Grocery goof-ups

Today I went to the grocery store to cash in on some amazing deals.  I went, against my better judgement, on a Saturday afternoon – the busiest time to go to the store, and it was madness.  Unfortunately, the store (No Frills) was already sold out of most of the products that were advertised in their flyer.  I had also intended on stopping by Food Basics on my way home to grab a bunch of their reduced priced Ristorante pizzas, but I couldn’t find parking – it was a madhouse, too – and I had dairy products in the car, so I never even made it into the store.  Needless to say, it wasn’t the most successful venture, but here is a list of both the great deals I got and the ones that “got away.”

Hits & Misses:

Hit:

JUMBO sized box Special K – on sale for $2.44 – with coupon: $1.44

Crisco shortening – $1.97 – with coupon: $1.22

Miss:

Ristorante Pizzas, $2.99 – with coupon: $2.24

Soft Soap Hand wash (500 ml), 88¢

Oasis Orange Juice, 1.5L, $1.69 – with coupon: 69¢

Guest post – A new mom’s perspective: Puréed Baby Food

Cheap, cheaper and cheapest: Your options for affordable pizza

Love pizza?  Here are three affordable options.

Cheap…

Take Away

My favourite take away or delivery pizza place is Pizzaville.  They offer delicious pizzas and have great deals, such as a Large, 3-topping pizza for $10.99 – every night of the week.  You can’t get a deal like that anywhere else in this city.  The best way to cut down on costs when ordering pizza is to avoid delivery costs. Just pick it up yourself and you will avoid delivery fees and tips.

…Cheaper…

In the freezer

A homemade pizza with leftover Italian sausage, tomatoes and onions

I’ll be the first to admit that I actually buy the occasional frozen pizza.  Why?  Because as we all know, there are inevitably nights where you just don’t feel like cooking, and you order a pizza to save time and energy.  If you have a frozen pizza in your freezer, you can just slide one in to the oven for less than $5.

My favourites are Ristorante pizzas, because they have lots of veggies on them, and they are thin crust, so you don’t fill up on dough.  They cost anywhere between $4 and $6 depending on where you shop.  I look for them on sale and stock up.  I also subscribed to Ristorante’s e-newsletter list where they send coupons – you can find them here. Right now there is a coupon for $1.50 off when you buy 2, and 75¢ off Casa di Mama.

…Cheapest…

Homemade

If you are like me, you love quick and easy suppers.  One tip that I recently thought of is to make your own pizzas and then freeze them, so you have ‘em handy.  You can make your own pizza dough, buy pizza dough or pick up pizza kits with the dough ready made.

Healthy meals for 60¢ or less

One of the best tips to reduce you grocery bill is to simply make good use of what is affordable and plentiful.  Josh and I bought a chicken on sale several months ago for $4 and we stored it in the freezer.  We roasted it a couple of weeks ago and had a cheap and lovely meal together.  The leftovers made great sandwiches and chicken salad, and the bones are sitting in our freezer, waiting to be used as stock.

Upon returning to the store on the weekend, we hoped to cash in on another great deal, only to find that similar sized chickens were now being sold for $12!  

So this week, I am focusing on making mostly vegetarian meals.  I nearly laughed when I picked up a package of tofu for 99¢, thinking about how cheap tofu is in comparison to meat, not to mention its versatility and healthful benefits.  A single block of tofu will go far – in a single package there is probably about 4 meals worth (I count one meal as a single portion).

One great thing I always make when I am trying to be frugal with my grocery budget is a vegetarian chili.  You can pack it with beans, which are obviously full of protein.  I love adding a little cheddar cheese or sour cream to mine and lots of spices.  A big batch of vegetarian chili will feed you for days, keep well in the freezer, and you won’t spend more than $.60 per meal (per person).

 Another favourite in our household is homemade Indian food.  Josh makes a lentil dish by simmering red lentils with stewed tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spices.  He serves it over rice, and it’s great comfort food. This dish works out to cost about $1.75 for the entire dish, but it serves up at least 4 meals, making each dinner cost about 44¢.  For a cheap and tasty side dish, Josh whips up a chickpea salad with chickpeas, cucumbers and a dressing consisting of yogurt, garlic and lemon juice. This salad, which also makes at least 4 portions, will add approximately 60¢ to each person’s portion.

Tip: If you enjoy Indian food, learn how to make your own samosas, or buy them at an Indian grocery store.  Non-Indian stores mark up the prices. Shop there for other Indian food products as well.

Use beans, lentils and tofu (really just another bean product) reduce your intake of meat – you will simultaneously reduce your grocery budget substantially!  

