Food Budget

[Geechee Girl]

Yeah, I ain't saying 'vacuum flask' any time soon. 

[moreorlessnu]

If you mentioned "vacuum flask" to me, I'd think you were referring to something along the lines of a butt plug, and blush like the lady I am.

[Maggie Mae]

23 hours ago, Geechee Girl said:

Yeah, I ain't saying 'vacuum flask' any time soon. 

You don't have to! You can call it the Dewer flask, after it's inventor who forgot to file the patent. Or you can just call it a thermos. Here's the court case where Thermos lost the right to exclusively own the word thermos (lowercase) http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/207/9/2262781/ 

[Grimalkin]

7 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

You don't have to! You can call it the Dewer flask, after it's inventor who forgot to file the patent. Or you can just call it a thermos. Here's the court case where Thermos lost the right to exclusively own the word thermos (lowercase) http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/207/9/2262781/ 

     My mom used to joke about being an expert in useless information. 

      I don't think it's useless if it makes interesting conversation. It's better than discussing the weather.

[Geechee Girl]

I'll gladly take a Dewer flask of rum while I vacuum in heels. 

[Ex-Creationist]

Even though it's just the two of us, my wife and I have a fluctuating grocery budget. We usually shop on Saturdays; before we go, we figure out what we have on hand and what we'd like to eat that week. I dig out the recipes (I'm the primary cook around here because I love doing it) and we go from there. Yesterday, for example, I made a pasta salad with black beans; next week, I'll cook more of the dry beans and make black-bean burgers. 

Coupons depend on whether or not we actually use those items and if the brands the coupons are for end up being cheaper. I had a couple of coupons for sour cream, for example, but even the discount wasn't cheaper than the store brand (which works just fine for us). 

When something that will keep is on mad sale, I stock up. I've had six to eight pounds of butter in the place. ($2 a pound instead of the usual $3.75-$4? SOLD!)

I also do stuff like using smartphone apps that reward us with gift cards for snapping photos of our receipts. Then there are other apps that give cash back on certain items. If we need/want the item ANYWAY, we go for it. This doesn't net us much--a few bucks a month, usually in Amazon gift cards--but everything helps. 

The big expense, for me, used to be meat. (For about a month after I started testosterone, all I wanted was meat. My grocery bill literally doubled.) My wife is vegetarian, so most meals are meat-free. However, there are times when I just have to have meat. Generally, we grab chicken, pork, or beef when there's a great sale and freeze it if I'm not going to cook it for myself soon. 

[Geechee Girl]

@Ex-Creationist Please share your black bean burger recipe. Mine fall apart and I can't get the right flavor.

[Ex-Creationist]

4 hours ago, Geechee Girl said:

@Ex-Creationist Please share your black bean burger recipe. Mine fall apart and I can't get the right flavor.

I just use The Pioneer Woman's. I've made it once, I think? Maybe twice? Not enough times to actually get to the part where I start modifying it, which is what I generally do with these things. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/black-bean-burger/

(I also skip the hot sauce because I'm a spice wimp.)