Clean Eating on a Budget: Can it be done?

There’s a lot of hype these days about clean/paleo/organic diets.  I don’t mean “hype” in the typical negative connotations, just that it’s a very popular topic in today’s society.  We’ve all seen the swings of diet crazes that go on throughout our lives… I mean, anyone else out there remember when pasta was considered really healthy because carbs were good for you? 

Sweet, sweet sketti. I miss those days.

Last year, a friend’s family member was suffering from cancer.  He visited with a Doctor Hoover who is a proponent of the alkaline-foods movement and started Dr. Hoover’s diet.  This year, the family member passed away—however, over the last year a vast improvement was seen in his quality of life, and it did extend the life expectancy that his oncologist had given him.  Therefore, my friend is now moving toward the alkaline diet and organic foods as well.  She recently went to our local health food market and spent over $500 on food items… I should point out that she & her husband have four kids.  So that’s a 6-person family on an organic diet.  That’s not cheap. Oh…and said friend is a stay at home mom, so they’re doing this on one income.  Ouch.

The Hubs & I don’t typically buy organic foods, because we’re kind of cheapskates.  However, I see the value in moving toward that route.  So I wanted to do some research and see what our typical shopping list would look like if we went all-organic.  And the answer….kind of terrified me.

I made a list of about 40 staples that we always have in our house, and our typical price points for those items.  Now—bear in mind, we almost NEVER buy something at full price.  When it goes on sale, we stock up, or we buy generics.  So these are our “buy” price points—not necessarily the typical regular prices for these items.  But, to be fair, I also reviewed our sale ads for the last few weeks and used the sale prices for any of the organic items on this list as well.

As you can see, if we decided to move to an all-organic diet, our average bill would increase by almost 150% percent!!!  Our monthly grocery budget for a two-person household is $200; therefore, over the course of the year we would be spending about $1600 more PER PERSON on food.  For a 4 person family, that would be an extra $6,400 per year.  I don’t know about you, but we don’t really have an extra $3200 in our annual budget to dedicate exclusively to food.

So, the more important question is:  which items on this list are the MOST IMPORTANT to buy organic?  You may or may not have the time to track down the answer to that question for everything on your grocery list.  But I, the food nerd, have done it for you—at least for the above 39 foods.

 

Cheese/Dairy/Beef/Butter/Sour Cream:  This probably depends on how much of these products you eat.  But dairy/beef products are hot topic in the food world.  There’s concerns over rBST hormones (which, most studies show don’t transfer into food products in significant enough levels to be harmful to humans) but more so the antibiotics that are fed to cows, which can transfer into milk and beef and cause us to build up a resistance to antibiotics.  Answer: Splurge on the organic cheese if your family eats a fair amount of it. If you want a better butter, Kerrygold Irish butter gets rave reviews; it comes from grass-fed cows and it’s relatively cost-effective at places like Sams & Costco ($4.50/lb)---or, if that’s still too steep for those “Country Crock-ers” out there (hey…me too), did you know you can often replace butter/oil in recipes with avocado or Greek yogurt?  WAY cheaper.  If you’re looking for a cheaper option than organic milk, try soy or almond milk!  They’re actually a good middle ground between the two price points ($4/gallon, rather than the $6 for organic).  Sour cream…meh.  It doesn’t likely represent a large enough portion of your diet, so go ahead & get regular (but get the light version to save calories & fat).  As for beef:  hormones & antibiotics tend to concentrate in the fat of animals rather than the muscle, so just opt to buy the 90-95% lean beef ($3.89/lb), rather than splurging for organic (closer to $10/lb) if you can’t afford it.  Or, find a local natural meat provider like Crooked Creek Beef and offer to split a side of beef with another family to save on costs.

Produce:  If you peel it or don’t eat the outside of it, you don’t need to buy it organic.  The pesticides concentrate on the outside of the item; yes, some pesticides can be taken up into the plant while growing, but it’s significantly less than what’s on the outside.  You should still give these a good washing when you bring them home so there isn’t transfer from your hands while peeling.  That being said, every year the Environmental Working Group tests produce at stores for pesticide concentrations, and releases their “Clean 15” and “Dirty Dozen” food lists.  On the Dirty Dozen? Strawberries, bell peppers, leafy greens, tomatoes, celery, apples, grapes, etc.  Clean?  Corn, onions, watermelon, avocadoes, pineapples, etc.  Like I said—things you can peel.  Also—mushrooms are on the Clean list.  Makes sense…wouldn’t want to use a fungicide on a fungus, now would you? :)  Answer: For your organic options, buy what’s on sale—and stock up if it’s something you can freeze.  Also, check out the prices at your local farmer’s markets.   But as far as onions, corn, avocadoes, bananas, & cucumbers (wash & peel them), just buy the regular ones.  Oh, and on baby carrots?  I find that the price difference isn’t that huge on organic vs. regular, so just splurge on the organic.  And unfortunately, white potatoes are on the Dirty Dozen.  But a simple fix?  Buy sweet potatoes---these are on the Clean list. Plus they’re better for you anyway.  Oh, and when it comes to frozen veggies, same rules apply—if it’s something that has been hulled before it was frozen (corn, peas), you’re probably fine buying the regular version.  If you’re worried about GMO corn, buy local, and it’s far less likely to have been treated, and is probably cheaper too.

