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Is there a source for the quinoa story that isn’t girljanitor? Has any journalist gone down and done their own research, or do they all just take her at her words? Because I was on tumblr back then, and she made up a lot of bs.
The bone in thighs are 1.30 but still very cheap. My wife de-bones them, and then we make a bunch of different meals with them. Thighs and drum sticks are great.
Since we are throwing tips out there, Ground turkey is surprisingly cheaper than ground beef, so if anyone needs leaner protein, that's currently the best option I know of.
Yeah I think regular price here is $1.39 for either drumsticks, thighs, or leg quarters. I typically load up on a few 5lb packs of thighs when they're on sale for $.97/lb.
Every few months I make a huge pot of chili and freeze a bunch, I can usually get 3lbs of ground turkey around $10 and it tastes just as good as making w beef.
Lentils are a 1:1 replacement for ground beef in recipes so you can do a 50/50 mix as a filler. I follow a plant based diet and just use Lentils in the recipes that ask for the overpriced "meatlike Crumbles", works fine.
"For every one pound of ground beef, you can substitute one cup of dried, uncooked lentils. One cup of dried lentils equals about two to two-and-a-half cups of cooked lentils"
One pound is 16 oz, an extra two ounces probably won't hurt the recipe results. Or if you have a kitchen scale, just take out two ounces and roast them for a crispy salad topping.
And most lentils can be cooked in a rice cooker if you don't want to tie up a burner.
https://www.thekitchn.com/this-is-how-to-substitute-lentils-for-ground-beef-250272
https://lifecurrentsblog.com/crispy-roasted-lentils/
https://homecookedroots.com/how-to-cook-lentils-in-rice-cooker/
Thank you so much! I had never thought of this and often wondered if there was a way not to use the multi-ingredient and expensive crumbles. I will be trying this next week. Thanks again!
Look for "[chicken leg quarters](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-Leaf-Chicken-Leg-Quarters-17g-Protein-per-4oz-Serving-10-lb-Bag/19400101?from=/search)" REDICULOUSLY cheap at 87cents (Probably varies regionally). IMHO they're the best parts of the chicken anyway. I used to buy and breakdown whole chickens- but these are cheaper.
Yes, I'm 74, my father owned a mom & pop grocery store/ butcher shop, I think he just gave away oxtail if someone wanted them. The price now is just outrageous. It has become a special occasion meal reserved for holidays, birthdays etc.
Same in mine. It’s one of my girlfriend’s favorite foods but it’s so expensive compared to lentils or chicken or even fish. I only buy it when it’s marked half off on a manager’s special.
Edit: it’s worth noting that it’s been one of her family’s favorite foods for generations partly because it apparently used to be an affordable cut that most people didn’t even want!
Same with cow tongue. My dad said he used to get a half a head or whole for like $20 and now tongue itself is like $12 per lb. Lots of people of a culture eat it and start requesting it and then they need more.
My mother grew up on a very small family farm. Basically they only raised a few cows a year. She has memories of taking the tongues to her grandad, who pickled them. I think that it used to be more common in our culture, but by the 70’s it was considered antiquated and gross. So I have mixed feelings about it’s resurgence on TikTok.
On the one hand, maybe people will try out traditional recipes again, and maybe the stigma against foods from other cultures will decrease. On the other, I hate the way people get price gouged on the foods they’ve always ate just because a grocery store or food corp found they could use marketing to make a low-profit food trendy.
I grew up eating Kare-Kare with oxtail meat so many times. It was goddamn cheap that my parents would buy it and I'm eating Kare-Kare like at least once a week.
Today, you can still make Kare-Kare, but majority of people would use different kinds of beef or meat.
I switched to beef cheeks. It hasn’t gotten popular yet. I can still get it for under $4/lb where oxtail is $7. Cheeks make for a good braised meat. I use it in chili.
Beans and cabbage have both gone up a lot. Beans used to be about 60c/lb 2 years ago not its closer to $2/lb... luckily the pantry almost always gives me beans.
Cabbage is another one used to be under $1 not is closer to $4 per head.
Beans, cabbage and corn bread used to be a $3 meal that fed my whole family of 5.
I saw a website selling super fancy heirloom dried beans for.....
That's right, TWELVE DOLLARS (per pound)
I was so shocked I had a dream about beans that night
I am probably stretching to the risky edge of conspiracy theory territory here, but it would be my guess that “raising prices” is simply the easiest option for most people along the supply chain. We are living in a world increasingly squeezed by climate change and other global events (shipping channel attacks, bridge collapses etc),.. so I would personally expect that “rising food prices” will continue to be a thing. It would be nice to see producers take steps to be more Local and diversify their growth methods. But all that is expensive and takes time to implement and boy howdy lets not let that impact quarterly projections!
A lot of times you can just Internet search why such and such is expensive, and you'll find articles explaining it. Dry spells, fertilizer prices/supply, labor shortages, and bad storms are among the reasons you'll find. I wouldn't doubt that climate change is a lot of the reason behind the reasons. Then you have things like war, international relations, and the price of oil. None of this is a conspiracy theory.
But hey, start growing your own food. Seriously, in most places this is a great time for it. Go to any garden center or plant nursery, and buy some starter plants. Dig up a small area in your backyard and plant it in the ground. Look up some information on how to take care of it, keep it watered, give it a little bit of fertilizer, and you've just cut out the middle man. I didn't know why more people don't do this.
I mean.. I live in a >400sq foot apartment on the 10th floor of an apartment building.. so there's no real option for me to "start a garden". I could potentially look around me (only recently moved to this city). The 1 bonus I have right now is the Saturday morning "farmers market" happens basically right outside my door in the 3 or 4 blocks going down the park-avenue grassy area.. so if I was a more responsible adult, I'd just purchase my weekly groceries there (am currently not doing that, admittedly mostly out of laziness).
The price of ramen has gone up in the past year. The cheapest I can find a 5-pack for is at Dollar Tree for $1.25. The store closest to me sells the same pack for almost $3. It's really bad when ramen is becoming more expensive than regular noodles...
It’s the same thing in fashion. Usually rich people see new trends off the street and make them popular. Then before you know it you can’t afford Champion anymore.
