(Photo credit: Flickr member steev-o licensed for use under Creative Commons)
I recently made a polenta casserole that was supposed to use fontina cheese. But when I went to the grocery store, I found one little hunk of it (which wouldn’t have yielded the 2 cups that I needed), and it was over $12. I understand that some kinds of cheese just cost more, but I had a hard time justifying buying food that costs that much and isn’t made from unicorn tears.
I wound up buying a different cheese that was much less expensive, which worked out because, cheese aside, the casserole wasn’t that good.
I’m not opposed to buying somewhat expensive food; I just want to be sure it’s going into something I know will turn out well.
What foods are you willing to pay more for? What do you splurge on?
We tend to hit up Whole Foods every few months, and that’s where our splurges usually happen. Most everything else I can find on sale at some point. I just usually wait until things are on sale. But we did go to WF this past weekend and spent almost twice as much as we usually spend for about half the groceries. They are AWESOME groceries, though — I haven’t really found meat and veggies that are better, and they have a great selection of wines and cheeses.
Since the bulk of our food is now arriving in the CSA boxes and we’re not eating much meat, I splurge on “certified humane” bacon, local eggs, and occasional fancy cheeses (though you can find Fontina for cheaper at the local Publix than you can at Whole Foods). I hit up Costco today for onions, organic diced tomatoes, free range chicken broth, and whole grain pasta.
There’s actually a Whole Foods having their grand opening today that’s not too far from where I live. I thought about checking it out, although when I lived in LA, I hardly ever went there because WF felt like it lived up to its “Whole Paycheck” nickname.
I hardly ever buy meat, but when I do splurge, it’s on seafood.
Oh, and nuts – they are so expensive … but so good!