Canned goods:  Some people are anti-cans altogether.  Or they say “do your own canning with mason jars!”  Yeah…because we alllllll have time for that.  If you’re like me and don’t have time to play Aunt Bea, you occasionally need canned goods.  Answer: for veggies, same rules apply as above—if it’s been hulled (beans, peas, corn), buy regular.  If it’s not (green beans, tomatoes), buy organic.  If you’re vegetarian, you might want to get your beans organic as well, since they probably represent a larger portion of your overall diet.  Luckily stores are pretty good about running sales—organic canned beans are only $1 this week at our local Dillons.  As far as canned soups and pastas…I find that the overall quality and taste is better in the organic versions, so it’s best to splurge.  The veggies are crisper and there’s usually less sodium, too.  Think of it this way—a can of soup usually represents a meal by itself, right?  Spending $2.50 on a can of soup is still cheaper than any fast food value meal out there, and it’ll be way better for your waistline.

Cereal/Granola:  Organic cereal & snack bars are ridonkulous.  I’ll just go ahead & say that.  Plus…it’s almost ALWAYS some form of granola.  Which gets boring (and you can make it cheaper yourself).  Answer: Focus more on the list of ingredients.  If it’s about 5-6 items long and you can easily read all the words, you’ve hit the jackpot.  I recently founds some tasty Nature’s Path shredded wheat bites at Big Lots for $2.50 for a HUGE bag.  Kashi typically keeps their ingredient list short too, and they run coupons almost all the time.

Chicken/Eggs:  *Gulp*  We eat a LOT of chicken & eggs in our house, and I’ll be honest…I’ve never bought organic.  Not when regular chicken pieces seem to be on sale almost every week for 99 cents.  But if you’re diligent, you CAN find good deals on organic chicken now & then.  Answer: Smart Chicken is widely available in supermarkets. (Note: Regular Smart Chicken is not “certified organic”, but their website states that all their chickens are “raised without animal byproducts, antibiotics, or hormones”)  Around here it’s regularly priced at $5.49/lb, but sometimes goes on sale for $3.99, and since they’re a bigger company, they run coupons every so often.  If you time it right, you could potentially get your Smart Chicken as cheap as $2.71/lb!!!  As far as eggs go, Eggland’s Best is probably your best bet.  They’re also not “certified organic”, but their chickens get feed that “contains no added hormones, antibiotics or steroids, and no animal by-products, recycled or processed foods”.  I’ve seen them on sale for about $2.33/dozen (compared to $4/dozen or higher for organic).

Coffee:  Coffee beans are pretty heavily doused with pesticides, and even though a lot of that may come off during the roasting process, you just never know.  Thankfully, many organic coffee options are the same prices as their non-organic alternatives.  Answer:  Buy organic if you can—especially if it’s the same price.  At Sam’s/WalMart, I can get organic coffee K-cups for the same price as the regular stuff.  However, I do still occasionally buy non-organic…because Caribou Coffee is my fave and they don’t have an organic K-cup option. Psstt…you can buy K-cups in bulk at Sam’s for about 50 cents a cup.

Yogurt:  I love Chobani…and most “clean eating” sources consider Chobani to be a good option, since they use dairy from non-rBST treated cows.  And I can get coupons for Chobani.  But if you simply MUST have certified organic, check out Stonyfield Farm.  They run coupons & sales as well and make a pretty tasty product.

Ice Cream:  Organic ice cream is about twice the price of regular.  That seems silly to me. Answer:  Go even cheaper and make your own, using frozen fruit, a splash of vanilla, and a little cream (optional—without the cream, its a sorbet).  My favorite version is with bananas, and some chocolate chips mixed in.  YUM. And it takes all of about 5 minutes to make.

Lunch Meat:  Okay…I had NO idea what organic lunch meat costs because I had never SEEN it before. It’s just NOT mass-marketed; I had to go to the health food store.  Probably because of the crazy price.  We typically pay about $2.50/lb for Oscar Meyer on sale.  Organic lunch meat is about $10/lb!!!!  That’s four times as much!!!   Answer: It really depends on how often you eat lunch meat.  If it’s once or twice a week, then get the regular stuff, by all means.  But if you’re packing lunches for kiddos every day, you probably don’t want to send them to school with that stuff.  In that case, opt for shredded chicken.  If you stock up on the Smart Chicken, you can roast it & then slice or shred it & use that on sammies instead.  Even NOT on sale, $5.49/lb is better than $10.

