Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy Scope Out a New Grocery Store {7 Days, 7 Tools: Build a Better Grocery Budget}

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Scope Out a New Grocery Store {7 Days, 7 Tools: Build a Better Grocery Budget} Posted: 20 Jun 2012 08:29 PM PDT In 4 days, my new eBook, Your Grocery Budget Toolbox, is scheduled to be released! All this week, I will be giving you sneak peeks of what you will find in the book, and whet your appetite for more. Because trust me, there’s a lot more. Your Grocery Budget Toolbox is over 150 pages long, each page loaded with all the tools you need to build a better grocery budget. Join with me this week (subscribe so you don’t miss a single post), and share with your friends (use the buttons to the left)… I have a feeling they’d appreciate a little grocery budget makeover, too. In Chapter 2: Price List, and Chapter 3: Sourcing Healthy Food, I teach you how to make a price list and how to populate it with the best resources in your area for healthy foods. Part of that is scoping out new grocery stores and other food venues (farms, farmers’ markets, CSA’s, etc.) as they come to your area. If you’re serious about trimming your grocery budget, that is. If you don’t care how much you spend on food, then it’s not a big deal. You can stick to one grocery store and do all your shopping there, or source all your food from local organic farms. For most of us, though, it (literally) pays to do the research and find the cheapest sources for the foods we buy.  As it happens, a brand new store opened in my area earlier this week, so I have a perfect example for you. We’ve actually been waiting for this particular store to open for what seems like years now. It really has been years, I guess, having been stalled in the red tape and political obstruction that is surbuban America. But finally it opened, and I made it a point to go visit it the first few days. For one thing, I wanted the grand opening deals - naturally – and for another, I wanted to do a little scoping out. The store in question is Wegman’s. I was already familiar with Wegman’s, having had ready access to one when I lived in Virginia before getting married. But my diet and my grocery shopping methods have changed considerably since the days when I loved to shop at Wegman’s so I was curious to find out if Wegman’s would still be as wonderful for me now as it was back then.  The Boys and I headed out to Wegmans at the first possible opportunity, along with all the other people in a 20-mile radius that had been waiting for several years right along with me. The only problem I have with crazy crowds is when they affect the automobiles. Traffic jams, full parking lots, irritated drivers… ugh. Once I was finally parked, though, the fun began! Since Wegman’s was crazy busy and I had 2 little boys in need of naps with me, I didn’t do the full-fledged research that I would normally do. I’ll get to that this weekend when I have a little more time. However, in a quick stroll through the aisles, I determined the following: Yogurt is well-priced. I make yogurt for myself and Baby Boy, but DH prefers store-bought, so that’s what he gets. They have an extensive selection of special diet foods, like gluten-free, allergen-friendly, etc. They also have an extensive selection of all-natural, healthy foods. Some of the prices of the healthy and allergen-friendly foods are better than other local stores, and some not. Both organic and conventional milk are great prices. Conventional meat is available for really good prices, for example pork shoulders $1.29 a pound. Until I am able to buy only local grass-fed meats, this is good news for me. I was stumped by the fact that they had plenty of white rice for really good prices but only very expensive ($3.49/lb) brown rice? I also couldn’t find any dry beans other than Goya, which are typically priced higher than I like to pay. At this point, I’ll chalk it up to them being not quite fully stocked. Hopefully, they do begin to stock those items at some point. They also had only one – very expensive – brand of canned salmon. Tuna was a good price! The bulk food prices were higher than the local health food store’s prices. I was able to learn all that from a quick walk through a crowded store. Imagine what I will be able to discover when I can walk leisurely through the store, and take note of the prices by snapping pictures with my phone and adding them to my price list later. Because Wegman’s doesn’t run sales in the usual way (they reduce prices for months at a time, rather than a week or two) and because their prices are consistent – and usually on the low side – I can count on getting an accurate feel for what foods I will be able to buy on a regular basis at Wegman’s. This will give me direction when planning my monthly shopping trips and making my grocery lists.  So here’s my challenge to you: is there a grocery store in your area that you’ve never explored? Or maybe haven’t been there in a while? Go check it out – a quick stroll through, glancing at your favorite items, will tell you if it’s worth further research or not. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to reduce your grocery bill further than you thought! By the way, in Chapter 3 of Your Grocery Budget Toolbox, I go through all the major national (and even one or two local) chains and online resources and tell you what I have discovered to be well-priced at each location. You get the benefit of all the research I have done for the past few years! Don’t forget to like Your Grocery Budget Toolbox on Facebook, so you can get it on Monday at half price. Happy shopping! Your Grocery Budget Toolbox on Facebook on Pinterest Thank you for subscribing to Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy! Here's your free copy of Spring Into Smoothies All Summer Long. Enjoy!

Healthy 2Day Wednesday {Week 58} Posted: 20 Jun 2012 05:25 AM PDT Welcome back to Healthy 2day Wednesdays! Rachel of Day2Day Joys and I are so excited to be joining you once again. Carrie of Young Living Oil Lady will be joining us very soon after she gets back from her missions trip!   Link up to either of our blogs with your favorite healthy post! Top three this week: Since you were one of the three “chosen”… you’ve been Facebooked and Tweeted by me!! I am similar to Suzy, thinking that salad dressing came in pre-bottled jars, whether they were natural or organic and it wasn’t until last year I started making my own, can’t wait to try this simple recipe Suzy Homemaker has come up with! I love water, but I am always looking for something to spruce it up, Ashley from Wannabe Green has come up with a simple, yummy and refreshing summer drink. (plus you can use any sweetener like stevia or raw honey)  I know my son would love this! We love yogurt, especially in smoothies or with granola for breakfast, Heartfelt Homemaking has given us step by step instructions with pictures. Rules for this Link-Up: Share an idea, tip, recipe, things to avoid, something new to try, natural remedy, alternative medicine, going “green” tips, etc. that will help us to remain or become more healthy! If this is your first time participating read more info & get button here. Comment on another participant’s post. Add button or link back to that day’s link up. Spread the word so we can learn more ideas on keep our families healthy; feel free to share on Facebook or Twitter. Ideas: homebirths, natural remedies, an interesting article, something eco-friendly, a review, natural cleaner, alternative or holistic approaches to health, how to’s, the list goes on & on! If you are adding a recipe, make sure the ingredients do not include white flour, refined sugar, processed products, packages products (unless it is clearly stated or pictured that it is organic or all natural) and the like. We are looking for whole food recipes that are beneficial to our health! If you're not participating today, I hope you'll come back & join in next week! Thank you for subscribing to Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy! Here's your free copy of Spring Into Smoothies All Summer Long. Enjoy!

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