In case you’re wondering if you’re the only one who’s noticed that costs for pretty much everything are through the roof , you’re not alone. Indeed, inflation is really getting out of hand .
Many of us have been forced to modify our buying habits to save costs. Since inflation affects literally everything that you can buy, this has wide-ranging effects.
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A thread in the r/Frugal subreddit asked Redditors about the stuff they’ve stopped buying due to inflation.
Caffeine isn’t as cheap as it used to be.
“Iced coffee. I reserve my indulgence for the weekend(if that) or when I’m out with someone. I drink too much coffee and started making my own and carrying instant packets with me for work.”
– u/vixxie
“Install the mcdonalds app. they (so far) seem to have 99c large iced coffee daily now. its my liquid crack. I can’t make it at home for that price :-)”
Watermelons are out of whack.
“I got my last watermelon for $2.50. Not sure where you live but that’s insane.
I still buy everything I normally do. I just spend twice as much on groceries. Food quality is one thing I absolutely do not scrimp on. I cut other places.
I like my red meat, I like my salmon, I like my veggies, I love my blueberries.”
I want my cheap Lacroix.
“We switched to 90% vegetarian meals last year so the rising meat prices aren’t bothering us. The one thing I’ve basically stopped buying due to cost though is sparkling water. The store brand flavored sparkling water used to be dead cheap years ago but now it is so damn expensive. I only buy it every couple months as a treat now, or for parties.”
If you can’t beat the deli, be the deli.
“A big one for me is deli meat. I’ve been buying whole chicken, roast it, eat all the dark meat, freeze the breast, then slice it thin when it’s about half thawed. It passed a huge test recently: We had my girlfriend’s 6yo niece over and she only eats plain turkey sandwiches. I made her one w/my homemade deli meat and her body did not reject it, nor did she complain at all. Big win.”
At least they learned a new skill.
“Breakfast burritos. I used to get a pack of 12 for about $8, they’re now right around $15 for the same pack, and the flavor changed too. Now I make a batch of egg muffins on Sundays and have breakfast all week for maybe $2.”
Time to dust off those tofu recipes.
“All meat.
I’ve always had the want to be a vegetarian but never got started because I have a husband who eats meat. Then he got deployed and prices became high. I just can’t justify meat anymore in my grocery budget.”
Some jerk hiked the price.
“Beef jerky lol.
I am pretty obsessed with teriyaki jerky but I will be damned if I’m buying it anymore bc the prices are insane here lol.”
“Yeah, I always pass the Jerky section in the grocery store to see if anything is on sale but, alas, because jerky lasts forever there’s rarely ever a reason to have it on sale.”
Irish butter?
“Irish butter. Man, that stuff is so good. But $7 for two sticks of butter is steep. Yesterday it was on sale 3.99, which was cheaper than other butter that size. We have a tiny fridge (talking camper size), so we don’t buy bulk of much cold stuff because we can’t hold it.”
Is it the chicken or the eggs?
“I stopped buying chicken for a few months.. the price is coming down but not by much.. I’ve cut back on eggs too, which sucks because we use a lot of them!
Also just recently cut out diet pop! But that is a mixture of cost and health.”
When bacon’s the star of the show.
“Bacon! It’s gotten super $$ here.”
“I don’t regularly buy bacon, but i bought some for my mother’s birthday to make her brunch. Bacon for 3 (2-3 strips each)was over $12 :/
…it cost about as much as the rest of the brunch combined :(“
Back to the store-brand chips.
“Potato chips – I buy the higher priced chips as they don’t upset my stomach (the joys of getting older) and a bag use to cost around $3.50 and now its gone up to $5.95
I rarely ever get it unless I get a voucher but McDonald’s – I usually get a few cheese burgers and they’ve gone up a few bucks as well so that’s stopped me.”
Here’s the beef.
“Beef. It’s crazy expensive. I get tired of chicken and pork sometimes.”
“I buy the whole cut from costco. It’s usually half the price per kilogram compared to packaged steaks. This way you can cut it yourself to your specification and any of the trimmings you can use for fat rendering or stock if that’s your thing.”
Probably a good thing to cut down on.
“Carbonated beverages. I used to always have Fresca in the house. Now, rarely.”
“In my area, 2 liter sodas used to be 1.50 – 2.00 ($1 on sale) a few years ago. Now they are $2-3 ($1.50 on sale).”
When it gets more expensive and shrinks at the same time.
“My chobani yogurts T.T
I love them. But they cut the size in half and made it over 150% the cost. So it’s more like 2-3 times as expensive for the amount. I hate it.”
Homemade hummus is the way to go.
“I make my own hummus. It is way cheaper and you can make it to your liking.
Wow 11 bucks for a melon? They are steep here at 7.
Really haven’t given up much since I was already frugal. Some dietary changes per doc even makes those more expensive items off the potential treat list.”
– u/arebet
Time to shop for less exotic produce.
“Not consciously, but in a general kind of way I’ve mostly stopped buying things like avocados and mangos and other more ‘exotic’ fruits. But it’s not just because of the cost itself but due to the cost and the risk of it not being good enough to eat (e.g. it’s too hard, too hard, and then overripe – or, in the case of avocados, too hard and mostly rotten inside at the same time).
I do still enjoy such foods, but in other ways and far less often.”
Wings used to be cheap.
“Wings! They used be $8-$9 for a family pack and now they are $16+”
“I don’t get it, the whole appeal of wings was that they were dirt cheap throwaway parts. I’m definitely not paying a premium for wings over other parts of the bird.”
– u/spilk
At least it sparked a new skill.
“Delivery pizza these days costs 5-10x the cost of ingredients for making it at home and often enough they’d be room temp when delivered, so I’d have to run to oven to warm them up again. The first few pies I made weren’t the prettiest but I got the method down quickly and am now experimenting with new recipes and techniques and sometimes splurge on some spendier ingredients.”
– u/[user]
Goodbye, guac.
“Avocados, they went from $4.99 to $9.99 at Costco.”
“I saw avocados at my local store, 3 for $10 and that was when I was done with guac.”
“Produce at Costco is generally not at all frugal. We’ve compared a lot of items to Smiths, and Costco is 2-4x as expensive.”
– u/tt417
Restaurants have gotten super expensive.
“I definitely cut way, way down on eating out or ordering delivery. At home, though, I don’t really restrict anything, I want my home-prepared meals to be satisfying so I’m less tempted to eat out.”
