Inflation continues to push food prices higher and I expect them go up even more this fall. Some ways to combat rising food prices that I’m using are:
- using more frozen vegetables
Frozen vegetables are generally cheaper than fresh and there is less food waste. I find that they do well when roasted or included in hot dishes.
- gardening – I have expanded my garden
This is the time of year to start a garden if you don’t already have one. Even if you don’t have much space, you can grow a surprising amount of food in containers. Most of my garden is in containers and last year I was able to freeze peas, beans and squash. I gave away lots of tomatoes. I planned to can them, but that was when I had my kitchen remodeled and couldn’t, so I gave lots away.
- Making sure I use up things in my pantry
I have an extensive pantry that grew during the pandemic. I am making sure that I use things up – frozen veggies, canned veggies/beans, pastas, rice etc. I want to have enough on hand for a bad storm (fresh) or a job loss (about six months). And, I want to make sure I am regularly rotating my stock. So, I am making sure I am using things before the best before date.
What are you doing to combat high grocery prices?
Eating out more often?
LOL!
What’s the term for a solution that is worse than the problem?
Government?
Good one. 😀
Complaining even more than usual.
Nothing yet. Just recoiling in horror when the total comes.
First trip to Costco in months last weekend. One cart full = $650!
Holy cow! What did you buy?
Meat.
The same stuff we always buy that used to cost $300 per cart.
Been there done that. I keep my receipts for my bulk purchases at BJs/Costco, and I see that when the prices have not doubled since last year, that is because the packages have shrunk by 20-50%.
We just bought a 21 sq ft chest freezer. Over the summer and fall we will work on filling it with fish, game and vegetables from the garden. Mrs. Animal is also dusting off her canning stuff.
Self-sufficiency, as much as possible. That’s the plan.
If there’s one thing we have a lot of in OKLATX, it’s squirrels.
https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/178499898/bbq-squirrel/
I need to transcribe an old depression era book I found that tells you how to make wine from damn near anything too. I will start posting wine recipes to help with submissions.
Yes please!
Also, for skwerlz, Brunswick Stew.
Can you make wine from squirrels?
No, but they taste good with beer! This book was found among my wife’s grandmother’s belongings. It’s a reissue, called “Folk Wines, Cordials and Brandies.” I came across an onion wine recipe for the strong hearted.
My Grandma used to make dandelion wine. If you’ve got a recipe in there for that, I’d give it a try. Some things don’t grow well up here but dandelions, well, they grow like weeds (hah!)
Page 177. I will make it the first one
My Grandpa used to make balloon wine with dandelions. Supposedly it was good….when he let it finish. I guess he had a habit of very carefully taking off the balloon to “taste” how the wine was coming along before putting the inflated balloon back on.
I still have one bottle left of the dandelion wine I made in 2016.
That is about as plain as
1. Get squirrel hot.
2. Eat squirrel.
I’ve scared my neighbors into stocking up. I should be fine.
I’m not going to panic until the price of my Hamm’s goes up, that is the biggest part of my grocery bill.
Lol!
In my younger days when ever I was in MN Hamm’s was my go-to drink of choice. My brothers were Grain Belt aficionados. Takes all kinds.
Grain Belt is a hipster beer now, like Pabst. Or at least is was 5-10 years ago.
As a yoot I would drink whatever swill was the cheapest. Schlitz, Falstaff, A-1. Even with my poor palate Hamm’s was too salty for me. I found that I could buy Carling Black Label for $4 per case ($1 per sixpack). It was invincible; freeze it on a deer hunting trip, let it sit one the back porch in summer, didn’t matter. It always tasted the same and got you just as drunk as the expensive stuff.
It was Carling’s Black Label that got a number of senior Army NCOs in a heap of trouble in the early ’70s
https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/18/archives/us-jury-indicts-8-in-army-club-case-exsergeant-major-charged-with.html
My FiL used to tell a war story about getting Black Label from the supply depot to bring back for the troops.
Cans in the center of every case would be rusted thru and leaked out. worst beer he ever drank, but they all drank the shit out of it.
I’ve been buying six packs of Nat Daddy tallboys with 8% abv for $5 a pop. Sure, it tastes like goat piss but I’ll drink less of them and I’m trying to destroy my liver on a budget.
Hamm’s the beer refreshing…
That is the commercial I always remember as a kid.
I suppose I could revert to my college diet. Can’t get 8 packages of ramen for a buck anymore, though. Being hungry all the time kind of sucked but to be svelte again!
I’m trying to fatten up my skinny kids.
There’s no way they’ll sustain me through the winter at their current weights.
Cut back on the orphans’s food. Increase their chocolate ration by a -1/3. They’ll thank you for it.
Charging more for my services.
Damn. I’m rich, but not that rich.
You’re also not a gigolo.
I’m working overtime trying to keep up with price changes. I’ve got about 1000 different rental skus and 4000 sales skus.
I’m receiving price increases from a manufacturer about every other day now.
25 bucks, just like downtown.