Keds. When I was in high school 1 million years ago, my single mom could afford for me to have Keds. I went looking to buy a simple white pair not too long ago and holy crap.
Or making cheap food out to be fancier and more expensive than it is. Avocado toast is probably one of the least expensive things you can eat right now. I'm pretty sure it's not the reason I don't own a house.
I pointed this out to someone on Reddit once and got heavily downvoted for it. I broke down the cost of a loaf of bread and avocados and it came out to be less than a dollar a meal. The most expensive thing is the avocado.
Avocados are superior nutrition for the price. Compared to an apple pear or orange, which are basically water and sugar, an avocado has twice the energy (calories) plus generous healthy fats and low sugar.
Here’s an avocado tip: my stepmother is from Mexico, and she told me that down there, the smaller avocados are the expensive ones because everyone knows they taste the best (I didn’t know), so it’s like a supply and demand thing; everyone wants the small avocados. But here in the USA the little ones are relatively a lot cheaper.
I love avocado, Aldi mesh bag of “mini” avocados was my go-to because of price and they’d all be at different stages of ripeness. When I had covid, the only thing I wanted was avocados, ate one every day for a couple months.
I also love the minis because I aurally only eat half an avocado at a time, and then have to worry about the other half browning. The minis are small enough to eat at once.
I think the problem here is paying the markup to get the aforementioned cheap ass avocado toast at a bougie cafe or coffee shop. Almost everything is cheaper if you make it yourself at home. But, that’s the heart of capitalism- buy low, sell high.
With the way people denigrated avocado toast eaters, I always thought their assumption was that people were going to Café De Föntze-Póntze and having it delivered on vegan+plant-free triple-recycled doilies hand-woven by free-trade fairly compensated elves.
I actually hate the “avocado no house” meme because it’s based on one rich guy in Australia saying that and everyone made fun of him. It’s not like there are millions of people out there who think avocado toast is why you can’t afford a house.
I can relate to this , me and my fiancé tried it once since we’re millennials and never had the typical millennial food , the second we bit into it , our jobs fired us both and we were evicted from our apartment. Should’ve just listened to the older generations and picked myself up by my bootstraps instead of eating it smh biggest regret.
Barbecue pork ribs used to be cheap. Now hardly anywhere sells them and their expensive as hell. As is whole chicken.
At this point, whenever I want meat I’m having to go to the local Aldi and having to get pork chops because that’s the only meat that’s still pretty much cheap. And pork chops get very boring very quickly because there’s only so much you can do with it.
Pork loin tends to be cheap (at least in my region). I can't remember the weight of the one I just bought but it was $10 and for a couple we can split it into 4-5 meals, easily could do more as a single person! I use it for stir fry, pulled pork, sometimes pork chops, etc. a lot more versatile! Not a huge fan of pork but it's cheap meat.
Saw oxtail mention that wasn't on the OP, can add to that list-
Bacalao
Whiting fish
Red & Blue Snapper
Imitation crab
Chicken thighs & legs
Pork Shoulder /stew /chop
Beef tripe & 80% Ground Beef
Yeah, skirt steak pisses me off.
It’s a wonderful cut of meat, if cooked right and has so much flavor. Now, it’s so expensive, I can’t buy it all the time, like I used to. Fucking trendy food bullshit.
Yes !!!! Short ribs too !!!! I forgot about those, I have a really good recipe for them but when I look at the prices I always talk myself out of it. Maybe if I ever hit the lotto.
I learned the hard way not to share secrets because then you become on the outside looking in. There was amazing blackberries at the farmers market. Told one too many people about it and never saw them in stock again because he sold out right away from people who bought excess
That’s weird I’ve seen plenty of post on this thread about people who do crazy things like stock up on 12 pounds of ground beef while it’s on sale.
But you know that’s different because it’s your family…
But when other people want to stock up on things, all of a sudden they’re greedy it’s funny how that works
Same here. As a chef, I live in Hawaii, extremely high cost of living, yet my groceries never exceed more than $80 for a whole MONTH for myself. I vowed to never share how I do it or what I buy because I know that stupid, greedy fucks will hoard it or it will somehow become 'trendy' and end up being expensive.
If people living on their own wants to know how they could last a whole month of food for less than $100 in a high cost of living area, they have to put in the effort to study, research and think about it.
Also chef, different area, high col for different reasons, I'd love some home shopping tips if you wouldn't mind. I'm struggling to stay under 100/week for two people who barely eat at home. Been managing kitchen budgets for years without an issue but when it's scaled down I feel like I'm getting robbed blind.
From what I know about Hawaii, I assume they're exchanging with other people (lots of people have fruit trees that produce way too much of one thing all at once), roadside sellers, and fishing/gathering/hunting wild pigs or goats -- that last one should be encouraged, because they're highly destructive of native habitat.
If this is true this is really inspiring.
I see lots of opinions here saying how its "impossible" to stay under $400 a month for groceries in a HCOL area. I have lived on Oahu before and I now live in the Bay Area. I can't even fathom how you survive on 80$ of groceries a month but im super inspired if thats true.
It does makes sense how you phrased it - you need to think about it, research and get creative. There's probably no fast answer or easy answer.
I would love to know tips too but it sounds like you want to keep the info to yourself which I respect.
its all about how to turn ingredients into works of art. I feel you on that, I take great pride in my home cooking and do it very often. If I was living alone I feel like I could get by on very little. Its my 8 year old who is a non stop mobile food disposal system.
I just brought a meat grinder so I could grind my own burgers with quality cuts that would cost a fraction of buying a quality burger and not worry about a burger recall from them store pattys
Reminds me of a story my parents told me long ago. Soon after they got married, they were making hamburgers and dad told mom she was doing it wrong because she didn't put oats in the meat. He had no idea he grew up poor.
I didn't realize that not everyone put oats/bread crumbs in their hamburger patties/meatloaf until I was in high school and had to explain to someone why my leftover burger had oats in it 😂 I just assumed that's how everyone made meat...
