and I'm not just talking about eggs. As a price-conscious shopper myself, I've had to make some pretty significant changes to my weekly meal plans to stick to my food budget, but I only realized how many people were in the same boat when I came upon this Reddit thread where u/Gdayyall72 asked folks to share the ingredients they've "cut back on or stopped using" thanks to inflation.
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Lots of folks responded with the foods they've sadly had to forgo, and I could relate to nearly all of them. As a result, I decided to compile the most common foods that folks are cutting back on and share how I've personally been finding cheaper alternatives to them (or justifying the expenses) lately.
And let's keep in mind that there aren't any "magical" food substitutes out there. Like, I can't make a filet mignon appear out of the sky for $5 per pound, but I can point you toward some close seconds and helpful strategies so you can continue to enjoy your favorite foods as cheaply as possible. Let's get into it.
1."I miss buying certain cheeses. They hopped up in price not too long ago, so now I try to avoid dishes with a lot of cheese."
WHAT TO BUY: Blocks of cheese will always be cheaper than the pre-grated or pre-sliced kinds, and though I'll probably get some Foodie Hate Mail for saying this, your recipes will still be delicious if you opt for "cheaper" cheeses than what your recipes call for.
What I'm saying is: don't skip out on a recipe that uses tons of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese if paying $20 a pound for it isn't in your budget right now. Though food influencers everywhere (and Giada De Laurentiis herself) might cancel me for saying this, swapping in much-cheaper American "parmesan" cheese will not ruin your dish. The world will not end, your bank account will be happier with you, and you'll still get a delicious dish on the table.
The same goes for other types of cheese, too. Generic brands are still relatively cheap — especially when you buy full blocks of cheese instead of opting for the pre-sliced or pre-shredded versions. For the price of a tiny package of pre-sliced cheddar cheese, you could likely buy twice the amount if you just slice it yourself.
2."Here in the US, the cheapest generic brand butter is $5 a pound. Not long ago, that used to be what you paid for the GOOD stuff."
WHAT TO BUY: For most everyday purposes, oils are cheaper to cook with, easy to buy in bulk, and impart a similarly rich flavor to whatever you're making. But if butter is a necessity, make a mental note to buy it in bulk when it goes on sale (and then hoard it in your freezer for up to a year).
I'm not gonna pretend that veggies sautéed in butter taste exactly the same as veggies sautéed in a bit of olive oil, but TBH, they're pretty close. When comparing butter and oil as cooking fats, oil is actually a lot more versatile. Since oils generally have a higher smoke point than butter, they're better suited to cook a wider range of foods than butter could, and they can be much cheaper than butter when comparing similar volumes.
My best advice: find a cheap, tasty, generic brand of olive oil that you can buy a big ol' jug of and not have to repurchase for a while. (I'm a fan of Whole Foods' 365 bottle which lasts me at least a month or two for just $8, and I also think Walmart's Great Value cold-extracted olive oil is pretty incredible for just $11.) Use it for the vast majority of your cooking and only grab the butter from your fridge when it's 100% necessary to cook with, like making creamy sauces, preparing baked goods, or even buttering bread.
To buy the cheapest butter, wait until it goes on sale. It often does! Since it'll keep in the freezer for six to 12 months, depending on the type, you'll save the most money in the long run by stocking up when it's cheapest and defrosting sticks as you need them.
3."I don't know if it's because of inflation, but heavy cream jumped in price a few months back and I stopped buying it."
WHAT TO BUY: Half & half is, well, half the cost of heavy cream, and in most scenarios, you can swap it in for the latter at a 1:1 ratio.
Unless you're churning your own ice cream or making homemade whipped cream, chances are you can probably substitute heavy cream with half & half. It's usually half as expensive (fitting, huh?) and while it won't lend the exact same creaminess as the "heavy" stuff, I think they're comparable enough. If you need a pretty close dupe, there's actually an internet hack for making homemade "heavy cream" with milk and butter, but if I'm being honest, I find it to be more fuss than it's worth for most applications.
Just be careful when adding cold half & half to a boiling hot dish — it's always better to slowly bring the half & half up to the temperature of whatever you're adding it to so it doesn't split or curdle, but curdling fresh half & half isn't the easiest thing to do, anyway.
4."I've given up salmon. My favorite fish."
"I noticed the quality go down a lot during the pandemic, too. It's 'fishy' tasting half the time I do get it now."
WHAT TO BUY: In this economy, frozen salmon will always be a better choice than the "fresh" stuff.
Don't trick yourself into thinking that the "fresh" salmon you see at your grocery store's seafood counter is always fresher or tastier than the frozen salmon filets you can buy in bulk. Unless you live near a salmon fishery or something, the odds are that your seafood counter salmon was likely frozen at one point in time — and it just gets marked up when they market it as "fresh."
You'll easily save a few bucks by walking past the seafood counter and opting for frozen salmon instead. In addition to being more cost-effective, they're also usually pre-portioned, which means that you can cook as much or as little as you'd like come dinnertime and stash the rest in your freezer for another night.
