You truly do get what you pay for
I do all the cooking at home and do like to cook up some relatively exotic (i.e. more expensive) dishes. I don't have a very big budget, and usually end up spending about 80% of it at the grocery store each week. i just love to cook and am struck with an undeniable desire to whip something up that just popped into my head almost every day. I don't like to plan too far ahead, cooking is much more fun if its spontaneous for me. So, its off to the grocery stores about every other day for me, sometimes every day. I've tried to cut corners here and there to stretch my money further.
Some products I've learned not to skimp on are cheeses...especially parmesan and bleu! And, now, which seems rediculous to me, rice. I was using some walmart brand rice and it was turning out just awful! How could walmart f*** up rice!? I've genrally come to despise the walmart brand anything these days.
I'm learing to splurge on a few pricy ingredients, here and there, like good stock and wine, olive oil, spices, some fancier italian cut pastas, and better cuts of meat, then trying to go a more classic route with my dishes. Meaning learning to roast veggies to give them a lovely nutty taste, braising, more simple pastas with fewer ingredients, and herb oils. Been doing quite a bit with chimmichurri over grilled beef this summer.
Are there any ingredients you splurge on?? Something you can't live without, even if its pricy and feels a bit naughty to buy?
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51 Comments:
Like you cheeses. I don't do this often but when I do I splurge on a good chocolate when making cakes. Wine and champagne. Sardines i will not eat the cheap ones. The holidays is when I ususally splurge more.
pjracz10 at 1:03PM on 08/16/09
Mushrooms.
lemonfair at 1:15PM on 08/16/09
Cheese -there's just no way to skimp on this stuff. I feel like if I buy a small bit of really good cheese it goes a lot further than a lot of crappy cheese.
Fresh fish -refuse to buy frozen. And I'd rather see it on ice and talk to the person behind the counter about what's good/fresh.
Meat cuts -from an actual butcher who can recommend what's best for what I'm making.
Local produce - yes I can get it cheaper at the giant supermarket, but I really like talking to a human being when I buy food.
gingercookiewithlime at 1:25PM on 08/16/09
Cheese and spices, no doubt. I refuse to buy ground meat from the grocery store. During the season, I buy all my produce from the farmer's market or farmstands. But some veggies are free from people whose gardens have overflowed (Not so much this year. Not a good season.) And there are some good deals at the farmer's market when the farmer has too much of something or when it's not quite perfect (there was a bit of hail damage, so there are a lot of blemished veggies that are still good.)
Other than that, I buy the best I can afford, for the items that suit the purpose. You don't buy filet for fajitas, for example. I've found some cheaper brands of flour that I like a lot for breadmaking.
Same with rice. For paella, I bought an imported rice that was outstanding. But I also found a jasmine rice (I like it better than basmati) that's good and relatively cheap.
Stock is cheap, because I make my own. Meat...it depends. Lamb is fairly cheap, because I buy a whole lamb. If I'm desperate to make a particular dish, I might splurge on an ingredient with no regard for the price, but most of the time I keep an eye on where the bargains are.
dbcurrie at 2:27PM on 08/16/09
I like to buy good olive oil, balsamic vinegar and cheeses as well. Some reasonably priced and very tasty rice is at Trader Joe's if you are near one. I love their Basmati and Jasmine rices.
I was buying a lot of high end cuts until the economy stunted my business and the gas prices stole the rest of my budget. Now I scour the store flyers for weekly specials and sometimes I'll splurge on veal chops. I bought a duck and have to find a good recipe. I have never roasted a duck. Guess I should start simple.
janaatwg at 2:32PM on 08/16/09
I won't buy "green cylinder" cheese. My father worked for Polly-O Dairies for 38 years and he had a saying about such stuff: "That just means they swept the floor that day." Word.
I won't buy cheap tuna fish - and I won't buy "chunk light" because it's BROWN.
Funny you raise this topic because I recently gave a chicken soup recipe to BF's sister - including the brand names of the items she should buy. She went shopping with her fucking tightwad of a husband and as she put the Pacific Chicken Stock in the cart, he removed it and replaced it with College Inn. She wanted to keep the peace so she let it go. Once the soup was made, it tasted like dishwater and I don't think her idiot husband will be getting away with shit like that anymore.
therealchiffonade at 2:52PM on 08/16/09
Meat... I am willing to pay the ridiculous price of meat at a real butcher and a real fresh seafood market. The bottom line is.... they know their product and it shows.
happyeats at 3:29PM on 08/16/09
My butchers are less expensive on most meat and poultry than the more upscale supermarkets around here (Kings, Wegman's), and even competitive with the cheaper supermarkets, whose meat is clearly inferior.