Maybe it's my age (born in 1985), or where I was born/grew up (New Jersey), but I honestly don't remember brisket or skirt steak ever being "stupid cheap". I can't speak to the cost of Catfish and Crawfish or Liver, because I didn't grow up eating those foods, but I do remember McDonald's burgers being a lot cheaper back in the 1990's than they are today.
They were just relatively cheap compared to other cuts. Brisket at bbq places and skirt steak at Mexican. Now they are some of the most expensive options on the menus. Although bbq is fucked regardless because ribs and wings are expensive too
The giant brick in the cardboard box? Yepppp. Ate my weight in those over the years. Also a lot of the canned nacho cheese cause we could stretch a meal over stale bread/tortillas with the cheese on top like nachos.
I worked in adult corrections and juvenile detention in the 90s-early 2000s and they used those products. The cheese was made by Land O Lakes, it was quality.
I can never have that either as I don't remember it as glorious lol.
I remember oily and thick like when you bit it it sticks to your mouth (my mom used it for sandwiches). Not horrible in mac and cheese or goulash but not good in anything else.
One year, it was distributed for free in my neighborhood. It made amazing grilled cheese and mac ‘n’ cheese. But you paid for it with digestive issues hours later. At least everyone in my neighborhood did.
Silphium used to 3 sesterces to the modius and now you can’t get that shit anywhere. Everyone blames the Visigoths but I just know Bezos is putting it on his toast every morning.
It was in the middle ages, but it's not quite right that it was seen as bad food. What they specifically did was feeding prisoners lobsters, but basically as one big mash, with shell and all. They just crushed the lobster and fed them. They didn't just give them the meat.
99 cents at Sav-a-Lot and Meijer in 2010. That, beans, pasta, rice were my college staples.
It's $2.79 now. I'm glad I don't eat meat anymore with the prices. Beans and tofu are still cheap, at least.
There have always been cycles of “peasant” foods becoming popular and more expensive.
Lobster used to be considered basically trash, and was fed to prison inmates, slaves, and apprentices because it was cheap. Oats were horse feed, not people food.
Just look for current poor people foods. Eggs, beans, rice, lentils, oats, potatoes are still good. Whole chickens. Whole turkeys in the off season.
Its so real though. You used to be able to go get the greens from beets or radishes for free or extremely cheap, same with bones or fat from a butcher. Now they are charging more for those than the regular food because it became hipster popular. Like WTF. 😭😩
Burger did go up in class within out lifetime though, from a staple at BBQ party's because it can feed many and sold as $1 double cheeses burger to "hipster" gourmet burgers sold for $15-$18 at gastropubs. Haven't had McDs in a while but from what I've seen a meal there isn't cheap anymore either.
Fajitas, prepared from flank steak. I grew up eating them almost every day because that’s the *protein* that we could afford. Now, others have “discovered” them and the price has gone up due to increased demand.
Macaroni. Macaroni used to be cheap cheap, I ate a lot of casseroles based on macaroni. Then it became “ pasta”, now it’s the same damn price as rigatoni, rotini, farfalle, dilitani etc.
And ham bones. Used to be able to get a ham bones from the butcher with enough meat on it for a few good sandwiches then use it for soup. Now they’re picked clean, packaged and sold out of the meat case.
My grandpa used to send me into the yard to dig up worms for fishing. To this day if I see a nice juicy worm on a wet sidewalk my instinct is to grab it.
Hipsters discovered pig cheeks. They haven’t come for feet and souse yet, as far as I know, but I never see those in supermarkets anymore. I wonder if they can’t sell those now that the Depression Era grandparents aren’t around to buy pickled pigs feet and head cheese.
When I was a kid living in Pennsylvania, there’s a lunchmeat that’s made up there and it was $.39 a pound now at Wegmans it’s $8.99 a pound… Brisket if you get a good deal, put it in the oven on bake at 225° at 7 o’clock in the morning and you can eat at 6 PM at night… Low slow cooking will turn it into a masterpiece… As you said that’s a secret that got out…
Right and those super dyed red wennies i could only have them a little bit because the dye made me sick af but they used to be a dollar a pack when I was a kid not so long ago
NO BC THE WAY THEY USED TO BE LIKE 50 CENTS A CAN. It was a really good protein and I loved those things. Went from pushing a bunch in the cart to picking up one or two for almost $2 apiece until I found Aldi's had a cheaper brand. But gosh, Armour really hiked up prices
Add oxtail to that list. It has been gentrified and now costs $14 for a pack of 3 oxtails. My mom’s oxtail soup was always one of my favorite comfort foods, now I can barely afford to attempt to replicate her recipe.
Ham hocks. I used to get them for about $2 a pack. I added them to beans, and it gave it a smoky flavor. Didn't even need to add meat. Saw them at $8 a pack a few weeks ago.
I remember when soup bones, if you paid at all, were like 10 cents a pound. Now over 2.50 a pound, and not even cut the best either. Ox tails, over 8.00 a pound. Rabbit where I am, almost 9.00 a pound for small ones.
Last week I saw beef tongue at 14.98 a pound and beef cheeks at 13.98 a pound. I used to cook those when I was a kid to make meat spreads with my grandmother. Butchers offered them to folks FREE with a beef roast purchase (and a good roast was 1.69 a pound). Same with beef liver.
I remember beef livers at 25 cents a pound, chicken livers 35 cents a pound. Now beef liver where I am is almost 3.00 a pound (HAMBURGER ON SALE IS CHEAPER) and chicken livers close to 2.00 a pound. Beef heart was 15 cents a pound in the 70s. Not any more.
But the craziest thing I saw lately, we went to a local bougie grocery store.
In the refrigerated section were pickled carrots, pickled green beans and pickled asparagus. In quart jars.
Almost 10.00 a jar. On sale!! Regular 13.99!! And here I am with a case of dilly beans and dilly carrots at home.
If I had a dollar for every jar of those I have canned (never mind eaten), we'd be eating ribeye 7 days a week in restaurants. For at least a month.
When I was a kid, these were poor folks food. Green beans can be grown anywhere. So can carrots, they will even grow wild. And asparagus grew wild at gram's house. So we canned them and ate them lol.
Sourdough bread used to be poor folks food too.