Bacon:  This was another one that floored me.  We buy bacon on sale, typically when it hits $1.99 or lower (easiest to do when they run BOGO specials).  Organic bacon is $11/lb.  ELEVEN DOLLARS??? *head desk*  Answer:  I’m sorry, but I would GIVE UP bacon before paying $11/lb for it.  If bacon represents a relatively low portion of your overall diet (i.e., you eat it a couple times/week)---which it probably should because we ALL know bacon is bad for us-- just get the regular stuff.  And remember that the hormones & antibiotics concentrate in the fat of animals, so buy leaner cuts, use a grease trap tray, and/or blot the bacon before eating it to lower your risk without breaking the bank.

Pasta Sauce/Salsa:  Remember that tomatoes are on the Dirty Dozen, and pesticides don’t necessarily “cook out”.  Answer:  Go organic, or make it yourself with organic tomatoes (or even grow your own ‘maters & cut out the middle man!)  Sam’s sells an organic pasta sauce for only $2.22/jar (granted, you have to buy it in a three pack, but if you love pasta like we do, that’s not an issue).

Peanut Butter:  This one’s a little controversial, but it shouldn’t be.  Peanuts are hulled before they go into the process.  Most of the pesticides are concentrated on the hulls.  Answer: Meet in the middle, and buy the “natural” versions.  These are the ones with the short ingredient list and use natural sweeteners like honey or cane sugar instead of HFCS.  And their price point is much more reasonable ($3/jar vs. $6). (PS—if you’re confused on the differences between “organic” and “natural”, here’s a good article.)

Salad Dressing:  This one is entirely up to you.  Most of the things that go into a salad dressing (oil, vinegar, spices) usually aren’t high risk, and it doesn’t represent a large portion of your diet (2 tbsp/day, maybe?)  Just buy what you like.  It’s more important that the items IN your salad are pesticide-free.  But use the “simpler is better” rule of thumb and look for lower ingredient counts and fewer 6-syllable chemically sounding words. (Note: I’m a wee bit of a hypocrite, because THIS is my favorite dressing on the planet, and there’s a few preservatives in there, and HCFS…but again, I only eat a few salads a week, so it’s not a big portion of my diet.)

Sausage:  Meats are tough ones.  I usually buy smoked sausage when it’s on sale for about $1.50-2.50.  The cheapest organic sausage I could find was $7.99/lb.  So here’s a time where it’s good to remember that bit about the hormones & antibiotics concentrating in the animal fat.  Answer:  Do some Nutrifacts comparing and find a leaner sausage option.  Chicken sausage usually wins out, and I can usually find it for about $3.99/lb.

Shrimp:  I usually pay about $4.99/lb….organic shrimp are $11.99/lb.  OUCH.  Answer:  Look for Gulf-caught skrimps.  You’re buying local and they’re wild caught—which means they probably haven’t been treated. Regular price on those is typically about $7.99/lb and the stores run sales fairly often.  It’s a good compromise.

Tea:  Tea leaves are pretty notorious for having been treated with pesticides…in fact, Celestial Seasonings and Teavana both got into some big trouble about this a while back.  It’s best to go organic on these. Answer:  If you have a Sam’s card, you can get 100 bags of organic tea for about $8, in comparison to $5 for regular tea.

Tortilla Chips:  Corn is on the Clean List, but a lot of people still give corn flack because of the GMO issue.   In our house, we LOVE us some tortilla chips & salsa, and Mama Lupe’s are 99 cents a bag.  Answer:  I’m sticking with Mama Lupe’s, again because it represents such a small portion of our typical diet.  We munch on chips a couple times a week.  If you have them more frequently, then you may want to spring for organic or non-GMO chips, or go for a different type of regular chip, like pita, Triscuit, etc. As always—watch for sales.

