Maybe save a few cents?
Chocolate is skyrocketing. At Aldi, chocolate chips are 3.39/12 oz. For that matter, so are white chips and butterscotch chips, no gouging there. >sarcasm< The Choceur chocolate bars they sell have gone from 1.39 to 2.19 in a matter of weeks. Kroger wants over $5/12 oz for their chocolate chips. I have 2 or 3 tins of cocoa powder in the pantry. I knew chocolate , like coffee, was going to get expensive, so I stocked up. I found a recipe today for simple chocolate syrup. I made some to use for a few treats I enjoy. I'll let you know how it works for me. It smells good. I'm planning to make fudge, potato candy, and brigadeiros as time goes on. All kinds of inexpensive candy recipes. I sure don't need the sugar, but it's nice to have ingredients handy to make treats if I need to.
I like buns for sandwiches. I noticed at Aldi yesterday that their hot dog buns were 1.19 vs 1.39 for hamburger buns. I got the hot dog buns, figured I'll have self-styled mini subs 
I made a small batch of chicken salad from 1/2 can of chicken, enough to make 2 mini subs. Tasty lunch. I might make a small batch of creamed chicken with the rest of the can of chicken. If I do, I'll make a 1/2 batch of biscuits. Last time I made biscuits, I made two. lol
I've always pinched pennies, especially where food is concerned. I'm lucky to have time to try different things, but I know a lot of people don't have the time to cook from scratch. I probably don't save as much as I used to. Seems like the food at the grocery store costs as much as if it were prepped and served in a restaurant. I'll keep trying, though.
My mother-in-law would make syrup for pancakes by cooking brown sugar and water together till is was the right consistency to pour. I didn't serve pancakes or French toast often, so when I did, I made brown sugar syrup. Many of my guests have been surprised that it tastes like syrup. My young great-niece who was here last month was awestruck. I heard her tell her Dad I MADE syrup.
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And it's just the two of us -
But my husband off the plane from Italy loves 'americana' food.
Kielbasa and Baked Beans, Casseroles, Stews.
I'm prepared for whatever comes. Stocked up on a lot of staples to make those kinds of things because the staples have a long shelf life. Example- Carrots: I blanched, sliced and dehydrated, then zip packed. Can boil them back to life or just put in a stew or soup.
And he even likes home made biscuits!
If we went out, it was to a sit down family restaurant. My Mom and Dad liked Worthheim's Chick Inn and Steak House. Fast food chains started spreading after I was married.
Good idea on the carrots. I am well-stocked on dry goods, but don't have storage for meat, etc.
Early this month, I bought a tiny bag of dark chocolate raisins from the bulk section. The price was six dollars a pound. Guess I should’ve allowed more on my splurging that day because The next week I went back for more and they were nine dollars a pound! Darn. No more dark chocolate raisins for me. 
My Mom made soup and casseroles for us. My folks owned a grocery store, and as time went on, Dad kept it open longer and longer, so he was often home late. He had steak and French fries every night he worked. We often had Swiss steak, roast pork or oven baked chicken for Sunday dinner. I still like Swiss steak, but I don't have it often. I can make knedliky with my eyes shut My Mom either worked at home, ran errands for the home or the store, or took care of us kids.
We ate a lot of canned goods, too. Cleveland in the 1960s! In the summer, we got a lot of fresh produce. I bet my Dad ordered extra when he ordered for the store. I was just telling my granddaughter how my Dad would bring home a whole case of corn on the cob, or peaches, or tomatoes. There were 9 of us in the house, and we ate a lot. We lived with my Gram. She was head cashier at the store. If she had a day off, she'd make cookies, Jello or pudding. We could demolish whatever she made in seconds. lol Lots of good memories.
Nice to hear from you!
You were lucky you had such a variety of fresh produce from your dad’s store! Wow 9 of you, that’s a large household and I’ll bet your mom was plenty busy.
I remember my Grandmother had a cherry tree in her back yard and we kids would pick the cherries and she’d make them into a pie. I thought I’d died and gone to Heaven eating her cherry pie.
There were train tracks at the far end of mt Grandmother’s back yard. My sister and I would stand there and watch the trains. I remember the cars said Erie Lackawanna. If a train came by and you were in her house, the dishes in her china cupboard would rattle.
The house where I grew up belonged to my grandparents. They planted a variety of fruit trees in the late 30s-40s and by the time we kids came along, they trees were producing. Not very well, but we'd pick what we could reach and I remember Gram and her sisters baking pies. My grandfather passed away before I was born, and my Dad wanted to stay with Gram to be helpful. I bet she didn't expect to have 5 grandkids. Thank goodness the house was big enough! My great aunt, Gram's older sister, came to live with us, so there were 4 adults, 5 kids. Still a lot of people
My husband's grandparents lived close to a railroad. My husband said when they visited, the kids (brothers and boy cousins) would sneak out and put rolls of caps, or pennies on the rails. When the train hit the roll of caps, they'd explode. He said the engineers hated that. The pennies would get flattened, and the kids would try to find them after the train passed. If they got caught, they got in trouble, but they usually didn't get caught. There were enough cousins to pass the blame around. lol