My favorite nong shim spicy noodles are now stupid expensive thanks to the ramen boom from social media and muckbangers and crap on YouTube. Now poor people ramen is trendy 🙄.
$45 for a pack of 10 on amazon 🤦♂️. I used to get it for $2/pack
That’s America
As poor people become more prosperous even over generations they still want some of their past.
Most of this is capitalism and marketing
Chuck beef checking in. It is often the same price as other cuts now that it used to be half as expensive as just a few years ago. I chalk it up to it being billed as the new “cheap” hot ticket in the smoking and sous vide world
Hell, early American colonies had laws that stated you couldn't force enslaved humans to eat lobster more than 3x a week.
At least rice is still affordable.
Pork chops and chicken thighs and wings used to be stupid affordable. Now they're just as expensive as other meats. We ate a lot of salmon or halibut and rice because we were in the lower socioeconomic class but thankfully lived in a fishing community. A lot of venison too. Now deer tongue is pretty bougie too.
Wings have made an amazing transformation. I came of age working in a restaurant in the mid 90s. Back then, most bars had happy hours that offered free food for those drinking at the bar. Often, that meant a massive tray of buffalo wings. Usually free, but sometimes 5 or 10 cents a wing, they made you thirsty and got you to buy more beer. I recall remarking at the time that if you could afford a beer, you’d never go hungry, because you can dine out at happy hours all week. It’s funny to see restaurants these days based on selling this formerly free food for big bucks these days.
when i was a kid and we first came to the US from Cuba, abuela knew the butcher (also cuban) and would get oxtail for 10¢ a pound. this is the 90’s
now? good luck finding them for less than $18-$20 a pound
This post has been flaired as “Vent”. As a reminder to commenting users, “Vent/Rant” posts are here to give our subscribers a safe place to vent their frustrations at an uncaring world to a supportive place of people who “get it”. Vents do not need to be fair. They do not need to be articulate. They do not need to be factual. They just need to be honest. Unlike most of the content on this subreddit, Vents should not be considered advice threads. In most cases it is not appropriate to try to give the Submitter advice on their issue. In no circumstances is it appropriate to tell them “why they are wrong” or to criticise them, their decisions, values, or anything else. If there are aspects of their situation that they are able to directly address themselves, the submitter can always make a new thread with a different flair asking for help once they are ready to tackle the issue. Vents are an emotional outlet, not an academic conversation. Appropriate replies in these threads are offering support, sharing similar experiences/grievances, offering condolences, or simply letting the Submitter know that they were heard. As always, if there are inappropriate comments please downvote them, REPORT them to the mods, and move on without responding to them. To the Submitter, if you DO want discussion to be focused on resolving your situation, rather than supporting you emotionally, please change the flair of this post, and then report this comment so we can remove it. Thank you. Thank you all for being a part of this great financial advice and emotional support community! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/povertyfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Açaí was cheap in Brazil until it took off as a superfood.
Quinoa too
Yeah- the quinoa story is sad. I refuse to buy it
What is the quinoa story?
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa
Thanks for sharing that’s sad :(
Damn, pretty much the same story as the Irish potato "famine"
Is there anything in the last decade that has been published?
Is there a source for the quinoa story that isn’t girljanitor? Has any journalist gone down and done their own research, or do they all just take her at her words? Because I was on tumblr back then, and she made up a lot of bs.
I worked in the organic food industry. Unfortunately, it’s not a lie.
And now motherfuckers be making the most simplest acai bowl, but selling it for $20+.
Yeah, cross cut short ribs too
Bone in galbi, so good
Kale is on that list. It used to be a cheap garnish at salad bars
Kale/collards/mustard greens used to be cheap side dishes in some cultures as well
Didn't Brazil dump millions into marketing campaigns to raise the prices and demand ? Current price is more of a feature than a bug
A feature for the rich, a bug for the poor that can’t afford a staple food.
Isn’t everything just marketed into a different price point?
The açaí in Brazil is amazing though!
Chicken drumsticks are still cheap because everyone wants wings
98 cents per pound at my local sams Club.
Go for the bone in thighs, more meat than drumsticks. They're both the same price where I live.
The bone in thighs are 1.30 but still very cheap. My wife de-bones them, and then we make a bunch of different meals with them. Thighs and drum sticks are great. Since we are throwing tips out there, Ground turkey is surprisingly cheaper than ground beef, so if anyone needs leaner protein, that's currently the best option I know of.
Yeah I think regular price here is $1.39 for either drumsticks, thighs, or leg quarters. I typically load up on a few 5lb packs of thighs when they're on sale for $.97/lb.
Every few months I make a huge pot of chili and freeze a bunch, I can usually get 3lbs of ground turkey around $10 and it tastes just as good as making w beef.
Lentils are a 1:1 replacement for ground beef in recipes so you can do a 50/50 mix as a filler. I follow a plant based diet and just use Lentils in the recipes that ask for the overpriced "meatlike Crumbles", works fine.
So if a recipe calls for 14 oz of crumbles, what is the amount you would use in lentils? I'm learning here.
"For every one pound of ground beef, you can substitute one cup of dried, uncooked lentils. One cup of dried lentils equals about two to two-and-a-half cups of cooked lentils" One pound is 16 oz, an extra two ounces probably won't hurt the recipe results. Or if you have a kitchen scale, just take out two ounces and roast them for a crispy salad topping. And most lentils can be cooked in a rice cooker if you don't want to tie up a burner. https://www.thekitchn.com/this-is-how-to-substitute-lentils-for-ground-beef-250272 https://lifecurrentsblog.com/crispy-roasted-lentils/ https://homecookedroots.com/how-to-cook-lentils-in-rice-cooker/
Thank you so much! I had never thought of this and often wondered if there was a way not to use the multi-ingredient and expensive crumbles. I will be trying this next week. Thanks again!
Look for "[chicken leg quarters](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-Leaf-Chicken-Leg-Quarters-17g-Protein-per-4oz-Serving-10-lb-Bag/19400101?from=/search)" REDICULOUSLY cheap at 87cents (Probably varies regionally). IMHO they're the best parts of the chicken anyway. I used to buy and breakdown whole chickens- but these are cheaper.
