When I need to pad my savings I cut some costs but mostly I just work extra hours in side gigs. I couldnt imagine its worth going to multiple grocery stores to compare prices. Shop at 1 store, pay more for some items, work an extra hour to make up for it. I'm building my career and getting paid instead of experiencing traffic, grocery stores at peak hours, check out lines, and loading/unloading food to and from the car/house for a second time.

Does it really make sense for you financially to do that?

But that sounds elitist so nobody says it. Doesn't make it any bit less true.

Ones that let you hop in just whenever you feel like it and do one hour of work, with no commitment to minimum hours per week? And that you can put in a single productive hour every so often, without ramp-up time eating that entire hour with nothing to show for it? And that pays enough to make it worth it (i.e. not Mechanical Turk or whatever)?

I don't even know what such an ultra-flexible, low-context (= near-zero ramp-up time even if you only do it an hour or two a week, and some weeks not at all) but still high-paid gig would look like, or how to go about finding it.

Meanwhile, you can value-shop if you feel like it, or not if you don't. Entirely optional and no commitment or outside expectations. You can do it very seriously one week, then not do it at all the next.

There isn't a lot of daylight between low-paid, mostly uninteresting gig work and a real side job that takes some marketing, sales, avoiding time-wasting people who want to low-ball you, chasing payment, and some expectation of ongoing commitment.

I do have something drop in my lap now and then from someone I know, e.g. ghostwriting something. And that's fine. It's good money for maybe a day's work overall. But you can have tight deadlines and if you just wait for the phone to ring, you're probably not going to get a lot of that sort of thing.

I live in a city where multiple grocery stores exist within 5 minutes of each other and I do enjoy doing mundane tasks outside my professional life. Those tasks made me pause, clear my mind, and escape the bubble that we called "work" (yes, work itself is a bubble).

We have discount grocers nearby that sell a crap-shoot of stuff the bigger stores are trying to get rid of. If going there before heading to Wegmans can save me $50-100/month after gas, for maybe an extra 30 minutes - 1 hour of time, would be worth it these days.

C++ programmer by trade.

Just be careful that your freezer has a reliable electrical supply. The National Electrical Code has required GFCI protection on garage outlets since 2008 and those can occasionally fail and trip off for no reason. Ask me how I know...

Much easier than trying to get and find dry ice in an emergency.

My favorite use is sparkling grapes. https://sciencenotes.org/how-to-make-fizzy-fruit-with-dry-ic...

Put (food grade) dry ice at the bottom of a bowl, then a clean cloth or towel (for insulation), then grapes. Ideally our a loose fitting cover over the bowl.

As the dry ice sublimates, it passes through the grapes which will capture some of the CO2 and carbonate the grapes.

Very fun, and much less practical, use of dry ice…

I get it all the time for camping trips

I have a 1kW power station with solar charging, which won't fare a whole lot better; it'll run a fridge for maybe 2-3 days if it's sunny outside.

Low-tech solutions win in power outages of more than a day or two.

Power outages typically aren't more than one day, and dry ice is not going to help you for those outages.

I don't have any dry ice suppliers nearby (no the Walmart doesn't stock it), it's not a low-tech solution.

The low tech solution would be a bigger gas canister. 2 gallons a day is not bad at all.

In an apartment building or something I can certain see the use case for dry ice though.

But for those who like protein packed meals in a comfortable environment an additional deep freezer is a great investment.

You can deep freeze extra veggies/fruit if you have a beef with meat.

A dehydrator is another good option for preserving perishables. The shelf life is a bit shorter than most people would think, but properly packed and sealed you can get at least 3 months or so.

A freeze drier will preserve perishables for significantly longer than a dehydrator, but they cost an order of magnitude more. If you have a big garden or something though the three grand outlay might be worth it.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Protein-quality-assessme...

1. The human body can synthesize protein except for a few amino acids. These are called "essential" amino acids because we must get them from food.

2. Protein "quality" refers to the ratio of essential amino acids, specifically how close they are to the ratio of essential amino acids in our bodies. This metric is used to gauge the rate of absorption of proteins, not the overall amount of absorption.

3. Red meat is not ideal protein quality. Whey protein is actually a lot better because it consists of amino acids in ratios that are better for absorption. Also better than red meat is... rice and beans.

But honestly I think you have some kind of vegetarian agenda, and that's causing you to use some pretty tortuous reasoning to reach your desired conclusions.

I also love beef, tuna, shrimp and many other meats.

I like having a variety in my diet and to eat what I prefer.

See how quickly you hate beans and rice if you only have beans and rice.