Whole Wheat Bread:  When it comes to bread, the ingredient list is WAY more important than whether it’s organic or not.  Many organic breads still have a lot of sugar, oils & refined flours.  Answer: Look for brands featuring a short ingredient list with no added sugar. Whole-wheat, rice, spelt and millet breads all offer fiber and a rich mix of vitamins and minerals, thanks to the whole grains in each slice.  And buy it from a discount bread store.  We have a Sara Lee store here in town, and they keep loaves that are getting close to their expiration date up front for about $0.99-$1.50 a loaf.  Stock up & put a couple loaves in the freezer.

~~~

NOW…*drumroll* What does that grocery bill go to if we follow these rules?  ANSWER:  About $102, which is only a THIRTY-FIVE percent increase.  For our two-person budget, that ends up being about $70 more per month, adding up to an extra $840/year, or $420/person.  WAYYYYY better than $1600/person, amiright?

Thanks for reading, and I hope someone out there finds this helpful!!!

Budget Fashion, and a 2013 Challenge.

Let me ask you a question:

How much do you think you spend on clothing/accessories in a year?

Up until yesterday, I didn’t know.  I mean, back in the day when I was on the Dave Ramsey “Cash Budget” plan, I gave myself $40/month to spend on clothes, accessories, and assorted beautification supplies.  And I know I didn’t usually use all of it.  Cash remnants in that category would periodically get used for a mini “shopping spree”, or get shifted into other categories, like “going out” money.

I haven’t been on a cash budget in quite a while, so I pretty much lost track of how much I spent on things.  But with this being the Hubs & I’s first full year of marriage, we wanted to keep track of all our spending & make sure it matched up with our annual budget.  Our bank offers a free online budgeting program called Finance Works that allows us to easily categorize purchases made with our debit cards, checks, and credit cards that we link into the software for tracking purposes.

So…what was the grand total? 

A whopping $236 for our entire household.  $145 of that was purchases made by me, while the remainder was the Hubs.

That seems…low.  But it’s pretty accurate.  Granted—there were some clothing items gifted to me by my mom (the queen of garage sales) and a few gift cards used… but overall…yeahh…$145.  A total of eight shopping trips.

So, what can $145 have possibly gotten me?  Well, based on my recollections after reviewing the breakdown:

- 2 pairs jeans

- 4 blouses/dress shirts

- 1 necklace

- 1 pair khakis

- some “beachwear” bought pre-vaycay (1 pair capris, 1 pair shorts, and a sundress)

- 2 bras

- 1 t-shirt

 

That’s about $10/item.  I’m sorta proud of that.  I’m a hardcore bargain shopper.  I shop primarily discount stores (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, etc) or outlets.  In fact, of those 8 shopping trips, only two were at non-discount/outlet stores.  I also usually only shop when I have a coupon of some type to use.  It is literally almost PAINFUL for me to spend more than $20 on an item.

And: I’m a gal with limited closet space.  So about 75% of the time if I’m making a purchase, it’s to replace something that got worn out (like the 2 pairs of jeans).  Though I’m by no means immune to buying “wants” if it’s a good deal (the necklace was a souvenir from our beach vaycay, and the t-shirt was bought at Old Navy for a whopping $4).

I also tend to avoid “trendy” items that are likely to go out of fashion as quickly as they showed up, unless they’re really cheap.

So all this budget review got me thinking: What about 2013?  Can I be just as thrifty buying what would normally be “bigger ticket” items?  There are a few things that have been on my wish list for quite a while, but I just haven’t actively sought them out, or haven’t found exactly what I wanted.  I really enjoyed doing my $20 Christmas Tree project last month, so maybe it’s time for another challenge.

 

The 2013 Fashionista Challenge: Buy all the items on my wish list for under $150.

What does that list include?

1. Brown riding boots:  I have flat black boots, and dressy heel boots in black and brown…but no flat brown boots.  I’ve been wanting a pair for a while, but hadn’t found a style/color that I really loved yet in my price range.  Target Price: $35.

 

2. New White Button Down Shirt:  This is a replacement piece.  My favorite white button down is starting to get really thin and a bit dingy.  Target Price: $15

 

3. Colored or Plaid Peacoat:  I have a plain black peacoat, but I’d really like to have a “statement piece”, and I love all the gray plaids I’ve been seeing out & about.  I’ll probably be hitting up thrift stores & Ebay for this search.  Target Price: $20.

 

4. A New Purse:  My current purse was a Christmas gift from about 2 years ago, and it’s starting to get really worn in places.  Yes….you read that right, I have ONE purse.  I do have a small clutch for fancy-dress parties, but otherwise…ONE bag.  About 5 years ago, I decided the “one black, one brown to match everything” purse concept was outdated & inefficient.  So I started buying colored purses.  Will probably be looking for burgundy, blue, or purple (LOVE jewel tones).  Target Price: $20.

 

5.  A Bangle Watch:  My favorite watch broke early last year and I haven’t gotten around to replacing it.  I love this concept because it’s a fashion accessory, but still functional. Target Price: $10.

 

