How Our Readers Are Saving Money on Groceries, from The New York Times (gift link).
I have a hunch that these tips won’t be new to HO contributors. One tip, “Shop more often,” absolutely does not work for me. Going into a grocery store/visiting a farmers’ market is an occasion for spending, so the longer that I go between trips the less I spend.
I live in an area with a lot of grocery store accessibility, but even with that I don’t go shopping more often. This is what I always miss about the older cities in Hong Kong, Asia, and across Europe where town centers also meant o going through where the local grocers and butchers are so you buy what you eat that night or for the next day on the way home.
I definitely see this as a “city dweller only” article.
Unplanned pantry dinner? That’s what I do most often - freezer lists, knowing what’s in my pantry and pie safe. I can drive to work and plan out my meal (provided I’ve taken something out that needs to be defrosted pre-cooking).
Buying things on sale, packing them up in serving size amounts, and freezing them. Ummm…isn’t this just common sense?
Shopping more often - this only works if you’re in a city OR have small markets near you (like the writer pretending she’s “Emily in Paris” with a baker or cheese shop or butcher all on the same block). For those of us in the burbs, you have to drive everywhere and shopping every day isn’t feasible.
And then the rest of them - eat less meat, buy in bulk, and more. 
You’re right - none of this is surprising for HOers who cook regularly.
And I was really hoping there would be a comments section on the article to read what might have been written there, but alas. 
I too would have loved to see a comments section on this NYT article. Pretty much why I gifted the article, so we can comment here on HO. Because if anyone has food-related ideas, we Onions sure do.
City dwellers and feels like maybe specifically GenZer’s or those on the younger side of the Millennials. Of course there are exceptions, but there’s a lot who seem befuddled in the kitchen. I understand anyone can find some regular kitchen tasks intimidating, but you don’t learn unless you try, and I increasingly find this reluctance to try because they get so worked up about it.
I’ll say this 'til I’m blue in the face - learn how to debone a chicken! Practice cutting, chopping, and slicing of most meats/seafood.
Unless it’s like a salad mix where it isn’t feasible to buy 3 types of lettuce and various herbs, vegetables, and seeds and finish them before they spoil, don’t buy stuff pre-chopped or sliced.
Make your own salad dressing (honestly, will taste better too)
Learn how to make 5 dishes well enough for you to enjoy. Rotate them throughout the week. Many people are perfectly content to eat the same thing every few days (maybe not every day). This would take care of 70-80% of your meals! With that, stock up on those pantry staples whether it is rice, pasta, beans, farro, etc. that might get used most often in those dishes.
You would think so, wouldn’t you? But just yesterday I responded to a thread on my local Reddit sub with a request for how to buy chicken in smaller quantities “because I keep having to buy packages of 6 chicken breasts and then I only need to make 2 and the rest just go to waste.” SMH.
The response on the sub was just about what you’d expect, the OP got very huffy, and she ended up deleting the post 
Did they ever even open the freezer and wonder what it’s for, or do they assume it’s for ice cube overflow?
Exactly - the number of effed-up meals I made when I first moved out on my own? LEGENDARY. Because I wanted to try “new things” that my Mom and Dad never did (although Dad was more adventurous than Mom with cooking), and my stepfather and his family were just as “plain” as Mom was in cooking. The ability to buy something I’d never had before after looking up recipes in cookbooks was fun! Cooking for myself, I quickly learned what goes well together and what doesn’t, and learned the timing of having things come out at the same time. (Note - this was WITHOUT the advantages of the Internet.)
You don’t have to be perfect from the get-go, but the younger crowd often seems to need that perfection out of the gate. Does it come from schooling and not getting all As? Being on a sports team and feeling immense upset when one lost a game? 
You’re killin’ me, Smalls. (Or they’re killin’ me.) I do love that others called her out about it.
Bags of ice cubes and vodka. 
My Numero Uno Tip.
Don’t go grocery shopping when hungry (or, even worse, when hangry)
This seems right, especially for those who were raised on a lot of convenience products (not their fault) including Door Dash, Lunchables, prepared ready to heat meals, etc. For me and my siblings, how to save money on groceries was taught by Depression era parents from a thrifty culture, so it was engrained. Also, the target audience for the NYT is now Millennials and GenZ, not boomers who are naturally buying less, and most are no longer raising children. If I had kids with all the forced economic baloney….I’d be looking to save $$$ on groceries.
p.s. about how youngsters act or their preferences…look who raised or educated them.
Don’t look at me! I have no kids (furry ones only) 
I joke about this a lot with my fellow Gen Xers when we shake our heads sometimes working with the younger generations, and promptly circle back to it’s actually “our fault”.
It is our fault or our generation….just like it was the Greatest Generation’s fault for ef’ing up the Boomers and GenX. Damn hippies and slackers….GET OFF MY LAWN!
I think you are on to something here.
My habit of cooking from scratch to save money and eat more deliciously was ingrained in me by my grandmother, who was the main cook in our household. That said, she would use prepared or convenience foods that fit within the grocery budget at a good value. I have largely followed that pattern.
Yes like Banquet frozen fried chicken. I talked to a few friends who ate that as a kid. Had TV dinners once in a while too.
I understand the concept of pantry staples meals. Completely.
However, pantry staples aren’t free and ost money as well.
Or perhaps I’m a bit bitter as I recently ran out of flour, sugar, canned tomatoes, olive oil, the freezer stash of chicken and frosted mini wheats (Mr Autumm has a slight addition) at once and that was an expensive resupply
I have a friend, originally from Jordan, arrive here at age 18, has 4 kids who were born here. He and all his family members who live here have never eaten chicken pot pie. Ever. I don’t care for store bought ones, made homemade a few years ago.
So, I just made it again. What a lot of work.!! I envy people who are wealthy and can go to a high end restaurant and eat things like this all the time.
I’ll post a photo when my second batch is done (I already gave him the first batch, was a big hit, he thinks he ate ½ of the whole thing)
These were made with homemade pie dough, alexandraskitchen recipe in Cuisinart. A dough mat helps out a lot. I’m thinking maybe one layer of crust would cook better. Another tray with smaller ones is still in the oven.
Those look wonderful but when did chicken pot pies become rich people’s food?
I’m talking about gourmet quality. Fancy restaurants in SF area charge big money for quality homey type stuff like deviled eggs.
I don’t like Marie Callender’s and Banquet, insides are soggy.
I sautéed veggies separately, made the bechamel, made and rolled pie crust. (I used the breast meat from a WF organic rotisserie chicken.)