*golf clap*
Well, my pantry and fridge are about to get a whole lot smaller. I’ll have to be waaaaay more judicious about what I buy. I am concerned about my freezer. It’s akin to a college dorm freezer in its power. I think I can mitigate that by stuffing it full of frozen broccoli & various berries (my favorite frozen produce)
We like to sample the local fare when traveling, even in the motorhome so we will eat breakfast and lunch at “home” but will generally go out to eat for dinner. In the event that there is not a grubbery within distance we will make very basic dinners. Rice and hamburger and frozen veggies, for example. All ingredients are freezable or dry. Keep it simple. We are loading up for our upcoming trip to Michigan and Mrs. Hobbit was trying to load a full set of mixing bowls. “Take one,” I advised, “it’s not like we are going to be baking.”
I guess what I’m saying is, “Don’t get carried away.” Also, if you forget some pan that you need, there are Walmarts in virtually every town that you pass thru.
Well, she’s going to be my home, so I imagine I’ll be eating out just as much as I do at my current home 🙂
Just arm yourself heavily and you can roam the wasteland, living off the fruit of the land and the tears of the villagers you have pillaged and left in the dust of your passage.
I just want a Colonial Marine APC outfitted as an RV – is that too much to ask?
I buy in bulk when I can.
I make big batches of food, portion them out, and freeze them.
Our last trip to Costco, we bought 50 pound bags of rice and pinto beans, and a twenty-pound bag of flour. They’re in sealed food-grade plastic buckets in the cellar. That should last us a while. And, yeah, it’s noticeably cheaper per pound to buy that way.
A year ago, I bought enough canning jars to cover a full year of fruits and veggies for two people.
Last winter, I bought a large chest freezer.
This spring I fill the freezer.
It’s a start.
I bought a vacuum sealer esp for meat bulk purchases and restarted my container garden. I have a Greenstalk which has tiers so you can plant vertically without a lot of area. I also have jars but only water bath equipment for canning. I don’t have a big enough garden to justify a pressure canner imo, so i freeze mostly. And in general im buying things we use (and will keep) in bigger quantities since i know the price is just going up.
Not meant to be a reply but it kinda works.
I’ve been eyeing a greenstalk. I’d like to grow strawberries.
I started cleaning up the raspberry patch but I think I’ll move some plants to where they’ll get more sun. I like strawberries but too tough for me to get down to pick them anymore.
They have you covered.
Fourscore,
At least two of the raspberry plants you gave me made it through the winter.
Unfortunately it isn’t my land anymore. :^(
You can pick after dark
*unfondly remembers my aunt’s 1/2 acre strawberry patch that she made us pick every morning*
I really like mine. My caution is you have to have well-draining soil or the watering system won’t work well. My first try the soil was too dense, so the bottom tier didn’t get enough water.
So, I grew up without air conditioning.
I also grew up with a family garden, and my mom would spend all summer (w/o AC) canning produce. To this day, my favorite veggie is my mom’s home-canned green beans.
I have only recently been able to eat squash again. We grew, and canned, and froze, and ate a LOT of squash growing up.
/single mother, working two jobs and going to night school. Two hungry, hungry boys.
I found big mouth jars at Fleet Farm and grabbed up a few dozen so we’re OK. Tomorrow I will finish off the cuke pickles from 2020. Last year we had no garden and so many jars of cukes backed up it took until now to finish them off. My tiller is in the shop, I need to start tilling. My plants under the florescents are ready to harden off and go in the ground but still plenty early. I need my tiller!
I have about 30 apple trees from seeds started. The 10 from last year are all budding out and I bought 2 more stock size and got them in the ground There is a good chance someone else will be eating my apples but I won’t care.
Mrs F has pretty well cleaned up the freezer and I see the venison is down to a manageable amount. Last year Kinnath had to bail me out on canning jars, they were nowhere to be found locally but I think people didn’t can so much ’cause it wasn’t fun.
I just transplanted tomatoes and peppers outside.
I’m 3 weeks behind you.
Eating a lot more beans, rice, eggs, cheap bread, cheeper peanut butter, far less meat, reduced my “coffee” brand down to Folgers crystals, no fast food, no restaurants, and generally eating less altogether. I try to spend five dollars or less a day on food.
It fucking sucks.
C’mon, man, You’ve got to lower your expectations.
Sure, Jen ?
Work quickly drying up during what should be a busy time of the year has done that for me. Funny how the price of paint nearly doubling over the last year or so tends to dry up the customer base. Hell, I haven’t bought weed in weeks and halved my alcohol intake so when I do drink beer(buying the cheap crap) it hits a little harder then I come here and act like an angry, unstable jack-ass. Don’t worry, I’m sober. Can’t afford a beer until Friday. I even reduced my tobacco intake, am now buying the cheapest, god awful tasting brand I can find(only $2.50 a pack) and started saving the last quarter of the damn things in a plastic bag. Yeah, I’m a dirtbag.
I guess if the anxiety gets to be too much I could just go to the gym or make a margarita. As the working poor are wont to do.
Have you thought about rolling your own cigs? After the initial investment of about $55 for a Tops rolling machine and a couple Tops plastic cigarette holder (18 smokes) it’s really cheap. Even buying a pricier 1lb bag of The Good Stuff pipe tobacco and two cases of Gambler filters, it only cost $28 for two cartons of smokes.