6. Another Button Down Shirt:  Because Pinterest & Polyvore are conspiring to convince me that I need button down shirts to wear with all the cardigans I already own.  Target Price: $10.

 

7 & 8.  An Off-White Cardigan and Red Flats: Because with those pieces, I can finally recreate this Polyvore outfit that I love—minus the Coach bag. (And because my former beige cardigan fell apart back in 2011, and because I’ve been lusting after a pair of red shoes FO-EVAH.)  Target Price for Cardigan: $15; Target Price for Shoes: $25.

Untitled by rikkihjelden featuring rose gold bangles

So, there it is.  My 2013 Fashion Challenge.  The gauntlet has been thrown.  In like, a purely metaphorical sense, seeing as how I don’t OWN a gauntlet.  But here…here’s a picture of a gauntlet, so just imagine that it’s been thrown on the ground.

As far as rules?  There are no rules, other than High Fashion, Low Dollar.  I’ll be shopping at traditional retail stores, discount stores, outlet malls, as well as using Craigslist, Ebay, and second-hand stores.  I’ll post a follow up entry later this year once all the purchases have been made to see how I did.

And now, YOU:  Yes, you.  I’ve got a challenge for you.  If you don’t already track your spending, I challenge you to do so in 2013.  OR:  Just do it for ONE MONTH, to start.  Just to get an idea of what your spending habits are.  So many people out there just spend & spend, and then don’t WANT to know.  Like there’s shame associated with knowing, but if you can just claim ignorance it doesn’t matter?  It’s YOUR money.  Either you control your money, or it controls YOU. 

Either use a budgeting program like Quicken or Finance Works if you have access to them, or just save up your receipts and enter them into a spreadsheet at the end of the month.  Categorize items using classifiers like “Dining”, “Groceries”, “Rent/Mortgage”, “Household Items/Repairs”, “Auto”, “Entertainment”, “Clothing”.  That way you can sort and track your expenditures by category.

And if you spent more than we did on clothes?  SOOO not a big deal.  We’re on the EXTREMELY low end of the spectrum….like, “college kid Ramen budget” end.  I did some research and most financial planners say that spending anything less than 5% of your take-home pay on clothing & accessories is reasonable and manageable.  And your clothing budget depends entirely on YOUR lifestyle.  If you have to dress professionally in suits & high-end fashion for your job, then your expenses are going to be higher than someone like me who can wear “business casual” & jeans to work every day.

Or:  Try your own $150 Challenge.  Pick out 8-10 items that you really want to purchase in 2013, set yourself some target prices, and get to shopping!!!  Let me know in the comments if you’re down for the challenge!!!

Christmas Shopping: Keep it Local/Domestic!

With all the political mudslinging that flies around this time of year, and with all the “hot topics” that Mr. Prez & Mr. Romney chose to discuss during their debates (which we watched all of…even with the National League Championship going on), there’s something that I wish either (or both) of the candidates would have focused on: buying local/domestic.

It’s one of the easiest ways each & every one of us can benefit the economy.  Real, true, tangible results.  The Hubs & I were discussing the Reagan days on the way to church yesterday (because we were kids during that era and are therefore totally experts on Reaganomics…)  Reagan was faced with a similar challenge of coming into a crappy economic situation, and came out of his Presidency as the new Golden Boy of the Republican Party.

How?  Well, one thing was that he championed buying domestic-made products.  I remember going to WallyWorld as a kid and seeing banners everywhere that screamed “Made in the USA!”  “Proudly Selling USA Products!”  “Buy USA!”

“U.S.A’s A-OK!!!” (One of my favorite movies, everrrrrrr.)

Time Magazine  has reported on the benefits of buying local, noting that money spent in your community stays in your community, and helps generate and secure local jobs. 

I read another article (which I cannot find right now) that noted if every American adult spent approximately sixty additional bucks per year on domestic products, that it would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.  I can’t remember the exact number at the moment, but with some simple math we can make some assumptions: there are over 239 million adults in the United States.  If each of those adults spent $60 on domestic goods & services that they would have normally spent on foreign-made products, that’s over $14 BILLION staying in the domestic economy, rather than going overseas.

Granted—there are plenty studies out there that discuss how buying ONLY American goods would actually hurt our economy, since American-made products are often higher-priced, it would effectively decrease the “buying power” of the dollar, etc. etc…

But we’re not talking about boycotting foreign products.  I’ve tried that.  It’s next to impossible.  And that’s fine; we have a very global economy.  What we’re discussing here is the good ol’ “everyone pitches in a little” methodology.  Send one kid out to pick up trash, it takes all afternoon.  Send ten people to do the same job, and it’s done in 15 minutes.

 