Navy beans on Instacart are currently $1.14 for 104 grams of protein. https://www.instacart.com/store/items/item_1807377332

Ground beef on Instacart is $5.23 for 76 grams of protein. https://www.instacart.com/store/items/item_1785250798

Beans have 91 grams of protein per dollar compared to ground beef's 14 grams.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Protein-quality-assessme...

And you're comparing price per protein? Wouldn't this thread be based on amount as we're talking about storing it?

Also, see my response about "protein quality". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32417603

But either way I recommend storing and buying both. Definitely not going on a crusade against beans, they're great! (and so is meat)

Another user recommended eggs if you're concerned about protein to price ratio, but it's harder to store efficiently without getting creative.

You could farm your own eggs as I do, but it requires a lot of space (and a love for chickens, they can be a hassle).

More seriously, that quality of life decrease is now completely ignored. I think it's worth acknowledging that it's happening.

And at the end of the day, it’s more important to be happy

- a popular quote in the internet

you can't watch people switch their crab and milk for krab and powdered milk then be like "oh we'll just trim that out of inflation lmao". inflation is not supposed to measure change in average cost of necessities, it's supposed to measure change in a basket of basic goods.

A TV today is not the same as a TV in 1970.

The groceries a family buys today are not the same Goods or quality as someone would have bought in 1920

You can starve.

It's beginning to feel like a 'let them eat cake' moment from the wealthy.

The entitlement adjustments made based on trimmed CPI will always be less than the inflation even the gov't admits people are experiencing.

I can then stuff my freezer with ready to cook chicken, steak, fish, etc. I just take it out the night before to thaw in the fridge.

For nicer cuts of meat, sure, but for flank steak and such, I find it much easier to just let the meat marinate for 24-48 hours and then grill it.

My point is that with less space you need to store less different things.

There is also the problem that some folks have (cough, me, yes, I'm talking about me) that even if I go into Costco for 3 specific items, I walk out with 5-10 at least. That's another place to watch for cost and try to be strict about sticking to a list.

- Too many items force you to buy insane quantities that don't make sense even for a 4 person family. The meat, for example, is great quality and value, but it's very hard to make steak or chicken taste good after being frozen, and in no universe should I be eating 4 huge steaks within the refrigeration shelf life. I can never use their giant tub of sour cream or shredded cheese before it goes bad.

- Related to the last point, Costco makes you pay for the square footage in your home to store their stuff, and to really utilize the membership you're gonna want a chest freezer, a whole extra appliance to purchase, run (electricity), and repair. Probably about $50/year in electricity costs.

- Too many of the items that are "great deals" are things most people would probably never buy in the first place when sold at the normal higher retail price. For example, Red Bull is barely over a dollar a can, which is unbeatable, but in no universe should I be buying a 24 pack of Red Bull for any reason.

- Similar to the point above, Costco's deals encourage consumption where the alternative is to not consume anything at all. For example, paper towels are an item where you really should just reduce your usage. Just use dish towels and cloth napkins, toss them in with your regular laundry. There are very few messes where you actually need to use paper towels.

- I know it's not supposed to be a replacement for a grocery store, but I think it's very hard to cook from scratch using whole and minimally-processed foods solely from what Costco sells.

- The low SKU count of the store has never not been infuriating to me. The entire health and beauty section is the worst offender here: good luck having any sort of preference.

- The store wastes your time by making you memorize aisle layout, this is done on purpose to increase aimless browsing time.

- The negotiation practices that Costco uses to keep prices low also causes their inventory to be incredibly inconsistent. One day there will be a pallet of Legos or an interesting brand of trail mix, the next it could be gone or replaced by something else.

- Costco is almost always packed with an uncomfortable amount of people.

- Am I the only one who thinks Costco doesn't have enough cat supplies?? It's all stuff for dogs!! You'd think I should be saving so much money by using Costco for cat litter but...nope, the stuff I buy at Target is about the same cost, they'll deliver it for free in two days, and Costco doesn't sell any form of unscented cat litter product.

- Their lauded snack bar is trash food and I don't believe the common refrain that it's a loss leader. Costco brags about that as a PR exercise. It breaks even at the very least.

- If your Costco is able to sell beer/wine/liquor, that's a pretty nice perk that can pretty legitimately make up for the membership cost over a year, but anyone with a really legit liquor warehouse type of store (e.g., Binny's) isn't going to be massively impressed. Low SKU count is still a problem here, and I don't actually think Costco is that great at curating wines (another PR exercise they like to engage in).

- Don't forget that you have to pay $60 a year just to get in the door. You have to buy enough discounted things to make up for that difference. Sure, it probably makes more sense than Amazon Prime, but that's still a major point to think about.