Plus it’s healthier! I told everyone I went organic. It does have a lot less other shit in it and way less tar. After a while I could tell when I’d buy a pack of Winston Lights and my lungs would hurt the next day. Plus I thought it tasted better when I got used to them.
I really should look into that. Don’t need the rolling machine though. Decades of being a pothead has made pretty good at hand rolling.
This woman has recipes that will help: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HxYpXK1DPPQ
I’ll check it out, thanks!
Maybe I’ll do like Clarkson and drive around with my garden on the outside of my RV
(the RV’s name is Vivian, BTW, so if I start to refer to being in Vivian, it doesn’t mean I’ve become a lezbean. Sorry.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7g08nwEmyY
New submission for your motherfckin’ THEME MUSIC
I immediately thought of The Young Ones.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TLwc9lbJlIQ
It’s grim.
I’m considering hunting for the first time in 25 years.
If I’d bought a house a bit further out of civilization, I’d raise chickens. As it is now, I am buying eggs and bartering with other townsfolk.
Probably too late for this year, but next year I’m going to plant a little raised veggie garden. I grew tomatoes and peppers in one of these when in Minnesota. The soil here is too poor to plant directly in the ground so I think the raised bed will do well. I know I could theoretically make something cheaper but i liked the little drainage spout and other features, and I don’t have a garage shop anymore.
https://www.amazon.com/Keter-238699-Elevated-Garden-Anthracite/dp/B07D7SNCF8/?th=1
I should have specified, I’m buying local eggs neighbor-to-neighbor through cash and barter. The FDA stamp adds no value but increases cost.
When I renewed my fishing license this year, for the 1st time in 25 years I went ahead and got a hunting license too for that very reason.
And Tres Version 2.0 needs to learn how to gut bunnies so I dont have to.
Good on you and HE. Hunting is therapy and I’m glad my dad taught me. I say that when I’m sitting in my deer stand my dad is sitting next to me. He would have been a happy guy last year when I took a buck with a handgun.
https://www.amazon.com/Original-Road-Kill-Cookbook/dp/0898152003
Two of my three kids have moved out, and the third works at a restaurant where she gets free or discounted food. Just two of us to cook for now.
Food is getting out of control.
Today I bought 9 cases of diet dew, 2 bottles of blue cheese dressing, 3 pounds jalepeno poppers, 3 pizzas, some dip, and a 6 pack of TP and it was $150! The same shopping run was about $105 just over a year ago. I think I need to start replacing about half the dew with bottled water.
I started making my own salad dressings rather than buy them. I can make blue cheese dressing for about half the price of store bought and it tastes better.
I still haven’t found the right recipe for ranch dressing yet. Any help?
I always check the reduced for quick sale meat freezer and the damaged canned good shelf for deals. I aint too proud!
Buttermilk powder is the secret to good ranch dressing.
This is going to sound counter-intuitive, but the wife has been doing local famers CSA’s (not sure what that stands for, but a selection of that farmers production) for a few years now, so we get most of our meat and veg farm fresh. The reason I am talking about this is that, because she has been doing this for so long, as other regulars are cutting back she gets better prices as she has proven to be a solid, regular customer who is going to keep doing this. Will it last? I don’t know, but it is good, local food and we can afford it. We also do a split on a salmon boat, meaning we buy into the catch by providing cash for things the ship needs. In other words, we invest in it. We get a lot of salmon really cheap this way.
Community Supported Agriculture.
Well, there you go!
What are you doing to combat high grocery prices?
1) Sam’s and Aldi to minimize costs.
2) garden to keep the skills up and get a little bit of produce (yard is shaded out, so not much production)
3) plan is to move to a more rural locale later this year and start raising laying and meat chickens.
None of this is directly resulting from rising prices. It’s all in alignment with our desire to withdraw from the default system and live more simply.
We’re probably going to cut out restaurants and fast food soon enough, but we don’t do much of that anyway, so it’s not super urgent to eliminate completely.
I have an unopened container of sour cream in my fridge and I’m trying to come up with something to do with it before it goes bad.
Suggestions?
Beef stroganoff, potato soup, topping for tacos/taco salad, dressing, baked potato.
Coffee cake, tomato soup, lasagna, cheesecake, deviled eggs
I might try to make stroganoff. I’ve got beef, I’ve got noodles. Onion, mushroom, and broth are easy enough to lay my hands on.
Hrmm… I’m wondering if venison stroganoff would turn out. I’ve had venison flank steaks in the freezer for a while. I also have fresh beef, but, I’m brainstorming.
That would be tastebud-orgasmic.
Stroganoff is an excellent use for venison.
Venison stroganoff is my signature dish at deer camp. Done right, it is awesome.
When are you thinking of going to the UP? No promises, but I am currently typing an outline for a Keweenaw Peninsula article.
July
So soon?! I better write faster. ?
Blue cheese crumbles, a half pint of buttermilk, some garlic powder, some worstershire sauce and you have blue cheese dressing
/have I mentioned I like blue cheese dressing?