ANYWAY… *hops off soapbox*  I’m here with a few suggestions for your Christmas Shopping Delight, so that you can perhaps take a stand and chip in your $60 while getting some truly fabulous Christmas gifts at the same time.

 

(NOTE: I refer to some local-to-here businesses in this post; if you’re not a fellow Missourian/Springfieldian, fear not—just seek out similar types of locally owned businesses in your own area!)

 

• Have a friend who loves artistic knick knacks, or want to buy a gorgeous Christmas ornament?  Here in Springfield you can check out Springfield Hot Glass.  They’ve got beautiful hand-blown glass ornaments in a variety of colors and styles…and if your friend (or yourself) is a bit accident prone, no worries…they’re not overly delicate.

• Look for locally owned boutique shops that champion good works.  Here in Springfield, we have Five Pound Apparel, which carries the motto “Every purchase benefits someone, somewhere”.  Every brand they carry in their store has a charitable cause that they donate to.  The 5 Pound brand itself donates 5 lbs of fortified peanut butter to Nepal Nutrition for every article purchased.  It’s hard to feel buyer’s remorse when you’re helping fund something like that!

 

• Heading to spend the holidays with your family?  Before you leave town, call up AmyCakes & reserve a pan of her famous take ’n bake cinnamon rolls.  You are guaranteed to be your parents’ new favorite child.

• Got a company Christmas party coming up, and you want to get that truly AWESOME gift that everyone keeps trying to steal in the Dirty Santa game?  Swing by Mother’s Brewing Company, and fill up one of their classic glass growlers or NEW stainless steel growlers with some delicious Mother’s brew. 

• Oh, beer’s not your thing?  How about a bottle of local wine?  Small, craft-style wineries seem to be popping up all over the place these days.  Missouri has over 100 wineries scattered across the state.  And if you visit their onsite stores, many of these wineries also sell other local artisan foods like jams, salsas, cheese…you could make a lovely gift basket of local goods pretty easily for $60!  Or heck…two small gift baskets for $30 each!

• Did someone mention cheese?  Artisan cheese making is HUGE here in the US.  Missouri has the Osceola Cheese Factory (they make a chocolate cheese that tastes like fudge.  I’m not even kidding).  OR…if you’ve got an uber-foodie-cheese nut on your shopping list, pick up a Cheesemaking Kit for them!  Ricki’s is based out of New England and they have a big variety of supplies & kits.

(This is actually on my Christmas list.)

• On the Louisiana front: Perhaps you want to play a role in the restoration of the famous Hubig’s Pie Company?  Their factory in New Orleans caught fire in July, and there has been an AMAZING outpouring by the public to help get these guys back on their feet.  You can purchase logo’d merch at their website and the proceeds will go to helping rebuild the factory.  Because seriously…I NEED these pies when I visit down south.

• And since this is a Cajun blog: CajunGrocer.com offers a HUGE selection gift baskets, chock full of authentic Louisiana-made products, delivered straight to your door!

• For the person who has “everything” and doesn’t need “stuff”—go with services!  Do they like to be pampered? Get them a gift certificate for a massage, facial, or mani-pedi.  Got a gun nut?  Try a Groupon for the local shooting range.  Golf fanatic?  Seems like I see Groupons for golf courses at least once a week.   And the nice thing about Groupon/Daily Deal/etc specials is that a lot of the time, once your friend goes to get the service, the provider will often offer them a follow-up deal for a discount on a future trip as well in order to keep them coming back.  So there’s the potential for your friend to save money, AND give more business to the provider.  It’s a win-win!

 

• Sometimes, even if the product isn’t necessarily domestic, the salesperson is: I’m talking about buying from independent consultants, and products like Thirty-One Gifts, Pampered Chef, or Scentsy… also, my cousin just became an Independent Designer for Origami Owl jewelry, and this stuff is SUPER cute:

• And if someone’s been ESPECIALLY good this year, there’s always Kitchenaid!

(Note: Only the stand mixers, blenders, and coffee grinders are made here in the US.  All the accessories are made overseas.)

Gourmet Eats on a Grilled Cheese Budget

Howdy kids!  I’m back from vacation, but fighting off the remnants of some sort of Evil McNasty Sinusy Bronchial Thing (TM).  As such, I haven’t been cooking very much (aside from a HYOOOOJ batch of my mom’s chicken & noodles and assorted Cups O’ Soup).

I’m just about back to 90% health, thanks to a weekend of laying on the couch watching sappy movies with my favorite pup.  One of these movies is an absolute fave of mine, “Under The Tuscan Sun”.  I heart this movie SO hard.  The scenery, the ancient buildings, the beaches, the handsome Italian men…

“What’s your name?”
”Marcello.”

“Of course it is.”

…and of course, the food.  The FOOOOOOOOOD.  I managed to make it about halfway through the movie before I was all, “I need a plate of olives & some fancy cheese & grapes & crackers, STAT.”

My old job at Martin’s in New Orleans spoiled me a bit when it comes to those uber-Euro foods that we all seem to think of as luxuries.  I spent my grad school days nomming on cornichons and picholine olives and Trois Petits Cochons pate and Bucheron goat cheese (hello, employee discount).  Them habits is hard to break.

