Mark Downs are Your Friend!

 Hello again yall!

So as stated in my last post I went to our local Kroger store early, early this morning.  Guys I kid you not it was weird looking.  The produce section was slim stocked, as was the meat section.  I did get what I went for though.  Well at least for the most part.  I didn't find the pork loin on sale, but did find a diamond in the rough; 2 Pork Butts, one small, one large for .30 a lb.!  That is not a typo!  That is a mark down!

Mark downs happen when an item gets close to it's "Sell By" date and the manager needs to move it.  They won't sell these after that date.  By law they can't, but you can get some great buys watching for these.  They are completely safe.  The only thing you need to pay heed to is that it needs to be cooked or frozen that day.  

"Sell By" dates are the date the store has to sell the item by, not necessarily the expiration date.  

In the case of these two pork butts, I came home, trimmed off any extra fat, ( pork butts tend to be a bit fatty), and set them in the roasting pan in my oven at 275 degrees.  There they sat roasting for about 5 hours.  When they were done they were falling off the bone so to speak.  Perfect for pulled pork.  I'm currently canning them up; getting 7 pints total and a little extra for hubby's lunch tomorrow.  The trimmed fat was put into the oven in a separate pan, with a lid, to cook down into what will be lard.  Nothing goes to waste.  The broth will be used to cook up our dogs rice.  Yes, we have converted our dogs over to chicken and rice or some other type meat and rice.  Yea.  They're happy dogs.  

Other items you can find marked down:

            Milk- is good for drinking a week past it's sell by date.  After that it's fine for baking.  Use as you would buttermilk.  Milk can be frozen.  Just pour off a little into a jar (about a cup from a gallon) and it will be fine.  Half Gallon jugs don't need to be "poured off".  Those can be frozen "as is".  That frozen milk will be fine for drinking for a week after it's thawed. 

            Yogurt- is good for 3 months past it's sell by date!  Yogurt, sour cream or cottage cheese can be stored unopened and upside down in the fridge.  Yogurt can be frozen.  Sour cream and cottage cheese technically can be frozen, but it can affect the texture. 

            Produce-  My usual finds here are Bananas which are great sliced and frozen with a little bit of chocolate syrup on them!  Great summer treat.  Then there's the smoothies they can make.  I've also found peppers which can simply be chopped and frozen.  Apples which in many cases are still good crisp and perfect for eating.  I've used them as well for applesauce etc.  I've seen onions and potatoes which can be frozen.  

            Breads- Bagels, hamburger buns, goodies, etc.  Now I've found better sale prices on the actual bread isle, but you can make some decent finds at the "Oops we over baked" rack.  Any bread item you find can be frozen until needed.  

            Meat-  This is what really needs to be used or frozen that day.  Never been a problem if I can get a good enough price.  There have been times where I look at the sell price and go"  Eh.  No".   Then there are other times where I find that diamond in the rough that is a great prize.  Fix it when you get home or freeze it if you don't have time.  It's all good here and the meat will be fine as long as you do one of those two things at least.  I'm canning the pork today, but you can cook it, let it cool and freeze in containers or freezer bags.   You can also cook it and just keep it in your fridge.  It'll be good as long as any other left over would be once it's cooked.

        Dry Goods-They're fine for way longer past their expiration date.  Doubt you'll find any way past the expiration date in a store.  They can't sell past it.  Should you ever be given something that's expired, inside 6 months should be fine.  Canned goods longer than that.  

This is what I'm talking about! Shopping in lieu of gardening

 Good morning everyone!  

First of all I have to share that today I had an actual cup of coffee!  It might have had more sugar in it than normal, but it was coffee.  Since having "The Rona", I havent been able to taste and smell.  It's gradually coming back.  I started my morning opening the coffee grounds to make coffee and holding it up to my nose to see if I can smell it.  My logic is if I can smell it I can drink it.  I could smell it!!!!!!  It wasn't as strong as it normally would be.  I have always loved the smell of coffee even when I didn't drink it.  Anyhoo it was worth a try.  Try I did and got to drink coffee!  It really is the little things.  