I’m not a fan of blue cheese. I only have it rarely. Besides, of those ingredients, I have… garlic powder.
I love blue cheese dressing, but only Marzettis. In restaurants, it’s hit and miss so I often avoid it. I should look into making my own.
Problem is, I have a hard time making or cooking anything that doesn’t go in the pizza oven or a frying pan. Maybe I’ll look into it next winter.
Making a meal plan and sticking to it.
Usually failing at that…but trying!
We’ll probably have a chicken coop and chickens by the end of the year (reference my forum post), which I understand probably doesn’t save money but I’m hoping it’ll turn into something more self-sustainable. We are moving to a rural community surrounded by farms. Hoping to leverage that, either by offering a helping hand or being one of a hundred other yuppies in the area offering “farm fresh eggs” for barter. About the only thing I have to barter with is my security training and if it comes down to that we’re fucked anyways.
Want me to watch the farm? Sure thing. I’ll take a fresh side of beef, please. I’ll also need to borrow a shovel.
Sorry, that last part was a little unhinged. I’ve been buying dried goods in bulk and sealing them to start rotating through storage. Wife is stocking up on canned goods to do the same thing. We’re learning to cook with it so that it becomes normal, which will hopefully build better spending habits.
I interviewed my great-grandmother about growing up in the Great Depression while I was in high school. I don’t have the tapes anymore (stupid), but I definitely still recall her talking about growing a lot of vegetables, but more importantly, sharing amongst the community. All the neighborhood kids would go to different houses for meals to kind of split the costs among families. This has stuck with me. My wife is an unbelievable extrovert and we want to integrate more into the community and make friends. Yes, it sounds exploitative but the reality is that it’s necessary for any community to survive and thrive. A little bit of give and take. It’ll be good to know who’s reliable and trustworthy when you need assistance, even for everyday stuff.
Building a community is really important. I’m very lucky in my neighbors.
“I’ll also need to borrow a shovel.”
As in, “shoot, shovel, shut up”, I assume.
Still a great shovel reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxlNi0OcVnw
Tonight’s dinner was pantry and freezer scrounging time. Had a partial pork tenderloin we’d ftozen after grilling it a month ago. Had some frozen veggies, fresh carrots, celery, and onion that needed to go. Had some brown “instant rice” the hub accidentally purchased a while back that was sitting in the pantry.
So Pork Fried Rice was on the menu! Cooked up the instant rice, sauteed the fresh veggies and diced pork, added the frozen veggies toward the end, and scrambled an egg in the middle of the skillet. Soy sauce and hot sauce to taste, and voila!
I think that’s gonna be the way it goes for a while: Look in the fridge and freezer and do something creative with whatever I find.
Unfortunately, cheap food tends to be higher carb than what we prefer.
Sounds tasty!
I had an egg sandwich. Good enough for now.
Fried rice is a great way to clear out random stuff!
Pretty sure that’s how it came about in the first place.
And it is very forgiving on ingredient combos and ratios!
OT:
BEAM suggested I try the Way Back Machine to find that chappaquiddick investigation archive. It was called ytedk.com. On the WayBack Machine, ytedk.com leads to an error stating that the content is no longer available to the server.
BUT ytedk.com is out there as its own URL. Sweet! But wait–only a few pages are up, and the images and diagrams are no longer there. I guess I missed my chance to save all of that.
WOO-HOO! Found it!
https://www.cwporter.com/ytedkindexx.htm
Better scrape that shit up so it doesn’t get lost!
I printed as PDF and saved!
Oh crap. Out of curiosity I went to the cwporter main page and learned that the guy is a hard-core antisemite. I need to clean my hard drive. Still glad he preserved the YTedK stuff.
That’s weird, I found it on the Way Back Machine: here. Looks like they’ve got the whole thing there, in glorious early 2000s web format.
SF’d the link.
Second try
Huh. That’s odd. Maybe the server really was temporarily down at the time.
Thanks.
DAILY QUORDLE ROUNDUP™©®
(The ‘It’s official: joint custody’ Edition)
#106
Champ
Scruffy Nerfherder 16
Bobarian LMD 18
Sean 18
trshmnstr the terrible 18
Grummun 19
Rat on a train 19
whiz 19
Grumbletarian 20
grrizzly 22
kinnath 22
MikeS 22
Not Adahn 22
Ozymandias 22
rhywun 22
The Hyperbole 24
Tundra 24
Name’s BEAM, James BEAM 25
Ted S. 25
SDF-7 27
TARDis 28
one true athena 29
Chumps
Tulip 115
Ghostpatzer 117
db 118
Big news. The Hyperbole approved of my time filling in and asked me to help with DQR™©® full time. The boss and I will be doing alternating weeks.
It was an interesting day scores, wise. 14 of 24 players were at or better than the Tundra line (but not Tundra ?). We had plenty of scores in the teens, and Scruffy got a very nice 16. However, we also had three centenarians. They did their part to get the average down to a week-low 33.8.
The Scrabble score was 28. I’m ready to call that a poor indicator of difficulty. But who knows, it might be interesting to graph out the data after a few more weeks. I’ll let “the other guy” do that.
