Enjoy the Sunny Days

I know that dinner dates is the popular choice, but dinner meals are always more expensive. And if you're eating at a fancy restaurant, maintaining your wardrobe is probably pricey, too. Imagine this, a bright weekend afternoon, the sun is shining, the skies a clear baby blue, you're sitting outside in a cafe eating a lunch combo, affordable, comfortable, great weather, and good company. Or you can even have a picnic lunch date. Bring your own food. It's much cheaper. You can bring exactly what you like. Go to a park and enjoy the day together.

Grocery Display Tactics

Marketing research and psychological evaluations reveal the most effective ways to make consumers most susceptible to overspending, and these studies are exploited for maximum financial gain. Here are some tactics incorporatd with shelf display according to supermarket guru, Phil Lepert:

1. Eye Level Trick
The most expensive products are often located at eye level, while inexpensive choices are closest to the ground and furthest away from consumers.

2. End of Aisle Displays
Not every product that's on display at the end of aisles are a bargain. Many times they're intentionally isolated from their similar products to entice consumers at a cheap rate because the grocery stores are trying to get rid of them. Be sure to check the expiration date before overbuying items that'll expire in less than a month!

3. Candy Next to Cereal
Candy placed right next to the cereal is a parent's worst nightmare. As an attempt to shut their children up, parents end up purchasing a ridiculous amount of candy. So the prices are jacked up. This is also why you can find candy in another aisle. The candy next to the cereal is merely a marketing tactic.

4. Shelves Change Frequently
Marketers frequently rearrange their shelves, forcing consumers to search for their regular purchases as a way to make consumers unnecessarily view products they wouldn't otherwise purchase. This is also done to get consumers used to grabbing their regular items based on location and accidentally grabbing a pricier brand. So always inspect what you're grabbing.

5. Pre-cut Fruits
Pre-sliced fruits are deliciously on display like food porn at an exorbitant cost.

6. Cluttered Display
An overwhelming amount of sale signs cluttered throughout the store make subconscious suggestions in consumers' minds that so many items are a bargain when they really aren't.

7. Prepared Meals
Prepared meals are within visual range as you enter and exit your grocery store, displaying the convenience right in front of you, sometimes associated with free samples.

8. Encouragement to Stay Longer
Sometimes a little coffee area with a TV lounge is available. It encourages customers to stay longer, regroup, and relax because a relaxed consumer is a more generous one.

Milk

Find out how much your milk costs at your gas stations. Some people find the best value at the quick mart than they do at supermarkets. Powdered milk is generally cheaper than fresh milk, too. Powdered milk doesn't taste as good and takes a while to adapt to. Drink it when it's icy cold for the best flavor. If you really can't stand the flavor of powdered milk, consider adding it to soups and other cooked foods. I buy a large batch of powdered milk during the cold season and use it in my bath water for a relaxing experience.

Leftover Soup

If you're flat broke, here's a meal idea. Set aside your leftovers and store in the freezer. At the end of the week, throw everything into a pot (bits of meat, veggies, rice, beans, pasta, etc.) with water or chicken stock. Season it with spices, fresh herbs, and cook until heated through. Just be sure to not use this method with fish, which can stink up and ruin the entire dish. Don't expect this meal to be scrumptious. It's just a choice when you're strapped for cash.

The Worst Days to go Grocery Shopping

Here is a list of the worst days to go grocery shopping that was developed and compiled with the contributions of supermarket managers from around the country.

1. Christmas Eve
2. Fourth of July
3. Labor Day
4. Memorial Day
5. Thanksgiving Eve
6. Saturdays
7. Sundays
8. Afternoons between 4 - 7 p.m.
9. The day after a disaster such as an earthquake, hurricane, or tornado
10. The day after Thanksgiving

How to Grocery Shop Wisely

Here are some insightful suggestions from the supermarket guru, Phil Lepert. With the ethanol problem, cooking oils, corn, and gas prices are high. So it's more important now more than ever to buy produce in season because when it isn't, the costs are higher because of the long distances its traveled. When produce such as blueberries aren't in season, it's cheaper and more tasty to buy the frozen versions because they were packaged during the season's peak. And since the out-of-season produce arrive from long distances, the cost of gas is factored into the final retail price. Cheese in the dairy aisle is most affordable, 20% less than the deli cheeses and 30% less than the cheese table. For pasta sauces, buy canned stewed tomatoes rather than pasta sauce which is filled with tomato sauce, canola oil, corn syrup, fructose, and many other ingredients that increase its value. Tomato paste can be added to stewed tomatoes cheaply. You can also buy basil and garlic infused stewed tomatoes for the same price. Stewed tomatoes are also packaged during the peak's season, so they can have a richer flavor than fresh tomatoes, which is pricier and require more assembly. When you're buying fish such as salmon, the frozen packages are almost half the price and worth the bargain since "fresh" salmon has at one point been frozen previously and recently thawed anyways.

The Shelf Life for Bread

Fresh bread generally keeps for five to seven days, but the details depends on the weight. The lighter breads evaporate moisture faster, so it get stale quicker. You can prolong its shelf life by storing your bread in the refrigerator. It won't taste as fresh, but you can remedy that by toasting your bread or making French toast with it. For longer shelf life breads, rolls and bagels are preferable.

Uses for Stale Bread

Don't throw out stale bread. There are plenty of ways to use them. Depending on the stage of staleness, toasting the bread can reduce the stale flavor. French toast actually works best with stale bread. You can also make your own Croutons and dried breadcrumbs for a chicken recipe. They also work well in creamy soups such as tomato or chowder. Just cubed them and let it soak up the liquids.