Supporting local mon & pop businesses that know me personally and appreciate my patronage is just a bonus.
salpico at 3:47PM on 08/16/09
My husband lost his job over 2 years ago and hasn't returned to work since, and we still do not compromise on many things, nor do we cook a lot but hey whatever. The items that immediately come to mind are:
- rice (only Kokuho Rose)
- coffee (only pure Kona coffee)
- ramen (dried variety has to be Myojo Chukazanmai, but I'm open to try other types of noodles in broth from other nations)
- eggs (always the ones in the clear container)
- butter (Land O' Lakes unsalted)
- milk, to a degree (only organic)
Cassaendra at 4:55PM on 08/16/09
Life is short: why waste it eating stuff that's blah or fake, like canned spinach, margarine and surimi?
betteirene at 5:25PM on 08/16/09
Oh, but surimi salad is sooo good! Fresh crab is good and I frequently use it for my mayo-potato salads, sandwiches, and in my California rolls, but surimi salad with cucumbers, Kewpie mayonnaise, and sesame...yum! Wish I had some in the fridge, I'd make some now. Yeah, I know what you meant by your surimi remark. :)
Cassaendra at 5:31PM on 08/16/09
I recently moved an old favorite post to my foodie blog from another site and reread it. It related our return to homier less ostentatious cooking to the rest of our life. Hence the title Everything I Ever Needed To Know I Learned Cooking Beef Shanks. It was a reminder that sometimes the lesser cut has a little more flavor and just needs a little slow cooking to bring out it's qualities. The question becomes what is the best? Filet Mignon or a slow cooked stew?
Of course the quality of ingredients is relative as well, (I recently paid 60$ for a bottle of olive oil) depending on their use but shortcomings can be overcome with a little love and understanding...I mean technique.
inkandsausages at 5:45PM on 08/16/09
coffee
olive oil
cheeses
meat
caramel at 6:30PM on 08/16/09
Fresh Fish- and, surprisingly, living on the CA coast, I can't find fresh fish at my supermarket. I have to drive twenty minutes to a little pier in Avila to find any fish worth cooking at a reasonable price (wait, I love sushi. what am i talking about COOKING fish???? j.k.)
CA Wine Chick at 7:34PM on 08/16/09
I guess I should list surimi as one of my "guilty pleasures" next time that question is asked. It has a place of honor on my Christmas Eve table every year - served cold with cocktail sauce. It's never represented as anything but what it is: Make Believe Crabmeat - or Krab with a "K". Love the stuff dunked in cocktail sauce.
therealchiffonade at 7:42PM on 08/16/09
I will spend extra to get real aged balsamic and sherry vinegars.
Cheeses (some are weekly must haves, and others like the Pt Reyes Blue are for when I really need a fix).
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Wine
Chocolate
Meat--I've got an inside source for this, so I get prime grade.
Seafood--I'm in the midwest, so if I find great seafood, I will pay the premium.
wookie at 7:46PM on 08/16/09
i will splurge when it matters - the cheese i shred over my fried eggs in the morning doesn't have to be top-notch, but the cheese i serve on a cheese board for company had better be able to stand alone. i don't eat chocolate often, but when i do, it's not going to be hershey's. and unless if i'm going to a rager, if i'm buying beer it's not going to be bud light (though it also probably won't be chimay). i guess it's more of walking the line - i don't need to (and can't afford to be) extravagant, but i'm not going to eat cardboard.
billyburgwife at 8:54PM on 08/16/09
for me, i need to use good milk, organic -- i don't know -- it just tastes better in my coffee..... i can tell the difference because the other day i ran out of the good stuff and had to resort to the regular supermarket milk....
my coffee was .... not good tasting at all.....
pooch at 9:43AM on 08/17/09
Meat. Rice. Tomatoes. Alcohol.
MarvinDog at 10:06AM on 08/17/09
Yogurt. Must have Fage or Liberte, even though it's like 3x as expensive as the others.
Vanilla extract. I must have the kind with the beans in it. It's beyond good.
Produce!
eeels at 2:51PM on 08/17/09
I don't skimp on seafood, cheese or meat. You can always taste the difference.