So you’d think it would be easy to afford those delicacies now that I’m a professional something-or-other making 3x the cash, right?  Well, sure…but that doesn’t mean I WANT to blow my whole paycheck on food.  Here in the FeauxCajun household, we actually have a pretty tight food budget, and we’re good at coming in under budget each month as well. 

As a two-person family, we eat outside of the home about 3 times a week, so our grocery budget accounts for the other 36 meals / week (average of 156 meals / month).  Our average monthly grocery spending is $185, which breaks down to a meager $1.19 per meal investment (less if you were to break out snacks separately—I’m just using a 3 meal/day average).  Not bad when you consider the national average is about $100-150 per WEEK.

And hey—this is a food blog: you’ve seen what we eat.

We’re tight with our budget because, while I like to snack on foodie sampler platters at home, I LOOOOOOVE to snack on foodie sampler platters IN EUROPE.  Or on the Gulf Coast.  Or on the West Coast.  Pretty well any coast.  We love to travel.  And if you don’t save some dough, you can’t afford to scamper off on vaycay.

 

So here’s a few tips from my kitchen to yours on how to dine high-class for low-dollar.

1. Price Matching: I cannot promote this enough.    If you are organized, you can save about 30% on your grocery bill while only adding maybe an extra 15-30 seconds to your time in the checkout line.  Wal-Mart will match any ad price—and they don’t require you to bring in the ad.  You just need to be able to say where the sale price is from.  So, whenever it’s grocery time, I make my list of things we need first.   Then I go through the weekly ads (ours come in the Wednesday paper) & if the things I need are on sale somewhere, I write down the sale price & the store next to it. 

(yes, my handwriting is horrible.)

Then I go to WallyWorld, put all the stuffs I need in the cart, & proceed to the checkout.  THEN—I place all the non-price match stuff on the conveyor belt first, and put all the price match stuff to the back, and tell the cashier I have some price matches and that they’re all on the back of the belt.  That way he/she knows, but it’s not slowing them down—they can scan away while I’m unloading.  And there’s no stop-and-go—once we get to the price match items, he/she just asks the sale price (which I can read to them off my list), makes a couple keystrokes, and bam—it adds maybe all of 2 seconds per item.

It may sound like a hassle, but not when you consider the alternative—driving to each individual store to get those deals.  Aldi’s runs amazing produce sales every week, but the quality of their produce is sometimes a little “meh”.  But the produce at Wal-Mart tends to be REALLY great these days, so yes—I would rather pay $1.25 for a Wal-Mart pineapple (regularly $2.48) than the picked-over piles at my local Aldi’s. Same goes for pints of grape tomatoes (also $2.48 at WallyWorld’s normal price, but only 79 cents with the Aldi’s sale price). And don’t even get me started on avocadoes—Aldi’s runs 49 cent sale prices on those almost every other week.

2. Always look for generics: This goes double for price matching.  Sometimes a generic price will be even cheaper than the sale price on the brand name from some other store.  This is probably an obvious one, but it bears mentioning.  We love Greek yogurt at our house, and I recently discovered that Kroger has started selling Kroger-brand plain & vanilla Greek style yogurt.  Paying $2.50 for a 24oz tub (10 cents/ounce) rather than $6 for 32 oz of Chobani or Oikos (19 cents/ounce) is definitely worth it.

3. Coupons: I am not, I repeat, NOT one of those crazy coupon ladies…but using coupons for things you would already buy is just common sense.  I use maybe 4-5 coupons in a trip to the store.  Our Wednesday paper and Sunday papers have the Red Plum, Smart Source, Proctor & Gamble, & other assorted coupon booklets in them.  There are also tons of coupons online—a quick Google search will hook you up.

Are there things you love that don’t necessarily show up with coupons in the papers—or random high dollar items that you can’t live without?  Check their website.  I am NUTS for Chobani greek yogurt, but they rarely have coupons in the newspaper, and one 8oz cup is typically $1-1.25 at the store.  However, they typically offer at least 3-4 different coupons on their website.

4. Coupon Doubling.  Wal-Mart won’t double coupons, but most other grocery stores (Dillons, Kroger, Price Cutter, etc.) will double the 50 cent and under ones.  So if you have coupons that are for less than 50 cents, think about taking those to a store that will double to get the maximum savings. (For example: I can take my 30 cent Chobani coupon to Dillons & pay only 65 cents for my amazingly decadent pineapple Greek yogurt.  And if it’s on sale for $1 that week, my delicious treat tastes even better at only 45 cents.)

Any coupon higher than 50 cents automatically goes with me to WallyWorld.

5. Compounding your Savings:  What’s the ideal bargain?  Well, of course it would be an item being on sale, AND having a coupon for it, right?  Well, who has the time to search for that?  Not me.  Thankfully, we live in the 21st century where there’s someone who’ll do it for you. The Coupon Mom website is an AMAZING database—available to you, FOR FREE.  Super quick to sign up, and then you can search for coupons by state/store, and it will show you the best deals available at that store, using the sales & coupons currently available.