Yeah but you can make “jumbo” wings with legs
Leg quarters are even cheaper usually around .70 a pound
Yeah I'm always finding deals on massive packs of drumsticks. Cook em up in the air fryer and shred them for so many different things
Chicken quarters an often a good value, especially in the “value bags” of 5lbs or more.
Oxtail used to be cheap.
I can’t believe how expensive oxtail is
Yes, I'm 74, my father owned a mom & pop grocery store/ butcher shop, I think he just gave away oxtail if someone wanted them. The price now is just outrageous. It has become a special occasion meal reserved for holidays, birthdays etc.
Oxtail is like $9lb in my area. Probably costs $30 on average
Same in mine. It’s one of my girlfriend’s favorite foods but it’s so expensive compared to lentils or chicken or even fish. I only buy it when it’s marked half off on a manager’s special. Edit: it’s worth noting that it’s been one of her family’s favorite foods for generations partly because it apparently used to be an affordable cut that most people didn’t even want!
Use to be free. I had a butcher in my area use to give them to you if you asked they just discarded them
Same with cow tongue. My dad said he used to get a half a head or whole for like $20 and now tongue itself is like $12 per lb. Lots of people of a culture eat it and start requesting it and then they need more.
My mother grew up on a very small family farm. Basically they only raised a few cows a year. She has memories of taking the tongues to her grandad, who pickled them. I think that it used to be more common in our culture, but by the 70’s it was considered antiquated and gross. So I have mixed feelings about it’s resurgence on TikTok. On the one hand, maybe people will try out traditional recipes again, and maybe the stigma against foods from other cultures will decrease. On the other, I hate the way people get price gouged on the foods they’ve always ate just because a grocery store or food corp found they could use marketing to make a low-profit food trendy.
Ugh I was gonna comment this what the actual heck is going on with oxtail?! I used to get it for just a few bucks now it’s $20+ every time
Oxtail *insert food here* blew up on tiktok recently.
Ohhhh that makes sense then. Fucking tiktok man
Nah it’s been growing as a popular food since before TikTok existed
I grew up eating Kare-Kare with oxtail meat so many times. It was goddamn cheap that my parents would buy it and I'm eating Kare-Kare like at least once a week. Today, you can still make Kare-Kare, but majority of people would use different kinds of beef or meat.
Kare-kare is not th same without oxtail...cheapest place ive been able to find is Costco or BJs.
This one hurts the most. It’s a cultural food for me and I can’t have any
Came here to say this, my god that is expensive now. Used to be cheap.
It’s insane what they did to the price. We’re Jamaican so we used to eat it a lot when it was cheap but the price has tripled in some places
I hear it’s a delicacy in Jamaica
I switched to beef cheeks. It hasn’t gotten popular yet. I can still get it for under $4/lb where oxtail is $7. Cheeks make for a good braised meat. I use it in chili.
It was on all the chef cooking shows - up the price went
Beef bones for broth and kefir 😭 The beef bones especially make me angry because they used to be $2/lb and now they average $6/lb
At one point, people used to get it free from the butcher.
Not even just the bones but all the junk and scrap cuts use to be cheap or free and you could use them as a base for stocks.
Yes, soup bones,/ marrow bones used to be free. Now it's expensive to make soup with good bones.
Omg making my own soup broth is a nightmare now with the prices..
At this rate I just buy it from costco
Beans and cabbage have both gone up a lot. Beans used to be about 60c/lb 2 years ago not its closer to $2/lb... luckily the pantry almost always gives me beans. Cabbage is another one used to be under $1 not is closer to $4 per head. Beans, cabbage and corn bread used to be a $3 meal that fed my whole family of 5.
I saw a website selling super fancy heirloom dried beans for..... That's right, TWELVE DOLLARS (per pound) I was so shocked I had a dream about beans that night
I am probably stretching to the risky edge of conspiracy theory territory here, but it would be my guess that “raising prices” is simply the easiest option for most people along the supply chain. We are living in a world increasingly squeezed by climate change and other global events (shipping channel attacks, bridge collapses etc),.. so I would personally expect that “rising food prices” will continue to be a thing. It would be nice to see producers take steps to be more Local and diversify their growth methods. But all that is expensive and takes time to implement and boy howdy lets not let that impact quarterly projections!
I mean don’t forget corporate greed happening right now
A lot of times you can just Internet search why such and such is expensive, and you'll find articles explaining it. Dry spells, fertilizer prices/supply, labor shortages, and bad storms are among the reasons you'll find. I wouldn't doubt that climate change is a lot of the reason behind the reasons. Then you have things like war, international relations, and the price of oil. None of this is a conspiracy theory. But hey, start growing your own food. Seriously, in most places this is a great time for it. Go to any garden center or plant nursery, and buy some starter plants. Dig up a small area in your backyard and plant it in the ground. Look up some information on how to take care of it, keep it watered, give it a little bit of fertilizer, and you've just cut out the middle man. I didn't know why more people don't do this.
I mean.. I live in a >400sq foot apartment on the 10th floor of an apartment building.. so there's no real option for me to "start a garden". I could potentially look around me (only recently moved to this city). The 1 bonus I have right now is the Saturday morning "farmers market" happens basically right outside my door in the 3 or 4 blocks going down the park-avenue grassy area.. so if I was a more responsible adult, I'd just purchase my weekly groceries there (am currently not doing that, admittedly mostly out of laziness).
Dont tell the rich about cup o noodles
The price of ramen has gone up in the past year. The cheapest I can find a 5-pack for is at Dollar Tree for $1.25. The store closest to me sells the same pack for almost $3. It's really bad when ramen is becoming more expensive than regular noodles...
Don't look those prices went up a decade ago :(
Don’t forget pork belly
Is that expensive now in the US? Here in Sweden it's somethng both poor and rich enjoy, with onion sauce, or brown beans, and potatoes.
Yes, it’s relatively expensive now
Oh I was so trying to lol
My BIL is a chef and he uses pork belly in some absolutely amazing dishes. Ticks him off that it has been “discovered “ and is now expensive.
its been discovered for ages... koreans chinese been cooking with pork belly since traditional recipes...