AnnieNT at 3:43PM on 08/17/09
Lots of things! I live in DC now, and I really miss the Italian culture that I grew up with in Staten Island. This includes the many wonderful Italian markets. So, when we visit my family in SI once a month, we bring a huge cooler and I do much of my grocery shopping there. I can buy the most wonderful meats (especially the sausage at Pastosa), cheeses and other Italian products...well worth it!
italiagirl84 at 3:54PM on 08/17/09
@CA Wine Chick, gingercookiewithlime:
Unless you are catching the fish yourself, or know the person who caught it, you are almost certainly not eating fresh fish. Fish caught on commercial fishing boats are frozen after they're caught to prevent them from degrading, and to kill parasites. The fish you see on ice at the fishmonger has been thawed.
Buckethead at 12:29PM on 08/18/09
Just about everything - food is my passion, hobby and indulgence in one. That is not to say that we don't try to cut costs by buying in bulk from farmers/growers, but that we hardly ever compromise on quality.
We've been buying local, organic chicken for about two years from a nearby farm. Recently we went on a small vacation and had to make do with supermarket chicken. Grabbing a large package of thighs we went back to the room, sliced 'er up and heated up the pan. What followed next was a deluge - the poor chicken released so much water that it was stuffed with, that it boiled for at least ten minutes. The amount of liquid it held was truly ridiculous, I'd estimate at least a cup and a half. Never again.
tatianak at 2:20PM on 08/18/09
I never skimp on cheese, seafood or meat. We don't have much meat or seafood, but I will not have cheap cuts in my house.
Flour. Always the best we can get. Good flour makes for good baking.
Butter. Always the good stuff.
NotAmerican at 2:52PM on 08/18/09
@buckethead: THANKS for saying so. Im from the Gulf Coast, so I know exactly that. Most people (not from coastal areas) arent aware of that about seafood.
emilytaylor at 2:58PM on 08/18/09
I'll pay more for meat, chicken, pork or fish. Trader Joes is good for cheap but good cheeses.
porkydickens at 3:22PM on 08/18/09
Alcohol, Seafood, Milk, Meat. For these items It's just not worth it to me to eat/drink garbage. I'd rather not have it at all.
Cheese however, while I do appreciate a good blue, I'll eat a hand full of shredded Kraft Colby Jack and not think twice...I can't help it. ;)
Shamefree at 3:53PM on 08/18/09
Cheese - the cheese I brought back from my trip to Italy this spring lasted for SO long because I needed to use only a tiny bit of it with each dish. I wish I had bought more when I was there....
Beer is another one - I hate watery, useless beer. In fact, I wrote about that very thing last week: http://mozzarellaandmerlot.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/philly-to-the-face/
ktlb22 at 4:13PM on 08/18/09
Eggs from happy chickens, and I like my husband to eat bacon from happy pigs....
jennywenny at 6:40PM on 08/18/09
Spices. Cheese - low quality cheese is useless. Fish and shrimp (and meat, on the rare occasions I buy it). Chocolate. Certain kinds of alcohol - cheap wine is one thing, cheap tequila is another! (Although if anyone can recommend a good inexpensive brand, I'd love to hear about it!).
firni at 8:55PM on 08/18/09
One thing no one's mentioned--bread! Right near me is a bakery that mills its own flour and they make the best bread you can buy (outside real French baguettes, of course). The bread is almost like homemade, which is great for people like me who love fresh bread but aren't great/too lazy to bake it.
alexandrapace at 9:46PM on 08/18/09
Nothing. I don't spend much money on clothes or entertainment, but my grocery budget is shameful.
PDXbiker at 10:53PM on 08/18/09
Oops, I everything, not nothing! If it's poor quality, why bother? I must have fresh organic fruits and veggies and unprocessed meat. I paid $18 for two pork chops last month.
PDXbiker at 10:55PM on 08/18/09
It's funny, I'm sitting here thinking how so many people would find this article and some of the comments to be extravagant. Obviously, they don't know what they're talking about, and they're probably not reading Serious Eats, sooo....yeah.
I tend to splurge on chocolate, beer, eggs (recently got a hookup for some delicious free range eggs at a reasonable price), cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Wine I usually buy pretty cheap from local wineries but my favorite local wine is well over $30, I think over $40 the last time I bought it (The Barbera from Va La Vineyards in Avondale, PA, if anyone has had the pleasure of trying it), so I guess that counts as paying extra.
toad3000 at 12:32PM on 08/19/09
Cheese and cured meats. And good bread from the baker. My house without those three things is not a home.