Remedy Burned Bread Tops

By learning of ways to fix food mistakes, you don't waste food by unnecessarily throwing them out. Here's an example: If your bread burns, use a grater or a good serrated knife to remove the charred area. Then brush the exposed area with egg polk and return the loaf to the oven for two minutes or until brown.

How to Tell If Your Eggs are Fresh or Expired

Rather than trusting the expiration date written on the carton and possibly disposing edible eggs, inspect it this way. Place the egg in a pan of cold water. If it sits on its side, the egg is still fresh. If, however, it tilts on an angle, it's past its prime by about three to four days. If the egg stands upright, it's approximately ten days old. If the egg floats to the top, it's really, really old.

Make Your Own Vegetable Platter

Cut up fresh broccolis, carrots, celery, and radishes, all affordable veggies you should already have stocked in your kitchen. Store them in water to keep them fresh and crispy. You can dip them in Ranch dressing, hummus, onion dip, or another inexpensive dipping sauce of your choice.

A Cheap Snack Idea

Popcorn is a nutritious, light, and extraordinary cheap snack choice. You can also customize it to your flavor preference. Try it with a sprinkle of paprika or lemon pepper, whatever you'd like.

An At-Home Buffet Concept

At buffets, food selections lack cohesiveness are offered at a bargain. You can re-create that concept at home by turning your accumulated leftovers earlier in the week into an at-home buffet meal.

Prevent Fast Food and Takeout Purchases

Poor time management is an enemy for healthy nourishment and makes us susceptible to fast food and takeout. By planning ahead of time and having already assembled food accessible can prevent this money sucking habit.

-Make four sandwiches, the exact amount the large ziploc baggie can store.

-Freeze already prepared food such as:

Breakfast Items - muffins, burritos, casseroles, waffles, pancakes, French toast

Lunch - meat and cheese sandwiches, single-serving desserts, soups, chili,

Dinner - main dish casseroles, soups, meat in marinade, rice pilaf, pre-made hamburger patties

Desserts - cake, brownies, cookies, dessert breads, pie

Make Your Own Ice Pack

The next time BevMo has a buy 1 bottle and get the second bottle for $1 special, take advantage of the deal...unless you're an alcoholic. I love to cook with white wine, so I stock up when I can. White wine can go bad easily in the fridge but will last much longer in the freezer. Once you open a bottle and you don't plan on using it right away, transfer the contents into ziploc baggies. Because of the alcoholic content, the wine won't completely freeze. It'll actually be slushy in texture, which means that this ice pack will conform to the located injury. Reserve a specific bag just for icing a wound. Do not, I repeat, do not use the wine you applied over a wound in a recipe. It's already been contaminated, which is why I recommend designating a specific bag for the sole purpose of icing a wound.

Toothpick in Lemon for Just a Squeeze

If you need just a pinch of lemon juice, poke a lemon with a toothpick and squeeze until you get the right amount of juice out, instead of cutting a lemon in half.

Split Groceries with Friends

Unless you have a huge family, splitting the groceries with a friend is a good way to save money especially if you're a renter like me. Depending on your eating and cooking habits, some good choices are bread, eggs, carrots, celery, fruits, chicken breasts, flour, sugar, and baking soda to name a few.

Buy Realistically and For Convenience

It's important to live healthfully, but it's equally important to be realistic. Fresh produce and fresh meat that requires assembly is much healthier than ready made food. But purchasing healthier choices that you never use is self-defeating. Then you're just wasting money, and either you go hungry or you spend money elsewhere, as well. I'm not suggesting that you stock up exclusively on canned goods and TV dinners. But if it's unlikely that you'll finish that box of fresh corn, it's preferable to buy canned or frozen corn. The dilemma for me is choosing between frozen and canned. I have more cupboard space than I do freezer space, but filling up my freezer makes it more efficient. Then again, if I have a blackout, I'll be unable to access food from my refrigerator or freezer. Plus, I have to thaw or cook frozen foods, while canned versions are ready to cook or eat.

VONS Free Delivery Code

Vons.com has sent me another promotion code for free delivery on a minimum of $50 purchases. Who doesn't spend at least $50 on groceries? I know when you buy groceries weekly or buy meat at a butcher and produce at the Farmer's Market, it's a different story. But frozen foods, dairy, and canned products, and snacks should also be purchased. They aren't very nutritious, but I like having a variety of choices (in case I injure myself and I can't cook, there's a blackout so I can't open the refrigerator, etc). It's when I get promotion codes like these that I take advantage of the offer. Be careful, though. Sometimes I purchase things and one essential ingredient is missing, so I may have to go out and buy the remaining ingredients. It's best to leave an open schedule shortly after the delivery.

Promotion Code: FRESHNESS
Expiration Date: 5-8-08

National Frozen Food Month

March is National Frozen Food Month. It's the best time of year to buy frozen food, as the best deals exist. This is when I like to stock up. It's ideal because frozen food has such a long shelf life that if I buy enough frozen food during this month, I don't need to buy anymore frozen food until a major sale. I recommend sweet peas, vegetable medley, corn, spinach, cherries, strawberries, TV dinners especially Marie Callender's, Banquet pot pies, Hot Pockets, Gordon's fish sticks, okra, plums, pineapples, mangoes, frozen juice concentrate, blueberries, and Totino's pizza rolls.