Bean dishes, like vegetarian chili, are tasty, healthy and cheap

My bread failure

So, I was planning on writing a blog about how lovely it is to bake your own bread and how ridiculous it is to buy a bread maker, and what a great money saving tip it would be to enjoy freshly baked bread in the house. Unfortunately the bread didn’t really come out as planned.  It was small and dense. Not inedible, but not exactly the kind of bread you look forward to eating, either. If anyone else has favourite bread recipes for me to try, I would appreciate it.  Otherwise, I think it’s back to Dempsters for me.

(Thankfully, I’m not the only one! Are there any other undomestic goddesses out there?)

   

Today’s savings

Good products made cheap by coupons!

Today when grocery shopping, I saved $10.75 on coupons alone, not to mention the great deals I got shopping at Price Chopper.  Some of the products turned out really cheap with the coupons.  For example, one box of Catelli Pasta was only 39¢ with the coupon. And the boxes of Muslix only came to $1.44 each (they had many other varieties on sale, too.)  The other box of cereal I got (Organic Flax Plus) is normally too expensive to purchase, but it came with $1 off coupon for SoyNice (one of my favourite brands of soymilk) plus I had a $1 off coupon for the cereal.  So once I deducted $2 in coupons, the cereal was only $1.97. And the Campbell’s Healthy Request soup you see here was free!  I also saved 75¢ off Dairy Oh! omega 3 milk with a coupon from save.ca! I love that I can save on good, healthy products like organic cereal, soymilk, omega-3 milk, and whole wheat pasta.  

While we were at the store, Josh noticed a sales clerk taking down a pack of coupons for $2 off Kelloggs cereals, and thought to ask her for them.  She gave us a whole wad!  And they don’t expire until June, 1999.

I also made sure to use my Green boxes and cloth bags, which not only helps the environment, it also saves a few cents off my bill, since I don’t need to buy bags.

Other coupons and deals to check out this weekend: 

Look in your flyer for PC stores (Loblaws, Superstores, and Zehrs.)  They have lots of coupons for baby stuff.  Most of them require at least one other purchase, but you can get free Pampers megawipes, Pampers clean n go wipes, Nestle cereal and save $10 on Pampers club packs of diapers and wipes, Huggies and pull-up products. 

Shoppers Drug Mart is offering 10xs the points this weekend when you buy $40 or more – and 15xs the points when you buy $50 or more.  If you have been saving up for a big trip to Shoppers, now is the time to go.  Unless of course, you can hold out for a 20xs the points sale!

Attention Frugal Wine Lovers

I just ran across this great blog post on Spin the Deal called “Vino on the Cheap”. I thought it would nicely augment my earlier post, “The Grapes of Wrath” since it offers more tips on where and how to access cheap wine.  

I also ran across this wiki: How to Brew Cheap Wine.  Personally, I love wine too much to reduce it down to an “educational project” but I thought I would share it in case any of you are up to the challenge!  

Blossoming savings

Yesterday my family gathered in the kitchen after visiting an apple and pumpkin farm.  While we scoured the pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin, my sister Camille revealed a unique and tasty money-saving tip.  She gathered the pumpkin blossoms and took them home for a tasty snack.  There are lots of recipes online for making this treat, but my sister took a minimalist approach, with a simple beer batter. She seeded the blossoms, then washed the blossoms, then sat them on a paper towel to dry.

Then she dipped her blossoms into the batter (which consists of beer, flour, s&p and a little water) and fried the blossoms. After laying them on a paper towel to absorb some of the grease, she lightly salted them and served them up!

Not only is the treat nearly free, it’s also probably better than the alternatives you’d find in a pub or grocery store when you’re craving something fried.

My sister, who lives in a small condo and nurtures a rooftop garden, first made this snack this summer, when she discovered that her zucchini plants did not yield any fruit.  She made the best of the situation, however, and avoided waste by turning the blossoms into a tasty treat.

Don’t forget to discard the stems, and enjoy! Also see Money Saving Mom for tips like growing vegetables on your patio.

Snack Happy

One great way to reduce your grocery bill is to look over your past month of grocery receipts and look at what your most expensive items were.  Then you can think creatively about how to reduce the cost of what your’e spending on these items.

Snack foods are generally products that are highly marked up and are packed with salt and preservatives and other unhealthy ingredients.  By switching to home-made snacks, you are not only going to reduce your grocery bill, you may very well reduce your waistline as well.  Not to mention that it’s better for the environment, because you can just re-use your own packaging (tupperware, mason jars) at home.  Here are some examples of how you can replace your favourite snack foods.  I’ll start with my favourites:

Hummus – I can’t believe how marked up chickpeas are.  I prefer Presidents Choice garlic hummus, and even though this is the best deal around (especially when you buy the family size) it still goes for about $5 a container.  Instead, make your own hummus – it’s dirt cheap, consisting mainly of chickpeas, tahini paste (buy a jar and it will last forever), lemonjuice, garlic, olive oil and s&p (the majority of which you probably already have in your kitchen).

