The [grocery / food bill] is Too Damn High! Bulk Beef,where are you?!?

[VirtualLarry]

Thought the point where it's actually cheaper to order out was interesting. If you don't have kids, or want to deal with leftovers, that is true, I think.

I personally stretch my budget by buying multiple 12-can flats of chef boyardee and hormel chili sort-of in-bulk, online. That's if you can catch them in-stock.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Who orders food and eats it in one go? Every single thing I order outside sushi gets split into at least two meals. If it costs me more than like $8/meal i get annoyed. I can still make food for far cheaper, though.

 

[pete6032]

Aldi vegetable heavy diet. Healthy and cheap.

 

[MrSquished]

I try to cook for myself as much as possible but it does get boring sometimes. I have my go-to's, my lazy dishes, and always trying new recipes sometimes more than others. Can you

But you don't have to get expensive meats to have delicious meals. I started cutting back on me and my diet for health reasons and for environmental reasons.

Generally speaking I can make absolutely delicious meals with ground beef, chicken thighs, ground pork, and other cuts that aren't super expensive, when one uses meat.

The New York times cooking section had an orzo and corn and bacon dish which was inspired from a vegetarian dish in a cookbook. The way the author used the corn was the draw. Anyway I liked the recipe so I got that cookbook. It's all vegetarian and portions for singles you can always just double or triple it.

In the last couple weeks I've made three amazing dishes that are all vegetable based, two with tofu included.

As someone raised in America we are programmed to think meat heavy diets are the only way, and in fact somehow eating a lot of meat is associated with being manly by a lot of people. So fucking weird really when you think about it.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I try to cook for myself as much as possible but it does get boring sometimes. I have my go-to's, my lazy dishes, and always trying new recipes sometimes more than others. Can you

But you don't have to get expensive meats to have delicious meals. I started cutting back on me and my diet for health reasons and for environmental reasons.

Generally speaking I can make absolutely delicious meals with ground beef, chicken thighs, ground pork, and other cuts that aren't super expensive, when one uses meat.

The New York times cooking section had an orzo and corn and bacon dish which was inspired from a vegetarian dish in a cookbook. The way the author used the corn was the draw. Anyway I liked the recipe so I got that cookbook. It's all vegetarian and portions for singles you can always just double or triple it.

In the last couple weeks I've made three amazing dishes that are all vegetable based, two with tofu included.

As someone raised in America we are programmed to think meat heavy diets are the only way, and in fact somehow eating a lot of meat is associated with being manly by a lot of people. So fucking weird really when you think about it.

We rotate proteins, try to do a different one each night of the week if we can. We cook a lot. Lots of casseroles, meat and veg, lots of sauces, ramen and *stuff*, etc.

Having said that, I've eaten a peice of bacon, an egg, and a peice of fried bread almost every day for the last 15 years or so. Need me some brain fats in the morning.

 

[MrSquished]

We rotate proteins, try to do a different one each night of the week if we can. We cook a lot. Lots of casseroles, meat and veg, lots of sauces, ramen and *stuff*, etc.

Having said that, I've eaten a peice of bacon, an egg, and a peice of fried bread almost every day for the last 15 years or so. Need me some brain fats in the morning.

changing it up is huge. That's a good system. I will say that since in this country you live to work it's kind of hard to have time to dedicate to cooking, especially if you have kids.

Don't get me wrong I love meat and the next big commission check I get I'm going with my friends to a really good steakhouse. I like my Taylor Ham egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches sometimes. Plenty of meat from local great Mexican places. Always appreciate a great burger.

But it's definitely possible to not eat as much meat as we have been programmed to do.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

changing it up is huge. That's a good system. I will say that since in this country you live to work it's kind of hard to have time to dedicate to cooking, especially if you have kids.

Don't get me wrong I love meat and the next big commission check I get I'm going with my friends to a really good steakhouse. I like my Taylor Ham egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches sometimes. Plenty of meat from local great Mexican places. Always appreciate a great burger.

But it's definitely possible to not eat as much meat as we have been programmed to do.

I'm very lucky to be wfh now, but we've got a few dozen recipes at this point that we can toss together in under 45m. We eat very early but if I was home at 5:30, I could be eating by 6:30 if I needed to.