On my weeks, these will likely keep being posted later than we were used to. I apologize for nothing.
Stop eating so damned much. *sigh*
Oh, thank you and Ozzy for giving me the option to reach out to you if I need y’all. I’m out for the evening. Take care, my dear.
Today in Podunkville I saw the “Second Harvest” truck pull into the food shelf. There are quite a few old people and low income people here but I don’t know, not sure, if they means test people. I do see a lot of activity over there on Food Shelf Day. There are also a lot of Help Wanted signs for those willing to work.
“willing to work.”
That’s what’s bugging me out. The small company I work for is just now finally starting to pick up more jobs and the boss has tried hiring a couple people over the last week or so. They accept the job then just don’t show up. It’s not like their kids either. Grown ass middle aged men supposedly desperate for work. I don’t get it.
Buy in bulk, so get a handle instead of a bottle, right?
And 30 packs. Don’t forget the 30 packs.
Or 56 packs if they ever make them again.
I would love to find one of those cattle raising outfits that allows “investing” in a portion of the beef when it’s eventually butchered, as Thomas Massie describes. Apparently there are long waiting lists to get in on one.
I wonder why? Seems like a pretty sweet deal: Cattle rancher gets money upfront while he’s still pouring resources into the beef, and the customer gets nice grass-fed beef.
I assume there are government disincentives, or it’d be more common.
Definitely. He’s been trying to get legislation passed that would allow us to buy direct. In the meantime:
https://www.farmmatch.com/
Back in the day, we would buy a quarter or side of beef with a bunch of other people from church. Rancher would send out “Butchering X number of beeves on Y date. Who wants some?” They’d get snapped up right quick. The locker fees weren’t as much for me as for the others because all I wanted were the good cuts of steak, no organ meats, and then everything else ground up in 5-lb packages. I would’ve asked for the tongue if I knew how to cook it. Somebody would take a trailer up to get everybody’s beef and then parcel it out at the church when he got back.
Haven’t done that in a long time, mostly because when we have freezer space, we don’t have that kind of lump sum lying around and when we have that kind of lump sum lying around, we have no freezer space.
Tongue tacos are divine! Boil the tongue, skin it, slice it, season it. Simple.
Supposedly moose tongue is the most sought after piece of the moose, after the backstraps.
?
I’m telling you, sonny-boy! Meet me just outside the Long Beach, CA docks. There are several food trucks that sell “lengua tacos” that will knock your white-boy ankle socks off.
Oh, I don’t doubt they are delicious. I was just wondering if we do phrasing around here or not.
What is this word, “phrasing”, please?
*laughing at the thought of MikeS wearing ankle socks*
Sorry, too full from eating birria tacos.
Mo’, not sure if serious, will assume you are.
Phrasing
Was not serious. ?
Dammit. You got me.
*MikeS does wear ankle socks, but only when wearing shorts.*
A lot of Basque restaurants make tongue salsa. Pretty darn good.
Tried googling for CSA beef? Same concept as veggie csa above.
I think the real issue is beef is going for so much that it is an economic disincentive to set up a co-op.
We do that with Salmon boats. It is a great deal, around here they call it a split.
Absolutely. And if it doesn’t come in a handle, the duty-free shop across the border sells liter bottles.
Grocery prices a concern? I thought most of us died already from net neutrality, Trump’s tax cuts, Trump’s WWIII, or the ChiComVirus. For those of us still breathing, just raid your retirement accounts before the government confiscates them. Anyway, you won’t need them as Climate Change is set to kill off the rest of us in only eight years from now.
Not wrong.
Finding a new home for The First That Will Change Everything is going to be a sensitive and difficult task. I have many suitors for this honor, for the people who will The Great Firster’s chosen ones. The First will wash over them before all others, greatly increasing their status in the new world order. Right now, I am taking a moment to collect my thoughts and to sort through all prospective avenues for The First.
I’m starting to think Chafed was joking about the Scotch. So, let’s be buds again.
We’re cool now, right?
I will need an apology for the ages before I can go to The Great Firster asking for your pardon.
I made this for you.
MikeS
I am moved. I shall pass the offering onto The Great Firster. His will be done.
*cough* still waiting for your address *cough*
This sounds like your afterbirth is going to splash on anyone near you.
I’m watching an amazing documentary on HBOMax called “Murder on Middle Beach”. A young man makes a documentary about his mother’s unsolved murder. Starts slow, but wow.
James Ellroy did an Unsolved Mysteries about his mothers murder, and wrote an intense autobiography around it, as it has been the defining feature of his life.
My Dark Places. https://www.amazon.com/My-Dark-Places-James-Ellroy-audiobook/dp/B07SSCMD5L/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UP423GAO7PQH&keywords=my+dark+places+by+james+ellroy&qid=1652242611&sprefix=my+dark+pl%2Caps%2C266&sr=8-1
I may try that again – Middle Beach Road is about 100 yards down from where my MIL lives (and my wife grew up). I walk it regularly (there’s a decent restaurant at the Madison Beach Club at the end of it).
As you say, it starts slow & we didn’t get beyond the first couple of episodes.