Salsa – Why is salsa so expensive?  It consists of a few basic ingredients and is easy to make.  Here’s how you can make it easily at home.  Chop tomatoes, jalepeno, onion, cilantro, garlic (all to taste) and mix in lime juice, a teaspoon of olive oil and s&p.  Let it sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours and presto, you’ve got a delicious salsa waiting for you. (Note: you can also add chili powder.)

Guacamole – Why anyone would bother buying the expensive, pre-packaged stuff is beyond me.  You’re missing out on the best part – mashing the avocado!  For some reason, I love preparing avocados.  They’re just so… fun!  And tasty.  All good guac needs is to be mashed with some lemon juice, s&p, and garlic.  I usually include a tiny bit of olive oil too, especially if the avo is just on the edge of being ripe enough.  Minutes later, and for the cost of about $1 (depending if avos are in season) and you’re done!

Roasted Garlic -  Cover a head of garlic in tin foil – you can add a little olive oil on the top if you want, but you don’t need to – and sit it in the oven at a high temp, between 350-400,  for oh, about 45 minutes.  When you unwrap it, you’ll find gooey, tasty garlic, that is easily and delightfully spread on crackers or crispy pita chips.  That is another great, cheap snack!

Popcorn -  Forget those pre-packaged microwave popcorn pockets that are woefully bad for the environment when you can do it yourself.  Here are a couple of suggestions.  Buy your popcorn at the Bulk Barn or another bulk store – since you don’t pay for packaging you can get a big bag of popcorn for pennies.  Then you can use a popcorn popper (these are super cheap nowadays; as my sister pointed out to me recently, you can pick one up at any department store or at a garage sale – but as garage sale season has now passed, I would recommend ebay or simply seek out a handmedown from friends or family members.) But Alton Brown has kindly shown us that we can make microwave popcorn at home, using brown paper bags.  You can buy a stack of $100 for $1 at the dollar store.  Put in the popcorn in the bag and fold the top a couple of times; seal it with two staples (not more, not less).  Microwave it as you normally would and then add your butter or other toppings.

Chips & Queso – It’s a very guilty pleasure but I love this gooey cheese.  It costs at least $4 in the store if my memory serves correctly.  One night as a university student desperate for a naughty snack, I came across a cheap alternative and realized it tasted just as good. Searing in a near empty fridge, I found Cheeze whiz, and mixed it with some chopped banana peppers (the pickled kind in the jar.)  I microwaved it until it had melted and was hot (it doesn’t take long, so watch it carefully and stir thoroughly) and found it entirely reminiscent of my name brand fave.

Babaganoush – This tasty Indian dish doesn’t have to cost you more than one eggplant.  Here’s an example of a good recipe for it – it’s easy!

1 1/2 lb Eggplant

3 tb Lemon juice
1 ts Salt
2 ts Minced fresh garlic
3 tb Sesame tahini
– (optional: substitute
– yogurt or sour cream)
1/4 c  Chopped parsley
1/2 c  Toasted pine nuts (I think this is optional so simply delete if you’re like me and never have pine nuts in your home)
2 tb Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Prick eggplant all over with a fork.
Bake whole until tender (about 30 minutes).  Remove from oven, halve
and scoop out the flesh.  Blend in a food processor with the lemon
juice until smooth.  Mash the salt and garlic together and combine
with the eggplant, along with the tahini.  Cool and stir in the
parsley and pine nuts. Before serving, drizzle with the olive oil.
Serve as a dip with tortilla chips or triangles of flat (pita) bread.

(Adapted from The Victory Garden Cookbook)
From: The Cook’s Garden catalog, Spring/Summer 1993 (page 20)

Tortilla Chips – Don’t have chips hanging around for salsa?  If you have left over tortillas, you can turn them into chips by brushing them with olive oil and brushing them with oil and chili powder and then baking them on a greased shet in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.  If you have stale pita, you can use them for the same purpose.

If you are using your salsa for fajitas, you may also want to see some recipes for tortillas at Frugal Zeitgeist.

Veggies, beans… these are far cheaper than packaged snacks and sauces.  You control what goes into your food and your food tastes fresher, too!

Please share with me your favourite home-made snacks!

The Top Ten List

Lately I’ve been focusing on providing recipes or small crafts that promote frugality, but today I thought I’d focus on the really big money savers: The Top Ten things you can do that will reduce your expenses – fast. 