But if the cost of frozen salmon is still prohibitive, I'd highly recommend giving canned salmon a try. I've always found it surprisingly delicious, and while it can't exactly replicate all the goodness of a flaky filet of seared salmon, it's well-suited for a variety of other equally-delicious recipes. Think salmon cakes, rice bowls, or even scrambles and frittatas.
5."Fruit is so prohibitively expensive! Strawberries are $8.99 here right now. Only bananas are still available at reasonable prices. I understand fruits and vegetables go up in price throughout the winter, but for the most part, they are too expensive for regular purchases."
WHAT TO BUY: If it's not in season, buy it frozen.
A quick reminder that fruit is a) generally not the easiest to grow and b) highly seasonal. Sure, inflation has definitely increased the price of fruits and veggies across the board, but produce tends to fluctuate in price pretty wildly anyway when it has to get shipped long-distance. Buying strawberries at an American grocery store will be much cheaper in the summer when they didn't have to travel very far to get to your grocery cart, but you'll definitely pay a pretty penny for fresh berries in the winter when they were grown in Mexico — or even South America.
Learn to buy fresh fruit (and vegetables, honestly) with the seasons. It'll save you money and taste better. But if you must bake a batch of blueberry muffins in the dead of winter, and I wouldn't blame you for it, opt for frozen fruit. Eaten defrosted, on its own, there's no way you'll be tricked into thinking you're consuming fresh fruit, but when added to baked goods, oatmeal, or smoothies, I guarantee you won't be able to tell the difference.
And let's be real: Frozen fruit straight out of the freezer is a pretty iconic snack.
6."It's now over $9 for 18 eggs where I am. I looked today, but didn't even end up buying them."
WHAT TO BUY: There's no getting around the fact that eggs are just...ridiculously expensive right now. But listen, even at close to twice their usual price, eggs are still one of the most cost-effective proteins out there.
We're all aghast at the chaotic prices of eggs right now, thanks to a reaaaaaally not great outbreak of avian flu. But the fact is, even while they're more expensive than we've ever seen them, eggs are still cheaper than many other "budget-friendly" animal proteins. A large egg consists of about two ounces of actual egg, which means you're getting around 24 ounces of food in every dozen. If those dozen eggs set you back $6, we're lookin' at eggs costing around $4 per pound, which is right around the cost of cheaper animal proteins like ground beef or ground turkey.
Personally speaking, I'll continue to buy eggs for this exact reason, even with my very tight grocery budget. And if you belong to a wholesale club, like Costco or Sam's Club, I'd highly recommend grabbing your eggs there instead — buying in bulk could easily get your cost-per-dozen down to around $3 or $4.
But if you're skipping them until prices hopefully come back down, I totally get it. There are plenty of delicious, non-egg recipes you can lean into for breakfast or a quick meal, and even if you solely rely on eggs for baking, there are several decent, cheaper substitutes. "Flax eggs" work really nicely for dense baked goods, like cookies and brownies, while carbonated water will actually do wonders for lighter treats, like cakes and bread.
7."Lunch meat is $15 a pound! That is double what lean ground sirloin costs! I call BS — since when is a turkey sandwich a luxury meal?"
WHAT TO BUY: Make your own deli turkey meat for a fraction of the cost of store-bought. (I know it sounds "extra," but it's easier than you realize.)
It's DIY lunch meat, folks, which is a fraction of the cost of what you can find in the deli section. Fun fact: uncooked turkey breasts are almost always a bargain at the grocery store, and occasionally you can find them for as low as $3/pound. I truly cannot remember the last time I saw deli meat for less than $8/pound, if not $10, so making your own is essentially the deal of the century.
The results won't be exactly like the cold cuts you're used to, but I actually think the homemade version is tastier. Unlike cooking a whole turkey, cooking just the breast is also a lot more straightforward and user-friendly, no matter how skilled or unskilled you are in the kitchen. Just be sure to make your slices of cooked turkey as thin as possible so you end up with a similar texture to the deli-sourced stuff.
8."I will barely touch beef anymore. Only for very special occasions."
WHAT TO BUY: "Stew beef," or any other cut of beef that's tougher than what you'd buy for steaks, offer more bang for your buck than you probably realize.
Cuts off beef like bottom round and chuck roasts are frequently described as "tough" — but that's only if you prepare them like you would a traditional steak cut. Cooked low and slow, these cheaper cuts become irresistibly tender and juicy, and I'd even argue that they taste more expensive than their pricier counterparts.
While grocery prices are sky-high, swap your beef stir-fries and steak nights for braises, stews, and roasts. Since recipes like pot roasts and slow cooker braises also tend to feature cheap, filling ingredients in addition to the meat — like potatoes, rice, or carrots — you'll also end up with a larger volume of filling, budget-friendly food to stretch your dollar even further.
What's your best money-saving tip or hack when it comes to grocery shopping? Tell us about it in the comments below — we all need them!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
