If you have the space and know someone who belongs to a warehouse club, you can buy some perishables in bulk for much cheaper than buying them at a grocery store. 8 packs of pasta are a great deal there, as are 3-packs of spaghetti sauce. Or, even better, look for 12 packs of canned chopped tomatoes, which can be spiced up and thrown over pasta and a meat (if desired) for a quick, cheap meal.
If your food budget includes household items, they can be much cheaper at warehouse clubs too, especially if you stick to the basics (e.g. a gallon of bleach or Lysol) instead of buying the high-priced convenience items such as WetJet pads or counter wipes. Costco’s in-house powder laundry detergent sells for around $15 for 180 use, which is a great deal. Ditto for dryer sheets.
Of course, you should cut coupons and shop for meat sales for non-bulk items.
From what I’ve noticed, our Trader Joe’s seems to be priced MUCH lower than most. I have no idea or theory as to why this is. The cheapest Greek yogurt in the area is their house brand. Our Mexican market stuff is like $1.25 for a can of refried beans and TJ is $1. Plus the Mexican ones have lard in them.
But it’s definitely an example of how widely by region YMMV. Meat in Pittsburgh is insanely expensive unless it’s on sale; some of our food threads have people talking about chicken legs or thighs for $2/pound. I’ve never seen anything like that here.
In Frederik Pohl’s anthology Years of the City, there’s a story about life in a domed city. In this story, one woman keeps a sort of garden on her balcony, and deliberately keeps crickets in that garden. One of her special dishes, used for minor celebrations, is Chirpy Chili. Yep, she uses the crickets for chili meat.
