What particular grocery items do you buy regardless of price?

[SnowballCamper]

Is this my wife? I didn't know you were on this forum.

We have an old bottle of the Heinz ketchup made with real cane sugar (old as in discounted for quick sale when we got it almost a year ago). it's great, but we barely use ketchup at all. I won't throw it away until I find another one with the "simply" label.

In general we're price conscious shoppers for everything, but stick with Costco, the commissary on base, and trader joes, with occasional trips to the Korean grocery store. I refuse to buy any foodstuff at the "dollar" stores.

 

[HFWR]

I spent a few months on the tomato juice line at a local company's facility in northern Indiana. The line in question canned the juice in 6 oz cans, which were fed into a machine that then put the plastic rings on, in eight pack bundles.

Granted, these were all store brands, but the same juice might be A&P, Winn Dixie, or various other store brands.

These were actual “fresh” juice, not from concentrate.

 

[rk911]

I do the shopping and, frankly, I don't pay attention to prices on anything.

 

[Gumby]

I don't have expensive tastes, but I buy whatever I want to eat from the grocery regardless of the price. I will skimp on anything else before I skimp on food.

 

[Alex The Great]

Typically I buy every grocery item I want but within $500 per month. This is because my grocery credit card (Citi Double Cash) provide 5% cash back under this condition. Sadly, sometime I cannot squeeze everything in $500 because everything is terribly expensive here in SF Bay Area.

 

[jollystomper]

I cannot think of any food that I would buy regardless of price. I am not big into "brand loyalty", and my food needs are basic - nothing exotic or fancy. For anything I eat that might get expensive, I can come up with other options. I am also fortunate to live in an area with a lot of food shopping options, which generates some level of competition among them.

DW has 3 brands of yogurt she sticks to, and will go into Hulk (or She-Hulk?) mode to smash any other option offered her. But she does look for when at least one of the brands is on sale, at one of the local stores, which is almost always.

 

[Jerry1]

I do my best to get the best price on the things we buy but I would not stop buying something based on price. One of the things we consider a bit of a splurge is the chicken we buy. It's typically $6.99/lb. I load up when It goes on sale ($5.99), so I play that game. I will use coupons if available and Kroger often runs a sale where if you buy 5 or more, you'll get $1 off each item - so I'll load up.

I've never shopped alternatives (store brands, etc.) and, like many here feel like food is the last thing I want to compromise on. However, being a value shopper, if I know something I like is bound to go on sale, I will wait for the sale but eventually, I'll buy it at any cost if that's what we have a taste for.

 

[robnplunder]

Castelveltrano Olives

 

[folivier]

Another thing: Mountain High yogurt, the best most consistent we've found but here in Baton Rouge there is only 1 store that carries it.

 

[Trailwalker]

Another thing: Mountain High yogurt, the best most consistent we've found but here in Baton Rouge there is only 1 store that carries it.

We love Mountain High yogurt too. Our store sold the big tubs until recently, and the price wasn't too bad. But now only the smaller ones are available, and the price made us try some other brands and trying to switch to Costco greek yogurt. That didn't work out so we're buying the smaller, higher priced Mountain High. I guess I found one thing for us that price doesn't matter.

 

[scrabbler1]

Pretty much everything. However, I do pay attention to the weekly store circulars to see if they have any of my items on sale, especially expensive, promotional items such as chopped meat and chicken cutlets. I try to load up on them when they are on sale because there are serious savings on those 2 items.

I have, over the years, switched from national brands to generic, brand-X brands when there is no change in quality.

 

[Gallaher]

We are frugal by nature, like most on this site. That’s how we became financially comfortable, like most on this site.
At this point our shopping strategy is “see it, want it, buy it”.
We don’t sweat prices on any grocery items.

 

[pacergal]

Portland Ketchup--you got try it, it has some good spices and flavor.
Tillamook brand Cheese and yogurt.

 

[yhoomajor]

Organic Milk

 

[brett]

We changed our eating habits a number of years ago.

At first, DW found that buying more fresh fruit and produce, seafood, etc was more expensive.

But it really was not when we considered the savings we eliminated by moving away from fast food, junk food, prepared foods, etc. that we previously bought.

Overall, DW tells me she reckons we have actually been spending the same or slightly more. I have no idea about that.

Even though when I shop my eyes start to water at the price I pay for some out of season fruit, imported cheese, or what I paid for seafood last week.