Could be worse. Germany has it really bad. Those guys having runaway inflation never caused a problem, eh?
Sorry to go OT, but I am filling out my first civilian job application. It’s asking for my minimum desired salary. How the shit do I even begin to answer that question? I’ve looked at a couple salary ranges online and don’t want to put in a crazy low number, but am probably asking too much to make my current salary. Should I just meet halfway in between? I mean, if they were to agree to my current salary I’d be ecstatic.
Not a HR flunkie or a hiring manager, but I’d put a number on there that I’d be happy to take and add 10%. Assuming you’re not desperate for a job, either it’s screening to weed out high/low or they want to low ball or it’s meaningless. Why put on something you wouldn’t be happy with? Or work for a place that wants to nickel and dime from the start.
Seems reasonable to just go with what I’d be happy with. I don’t think it’s asking too much, especially considering the benefits I’m walking away from. I am looking at my budget spreadsheet and thinking “yeah, that’s enough cushion to start out” and with promotions I’d be happy as a pig in a sty. I just don’t want to price myself out of their range either.
If it’s a negotiation, your starting figure is unlikely to be your final position unless you don’t budge.
Don’t sell yourself short. Wages are seeing upward pressure everywhere, at least in technical fields.
What kind of field is the job in?
Production Area Manager for a large tire manufacturer. I’d be leading a team of 20-40 individuals, which is about a third of what I’m responsible for now.
Definitely do not lowball them. That’s a significant level of responsibility in a manufacturing operation. At my company we pay well over $100k for that sort of position, where there are about that many direct reports. Is there reporting responsibility for production quotas and such too? Not sure what the tire industry is like, but it’s probably comparable to chemical manufacturers.
Yes. Responsible for production quotas, safety compliance, developing and maintaining employee standards, budget management, maintenance and QC standards, and a few other things.
That’s sounding to me like high $120s to $140k (plus benefits), but I don’t know what the margin on tires is. Maybe others can do a sanity check on me here…
Those responsibilities align with similar jobs at my company in that salary range, possibly a bit higher. What region of the country?
Upstate South Carolina.
Not familiar with that area, unfortunately.
If I go too high, is that an automatic write-off or a negotiating position?
It depends on the applicant pool. If the pool is averaging X and you are in that ballpark, no issues. If you are the outlier, then you will probably get cut from the process.
Agreed. Don’t lowball yourself. I always try to
make them go first. They’re hoping you’ll
say something and it’ll be two thirds of what
they’d be willing to pay. “Look, why don’t
you just tell me what the job is worth to you
and I’ll let you know if we’re in the same ballpark.”
and/or “Salary is only part of it, without knowing
the benefit package, it’s hard to put a number on
a base salary.”
As an anecdote, the best job I didn’t get, the
guy told me that he didn’t hire me because I didn’t
ask for enough money, so he thought that I didn’t
think I could do it. I’ve been very grateful he took
the time to tell me why he didn’t hire me. Asking
for too little can be just as bad as asking for too
much.
I’m in the market for people as is nearly every one. Don’t sell yourself short and ask for what you are worth. Online guides haven’t kept up with the salary inflation of the past 6-12 months.
Don’t be afraid to put down what you make now plus 20%. Leave yourself open to negotiation and let the recruiter know this.
I usually say something like for the right position I’m open to negotiating on salary.
This. Do not be afraid to ask for more than you think you can get. Timeloose’s other points are spot on too.
A lot of times when hiring managers see people asking for below-market wages, they wonder what’s below standard about the candidate. Don’t go too crazy on the high side though.
Man, if I put down what I make now +20%…that’d be like a dream. Then again, if I look at my total military compensation, including health benefits and housing, that’d be about right.
Unfortunately I have to enter a number otherwise I’d just enter “negotiable” and let them make the first offer.
I did speak with someone within the company who gave me a salary range for some positions a little bit lower. Once I showed him my resume he started sending me to positions that were a bit higher up the management chain, so I suppose I can use that lower salary range to gauge what a higher position might make.
Well, I did my best. We’ll see what happens. Planning to put in a few applications here and see what shakes out.
?
Good luck Mustang. Keep in mind the cost of an employee in the private sector is 2X salary typically when they include benefits and bonuses.
Military experience is very well received in manufacturing facilities as well.
Good luck to you.
Paraphrasing another Glib (Mojo maybe?), ‘Ask for the highest amount that you can without laughing out loud.’
It’s an employee’s market right now. Aim high.
I was thinking of the anecdote shared by one of our Glibs earlier who had lunch with a former Clinton insider who passed along some tasty gossip on the Clintons and their unapologetic lust for power.
In the early nineties, I was at a retreat for alumni of the “Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence” academic all-state scholarship recipients. This would put it at 1994 or so.
The foundation was run by OK Sen David Boren (the only democrat I ever voted for), who was at that time the president of the University of Oklahoma. He’d invited Robert Gates to speak to us. Gates was the president of Texas A&M and a friend of Boren.
As luck had it, I was at the same table as Gates during lunch. We started chatting and got so in to history, philosophy, and politics that we were the last to leave the banquet.