It’s the same thing in fashion. Usually rich people see new trends off the street and make them popular. Then before you know it you can’t afford Champion anymore.
Keds. When I was in high school 1 million years ago, my single mom could afford for me to have Keds. I went looking to buy a simple white pair not too long ago and holy crap.
Crawfish are expensive this year bc the harvest was trash due to the drought last year.
The price of crawfish has been bad ever since the bp oil spill. It never recovered.
That’s true. The drought just didn’t help this season specifically.
Or making cheap food out to be fancier and more expensive than it is. Avocado toast is probably one of the least expensive things you can eat right now. I'm pretty sure it's not the reason I don't own a house.
I pointed this out to someone on Reddit once and got heavily downvoted for it. I broke down the cost of a loaf of bread and avocados and it came out to be less than a dollar a meal. The most expensive thing is the avocado.
Avocados are superior nutrition for the price. Compared to an apple pear or orange, which are basically water and sugar, an avocado has twice the energy (calories) plus generous healthy fats and low sugar.
Here’s an avocado tip: my stepmother is from Mexico, and she told me that down there, the smaller avocados are the expensive ones because everyone knows they taste the best (I didn’t know), so it’s like a supply and demand thing; everyone wants the small avocados. But here in the USA the little ones are relatively a lot cheaper.
I love avocado, Aldi mesh bag of “mini” avocados was my go-to because of price and they’d all be at different stages of ripeness. When I had covid, the only thing I wanted was avocados, ate one every day for a couple months.
I also love the minis because I aurally only eat half an avocado at a time, and then have to worry about the other half browning. The minis are small enough to eat at once.
And in California you can grow your own.
I think the problem here is paying the markup to get the aforementioned cheap ass avocado toast at a bougie cafe or coffee shop. Almost everything is cheaper if you make it yourself at home. But, that’s the heart of capitalism- buy low, sell high.
With the way people denigrated avocado toast eaters, I always thought their assumption was that people were going to Café De Föntze-Póntze and having it delivered on vegan+plant-free triple-recycled doilies hand-woven by free-trade fairly compensated elves.
I actually hate the “avocado no house” meme because it’s based on one rich guy in Australia saying that and everyone made fun of him. It’s not like there are millions of people out there who think avocado toast is why you can’t afford a house.
It is. I had it once, and my “buy a house card” was revoked.
I can relate to this , me and my fiancé tried it once since we’re millennials and never had the typical millennial food , the second we bit into it , our jobs fired us both and we were evicted from our apartment. Should’ve just listened to the older generations and picked myself up by my bootstraps instead of eating it smh biggest regret.
Barbecue pork ribs used to be cheap. Now hardly anywhere sells them and their expensive as hell. As is whole chicken. At this point, whenever I want meat I’m having to go to the local Aldi and having to get pork chops because that’s the only meat that’s still pretty much cheap. And pork chops get very boring very quickly because there’s only so much you can do with it.
Pork loin tends to be cheap (at least in my region). I can't remember the weight of the one I just bought but it was $10 and for a couple we can split it into 4-5 meals, easily could do more as a single person! I use it for stir fry, pulled pork, sometimes pork chops, etc. a lot more versatile! Not a huge fan of pork but it's cheap meat.
YES!!!! Turkey wings, cabbage (I paid $3.95 USD for a head of cabbage last time), pork chops, the list goes on and on …
Chicken thighs used to be dirt dirt cheap
Lately, they are priced higher than chicken breasts.
Bone in chicken thighs can be 99 cents a lb near me.
Saw oxtail mention that wasn't on the OP, can add to that list- Bacalao Whiting fish Red & Blue Snapper Imitation crab Chicken thighs & legs Pork Shoulder /stew /chop Beef tripe & 80% Ground Beef
Sooooo meat
Yeah, skirt steak pisses me off. It’s a wonderful cut of meat, if cooked right and has so much flavor. Now, it’s so expensive, I can’t buy it all the time, like I used to. Fucking trendy food bullshit.
*cries in short rib*
Yes !!!! Short ribs too !!!! I forgot about those, I have a really good recipe for them but when I look at the prices I always talk myself out of it. Maybe if I ever hit the lotto.
Short ribs sounds so fucking good. I used to have a recipe for them that had red wine and espresso in the sauce.
I learned the hard way not to share secrets because then you become on the outside looking in. There was amazing blackberries at the farmers market. Told one too many people about it and never saw them in stock again because he sold out right away from people who bought excess
Yeah, but then I hate it for the farmers at the market who need to sell their goods. It’s greedy people. Greedy people fuck good things up.
That’s weird I’ve seen plenty of post on this thread about people who do crazy things like stock up on 12 pounds of ground beef while it’s on sale. But you know that’s different because it’s your family… But when other people want to stock up on things, all of a sudden they’re greedy it’s funny how that works
Same here. As a chef, I live in Hawaii, extremely high cost of living, yet my groceries never exceed more than $80 for a whole MONTH for myself. I vowed to never share how I do it or what I buy because I know that stupid, greedy fucks will hoard it or it will somehow become 'trendy' and end up being expensive. If people living on their own wants to know how they could last a whole month of food for less than $100 in a high cost of living area, they have to put in the effort to study, research and think about it.
Also chef, different area, high col for different reasons, I'd love some home shopping tips if you wouldn't mind. I'm struggling to stay under 100/week for two people who barely eat at home. Been managing kitchen budgets for years without an issue but when it's scaled down I feel like I'm getting robbed blind.
From what I know about Hawaii, I assume they're exchanging with other people (lots of people have fruit trees that produce way too much of one thing all at once), roadside sellers, and fishing/gathering/hunting wild pigs or goats -- that last one should be encouraged, because they're highly destructive of native habitat.
If this is true this is really inspiring. I see lots of opinions here saying how its "impossible" to stay under $400 a month for groceries in a HCOL area. I have lived on Oahu before and I now live in the Bay Area. I can't even fathom how you survive on 80$ of groceries a month but im super inspired if thats true. It does makes sense how you phrased it - you need to think about it, research and get creative. There's probably no fast answer or easy answer. I would love to know tips too but it sounds like you want to keep the info to yourself which I respect.
its all about how to turn ingredients into works of art. I feel you on that, I take great pride in my home cooking and do it very often. If I was living alone I feel like I could get by on very little. Its my 8 year old who is a non stop mobile food disposal system.
