$9 chicken: What to do when food prices are rising
Posted
Apr 11 2008, 02:49 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
It really hit home to Nick at Punny Money that food prices are going up when he saw boneless chicken breasts at the grocery store for $9 a pound. "Nine dollars for one pound of chicken -- the slowest, stupidest, least tasty of all grocery-quality animals," he wrote. He opted for chicken nuggets instead.
As usual, this personal-finance blogger gives good advice, couched in his rather quirky humor, in a recent post, "7 unconventional ways to fight high grocery prices." We'll summarize a few of them here, and provide links to other helpful information. (Click on the link above to see his clever cartoon.)
Eat less. "Statistically speaking," Nick writes, "there is a good chance you are a fat tub o' lard. Take a close look at your diet and determine if you really need those 900 calories' worth of potato chips you eat every day."
Grow your own food. Numerous bloggers have written about container and small-space gardens, great for those without a large yard. Linette at Mother Earth's Garden says just about anything can work as a container, including old work boots. (Inspired by this, we just planted some seeds in a pair of old running shoes.) Our partner blogger J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly also has tips for square-foot gardening and links to container-gardening information.
Look for cheaper versions of the product. "Buy powdered milk by the boxful -- enough for gallons and gallons of a milk-like entity -- for pennies on the dollar," Nick says. Mary Ann Romans at Families.com says you can disguise the taste by using powered milk to turn one gallon of real milk into two, and that powdered milk tastes fine when you substitute it for milk in recipes. Amy Clark at Mom Advice says it tastes best when it has chilled overnight in the fridge. Hillbilly Housewife also offers some great powered-milk advice.
Buy directly from the producer. This is a great idea if it's possible where you live. Check out the Local Food Blog. We buy whole pigs, lambs and big chunks of cow, and save tons of money. We also love the local farmers market.
Check out other stores. Nick says: "I know a couple of people who haven't been to more than one grocery store or supermarket in the last decade. In fact, my wife's aunt has been going to the same corner grocery store for the last 32 years for all of her food and household needs, even after it became a post office in 1997." Comparing prices is a must to find the best value. Start a price book and check out these 50 tips at Zen Habits for saving money on groceries, as well as this article at MSN Money.
