I often hear, “You should never cheap out on a good office chair, shoes, underpants, backpack etc…” but what are some items that you would feel OK to cheap out on?
This can by anything from items such as: expensive clothing brands to general groceries.
All your basic staples: salt, flour, oil, sugar, pasta, pasta, milk, eggs etc. There’s literally nothing to do better or worse, so for god’s sake don’t pay for the label. Fancy olive oil is nicer, and fancy butter for actually putting on bread is nice too - but for cooking, cheap the hell out.
Get your spices from an Indian / Asian / etc grocer - you can get a huge bag for the price of a tiny supermarket jar, and because they have so much turnover, they’ll be plenty fresh.
Store-brand laundry detergent and dishwasher tablets work just fine for me (and dear god you can save a lot on those).
It depends. Cheap salt is just fine. And flour, unless you’re into baking. But some things can make a difference and you don’t necessarily have to pay a lot more for it.
Pasta, for example. Bronze cut pasta absorbs sauce a lot better than “normal” pasta. It looks dull, rough, and pale as opposed to shiny and smooth. It usually only costs a buck or two more. I find it’s a big step up taste and texture-wise.
Or butter. The ones without natural flavor taste better. Sometimes it’s the store brand that doesn’t have added flavor.
And eggs. Orange yolks are way better than the pale yellow ones. But those you do have to shell out for.
Wait wait wait. Your butter has flavouring added? Like, I realise I’m spoiled here in Ireland, but fuck mei can’t even picture what that might be
That was my exact reaction! But butter is literally nothing but churned cream and possibly salt added? If there’s anything else added, such as water or any kinds of oils, it’s no longer butter. I get more scared every time I learn something new about US food culture…