7/15/08 | Rice Wins Staple Poll
[ Currently Eating: A Hot Dog ]
Rice is Nice! Yes, I know I haven’t changed out the Cheap Eats food poll in nearly a year. I just kept putting it off in favor of reviewing things like cans of vienna sausage. You know how it goes.
I guess I wasn’t too surprised that Rice came in first place in our poll on food staples. A full third of respondents (759 voters) picked rice as their favorite food staple. It’s definitely one of the most versatile dry goods to have stocked in the cupboard. We have at least 3 different kinds at all times - it’s usually sticky rice, plain white rice, and then jasmine or some other sort of mix.
What’s sort of funny is all the hub-bub that’s been going on fairly recently (probably before I even put the poll up) with the price on bags of rice skyrocketing. I know at certain stores (Sam’s Club, etc) they were limiting the number of bags per customer for awhile. I never would’ve thought that could happen. When NPR started to devote coverage to the price of rice not being nice (haha), I certainly started to pay attention.
As for the other staples, I was surprised at how high Potatoes came in. I personally love potatoes, but I thought they would come in last. 660 respondents (about 29%) cast their vote for the humble potato. Bread came in third with 470 votes (about 21%) and Beans brought up the rear (hmm.. beans DO tend to make curtain call appearances near my rear) with 374 votes (about 16%).
All of these staples are great for Cheap Eaters. I tend to have nearly all of them around at all times - with the exception of bread because it doesn’t last as long as the others do, especially with how humid it is in the summertime. For beans, I have both canned and dry. Potatoes I nearly always have as fresh - I try to store them in a cool dark place to extend the shelflife.
OK - the new poll is up to the right. This one has to do with clipping those pesky, time-expiring but essential supermarket coupons. To Coupon or not to Coupon - that is the poll question…
July 16th, 2008 at 6:19 am
Food inflation is what brought me to your site, but your great posts keep me coming back. IMHO many frugal food blogs embrace the gloom too heartily. In fact, some of them sound downright grim lately and feel like a slog. You seem to have a sense of adventure and fun that is a joy to read. I find myself smiling every time I visit.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:16 am
anita - thanks, I try to take the lighter side of eating cheap food when I can. But yes, I completely understand the gloom part of food being expensive too.
July 21st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I don’t coupon any more. I found out that the items are usually for things I don’t buy anyway I am a basic cook and do a lot of cooking from scratch. Coupons are usually for highly processed foods and unhealthy ones at that.. Usually I can get store brands a lot cheaper than I get name brand ‘with” a coupon. And the running back and forth between stores to find the store that had the item you have a coupon for with gas prices, just doesn’t make sense. IMHO
July 21st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I thought I was replying to the coupon poll. Oh well, now I will reply to this post.
I think they hit the nail on the head. That’s what I bought when we were down and out…well, more down than now, we are always on the verge of poverty. LOL…If there was a fifth, I think it would be cheese….your can take those five items and make so many different things,,,now if you add on canned tomatoes,,,you really can work wonders. A lttle powdered milk and some eggs and the sky is the limit…
That’s the things I keep on hand here in hurriicane central, although FL might argue with that.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Referring to the rice issue…. I learned to love rice as a staple when I learned to make 3 things at home: chinese take-out style fried rice, armenian rice pilaf, and baked red sauce rice (spaghetti sauce, meat, mozz, baked in a casserole). I still don’t like plain rice with either butter or gravy..yuk. This winter I’ll learn to make rice pudding.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Rice is probably our biggest staple of the four, though I missed your original poll. And when the news was talking about the “rice shortage” and the limits at Costco and Sam’s Club, I did some digging. It sounded like the the only places to limit it were on the west coast, in areas that had large concentrations of Indian and Asian immigrants/descendants thereof/whatever (having trouble finding the right word). Anyway, a lot of folks were coming in buying more than usual, and the local restaurants were having trouble getting enough because supplies were low. The stores were putting limits on so the restaurants didn’t run out.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Kind of odd that cheap eaters would vote rice being their staple these days, with all the issues with rice shortages. I voted for potatos, they are still dirt-cheap and tasty.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Bread keeps pertty well in the freezer. Pop it out when you need it and it doesn’t really affect the taste (bit drier depending on how long you have it in the freezer)