And organic milk. I cringe when I shovel out the dough for it but once I started drinking it, I couldn't go back. The other stuff just doesn't taste like milk anymore. You can taste the grass, yummmmmm!
EliEats at 1:21PM on 08/19/09
Cheese. I went on through a phase where I was eating something new and different and expensive on a monthly basis. Fortunately, there is a store I go to that sells cheese on sale. I grab the sale cheese and then go to the extremely expensive organic market and get it if I liked the sale cheese.
queenbleu at 4:33PM on 08/19/09
I also grew up on the coast but have since moved to Toronto. I only buy frozen seafood. If you're not on the coast it's not fresh fish at the fishmonger so the next best thing is having it frozen when it was fresh.
ayngelina at 10:04AM on 08/22/09
I have ethical standards about dairy and eggs, and so end up spending more on those. I have taste standards about coffee.
I also like to eat some foods that just aren't cheap, like mushrooms!
Here's a trick I learned somewhere: buy cheap olive oil for cooking with, and then a nicer version for finishing dishes, where you'll taste its flavor strongly.
dancingwolfgrrl at 11:20AM on 08/22/09
I would say that my splurges, or rather where I spend the most money, would be on seafood and alcohol. There is nothing worse than stinky fish!
Stephanie- The Long Island Grocery Examiner
imchefsteph at 9:32AM on 08/24/09
Cheese. Unfortunately, there are two versions of cheese in the house. The cheap stuff (my hubby prefers) and the "good" stuff (I prefer). The only one we agree on is the parmesan.
Veggies - I go out of my way to get fresh produce from the farmers market. So much better that way.
Steaks - I will scrimp, to a degree, on certain cuts of meat. But steak? Has to be grass-fed, free range, organic. YUM.
Eggs - I just can't go back to grocery store eggs, not even the best the store has to offer. I get mine from a local farm that raises happy chickens.
tastyeatsathome at 9:36AM on 08/24/09
Definitely cheeses, and while I don't have to have Rogue River Blue or Humboldt Fog all the time, there'll be no "cheese food products" except perhaps Bon Bels. Got addicted at an early age, but aged gruyere will always win out.
Beer. After I found a local brewery- High Point Brewing company- I never went back to mass produced beers. Samuel Adams is the only large brewer I'll buy from. Abita, Dogfish Head, Flying Fish, and even Brooklyn Brewery all make great craft stuff and are easy to find.Though I like hunting down the smaller batch stuff too. Made a bad mistake trying the Trader Joe's "craft beer" once to save a buck. Ugh.
Seafood and meat of course. Savings here is often at the expense of flavor, healthiness and environmental factors. I don't always go for the organic grass fed free range, but it pays to be finicky here.
Organic milk just tastes better and lasts longer. Eggs seem fresher from the firmness of the yolk and white when raw. It's worth the extra.
Breads too. None of that gummy stuff with an ingredients list a mile long.
As for fruit & veg I go for local vs. organic. I don't care if it was grown organically, by the time it gets here it doesn't taste as good as local.
If it's the difference between savoring every bite and swallowing it down, it's worth it to me. Not every meal needs to be a feast, but even mechanical meals can be tasty and healthy for a few pennies here and there.
TommySalami at 10:05AM on 08/24/09
as someone who should truly have a budget, i try to buy everything on sale.
I got a $20 bottle of organic extra virgin olive oil for $10. I used to buy the huge tins of them, but then realized i was pressed for time to use it all.
i buy vegetables on a weekly basis based on whether i'm going to have time to cook/ if i'm going to be in my apartment at all. i live in brooklyn, but i haven't slept there in over a week with dogsitting in the UES, catsitting in Greenpoint and leaving NYC for the weekend to go hang out in Long Island. some veggies last longer than others so I try to get string beans that'll hang on for a week in the fridge, potatoes can hang out for a while, eggs can as well.
my staples:
- good olive oil
- potatoes
- greenery (green beans, legumes)
- good ramen (myojo chukazanmai)
- organic frozen foods (corn, okra, peas)
- natto
- white rice (koshihikari)
- pasta
- canned tomatoes (for pasta sauce)
-garlic
I love my carbs! Cooking for one is also proving to be difficult even though i've been doing it for almost two years now.
adorableannat at 10:16AM on 08/24/09
Tomatoes - I want fresh, vine ripened tomatoes that are not picked by slave labor in Florida.