Gates was disciplined (former CIA guy, so natch) but it was very clear that he found the Clintons to be morally repugnant and a threat to national security due to their acceptance of foreign donations in exchange for access and “favors”.
Thus it surprised me when Gates published his Sec Defense memoirs in which he compared Hilldog somewhat favorably to Biden.
Semi-related: David Boren on Gates: “He’ll be remembered for making us aware of the danger of over-reliance on military intervention as an instrument of American foreign policy.”
What happened to democrats like Boren??!
I was very unclear: Gates compared Hillary vs Biden. Gates was very adamant that Biden was wrong on every foreign policy recommendation he ever offered to Obama. Hillary was right some of the time.
Obama was in the habit of running major decisions past VP Biden, Sec State Clinton, and Sec Def Gates. And Biden was Always wrong according to Gates.
I should re-read that memoir to see how it has aged now that Biden is top dog.
well, I can see it once you put it that way — as much as she’s a corrupt hag, I do think Hillary is quite smart. She gets stuck in her biases and pride as much as anyone (see Wisconsin– or if you’re HRC, don’t), but at least she has a brain. Biden’s not all that bright, he just has a street rat sort of cunning that let him get to the top of the Blue machine in Delaware. And well, Delaware. You don’t get to the top of Delaware, without cronyism to big business, so that got planted early, I’m sure.
I suspect smarter people around him have been pulling the strings for awhile. The trouble right now is the ‘smarter people’ around him only think they’re smarter, but they’re mostly poorly read young people who think Twitter is America.
Excellent diagnosis. Biden really needs to find his equivalent to James Carville. He lacks any useful guidance.
I remember hearing that during the last election. Of course, Biden told Obama to abort the mission to capture/kill OBL. I’m unaware of Biden or his spokeshole pointing out anything he has gotten right.
Re the Clintons, I’m sure Bill is amoral but he was smart, adept, and knew how to change course as needed. It’s no wonder he was a successful politician. Hilary isn’t stupid but her arrogance overwhelms her intelligence. She is also stubborn about everything. It’s no wonder she lost her only competitive election.
That’s not a good commentary on Gates. Biden wanted out of Afghanistan back in 2008.
I’m not saying the man’s a genius, but Clinton and Gates are perpetual warmongers.
Had to adjust my ‘don’t buy’ price points.
My egg price for a dozen is now $1.99 – up from $.99.
Whole chicken is now $1.89/lb – up from $.99/lb
Bread is now $3.00 – up from $1.50
Tuna is now $1.89/can – up from $.89/can
Means I have to be selective but we can still find some deals here and there. Told boys the above will just go away if I cannot find at those prices.
“Bread”
Hey buddy, stop doing that.
“Nail Me And My Sister – Anjelah Johnson Stand Up Comedy”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o0vhFU8iwCM
Yo, that’s some click baity stuff.
My daughter sent me that but the delivery and high pitched voice were such that I couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.
Combating food prices?
I grilled 5+ lbs of ribeye over the weekend so we could eat steak all week.
*shrug*
Wegman’s family packs, ftw.
That sounds a bit boring.
My biggest problem with bulk cooking is that I get sick of what I’ve made well before it gets used up.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrr3lRLjZ1Y
?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/05/los-angeles-imposes-new-water-restrictions-amid-drought-asks-residents-reduce-showering-time-4-minutes/
Why do people live in CA?
We all need more Gwen.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PHzOOQfhPFg
Too much makeup skeeves me out. That is a pretty great pop song, though.
https://www.nj.com/middlesex/2022/05/former-nj-man-sentenced-for-trying-to-hire-a-hitman-to-kill-his-ex-wife.html
There are no hitmen. It’s always a LEO.
If he isn’t Italian or maybe Russian don’t hire him for god’s sake.
Pikey in a pinch.
I swear I’m awake. It’s an office day today, and I’m not looking forward to it.
Speaking of, I have to get on the road. See you guys when I reach the office.
Re: elevated food prices (especially meat)-Thank God my favorite dish is pasta with olive oil and garlic and maybe a little bit of cheese grated over the top. Certainly more expensive than it was but still cheap in the scheme of things.
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I’m calling bullshit on lower right
Good morning, Tulip, Stinky, U, and Sean!
As I’ve mentioned, I haven’t (yet) found the price increases for food to be as frustrating as the reduction in selection. For pity’s sake, I had to do a commando raid on a second grocery just to find a GREEN bell pepper – our usual supermarket only had the funky colored ones. (Not a darn thing wrong with those, but TT really wanted a green one.) Happily, that also gave me the excuse to go looking for our favorite potato salad, which our usual grocery doesn’t carry and which Sam’s only has seasonally. Speaking of Sam’s, that’s where we get virtually all of our meat, including the occasional good buy on ribeyes.
Happily, our neighborhood farmers’ market kicks off for the season this coming Saturday, although it’s almost certainly too early yet for there to be much by way of produce. I’ll have to be careful not to succumb to the temptation of too many of the delicious baked goods.
Morning, GT.
Hi there! How are you today?
In need of a vacation.