Anyway, I love to drink my coffee in the morning and check out the grocery adds.  I did that today as Kroger (may be Ralphs or Fred Meyer where you are) had a preview for their sale that starts tomorrow.  Here are some of the deals:

Boneless pork half loin- $1.88 lb.  Not the cheapest I've ever paid, but in the ball park of a decent sale.  

Whole Frozen Turkey!-  .47 lb with a $25 order.  I will have a $25 order

10 lb bag of Kroger Russet Potatoes-  $1.97 a bag with a digital coupon.  Plus you can use the coupon 5 times.

2 Lb. pkg. of Kroger Cheese-  3.97 each with digital coupon that can be used 5 times in a single transaction.  

This is what I was talking about in my past post " Can't Garden, but Can You Shop?".  

We live on .78 acres.  We raise chickens, not turkeys or pigs.  So pork loin and turkeys at a good price are important to me.  I don't have the garden space to grow enough potatoes so I've been hoping there would be a good sale I could stock up on.  I've gotten some decent prices on potatoes lately and was getting those; storing them well or canning them up.  Tomorrow's sale is an AWESOME sale at .20 ish cents a lb.  I'm currently canning up the ones I have stored in order to make the  most of the 5 times coupon at Kroger.  So, yes I'm about to buy 50lbs. of potatoes.  Stored in a cool dry dark place, and OUT of the bag they come in, potatoes can last a little while if bought in season(which is now).  I will take them out of the bag and lay them out on a rack or towel for a few days to let them kinda "re-cure" and/ or dry before I store them.  If you can't store that many for that long, go ahead and cook up some and freeze them!  You can!  

The Turkey is going to be roasted, then canned.  The bones will be made into bone broth which will also be canned up.  The scraps from that go to the dogs who love me for it.  Not to worry, though.  The bones are soft and mushy before I give it to them.  

The pork loin this go around will more than likely be canned as I am really on a canning jag to save freezer space.  

The cheese will go in the freezer.  

I have to say I was a little nervous that I wouldn't find the deals this year.  While few in number, I have managed to get some good buys.  The over riding plan is to find items on sale, and make the most of them in order to get thru til the next sale/deal.  Kroger is not the only store I will be looking at.  Last week I bought 2 Butterball turkeys on sale at Aldi for .87 lb.  Limit of 2.  One of these is in my freezer.  The other has been cooked, canned, broth made, etc.  

Now is the time to look for basics at the store; Usually flour, sugar, evaporated or sweetened condensed milk, chocolate, spices, possibly canned vegetables, butter, broth (beef and chicken), celery, potatoes (sweet and white; although haven't seen sweet on sale yet).  

I am finding some decent sales.  Get creative to be able to make the most of what you can put aside.  These things help when it comes to offsetting price increases now and later.  

All the best laid plans....

 Ya know there are always exceptions to every rule.  Who else believes 2021 is an exception to a lot of rules?  Apparently it is on multiple levels.  

So all the things I've written before on knowing your sales and season doesn't apply under the current..uh adminis...uh circumstance.  Ahem.  What I've written about before regarding sales and seasons to get the best deals on your groceries, hinges on

1) A workforce staffed to insure a decent supply line

2)  Ships able to deliver their goods to the US

3)) Inflation less than 5%.  Less than 2 or 3 % would be best. 

If you're in charge of the grocery shopping, I know you've noticed how prices are rising.  At least I hope you've noticed.  I can't fathom not knowing the price of what is bought.  That's just foreign to me.   Anyway.  I know I've noticed.  YIKES!  

