Are you all maybe storing more dry goods? Our spending on groceries doubled in the first three months of lockdown, but is only about 1.5x over March-July of last year (partly because we do eat at restaurants), and part of that is that we’ve been buying things much more in bulk (to avoid delivery fees/delays and because sometimes that’s all you can find). That will pay off over time, but it’s just starting and we’re definitely carrying more “inventory” right now than usual. (We count paper products/aluminum foil/etc in groceries, and it’s an especially strong effect in that sub-category).
Also, are people treating themselves to more expensive ingredients more often, to make up for other luxuries they can’t have during COVID? We’ve been buying fancier ingredients and making more treat foods partly because we can’t get them at restaurants and partly because it’s a nice COVID-safe fun activity. Relatedly, there are some things I’m making from scratch for fun/to have fresh without frequent deliveries, like breads and ginger beer, that are surprisingly often more expensive to make from scratch than just to buy commercially (and that difference should really be chalked up to an “entertainment” budget, not groceries)
I don’t think we’re stocking up more now than we were before: we already had an approach of stocking up non-perishables pretty substantially, and while we ran our stocks down a bit in the first couple months of the lockdown we’ve since replenished back to approximately where we were.
I’m quite surprised that you’ve found making bread and ginger beer at home to be more expensive than buying them. Bread, for example, is essentially flour, water, yeast, and salt. That should come to 30¢-70¢/lb, depending on how cheaply you can get flour, while commercially produced bread is typically twice that.
Are you all maybe storing more dry goods? Our spending on groceries doubled in the first three months of lockdown, but is only about 1.5x over March-July of last year (partly because we do eat at restaurants), and part of that is that we’ve been buying things much more in bulk (to avoid delivery fees/delays and because sometimes that’s all you can find). That will pay off over time, but it’s just starting and we’re definitely carrying more “inventory” right now than usual. (We count paper products/aluminum foil/etc in groceries, and it’s an especially strong effect in that sub-category).
Also, are people treating themselves to more expensive ingredients more often, to make up for other luxuries they can’t have during COVID? We’ve been buying fancier ingredients and making more treat foods partly because we can’t get them at restaurants and partly because it’s a nice COVID-safe fun activity. Relatedly, there are some things I’m making from scratch for fun/to have fresh without frequent deliveries, like breads and ginger beer, that are surprisingly often more expensive to make from scratch than just to buy commercially (and that difference should really be chalked up to an “entertainment” budget, not groceries)
I don’t think we’re stocking up more now than we were before: we already had an approach of stocking up non-perishables pretty substantially, and while we ran our stocks down a bit in the first couple months of the lockdown we’ve since replenished back to approximately where we were.
I’m quite surprised that you’ve found making bread and ginger beer at home to be more expensive than buying them. Bread, for example, is essentially flour, water, yeast, and salt. That should come to 30¢-70¢/lb, depending on how cheaply you can get flour, while commercially produced bread is typically twice that.