1. Sell your car.  Instead, rely on public transportation, car-pool, use a bicycle and when you need to, rent a car.  Calculate the annual cost of your car payment, insurance, repairs, parking, and parking tickets (we often forget that one!) Surprised with the amount you come up with?  Ask yourself, is it really worth it?  If you choose not to get rid of your car completely, simply cut back.  For example, two of my colleagues at work live relatively close to each other, so they take turns each week driving each other to work.  This literally cuts in half the cost of parking, gas, not to mention the miles they put on the car commuting each day.

2.  Avoid eating out in restaurants and take your lunch to work.  Since “$10 is the new $5 lunch” you could be spending nearly $3200 a year on lunch (after tax).  Compare that to the cost of eating up leftovers or preparing sandwiches, and you’re looking at serious savings.  And that’s just lunch – if you eat out twice a week at an average of $25 a dinner, you’re spending an additional $3200, (again after factoring in taxes).  That’s savings of $6400 a year!  Stock your desk with snacks, bring your lunch, and eat at home.

3. Avoid buying some of the most highly marked up products around – coffee, water, pop, and beer. Take your own coffee to work in a travel mug, buy a reusable, good quality water bottle, buy pop by the case when it’s on sale and bring it to work with you (or go without) and avoid buying beer whenever you can. Sound trivial?  If you buy a coffee in the morning, a pop with your lunch, and another coffee in the afternoon, you could be spending about $850 a year – and that’s a modest figure, assuming each beverage is costing you $1.50 each, including tax. If you buy a pop at a restaurant, or visit a higher end cafe like Starbucks, you could potentially double that amount.

4. Avoid stores, avoid spending.  We are incredibly affected by the power of suggestion.  I personally have noticed a substantial drop in my own spending ever since I moved to the Beaches, which means that instead of walking down Queen Street West or through the Eaton Centre to get home after work, I get straight on the streetcar and get dropped off practically at my doorstep.  If you avoid the stores, you won’t be tempted. 

5. Switch grocery stores. If you live in Ontario, shop at No Frills, Price Chopper or Food Basics and avoid the higher priced stores, especially Dominion and IGA.  You’ll notice a substantial drop in your grocery bill.

6. Shop wisely and consciously.  Plan your meals (and other purchases) using flyers, sales, coupons and in-season-items.  Buy generic brands and always look at the unit cost before making a purchase.  Don’t wait until you’re in the grocery store to figure out what you need.  Plan ahead, and make strategic shopping decisions. And if you sign up with President’s Choice no-fee-banking, you earn points that give you oodles of free groceries.

7. Cancel your cable, phone, and internet.  Yes, you really can do that.  We cancelled our cable and subscribed to a newsgroup.  Now we download our favourite shows (or watch them for free on websites such as Slice and HGTV online.) You can also rent movies for $4 from itunes (and no late charges!) We also cancelled our landline since we use our cell phones. Using Skype is another option for those of you making long-distance phone calls. Finally, you can split the cost of the internet with a neighbour, if you live in an apartment.  If you’re spending $175 a month on these purchases you could save $2100 over the course of a year.  If you don’t want to cancel completely, call and ask for a bargain.  Threaten to change companies if you must.  I’ve seen my bills significantly reduced through effective bargaining methods.  And don’t let that early cancellation fee frighten you – the savings might still be worth it.  You’ll have to do the math to find out.

8.  Consider moving. It might sound extreme, but we saved $500 a month by moving from downtown to the Beaches (the east end) – and we get to enjoy the pleasures of the beach!  We have slightly higher expenses (increased transportation costs, for instance) but we are also less tempted to eat out and go shopping, and more inclined to take a moonlight run by the lake, and we are saving $6000 a year.

9. Pay less tax. Many deductible expenses are hidden in the CRA’s Tax and Benefit Guide.  Did you know, for example, that you can deduct moving expenses (when you move to be closer to work or to a new job or school), the interest on your student loans, the cost of your tuition, education and textbooks, public transit passes, medical and dental expenses, donations and gifts (this includes gifts in kind such as canned goods).  If you haven’t done this in the past, you can carry over at least some of these benefits.

10. Avoid Bank Fees and Interest. Overdraft, credit card interest, cash-advances, visiting ATMs that are not your home branch, and simply paying regular bank fees – this is all money “down the toilet” as Gail Vax-Oxlade would say!  If you carry a monthly balance, reduce your interest rate.  Call the credit card company and ask them to reduce your rate, or switch to a lower interest card and make a balance transfer, and switch to a no-fee-banking account like President’s Choice or ING.