OPINION:
I don’t have a God-given right to buy capsicum. When prices are high, I substitute, go without, or buy frozen. My jaw nearly hit the ground during an item on the TV news a few weeks ago about the cost-of-living crisis, where a couple lamented having just paid $15 for three capsicums.
Hang on. What? Put them back. Capsicum isn’t needed for sustenance. If money’s tight, use an alternative. When a recipe requires capsicum, but I’m not willing to pay the price, I add extra onions and use paprika, which of course is dried, ground, you guessed it, capsicum. Or if you want the crunch rather than the flavour, then celery is a good alternative. Try stuffing something else like a pumpkin, or find another recipe until capsicums are cheap.
The point of this article isn’t capsicum. It’s about streamlining supermarket spending. If ever there was a time to think longer and harder about the food we buy, it’s now. Shop around, substitute, buy basics in bulk when cheaper. Just make sure you use meal planning to avoid waste.
On the substitution front, I’m no chef but I’m a dab hand at Google searches and more recently ChatGPT, both of which can provide substitutes for almost any ingredient. Need three eggs for a cake, but don’t want to fork out $3? Use chia or aquafaba. For other uses of eggs, ChatGPT gives examples where mashed bananas, apple sauce, silken tofu and flax or chia seed can be substituted. It doesn’t work of course for breakfast eggs or quiche.