Salami
Liquor (beer also - but I live in Germany so, I don't have to splurge to buy beer. Its the best in the world and its dirt.cheap)
Free range eggs
Coffee - must be fair trade AND taste good
Wine - I don't buy extravagant but I will pay a few extra euros for a decent bottle (again, this is also something that just isn't expensive here anyway)
balsamic vinegar
Ice Cream - its got to be worth the calories!
fair trade Sugar and Chocolate
Yogurt
For most things though - whether or not I decide to splurge really depends on what I am using it for. And for many things here in Germany, there just isn't much quality difference in the various products (there isn't much variation in most grocery products at all) so I don't feel like I often have to splurge to get the quality that I insist on.
MiraFoto at 10:27AM on 08/24/09
I have made and donated at least a 1000 dozen cookies a year for the past 3 yrs and there are definitely things I swear by! Butter flavored Crisco, large double yolk eggs fresh from the Farmer's Market every week, and Mexican Vanilla that my flight attendant friend bring me. Oh, and good pecans.
Meravaleh at 10:28AM on 08/24/09
Maldon Sea Salt @ $7 for an 8.5 oz. Box. Maldon is the King of salts. Nothing else compares to it. It is so much better than Fleur De Sel or anything else.
odaddyo at 3:32PM on 08/24/09
Chocolate is a biggie for me, though I'm not saying that I don't enjoy a Hershey's bar now and then!
KWBrown at 4:06PM on 08/24/09
Artisinal breads
brigittesm at 8:03PM on 08/24/09
I know I’m suppose to keep kosher but I can’t give up hanging prime beef, even if the average cost is around $15 per pound and more importantly from a real butcher.
Farm fresh eggs, because I have no fear of making mayo
Damn good Olive oil, just because I deserve it
Free trade coffee – I refuse to live life without it and I seriously don’t care how much it costs
Good balsamic vinegar – just because
Imported Italian canned tomatoes, no tomato sauce should be without them
00 Flour – this is not me, my sour dough starter has expensive taste, Ok it also makes kicken pizza dough
Marco Polo tea from Mariage Freres – if you ever had any of these tea’s you would understand
Scharffen Berger and Callebaut organic Chocolate – come, on you would actually make a chocolate dessert without using one or both of these…what would be the point
Cheese goes without saying my current addition in is d’Affinois
Fish – gotta see the eyes and I live in an area where you buy the live fish in tanks
@ meravaleh – I bake between 150 to 225 doz cookies during the holidays and have for 20 years and I get the butter flavored Crisco thing, don’t know why but it just works with large batch cooking baking – try Nestle chocolate chips
kah9932 at 4:37PM on 08/26/09
Organic milk and eggs. I eat them by the dozen. Daily. (No joke.)
Grass fed meats. Worth it by a mile!
Wild fresh fish.
And farmers' market veg.
The Healthy Irishman at 9:01PM on 08/27/09
FOOD IS MY LIFE ! My wife has found me napping with my chin and shirt dripping wet with drool dreaming about FOOD.
FOOD is the one place that I don't try to save by using inferior products and having to live with severe dietary restrictions we make the most of the cards I've been dealt. I have found that incredible dishes can be created with a few quality ingredients and keep inside my diet restrictions also they can be served to company without them even aware, I've had very sophisticated paletes have seconds and even thirds.
I hunt and harvest our own venison [ elk, deer, moose, caribou ], antelope, wild desert sheep and goats, wild boar and wild turkey. We do buy bison and some free range organic poultry though. We catch our fish [king/coho salmon, halibut, snapper from Alaska and yellowfin tuna, albacore, bluefin, humbolt squid [whatever gets in the range of San Diego over-nite and multi-day tuna boats]
We buy whole grain artisan breads and farmers market produce whenever possible
The pantry is chauk full of various ethnic ingredients as well as the good old stand-bys. 7 types of salt so-far, 4 types of peppercorns, 6 sugars and so-on.
Various types of olives California artisan, Italian, Spainish, Greek Turkish etc. Cheeses wonderful cheeses homegrown natural artisan cheeses and various european varieties.
Asian food is my fav so we have a large selection of Thai, Indonesian, Chinese proper, Viet Namese, Korean, Japanese, some Indian, etc.
The pantry also holds contiental, mediterranian, latin and pacific fusion for lack of a better term.
I LOVE FOOD !
butterfingers at 4:39PM on 08/31/09