 

[Fenixgoon]

I hate cooking for myself. Long time ago I dated a girl and we cooked together all the time. God that was so fun. I miss that

 

[Brainonska511]

A 17 min video of random tiktokers complaining about food prices? No one has time to watch that.

Thought the point where it's actually cheaper to order out was interesting. If you don't have kids, or want to deal with leftovers, that is true, I think.

I don't think that's true at all. There might be some modest upfront cost to getting a few spices and cookware to make stuff yourself, but that's small in the long run. It's easy enough to make servings for 1-2 for each meal. Plus, if you're complaining about costs, why the **** would you complain about leftovers and whatnot? You can bring your costs down more by cooking 4-5 meals at a time and eating leftovers.

Personally, I love leftovers, since then I don't have to cook for the day.

 

[MrSquished]

This was delicious. And not expensive. Broccoli. Shitakes. Baby Bellas. Grated ginger. Onion. Garlic. Chili bean sauce. Tofu. Shoyu. Sugar. Green onions.

Rice cooked in broth made with the organic better than bouillon.

I couldn't stop eating it. I took a recipe and tweaked it a bit. Next is an eggplant and tomato with miso dish with udon noodles.

 

[Torn Mind]

What is "affordable" is such junk that people would be better off not eating the foods(even though I myself can't resist sometimes).

It also happens to be that certain foods stimulate more eating that others because of biology(yet obfuscated from consciousness).

Saccharides cause a multi-facet response to devour more.

"Unstarched" fat and meat do not cause such expansion of appetite.

I can barely eat 1oz of cheddar cheese and have left many bricks to rot despite believing in cheese providing some health benefits. Mix some rice or wheat product with some cheese and only then can I eat a larger amount...

I do buy Walmart...mainly just for the canned fish, the periodic times some produce is cheap(but often not), milk. In the past, I would consider nuts or chocolate, maybe some expensive pacific oysters. Most meats and eggs are priced too high compared to competing stores. But a lot of the shelves are essentially all variations on a theme: insulin-stimulating saccharide bombs. Sugar, potato, bread, noodles, rice.

 

[Torn Mind]

Last person is fucking economically ignorant. Inflation is tied to the money supply. End of story. There are "tricks" in the system to try and prevent the effects from leaking over, but COVID caused the dam to crack. Whether or not companies see a profit or not is irrelevant.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

As someone raised in America we are programmed to think meat heavy diets are the only way, and in fact somehow eating a lot of meat is associated with being manly by a lot of people. So fucking weird really when you think about it.

So much this. I know I'm dealing with a guy heavily overcompensating for something when they act like Tim the Tool Man or Hank Hill. A waning libido/low T, being last picked at sportsball, whatev.

Impossible burger has allowed me to cut a lot of red meat out of our diets in my home. Tacos, burritos, chili, bolognese sauce, lasagna, baked Ziti, dirty rice, etc. I get grass fed ground beef for $4.99lbs, so when I do need real beef for a meal; stuff like meatballs, meatloaf, hamburgers, that kind of dish, I use the impossible burger in place of a different cut of beef, pork, or veal. Works great and reduces the amount of red meat being consumed by 50%.

Assholes are eating fast food, cheesy puffs, snacky cakes, ice cream, etc. and talking shit about plant based meat substitutes, SMDH. I'm 57 and can still pull the ears off a gundark. Dudes need to stop the fake machismo horse crap and get their mental and physical shit together.

Sometimes they start with the BCAA, phytoestrogen/soy boy, or some other dumb ass argument. You are not Brian Shaw or Eddie Hall, calm the fuck down. You'll be fine supplementing some plant based products for meat.

BTW, don't forget Larry is super morbidly obese and has trouble standing and walking. So getting up and cooking meals is like asking him to run a 5K. He could still make better food choices though. Dumping shit in a crockpot ain't that hard. But you can't help someone that doesn't want it. The lifespan of the average American male was 49yrs in 1900. Perhaps DNA Methylation plays a part in why so many men are ready to take a dirt nap by that age? 💀

Anyways, the cost of groceries is higher than it was a few years ago. But like Pete mentioned, Aldi has some really good prices on healthy stuff. I get deals at the warehouse clubs too. @Kaido has 100s of posts about how you can make ahead and store meals. Do it while you watch sportsball or whatever on Sunday for the rest of the week.