Upper management’s morale crushing all hands combined with my own director’s strategy of undermining her own team (I don’t think she does it on purpose, I just think she’s not cut out for the job) has left me ill-disposed towards work today.
If I had to isolate the root cause, I’d say she has no concept of how much time work takes, and for whatever reason doesn’t register our responses with regards to that. This leads her to floating too many labor-intensive requests, and in not aiding us when pushback on unreasonable customer requests come in from agencies. (ie, pushing for a process that has always taken two days in the past to be done by close of business an hour or two after the request came in…)
V. Salt, Esq.
Mornin’, UCS.
“no concept of how much time work takes”
Or, apparently, the risks that come with rushing things. But you can always blame the grunts when things go south.
Let me guess: she has no concept of how much time work takes because she’s never actually done such work herself. ?
I don’t think she has.
? That’s a horrible one-two punch! I hope you can take some time off soon. I’m pondering putting in a request for Thursday afternoon and/or Friday off. I’ll have completed all the accounting for payroll, and our newbies should be up and running on the timekeeping system by then.
All the time in the world, soon enough. It was heartening that many of the staff approached me about my absence. “Where were you? You never miss a shift!” They like me! They really, really Like Me!
Well, I have the problem that one of my four direct reports is out for the month, and others have leave in the near future. We’re required to have someone on hand for coverage, and I at least want to do right by my people and let them have their time off.
“I at least want to do right by my people and let them have their time off.”
Good on ya, you will never regret having your peoples’ back.. I was once ordered to write up one of my DBAs after an outage caused by a faulty script that came from our HQ in Zurich. After refusing to do so, I polished off my CV and went on to bigger and better things. No regrets.
Mornin’, fellow reprobates.
Mornin, Mornin’ Glibs! Judi is dehydrating food as fast as the machine will work. She’s been at it it for a few weeks now. Unless we run out of potable water and a heat source we’ll be fine for awhile. Ultrasound of my innards went surprisingly well! The tech was not the one that I feared but instead some young maiden whom I would have allowed to rub my belly forever if she wanted to. I wanted to go full-on Joe and sniff her hair (It hung nearly to her waist). I’m going to be one of those guys in assisted living that needs to have his wrists tied to the wheelchair aren’t I?
Good morning, Fes & ‘patzie! So glad your ultrasound went well, Fes, but most of all hope the results are good! ?
Thanks! Won’t learn the results for another month. That’s when I drag my sorry ass to the principals office once more. Still waiting on the specialist. He seems to be so far up his own ass studying fractals that we may never meet. It’s been 8 months.
Mornin’, Festy, good news!
“Rub my
bellyREDACTED.Heh. Reminds me of the first time I had a cystoscopy following a kidney stone. Identical twins administered anesthesia.
You’ve seen things, Man!
Food prices. Ugh. Some items have kept prices stable by shrinking the packages. Like the “two quart” beverages which were 59 ounces last time I looked.
Ray of sunshine: Local supermarket has bone-in rib steaks for $8.99/lb this week. Freezer, stocked.
My only food price advice is to be sure to have a nearly empty fridge right before the next shopping day. In other words don’t buy too muck for that is perishable. If you end up with 2 lbs of carrots that go bad each week or bananas going brown, you are buying too much or not eating what you buy.
Keep your freezer and pantry full and buy in bulk, buy a vac sealer and be sure to never let food go bad.
My advice as well! Judi and I being on different diets does not help things. She’ll get a hankering for something that I don’t consume. Also good advice – defrost your freezers! They work for shit with build-up and you’ll spoil food and waste energy.
The 3 pound Porterhouse I bought for Mother’s Day was $97. Good thing the three of us can eat off it twice each.
FJB & Friends.
I hope that was prime.
Not sure, but it was very tender and well marbled. Going to eat more it for breakfast today. It was from an actual butcher shop and he sawed it off to order.
JFC.
?
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So, that lil new knife I got…
I’m less than thrilled with the IWB loop that came with it. It rides a bit too high for my tastes.
Anyone used the Ulticlips before? It looks like I’ll be able to sit the sheath lower with it.
I was thinking the slim 2.2 or the slim 3.3.
Have you looked at the Discreet Carry Concepts clips? I use those on my Clinch Pick sheath.
https://harrysholsters.com/discreet-carry-concepts-vs-ulticlip/
I have not. Interesting.
Weel it Keel?
A review.
suh’ fam
whats goody
Friend Baby-Head is goody!
Did they tell you if its a boy or girl ?
Xe will decide when that day comes.
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I got impatient on top right… Could’ve found it eventually.
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Ok, after the ludicrous letter claiming credit, I’mma switch my opinion on the Madison firebombing to “false flag.”
What and what?
I don’t believe any first take anymore.
Longpork is on the menu.
I heard grumbles about the baby formula debacle and bought all I could. Screw anyone else. My kid is t going to go without. At her current and predicted consumption rates we have enough for six months. By then if we have to cut formula all together she’ll be fine.
I’ve got about a third of an elk, some pork, and part of a cow left over from a couple of years ago. It’s old but my 1950 Westinghouse freezer has kept it rock hard. It needs to be eaten.