This morning I went to add something to my "cart" on Sam's website.  I had a bag of onions in my cart to purchase at the end of the week.  It was for a 10 pound bag.  The price was 4.68 yesterday.  It was 7.98 today!  Almost double in price!  I looked at other stores to see if I could find a cheaper price.  I couldn't until I called a local produce store near me.  I had to buy a 50lb bag to get the same price I would have gotten buying the 10 lb. bag of onions.  I had to buy the 50 lbs though.  But!  I got it and got a decent price on it.  

While talking to the owner of the store, I heard how hard a time he's having staffing his store, and stocking his store.  He told me this time of year he usually has stacks of applications, but this year he has had not a one.  I told him how I had planned to wait until the holiday shopping season to stock up on other grocery items.  He said the price more than likely won't go down because stores will be afraid to sell out of items.  So I may be looking at catching what I can when I can.  

1)  I will be assuming "rain checks" aren't in effect anymore.  That means I get to a sale in the beginning and not wait til the end.

2)  I will be rethinking a lot of items which have now become splurges.

3)  Growing food is not optional

4)  Raising chickens is not optional

5)  If I can make it, I make it, no exception

6)  EVERYTHING gets used in some way.  

7)  Courtesy always; leave some for others when finding a good deal.

8)  I'm thinking already of getting any items I may need for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That's not just food items, but Christmas shopping.  Even our Fearless VP has said to do your Christmas shopping now.  That's pretty bad when even they aren't trying to hide it.   

I wrote this post about 9 years ago.  Check it out to read some tips and tricks for money saving.  I'll be adding more!

25 frugal tips

Making Groceries?

 Good morning all!

Fall is close I can feel it!  Time to clean up the garden and rethink things for next year.  It's also the time I begin to start to look inward to the house and reclaiming it from a summer of neglect.  Little by little I've been retaking rooms, and then managing to keep those rooms claimed while I reclaim another.  

While my focus has turned to homemaking, I'm still growing items in the garden.  It's a "need to" situation.  Have you seen the prices at the store lately?  I basically walked into Aldi and walked out again the other day; with very little purchased.  I was stunned!  Stunned at how much things had gone up in a short two week time period.   In addition to stunned, I was disappointed.  I'd had some things on my list to buy instead of make to give me a break a little so I could focus on other things; i.e. Etsy, cleaning, and gardening.  When I walked out, it was with the realization that we were at the point where things I can make, I need to make.  

Many years ago I submitted a post called "shopping with my  sewing machine".  It's not a barn burner, but if you want to read it, you can find it here.  Although a short post, it's what I thought of this week as I went about " grocery shopping with my stove".  In other words I set about filling our pantry by making the items I needed, and filling in some things I've been meaning to can up ( which also fills the pantry).  I'm not done yet.  I'll do some more this weekend,  but here's what I've accomplished so far:

two loaves of bread and 8 hamburger buns.  This was one recipe of bread dough made into 2 different items,

Chocolate chip Zucchini cake.  This was for dessert for a couple of nights

Pancake syrup is labeled, and the other items are raspberry jam and blackberry jam made from berries we grew this summer, and the quart jar in the back is apple jelly made from apple cores that I've saved in the freezer for just this reason,  All of this was made up and just put in the fridge,  No need to can it as they will go thru it quickly.

Whole wheat bagels.  This recipe made 18 bagels, so equal to 3 store bought packages.  

And last but not least, 8 jars ( though only 4 shown here) of beet jelly. Tastes like a fruit jelly

Left to make are crackers. chocolate syrup and dog treats.  In addition it will more than likely be time to add more bread for sandwiches.

I post all of this not to brag ( well...maybe a little), but to give an example of using skill sets.  While all of these items require something from me to produce them, many take very little time ( the chocolate syrup, Pancake Syrup, Chocolate cake), and are minimally labor intensive.   The most labor intensive item I've made is the Bagels.  Totally worth it though.  They are sooooo good!( if I do say so myself).  None of these items require special equipment.  Even the jams and jellies are made with a simple stock pot.  Since the vast majority of those weren't canned, but stored in the fridge; I could have just opted to put them in a regular storage container to refrigerate.  