 

[VirtualLarry]

BTW, don't forget Larry is super morbidly obese

That sounds like a Metroidvania game that I'd love to star in...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

That sounds like a Metroidvania game that I'd love to star in...

Forget that, you can be Chonky Kong. 🤣

 

[Torn Mind]

So much this. I know I'm dealing with a guy heavily overcompensating for something when they act like Tim the Tool Man or Hank Hill. A waning libido/low T, being last picked at sportsball, whatev.

Impossible burger has allowed me to cut a lot of red meat out of our diets in my home. Tacos, burritos, chili, bolognese sauce, lasagna, baked Ziti, dirty rice, etc. I get grass fed ground beef for $4.99lbs, so when I do need real beef for a meal; stuff like meatballs, meatloaf, hamburgers, that kind of dish, I use the impossible burger in place of a different cut of beef, pork, or veal. Works great and reduces the amount of red meat being consumed by 50%.

Assholes are eating fast food, cheesy puffs, snacky cakes, ice cream, etc. and talking shit about plant based meat substitutes, SMDH. I'm 57 and can still pull the ears off a gundark. Dudes need to stop the fake machismo horse crap and get their mental and physical shit together.

Sometimes they start with the BCAA, phytoestrogen/soy boy, or some other dumb ass argument. You are not Brian Shaw or Eddie Hall, calm the fuck down. You'll be fine supplementing some plant based products for meat.

BTW, don't forget Larry is super morbidly obese and has trouble standing and walking. So getting up and cooking meals is like asking him to run a 5K. He could still make better food choices though. Dumping shit in a crockpot ain't that hard. But you can't help someone that doesn't want it. The lifespan of the average American male was 49yrs in 1900. Perhaps DNA Methylation plays a part in why so many men are ready to take a dirt nap by that age? 💀

Anyways, the cost of groceries is higher than it was a few years ago. But like Pete mentioned, Aldi has some really good prices on healthy stuff. I get deals at the warehouse clubs too. @Kaido has 100s of posts about how you can make ahead and store meals. Do it while you watch sportsball or whatever on Sunday for the rest of the week.

I do not find "plant-based" subs of meat to be that beneficial to health(there is a better case for environment). Impossible Burgers are sold in fast food joints, and they do contain dextrose, and you don't need much for the appetite enhancing effect of dextrose to take effect. They also contain heme, the same that is cited as a potential cause of colorectal cancer.

The there is the cost premium for paying for a protein that can be had for much less(soy protein in tofu is much cheaper.

I think TB was a real issue in 1900.

 

[MrSquished]

So much this. I know I'm dealing with a guy heavily overcompensating for something when they act like Tim the Tool Man or Hank Hill. A waning libido/low T, being last picked at sportsball, whatev.

Impossible burger has allowed me to cut a lot of red meat out of our diets in my home. Tacos, burritos, chili, bolognese sauce, lasagna, baked Ziti, dirty rice, etc. I get grass fed ground beef for $4.99lbs, so when I do need real beef for a meal; stuff like meatballs, meatloaf, hamburgers, that kind of dish, I use the impossible burger in place of a different cut of beef, pork, or veal. Works great and reduces the amount of red meat being consumed by 50%.

Assholes are eating fast food, cheesy puffs, snacky cakes, ice cream, etc. and talking shit about plant based meat substitutes, SMDH. I'm 57 and can still pull the ears off a gundark. Dudes need to stop the fake machismo horse crap and get their mental and physical shit together.

Sometimes they start with the BCAA, phytoestrogen/soy boy, or some other dumb ass argument. You are not Brian Shaw or Eddie Hall, calm the fuck down. You'll be fine supplementing some plant based products for meat.

