Dancing the price tango
Jan. 20th, 2022 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartAs everywhere else, prices have skyrocketed over here since the beginning of the pandemic, too. So, people who want - or need - to be careful with their expenses have to look where to buy their groceries. We are not exactly poor, but we used to be for a long time, so this has become second nature for us. Which is a good thing because that way we save our money to spend it on things we don't need but enjoy nonetheless.
So, in this spirit I started my shopping tour at the Lidl supermarket next corner today; because I needed ginger ale and mineral water, and this is the shortest distance of all supermarkets, and hauling home six 1.5 litre bottles is not the fun it used to be, say, ten or so years ago. When I checked the bill I discovered that the prices of both went up by nine and twenty per cent, respectively, since I had last bought them - which was last week. That was unpleasant enough, but it can't be helped. I try to buy things cheaply but not below a certain quality.
Then I went to the Aldi supermarket, where I wanted to buy cream cheese and butter for Mum's birthday cake. You can buy those for the best price at Aldi; and the quality is better than anywhere else, too. Can you guess which shelves were empty when I arrived? Right: where the cream cheese and the brand of butter I sometimes use for baking should have been. I could have bought obscenely expensive Irish butter, of course, or the high-prized German brand, but not the Hungarian one for the sensible price.
So I decided to pay the Auchan supermarket a visit, which happens to be on the opposite side of the road and next to the pharmacy where I had to go anyway. They had various brands of butter, every single one costing at least 50 per cent more than the one I usually buy at Aldi. So no, I didn't buy any butter there. I'll give our local Aldi a try during the weekend, or starting next week.
I also wanted to buy some hard cheese - Emmenthaler, because the cheesy buns I want to make for Mum require that particular taste - but, of course, they only sold it in 400-gr-chunks. I need 150 gr for my buns, so no hard cheese was bought, either. I'll have to pay the CBA-Prima supermarket a visit, where they sell it in smaller chunks.
I'd have gone there right afterwards, but I was in the Chinese drugstore, too, where I bought washing powder, cosmetics and toilet paper - things the supermarket also sells, only for a much higher price, and I didn't want to fight with supermarket security for the right to get in with my wares bought elsewhere. Plus, I met a retired ex-colleague in front of the supermarket, and she was in a verbose mood, so I didn't want to waste even more time.
Yes, I know, I lead a depressingly boring life. But at least I bought some (completely unnecessary) craft supplies - namely the equivalent of washi tapes - and later on my friend Alex called for a "brief" phone chat (58 minutes, 16 seconds, according to my phone), which was absolutely lovely. Now I've been given all the newest gossip where our school is concerned. *g*
Oh, and the guy who was supposed to visit yesterday (but obviously forgot that little detail) called today, saying that he'd come now. Mum cancelled the visit, saying that I was ill. I hope the fates won't make that excuse true - I was ill, after all, and we still can't imagine what the guy might want from us.
So, in this spirit I started my shopping tour at the Lidl supermarket next corner today; because I needed ginger ale and mineral water, and this is the shortest distance of all supermarkets, and hauling home six 1.5 litre bottles is not the fun it used to be, say, ten or so years ago. When I checked the bill I discovered that the prices of both went up by nine and twenty per cent, respectively, since I had last bought them - which was last week. That was unpleasant enough, but it can't be helped. I try to buy things cheaply but not below a certain quality.
Then I went to the Aldi supermarket, where I wanted to buy cream cheese and butter for Mum's birthday cake. You can buy those for the best price at Aldi; and the quality is better than anywhere else, too. Can you guess which shelves were empty when I arrived? Right: where the cream cheese and the brand of butter I sometimes use for baking should have been. I could have bought obscenely expensive Irish butter, of course, or the high-prized German brand, but not the Hungarian one for the sensible price.
So I decided to pay the Auchan supermarket a visit, which happens to be on the opposite side of the road and next to the pharmacy where I had to go anyway. They had various brands of butter, every single one costing at least 50 per cent more than the one I usually buy at Aldi. So no, I didn't buy any butter there. I'll give our local Aldi a try during the weekend, or starting next week.
I also wanted to buy some hard cheese - Emmenthaler, because the cheesy buns I want to make for Mum require that particular taste - but, of course, they only sold it in 400-gr-chunks. I need 150 gr for my buns, so no hard cheese was bought, either. I'll have to pay the CBA-Prima supermarket a visit, where they sell it in smaller chunks.
I'd have gone there right afterwards, but I was in the Chinese drugstore, too, where I bought washing powder, cosmetics and toilet paper - things the supermarket also sells, only for a much higher price, and I didn't want to fight with supermarket security for the right to get in with my wares bought elsewhere. Plus, I met a retired ex-colleague in front of the supermarket, and she was in a verbose mood, so I didn't want to waste even more time.
Yes, I know, I lead a depressingly boring life. But at least I bought some (completely unnecessary) craft supplies - namely the equivalent of washi tapes - and later on my friend Alex called for a "brief" phone chat (58 minutes, 16 seconds, according to my phone), which was absolutely lovely. Now I've been given all the newest gossip where our school is concerned. *g*
Oh, and the guy who was supposed to visit yesterday (but obviously forgot that little detail) called today, saying that he'd come now. Mum cancelled the visit, saying that I was ill. I hope the fates won't make that excuse true - I was ill, after all, and we still can't imagine what the guy might want from us.