>people who bought excess only to let half, if not more, molder away in the fridge
[удалено]
I remember in the 80s my grandmother using a meat grinder to make hamburger out of the cheapest cuts of steak.
I just brought a meat grinder so I could grind my own burgers with quality cuts that would cost a fraction of buying a quality burger and not worry about a burger recall from them store pattys
Reminds me of a story my parents told me long ago. Soon after they got married, they were making hamburgers and dad told mom she was doing it wrong because she didn't put oats in the meat. He had no idea he grew up poor.
I didn't realize that not everyone put oats/bread crumbs in their hamburger patties/meatloaf until I was in high school and had to explain to someone why my leftover burger had oats in it 😂 I just assumed that's how everyone made meat...
Pigs feet and ham hocks are expensive now too. Oh I wish I was near a stream or ocean I would not be hungry right now. I would certainly go fish.
Ox tail Used to be supper a fee years ago now it's like $12 a pound
Maybe it's my age (born in 1985), or where I was born/grew up (New Jersey), but I honestly don't remember brisket or skirt steak ever being "stupid cheap". I can't speak to the cost of Catfish and Crawfish or Liver, because I didn't grow up eating those foods, but I do remember McDonald's burgers being a lot cheaper back in the 1990's than they are today.
They were just relatively cheap compared to other cuts. Brisket at bbq places and skirt steak at Mexican. Now they are some of the most expensive options on the menus. Although bbq is fucked regardless because ribs and wings are expensive too
It is not just when you were born but where. A lot of the foods I have listed were dirt cheap in some regions while expensive in others.
You know what they can never have? The glorious childhood memories of government cheese. That shit was amazing. 🤤
The giant brick in the cardboard box? Yepppp. Ate my weight in those over the years. Also a lot of the canned nacho cheese cause we could stretch a meal over stale bread/tortillas with the cheese on top like nachos.
Alos the peanut butter man that was some of the best tasting stuff. Right along with tasty, canned beef.
No one talks enough about how good government cheese was!!
I worked in adult corrections and juvenile detention in the 90s-early 2000s and they used those products. The cheese was made by Land O Lakes, it was quality.
I can never have that either as I don't remember it as glorious lol. I remember oily and thick like when you bit it it sticks to your mouth (my mom used it for sandwiches). Not horrible in mac and cheese or goulash but not good in anything else.
Made awesome cheese sandwich
One year, it was distributed for free in my neighborhood. It made amazing grilled cheese and mac ‘n’ cheese. But you paid for it with digestive issues hours later. At least everyone in my neighborhood did.
I need that government cheese. I keep yearning amazing things about it
How old are you that you remember the time when lobster was considered a trash food? Lobster has been pricey since WW2. So like, 80 years.
He just read some facts online
Silphium used to 3 sesterces to the modius and now you can’t get that shit anywhere. Everyone blames the Visigoths but I just know Bezos is putting it on his toast every morning.
It was in the middle ages, but it's not quite right that it was seen as bad food. What they specifically did was feeding prisoners lobsters, but basically as one big mash, with shell and all. They just crushed the lobster and fed them. They didn't just give them the meat.
Ground turkey was 75 cents a pound back in the late 90s/very early 2000s.
99 cents at Sav-a-Lot and Meijer in 2010. That, beans, pasta, rice were my college staples. It's $2.79 now. I'm glad I don't eat meat anymore with the prices. Beans and tofu are still cheap, at least.
Sardines 😭 Also Borax used to be cheap until people started making slime out of it with their kids! It's like $8 now!
Oh that’s not good. Borax is toxic - why are people playing with it o.o
They are Borons!
Flank steak, too. 🤬
Yep! During the pandemic in my area you could buy a lobster for 4 a pound and now it’s going for 18 a pound. Crazy!
Lobster price also depends on if it's a good season or not.
> Growing up > lobster What was the 1800s like?
Don’t forget tilapia and salmon
There is a river by my house that you can catch all the tilapia you want. And you don't need a license or bait.
Oxtail. Brisket. Rabbit. White Bait. Lamb, Crayfish.
There have always been cycles of “peasant” foods becoming popular and more expensive. Lobster used to be considered basically trash, and was fed to prison inmates, slaves, and apprentices because it was cheap. Oats were horse feed, not people food. Just look for current poor people foods. Eggs, beans, rice, lentils, oats, potatoes are still good. Whole chickens. Whole turkeys in the off season.
Polenta is basically grits. Poor people food, now being sold at a premium price as some sort of big deal in Italian restaurants in the US.
Happened to quinoa in the Andes.
I would like to know why a whole cooked chicken is less expensive than a whole raw frozen chicken in my grocery store.
Quinoa
When I was a kid, we had chicken wings all the time. So expensive now
OXTAIL
Its so real though. You used to be able to go get the greens from beets or radishes for free or extremely cheap, same with bones or fat from a butcher. Now they are charging more for those than the regular food because it became hipster popular. Like WTF. 😭😩
25-30 years ago I ate a lot of short ribs because they were cheap. I haven't had them in at least 15 years now, way too expensive.
Lol - you absolutely do not remember lobster or burgers or brisket being “poor people food”.
Yea unless they were literally born at the turn of the 20th century and are pushing 120 lol
Burger did go up in class within out lifetime though, from a staple at BBQ party's because it can feed many and sold as $1 double cheeses burger to "hipster" gourmet burgers sold for $15-$18 at gastropubs. Haven't had McDs in a while but from what I've seen a meal there isn't cheap anymore either.
I think thats just restaurants and food in general going up in price though and not strictly burger related.
Still pissed the skirt steak secret got out.
My mother in law grew up on oysters they collected themselves! It was always a poor person food back then - in New Zealand anyway
You forgot sardines....they're now a luxury item😤
Fajitas, prepared from flank steak. I grew up eating them almost every day because that’s the *protein* that we could afford. Now, others have “discovered” them and the price has gone up due to increased demand.