BTW, don't forget Larry is super morbidly obese and has trouble standing and walking. So getting up and cooking meals is like asking him to run a 5K. He could still make better food choices though. Dumping shit in a crockpot ain't that hard. But you can't help someone that doesn't want it. The lifespan of the average American male was 49yrs in 1900. Perhaps DNA Methylation plays a part in why so many men are ready to take a dirt nap by that age? 💀

Anyways, the cost of groceries is higher than it was a few years ago. But like Pete mentioned, Aldi has some really good prices on healthy stuff. I get deals at the warehouse clubs too. @Kaido has 100s of posts about how you can make ahead and store meals. Do it while you watch sportsball or whatever on Sunday for the rest of the week.

Ha. Well said.

I ate a lot more meat when I was younger. I didn't really associate it with manliness much but just enough to eat lots of it.

Luckily though one of my friends went vegetarian when I was like 20, Plus living near New York City with the most amazing food options that are not chains, It was a lot easier to be exposed to really good vegetarian food without even really trying.

We would go to the city just to get falafel, which is actually vegan. You could never find a decent falafel anywhere in North Jersey except in a couple towns in very heavy Middle Eastern immigrant populations.

Living near a diverse city with great food options is a great thing when it comes to exploring food. It would be really hard to be a vegetarian eating out in a lot of the country but it's pretty easy in New York and other big cities.

I've dated vegetarians too. I respect the lifestyle. I think animals are too often treated horribly and raising animals for food should be severely regulated. Excessive factory farming is also pretty terrible for the environment. Raising animals better will increase the cost of me which is fine because most of our society should eat less meat. It's good for our health it's good for the environment and it's good for the animals.

I will always eat meat but just in much more moderation than I was raised with.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I do not find "plant-based" subs of meat to be that beneficial to health(there is a better case for environment). Impossible Burgers are sold in fast food joints, and they do contain dextrose, and you don't need much for the appetite enhancing effect of dextrose to take effect. They also contain heme, the same that is cited as a potential cause of colorectal cancer.

The there is the cost premium for paying for a protein that can be had for much less(soy protein in tofu is much cheaper.

I think TB was a real issue in 1900.

You're one of those dudes I completely disregard. No offense intended. It is simply that my life has taught me you mofos nerd out on everything too the nth degree. Do you have OCD? You seem like you do.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Ha. Well said.

I ate a lot more meat when I was younger. I didn't really associate it with manliness much but just enough to eat lots of it.

Luckily though one of my friends went vegetarian when I was like 20, Plus living near New York City with the most amazing food options that are not chains, It was a lot easier to be exposed to really good vegetarian food without even really trying.

We would go to the city just to get falafel, which is actually vegan. You could never find a decent falafel anywhere in North Jersey except in a couple towns in very heavy Middle Eastern immigrant populations.

Living near a diverse city with great food options is a great thing when it comes to exploring food. It would be really hard to be a vegetarian eating out in a lot of the country but it's pretty easy in New York and other big cities.

I've dated vegetarians too. I respect the lifestyle. I think animals are too often treated horribly and raising animals for food should be severely regulated. Excessive factory farming is also pretty terrible for the environment. Raising animals better will increase the cost of me which is fine because most of our society should eat less meat. It's good for our health it's good for the environment and it's good for the animals.

I will always eat meat but just in much more moderation than I was raised with.

My sis-in-law was a pro bowler. She and my bro went vegetarian and her game got better. They were the don't eat anything that had a face type. It inspired me to start exploring meatless options more. That was around the turn of the century.

I eat a metric shit ton of eggs. Sam's has 18 pasture raised for under $5, you can't beat that. Ethical considerations do play a part in it for me as well. Grass fed beef critters tend to be free range out in the fields. They are here locally anyways. Taking something else's life energy to support our own is how this universe works as far as I can tell. But it doesn't have to be even crueler than nature is.

 

[Kaido]

Impossible burger has allowed me to cut a lot of red meat out of our diets in my home. Tacos, burritos, chili, bolognese sauce, lasagna, baked Ziti, dirty rice, etc. I get grass fed ground beef for $4.99lbs, so when I do need real beef for a meal; stuff like meatballs, meatloaf, hamburgers, that kind of dish, I use the impossible burger in place of a different cut of beef, pork, or veal. Works great and reduces the amount of red meat being consumed by 50%.

@Kaido has 100s of posts about how you can make ahead and store meals. Do it while you watch sportsball or whatever on Sunday for the rest of the week.