Yes, making bread products is an acquired skill, but it's a skill worth learning.  Tip for that, start with regular white flour, not wheat.  Wheat flour can come after you've gotten comfortable making the bread.  Always remember, even the mistakes make great toast, and grill cheese sandwiches. 

Give it a whirl!  Nothing to lose and a lot to gain.  Recipes for just about everything here are found in my  recipe section.  The apple core jelly was a youtube video and the jams were from all recipes.  The internet is your gateway to wonderful food skills.  Have a go!

   

Can't garden, but can you shop?!

 I get it.  Not everyone has the time, space, or even knack for having a garden.  In addition, even with all of the above, it's rare to have the where with all to grow everything needed for an entire year.  

Even our best laid plans, here on the homestead, have set backs.  We just recently lost 5 chickens being raised for food in one way or another; one hen and 4 roosters.  The hen would've supplied eggs, and the roosters would've supplied meat.  Despite all the care they received, and the fact they were on fresh grass; an opportunistic infection, found in the ground took them out.  This infection works very fast.  We lost 4 in 24 hours.  It also tends to attack younger birds.  These were 8 weeks old.  We'd figured out what was wrong and started them on the medicine to treat.  We thought the 5th one, a rooster, would make it.  He lasted longer, but finally gave in.  The medicine was in their water, and we think he hung back to give the two hens access.  Either that or he was just too far gone.  Well, or both for that matter.  The two hens did make it and are growing fine.    

There's always disease, fungus, or other parasites lurking around a garden, fruit trees, and animals.  Thanks Adam and Eve.  God did say " by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread" (Gen 3:19), and he wasn't kidding.  It's work to get a harvest, and so we're always grateful for anything we're able to put up.  

With all that being said, and with all we are able to put away, we still have to go to a grocery store to buy things.  There are things we can avoid entirely; things we need a little of, and things we buy regularly.  It is what it is.  It's HOW you shop that becomes the important thing at that point.  Know your prices, know your seasons, use your skill sets, buy in bulk, mark downs are your friend, store for a rainy day, and stretch what you buy.  

1) Know your prices - Now there are a variety of ways to do this.  Find one that works for you.  For example; Keeping a price book is an option, but I don't have time for that.  Some do.  What works for one, may or may not work for someone else.  Find a way that works for you to keep track of how much things cost.  This means paying attention to prices, price per ounce, and sales.  What works for me is having a "Ball park" price.  For instance I know boneless skinless chicken breast is "ball park" $1.99 per pound in my area.  That's the average run of the mill price.  I rarely will pay more than that, but I also know that anything below that is a decent sale.  Anything really below that is an awesome sale and I stock up.  Price comparison is part of this as well.  This week there's a store in my area with 80% lean ground beef for $1.99 lb.  They're also offering a coupon for $1 off every $10 spent on ground beef.  This makes the ground beef around $1.82 lb.  Lately I've been buying ground turkey for $1.89 lb. because it was my cheapest option.  Now it isn't.  The ground beef is my cheapest option now.  Definite win because my family actually prefers beef.  We just can't afford it all the time.  Will I stock up on this?  You betcha!

Also, remember, just because it's a bigger package, doesn't mean it's a better deal.  Bulk doesn't always go with budget.  This is where Price per Ounce is important.  For instance, that same store, this week, has the store brand of the dental pics (flossers) on sale plus a coupon.  I found that I can get these 90 count bags for cheaper than buying the 150 count at a competitor store.  This is more of a "Price per each", but the same theory applies.  Pay close attention to the price per ounce; even with items on sale.  Check the other sizes and brands of the same product to make sure the sale price is the best price.  It isn't always.  Stores want to lure you in and get you to spend.  That's their side of the battle.  Our part of the battle is keeping them from taking too much of our money.  There've been times I've seen an item on sale and, knowing my prices, know at a glance it's cheaper elsewhere.