 

[imjustawarrior]

We are a family of 5 (6 if you count the 100 lb dog) and only 2 years into retirement. I can see once the kids are out of the house and there only 2 of us with many more years of retirement behind us, that we will loosen the purse strings and stop looking at prices so much. I suspect though that the optimizer in me will still try to figure out how to minimize the grocery bill while maximizing nutrition and enjoyment.

We still have almost 50 years left until my DW is scheduled to pass.

 

[statsman]

We're pretty much buying the same grocery items we were from five years ago. Occasionally, there have been some new additions or something to try, but with an exception or two, the same as before. Because of that, we have been seeing the rise of inflation in food costs for quite some time.

An exception are the corn tortillas we used to purchased. Made only with corn, lime, and water, they were pretty good if not a bit pricey. But early in 2021, they disappeared from the store shelves. Perhaps one of the many casualties of COVID and supply issues. They never returned.

The available corn tortillas at the stores were rather mediocre. Most contained a lot of ingredients. I decided I would try my hand at making corn tortillas. I bought a basic tortilla press made from aluminum and a bag of masa flour to try out.

Over time, I got quite good at making the corn tortillas. I have since upgraded to a hardened cast iron tortilla press, which wasn't cheap, and it is far easier to use than the basic aluminum one. I now find corn tortillas at most local restaurants and taquerias rather lifeless in comparison.

 

[Golden Mean]

Pretty much what audreyh1 said. We eat a small simple set of foods, so price isn't really a factor. We have to buy it, or not eat.

But specifically where we could buy cheaper but don't:
Kerrygold butter
Prime ribeye steaks
Pasture raised eggs
Primal Kitchen ketchup (no added sugar and no sugar substitutes)
Mayo without seed oils (typically avocado based?)

 

[Phroig]

We try to be frugal (e.g., if we're indifferent between two types of apple, we'll buy the cheaper ones), but there's nothing that we won't buy if we want it. I suppose if prices increased by a lot, we'd still splurge on organic soy milk, range-free eggs, and natural peanut butter.

 

[imjustawarrior]

We're pretty much buying the same grocery items we were from five years ago. Occasionally, there have been some new additions or something to try, but with an exception or two, the same as before. Because of that, we have been seeing the rise of inflation in food costs for quite some time.

An exception are the corn tortillas we used to purchased. Made only with corn, lime, and water, they were pretty good if not a bit pricey. But early in 2021, they disappeared from the store shelves. Perhaps one of the many casualties of COVID and supply issues. They never returned.

The available corn tortillas at the stores were rather mediocre. Most contained a lot of ingredients. I decided I would try my hand at making corn tortillas. I bought a basic tortilla press made from aluminum and a bag of masa flour to try out.

Over time, I got quite good at making the corn tortillas. I have since upgraded to a hardened cast iron tortilla press, which wasn't cheap, and it is far easier to use than the basic aluminum one. I now find corn tortillas at most local restaurants and taquerias rather lifeless in comparison.

Sounds delicious.

We are fortunate to have a Mexican bakery near our house that makes fresh corn tortillas, flour tortillas, tortilla chips, and tamales throughout the day. We can just stop by for still warm product. They put store bought items to shame. Your homemade ones are probably even better.

 

[TickTock]

During last w*rk assignment there was a Guatemalan lady in town who made tamales. GOOOOOOOOD!!! Quite reasonably priced, too.

 

[imjustawarrior]

During last w*rk assignment there was a Guatemalan lady in town who made tamales. GOOOOOOOOD!!! Quite reasonably priced, too.

One thing I miss from living in Texas are the tamales. It was so easy to get great tamales, especially around Christmas time.

 

[shridog]

Home raised porterhouse steak from local farm/meat shop a mile from our place. Raise calf on their own corn no additives expect for vitamins. Have a standing order each time we call. 5 steaks 1 1/2 inches no tails. All well trimmed and well marbled. Forget the commercial stuff.

 

[TickTock]

Taquitos and kolaches as well!

 

[Qs Laptop]

Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream, because life is short.

Haagen-Dazs costs more but is worth it.

I've since found a local brand, Kemp's Simply Crafted, which comes darn close to being as good as Haagen-Dazs. If anybody tries Kemp's Simply Crafted Brownie Cookie Dough and you get addicted, I apologize in advance.