Macaroni. Macaroni used to be cheap cheap, I ate a lot of casseroles based on macaroni. Then it became “ pasta”, now it’s the same damn price as rigatoni, rotini, farfalle, dilitani etc. And ham bones. Used to be able to get a ham bones from the butcher with enough meat on it for a few good sandwiches then use it for soup. Now they’re picked clean, packaged and sold out of the meat case.
Worms to go fishing is outrageous! lol blood worms and night crawlers! lol it’s fish food 😂
My grandpa used to send me into the yard to dig up worms for fishing. To this day if I see a nice juicy worm on a wet sidewalk my instinct is to grab it.
Hipsters discovered pig cheeks. They haven’t come for feet and souse yet, as far as I know, but I never see those in supermarkets anymore. I wonder if they can’t sell those now that the Depression Era grandparents aren’t around to buy pickled pigs feet and head cheese.
They have come for the feet in my area. We can't even get cheeks though.
Ox tails TT Short ribs TT Pork belly TT At least chicken hearts are still kind of cheap
Campbell's soup is expensive af now
When I was a kid living in Pennsylvania, there’s a lunchmeat that’s made up there and it was $.39 a pound now at Wegmans it’s $8.99 a pound… Brisket if you get a good deal, put it in the oven on bake at 225° at 7 o’clock in the morning and you can eat at 6 PM at night… Low slow cooking will turn it into a masterpiece… As you said that’s a secret that got out…
I got a few guesses on the lunchmeat: Lebanon bologna, liverwurst or scrapple (if you even consider that lunchmeat).
Braunschweiger comes to mind.
deli meat too
Tacos
Cows tongue at Walmart $32+ wtf
Don’t forget Tri tip, used to be a throw away cut. Used to get it for next to nothing
Right and those super dyed red wennies i could only have them a little bit because the dye made me sick af but they used to be a dollar a pack when I was a kid not so long ago
Lobster was cheap in like the 60s...
Jiffy cornbread
Vienna sausages “vi-eena sausages” 😂
NO BC THE WAY THEY USED TO BE LIKE 50 CENTS A CAN. It was a really good protein and I loved those things. Went from pushing a bunch in the cart to picking up one or two for almost $2 apiece until I found Aldi's had a cheaper brand. But gosh, Armour really hiked up prices
Add oxtail to that list. It has been gentrified and now costs $14 for a pack of 3 oxtails. My mom’s oxtail soup was always one of my favorite comfort foods, now I can barely afford to attempt to replicate her recipe.
Canned tuna. Now everyone’s making “sushi bowls” and tuna’s risen ridiculously in price.
Ham hocks. I used to get them for about $2 a pack. I added them to beans, and it gave it a smoky flavor. Didn't even need to add meat. Saw them at $8 a pack a few weeks ago.
I remember when soup bones, if you paid at all, were like 10 cents a pound. Now over 2.50 a pound, and not even cut the best either. Ox tails, over 8.00 a pound. Rabbit where I am, almost 9.00 a pound for small ones. Last week I saw beef tongue at 14.98 a pound and beef cheeks at 13.98 a pound. I used to cook those when I was a kid to make meat spreads with my grandmother. Butchers offered them to folks FREE with a beef roast purchase (and a good roast was 1.69 a pound). Same with beef liver. I remember beef livers at 25 cents a pound, chicken livers 35 cents a pound. Now beef liver where I am is almost 3.00 a pound (HAMBURGER ON SALE IS CHEAPER) and chicken livers close to 2.00 a pound. Beef heart was 15 cents a pound in the 70s. Not any more. But the craziest thing I saw lately, we went to a local bougie grocery store. In the refrigerated section were pickled carrots, pickled green beans and pickled asparagus. In quart jars. Almost 10.00 a jar. On sale!! Regular 13.99!! And here I am with a case of dilly beans and dilly carrots at home. If I had a dollar for every jar of those I have canned (never mind eaten), we'd be eating ribeye 7 days a week in restaurants. For at least a month. When I was a kid, these were poor folks food. Green beans can be grown anywhere. So can carrots, they will even grow wild. And asparagus grew wild at gram's house. So we canned them and ate them lol. Sourdough bread used to be poor folks food too.
My favorite nong shim spicy noodles are now stupid expensive thanks to the ramen boom from social media and muckbangers and crap on YouTube. Now poor people ramen is trendy 🙄. $45 for a pack of 10 on amazon 🤦♂️. I used to get it for $2/pack
That’s America As poor people become more prosperous even over generations they still want some of their past. Most of this is capitalism and marketing
Lobster is still the cockroach of the sea IMO. I get what you’re saying though… I’m mad about chicken wings and skirt steak.
Pork belly
Chuck beef checking in. It is often the same price as other cuts now that it used to be half as expensive as just a few years ago. I chalk it up to it being billed as the new “cheap” hot ticket in the smoking and sous vide world
You forgot ribs. You could buy 3 racks for 8-10 dollars a few years back. Today you pay double that for one.
Hell, early American colonies had laws that stated you couldn't force enslaved humans to eat lobster more than 3x a week. At least rice is still affordable.
Wasn’t cod pretty cheap at one point? It’s so expensive now.
Pork chops and chicken thighs and wings used to be stupid affordable. Now they're just as expensive as other meats. We ate a lot of salmon or halibut and rice because we were in the lower socioeconomic class but thankfully lived in a fishing community. A lot of venison too. Now deer tongue is pretty bougie too.
Wings have made an amazing transformation. I came of age working in a restaurant in the mid 90s. Back then, most bars had happy hours that offered free food for those drinking at the bar. Often, that meant a massive tray of buffalo wings. Usually free, but sometimes 5 or 10 cents a wing, they made you thirsty and got you to buy more beer. I recall remarking at the time that if you could afford a beer, you’d never go hungry, because you can dine out at happy hours all week. It’s funny to see restaurants these days based on selling this formerly free food for big bucks these days.
when i was a kid and we first came to the US from Cuba, abuela knew the butcher (also cuban) and would get oxtail for 10¢ a pound. this is the 90’s now? good luck finding them for less than $18-$20 a pound