I think the only reason to be a member is to buy diapers, you'll make up the membership cost very quickly that way. Still, if you can tolerate lower quality diapers, Target's brand is actually lower cost than Kirkland. There are a number of Costco products out there where other store brands offer something at a close-enough price and quality ratio, without having to shell out a membership fee. For many products it might not actually matter that "Kirkland is the best."

I walk in and buy the same stuff every time. I never buy anything I end up tossing anymore. I know where everything is because they don’t change the store much.

Costco isn’t my main grocery store but I’m only in the Costco warehouse 1-2 times per month anyway.

And the lower price of gas makes up for the price of admission for me

If bikes could park like cars and be safe, a lot more people would use bikes for errands. As it is I only use my bike (even my cheap one) when I can keep eyes on it from the store.

I live in an area where I can very easily and quickly bike to just about anything. But I never do because there's nowhere to store the bike while I'm there so it will get stolen. So I either walk (if I have the extra 15-20 minutes) or feel silly driving a mile or less. I'd rather bike.

But if you buy a $5k electric cargo bike and it gets stolen two weeks later, or you have to spend 10 minutes finding a secure place for it everywhere you go...

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/total-co...

"For vehicles driven 15,000 miles a year, average car ownership costs were $9,666 a year, or $806 a month, in 2021, according to AAA"

VS https://bicycleuniverse.com/how-much-does-a-bike-cost/

So the figure is accurate.

Even the highest end technical fabrics don't work very well when it's humid outside, which tends to happen a lot when it's raining.

If you're actually working hard, you'll be covered in your own sweat soon enough. Given the choice i usually just go with the rain instead.

Riding an ebike is a different matter, that's probably entirely doable with current tech.

In any case, I think that’s a good thing! The oil crisis of the 1970s was one of the contributing factors to the Netherlands getting their now-excellent bike infrastructure.

A trailer would probably be a lot better.

'Grocery prices were up 1.3% in July from the prior month and rose 13.1% in July from a year ago, the fastest annual pace since 1979.'

https://www.youneedabudget.com/

It's really good, knowing where you're money is going ahead of time removes so much guilt and anxiety.

Something's got to give. Thankfully we're starting to see some actual government investment in US industry for the first time in forever, but it'll take years for any results to bring down prices.

YNAB is much nicer than Mint IMO. Mint feels more like a toy.

With YNAB you do something called "envelope budgeting" (just a digital version) https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-envelope-budgeting-129368...

I've found being obsessive with tracking expenses is a good way to lose motivation (like going to the gym) so it's good to have a simple pattern to get used to.

Anybody who doesn't demand a raise in this environment is a fool.

anyway sorry for the vent/rant, but what we need to do is stop loose monetary and fiscal policy that transfers wealth to people who got assets like real estate and stock (boomers, the rich) from people who don't (young people, the poor). but nobody wants to do that...

You can grow hydroponic lettuce, indoor tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, etc. There are many good resources to learn. It's also a past time that will teach you one thing or two.

Then, if saving time is what you are looking for... robot vacuum, mop, and a all-in-one cooking appliance (e.g.: Thermomix) can help.

Want to take that bet? There's absolutely no reason to expect inflation borne of energy costs and trade disruption to continue. Remember (and so, so many people fail to understand this) that inflation is a year-over-year metric. The report today showing a drop in the "inflation rate" is actually showing an instantaneous decrease in absolute prices (fuels, primarily, like the ones needed to ship the meat you bought because you thought it was going to be expensive).

To wit: It is very likely that what you've done is stuffed your freezer full of meat you purchased at a price maximum.

Also, just because I have to ask: you're so concerned about prices that you're willing to make major changes to your lifestyle. But... you didn't even consider things like "eating less meat"?

GP literally did when he bought the meat.

Pessimist's take: When thinking about what we trade our time for, TV shows (and films, to some degree) have always been to me an endless source of a time sink for relatively little return. Games, slightly better, more social in some ways, certainly more mentally engaging, but also parasitic of time. To concurrently pay for multiple streaming services is unfathomable to me, moreso right now where, as you point out, your expenses have ballooned and your salary can't keep up. You aren't the only one, and yet it's highly likely (anecdotal experience here) that your friends know more about the last season of a show than they know about how to prep for the looming days, as you are prepping. One would think there's better ways to have downtime than to tune out in front of a box, but these habits are difficult to break.

(Cue the "They'll tell you" jokes.)

It was nice having multiple options on a Friday/Saturday night without the overhead of having to think about subscriptions, because the services combined were the equivalent of one or two hours of my hourly rate a month, and we were in the black month-to-month. So who cares? Now my hourly rate doesn't cover nearly as much as it used to what with everything else through the roof, so I have to care, and I'm lucky to be in that position. Fun times.