2)  Know your seasons-  Seasons aren't just winter, spring, summer, and fall; although they do have some bearing on this discussion.  Seasons can also mean Holidays or even sale cycles.  Holidays are self explanatory.  Sale cycles are the number of weeks between an item being on a good sale at a particular store.  There are certain items that are cheaper depending on the season of the year and/or cycle of a store.

Winter-  Anything Christmas (Baking, Candy, Hams), New Year( weight loss items lol), Valentines day( Candy, Roses, Steaks), cool weather crops ( of fruits and veggies).  Oranges, Grapefruit or other citus. 

Spring-  St Patrick's day (corn beef, potatoes, cabbage), Easter( Eggs, Ham, Candies, celery, Baking items).  Strawberries, Grapes, Cool Weather Veggies are cheap thru May

Summer-  Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor day( hotdogs, condiments, chips, Pretty much anything grilling).  Fresh Corn, Squashes, Pepper, Tomatoes, pretty much warm weather crops are your friend).  Blueberries are big around this time.  Peaches are cheap right now.  

Fall- Halloween, Thanksgiving( Candy, Baking needs, Turkeys, Sweet Potatoes, celery, Potatoes, Broth, Stuffing, Canned pumpkin, Evaporated Milk, Butter, Nuts, Coffee, Apples.)

These things aren't a good buy just because of the holidays.  When it comes to produce, it's because this is the time of year these items are being harvested and are in large supply.  They will be the freshest, ripest compared to any other time of year.  This means they are the most nutritious and tasty. When these seasons come around would be the time to stock up on the great prices you find.  This year our blueberry bushes got zapped by a late late freeze.  Like a 3rd week in April freeze.  That doesn't happen around here.  It did this year.  We got maybe a cup of blueberries, total.  However, while they were in season, a store in our area had Blueberries for 1.32 a lb.!  I bought many and froze them, just like I would have with our very own berries.  In season strawberries were .99 lb. recently and I put up about 12 lbs. of those.  Our strawberries didn't do much either this year.  Buying these things at the lowest price and freezing, drying or even canning them for later use is a great way to stretch your grocery dollar and give your family in season produce at a much cheaper cost.  This coming Thanksgiving season I'll buy celery at a good price and dehydrate it for use during the year.  Celery can also be frozen very easily.  

As for sale cycles, they're usually every 6 weeks.  In addition, you will find the best sales happen the second and forth week of a month.  Majority of folks get paid on the 1st and 15th of the month.  They will go shopping then anyway.  So if the 1st or 15th falls into a sale flyer week, it's usually not a great ad.  The best sales ads fall in the weeks between those 1st and 15th weeks, and are the ones where the store is enticing people in.  Exceptions to this rule I guess would be around a holiday.  

***As an aside, Remember this term- Loss Leader.  Loss leaders are usually found on the front page of a grocery ad.  These are items the store is taking a loss on in the hopes you will come in for the loss leaders, and stay to get the rest of your groceries.  The task for the shopper is to come in for the loss leaders and find the rest of your groceries where you can get the best buy.

Empowered with the knowledge of when sales hit, you can now know how much of an item to buy.  When a particular item of interest goes on sale, buy enough to cover that 6 week time frame.  Rare sales are the ones where an item is priced lower than a normal sale.  Something not seen very often. If it goes on a rare sale, as in crazy cheap, buy what you can afford, even if it covers more than 6 weeks.  Rare sales happen during the year, but many fall during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season.  Many stores are competing for that holiday feast dollar.  That's when items like canned vegetables, butter, sugar, flour, turkeys, spices, etc go on really good sales that won't be found other times of year.  Budget now to be able to invest as much as possible during that time.  

This is becoming a long post, and I know you guys have a life.  So I'll just end this here and address the other ways to shop in my next few posts.  That way I can go into more detail.