I like Michael Pollen's approach:

1. Eat food (i.e. real food)
2. Mostly plants
3. Not too much

For about 10 years, I was allergic to like, everything lol. I went through every kind of diet out there to try to fix my health problems: (finally found a solution last year!)

* Keto
* Paleo
* Vegetarian
* Vegan
* Raw vegan
* Gluten-free raw vegan
* Fruitarian (which was actually one of my favorites! waaaay too expensive to maintain tho lol)
* Carnivore
* Liquid meals (Soylent, Sated, Super Body Fuel, etc.)
* Intermittent fasting
* Plus more niche ones I've forgotten about lol

What I've ultimately settled on is:

* Macros (lost 90 pounds doing this!)
* Omnivore
* Balanced approach

I've learned that the human body can survive on a LOT of different dietary approaches. What I try to personally aim for these days is a more balanced approach. For example, if I'm doing a burger, I'll have a bun (grains), cheese (dairy), veggies (lettuce, tomatoes, etc.), and then a meat patty. I love meat, but the statistic data is mounting against consuming higher quantities & frequencies of things like red meat & more historical data is coming out against common food myths, so I do a lot more poultry these days, limited fish (due to mercury), and have been working to fill in the blank with a lot more vegetable-based dishes.

Meal-prepping is difficult, depending on which dimension you choose to operate in. I don't have the energy to sustain it through willpower, so I had to switch to a system-based approach using checklists & smartphone alarm reminders. imo the most difficult thing for human beings to do is to maintain consistency against things that require proactive effort, which is because our brain is designed for execution, not storage! So remembering what to do, when to do it, etc. becomes a real chore, which is why most of the people you meet who do meal preparation are typically high-energy human beings, haha!

My goal over time has morphed into simply "maintain a supply of frozen meals", which enables me to maintain a balanced omnivore macros-based diet through convenience. To feed that beast (i.e. my deep freezer), I use a couple of modern appliances & basically just cook once a day to divvy up & freeze as part of my daily chores, along with paying the bills, cleaning up the house, etc. But I take a preparation approach rather than a willpower approach so that I have everything prepared & setup ahead of time using checklists, rather than having to engage in decision fatigue day after day after day. I can't do it otherwise lol.

For me, it hasn't really been about sacrifice, as much as positive tweaks in the right direction. I love me a good triple cheeseburger, but now I can do a potato bun with sesame seeds, a handful of veggies, some real cheese (I grew up & still love Kraft tho, lol!), and then a meat patty instead for a more balanced approach to getting some fiber & whatnot into my body, haha!

 

[Red Squirrel]

I hate cooking, and I'm not good at it, and I just never really know what to make. Reading a recipe book is like Chinese to me, I end up having to research almost every ingredient just so I know what it is. Or I can just pickup the phone and order pizza.

So I'm fairly guilty of eating lots of take out and prepared meals, and it's probably not good for me. I need to really do something about it but it requires a lot of work and research. Even gadgets like instant pot etc you still need to actually do a lot of prep work and follow recipes etc and it's just a lot of work all for something that takes 15 minutes to eat. It just feels like wasted effort that I could be using towards doing something else instead.

I was actually looking at Factor since it looks kind of intriguing but it's kind of expensive for what is basically a TV dinner. Although if you go with the biggest package it's cheaper per meal, I can't see why these can't be frozen but I'd have to check with them as it would be an option to get the subscription for a few months at a time and put what I don't eat in the freezer, then pause it when I have too many. Ideally these type of services are probably better to do in winter when it's cold out so the food stays fresh longer while it's being delivered and sitting overnight in warehouses or trucks etc.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Stoked to read you finally got a handle on your health issues. 🫶

 

[Kaido]

Thought the point where it's actually cheaper to order out was interesting. If you don't have kids, or want to deal with leftovers, that is true, I think.

I personally stretch my budget by buying multiple 12-can flats of chef boyardee and hormel chili sort-of in-bulk, online. That's if you can catch them in-stock.