Example:  We do most of our shopping at WallyWorld, but there’s a Dillons a block from my office.  Dillons doubles coupons up to 50 cents, so I occasionally make small trips there for good deals on the way home from work.  So here’s the Big Deals at Dillons right now:

You can sort these lists different ways—alphabetical, price, etc.  This is sorted by % saved.  And the lil’ box on the left hand side is so you can print off a list of only the deals you want to purchase (to take to the store with you).  If the deal is related to a printable interwebz coupon, the link to that coupon page is listed (in blue).  The codes along the left (05-13 S, etc.) refer to which newspaper that coupon was in (ie the May 13th SmartSource)—no worries, there’s a glossary on the website.

Unimpressed by those sales?  Me too.  But check out the Wal-Mart list right now:

See the red?  Those are FREEBIES.  Meaning the price at Wal-Mart is less than the value of the coupon. 

And if those are items you don’t really need?  Go ahead & get them, & donate to your local food pantry.  Our church has a mission campaign called One Heart, where churchgoers can just drop off bags of goods at a booth in the foyer, & those items get distributed to people here in our community who need a little help.  Oh…and let’s not forget that you got that TAX-DEDUCTIBLE gift for FREE.  Bonus!

6. “BYOB” stores:  No, I’m not talking about boozing it up while you shop (never a good idea anyway…”OMGyesssss I TOTALLY need an ecom-unny size jar of peanut butter!!!”)  I mean “bring your own bag”—the discount grocery stores that don’t automatically bag your groceries.  I’m talking Sav-A-Lot, Food-4-Less, Aldi’s, and the like.  A lot of these stores have really been kicking it up a notch when it comes to the quality of their off-brand goods.  I can get a 4oz roll of fresh goat cheese for about half the “other store” price at Aldis.  They also carry some really tasty brie, gouda, & havarti.  And according to this blogger who attended a “taste comparison” party at Aldi’s, many of the generics tasted BETTER than their name brand counterparts.  I love flavored coffee creamers—and the Aldi’s brand pumpkin spice was UH-MAZING…and HALF the price of the CoffeeMate version.  Oh, and a few weeks ago, the hubs & I scored a 12oz ring of big, beautiful cocktail shrimp…for $3.99.

7. Save by buying bulk:  I don’t mean buying 4 lbs of cinnamon in the “Value” aisle at WallyWorld.  Many stores (Hyvee’s, Price Cutter Plus, etc.) have bulk bin sections now.  Our local natural foods market MaMa Jean’s carries bulk spices, tea, coffee, flour, rice, and grains.  For Christmas, my husband’s mom wanted some whole nutmeg.  A small jar of that costs $7-8 at the grocery store.  So I went to MaMa Jean’s and bought a new empty spice jar (99 cents) and enough cloves to fill it… for $2.   I wanted cinnamon sticks for all my fall dishes…  MaMa Jeans sells them for $5/lb… whereas McCormick charges $12.50 for 8 oz.

Want to try a new recipe with jasmine rice, amaranth flour, or some quinoa, but not sure if you will ever want to eat it again?  Go to the bulk bins.  Buy just enough for your recipe, and you’ll invest a buck or two, rather than the $6-7 for a whole box of it.

If you’re lucky enough to live in an area that cohabitates with the Amish, Mennonite, or Pennsylvania Dutch communities, find out if there’s a Country Store in your area.  They also very frequently have bulk sections, AND cheap prices.  There’s a Mennonite Country Store near my hometown that has a HUGE bulk section.  And there is nothing, NOTHING in this world better than warm, Amish homemade bread (particularly with some homemade strawberry preserves on top, YUM).

Most grocery stores also run crazy-cheap deals on Family Packs of meat—invest in freezer bags, buy a 5-10lb package of whatever’s on sale, and divvy it up into meal-sized portions when you get home. I recently got 5lbs of chicken quarters for 69 cents/lb that way.

8. Farmer’s Markets/Roadside stands: Keep it fresh, keep it local.  Help out a small business owner by checking out your area farmer’s markets or roadside stands, and you’ll be getting garden-fresh produce that’s in season (aka abundant & cheap), rather than something that was picked too soon & ripened while it was on its way here from Mexico.

9. Grow it yourself.  Right now, thanks to Pinterest, I have my own stockpile of celery, radishes, & potatoes.  My husband’s parents are big gardeners too & hooked us up with a load of zucchini & green onions.  And my mom, who has mastered the art of the Topsy Turvy planter, has over 5 varieties of tomatoes in her backyard.  Money not spent on produce can go towards other items…like some delicious deli-made fresh sausage or a snack-size container of mixed olives.

10. Groupons.  This probably also goes without saying.  If you can get Groupons / Living Socials / DealChicken / Get My Perks / etc. deals in your area, go for it!  It’s a great way to try out new restaurants, or save cash at your favorite places.  Going on vacation somewhere?  Check to see if there are half price deals for that town!  I always make sure to peruse the deal sites before I head down to Louisiana for work. ‘Cuz New Orleans is a tourist town, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay tourist prices.