The food prices in my area are out of CONTROL! My Costco bill has literally doubled since COVID started for the same stuff I buy in bulk ALL the time (chicken, frozen veggies, etc.). It almost seems like the government needs to step in & control price caps on housing & food in particular. The national median rent in America is now over $2,000 a month:

February 2025 Average Rent Report: Rents Rise as Construction Slows

The rental market ticked up in February, with asking rents rising 0.4% year over year. Learn more in our monthly average rent report.

www.rent.com

I have more than one friend with great jobs who have gotten close to or have gone bankrupt due to a few bad breaks (especially regarding healthcare issues!). Even back in pre-COVID 2019, 40% of Americans were only one missed paycheck away from poverty:

40% of Americans only one missed paycheck away from poverty

Many otherwise middle-class people are "liquid-asset poor," meaning they can't withstand even a brief financial shock

www.cbsnews.com

That's one of the reasons I'm such a big fan of things like the Instant Pot...I can convert simple labor into pretty decent cost-savings, as food is such a big part of our modern budgetary allotment. Things are pretty crazy tho & I don't know if or when things will get much better, so I think we just kind of having to work to figure things out as they are!

 

[Kaido]

Stoked to read you finally got a handle on your health issues. 🫶

It's pretty wild tbh. One of the things I've dealt with my whole life has been anxiety. There's basically two types: mental anxiety, where you talk yourself into worrying about things, and body anxiety, where you have an overreactive central nervous system that causes physical pain. I had the latter; my histamine intolerance basically flooded my body with adrenaline 24/7, which was exhausting, annoying, and literally painful at times. I had everything from arthritis to migraines to full-on insomnia. I was a real hermit growing up & it's one of the major reasons I got into computer work in the first place!

I've been on this treatment for just over a year now. For contrast, I just went down to NYC for a friend's birthday the other day & we hung out at Time's Square at midnight with a thousand people...I felt absolutely NO ANXIETY for the fist time in my life! Crowds have always been EXTREMELY difficult for me to deal with because my body tends to unwillingly shut down from the overstimulation...I can't think straight, I get the shakes, my auditory processing disorder from ADHD kicks into overdrive & I can hear everything loudly in ultra-detail all at once, etc. It's like that scene from Family Guy where Stewie pestered his mom to death, except it feels like an ice pick in your brain lol.

It has been absolutely WONDERFUL to not get auto-clobbered by my body's self-defense mechanisms!

 

[Kaido]

I hate cooking, and I'm not good at it, and I just never really know what to make. Reading a recipe book is like Chinese to me, I end up having to research almost every ingredient just so I know what it is. Or I can just pickup the phone and order pizza.

So I'm fairly guilty of eating lots of take out and prepared meals, and it's probably not good for me. I need to really do something about it but it requires a lot of work and research. Even gadgets like instant pot etc you still need to actually do a lot of prep work and follow recipes etc and it's just a lot of work all for something that takes 15 minutes to eat. It just feels like wasted effort that I could be using towards doing something else instead.

I was actually looking at Factor since it looks kind of intriguing but it's kind of expensive for what is basically a TV dinner. Although if you go with the biggest package it's cheaper per meal, I can't see why these can't be frozen but I'd have to check with them as it would be an option to get the subscription for a few months at a time and put what I don't eat in the freezer, then pause it when I have too many. Ideally these type of services are probably better to do in winter when it's cold out so the food stays fresh longer while it's being delivered and sitting overnight in warehouses or trucks etc.

You may be interested in Tovala oven system:

Tovala - Fresh Meal Delivery Service. 1 Minute of Prep.

No need to shop, prep, cook, or clean.

www.tovala.com

It has two parts:

1. Countertop oven
2. Meal delivery service

The oven is currently $70 shipped. The meals go like this:

1. You pick out what you want from the menu (4 to 16 meals per week)
2. They come with a QR code to scan for "one minute of prep"
3. They take less than 25 minutes to auto-cook in the oven

The average meal cost is $13, which isn't exactly cheap, but it's $12.50 for a Big Mac meal where I live (burger, fries, drink), so it's not unreasonable if (1) you want to be involved in the cooking process, but don't want the stress of meal planning or meal preparation, and (2) you want to eat healthier food. This system is nice because they automate the whole process from end to end for you. You can freeze some things as well, they have some notes on that process here:

https://support.tovala.com/hc/en-us/articles/115009390007-Can-I-freeze-my-Tovala-Meals-