Does Price Matching Really Save You Money?

I just recently had a family member ask if I really save that much money when I price match, especially when it comes to produce.

Here's a recent scenario to help answer that question.  I recently picked up a handful of items at Wal-Mart.  I was just wanting to make a quick trip, so I only grabbed a few things that either we needed, or the price was good enough to not pass up. Here's what I got:
 

Item	Quantity	Wal-Mart Price	Price Match/Sale	Savings
Lemons	1 Bag	$1.50	N/A
Frozen Brussels Sprouts	8 Bags	$1.48 ea / $11.84	$0.88 ea / $7.04	$4.80
Slicing Tomatoes	3.65 lbs	$1.25 lb / $4.56	$0.50 lb / $1.83	$2.73
Potatoes 10 lbs.	1 Bag	$2.50	$2.00	$0.50
Broccoli Crowns	3.13 lbs	$1.18 lb / $3.69	$0.33 lb / $1.03	$2.66
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 68 oz	4 Bottles	$13.48 ea / $53.92	$6.98 ea / $27.92	$26.00
Coconut Milk 1/2 Gallon	2 Cont.	$3.25 ea / $6.50	$2.79 ea / $5.58	$0.92
Oranges 8 lb Bag	1 Bag	$5.46 ea	$0.96	$4.50
				Total Savings:
				$42.11

Of course the extra virgin olive oil brought in the biggest savings, but even without the olive oil, I still saved $16.11.  Then, on top of that, I had coupons totaling $4.00 in savings that I quickly printed from my computer which brought my total savings to $20.11 (not including the olive oil) or $46.11 (including the olive oil).

This was only a quick shopping trip.  If I remember, I'll try and compare savings again during one of my larger shopping trips.  So in my opinion, yes, you absolutely can save enough money from price matching or buying during the sales to make it worth the hassle.

Quick and Easy Breakfast Burritos

Veggie Breakfast Burrito

2-3 large flour tortillas

½ red or green bell pepper or a mixture of both, diced

½ - 1 onion, thinly sliced or diced

Large handful fresh spinach roughly chopped

4 oz. mushrooms, sliced

2 eggs, scrambled mixture

Cheese

dash of hot sauce

pepper

salt

There are a couple ways that I like to prep the burrito-

Cooking Method #1

1. Spray large skillet with non-stick spray and cook the bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms over med-high heat. 
2. Season with salt and cook just until the onion starts to turn translucent.
3. Add the spinach and toss with vegetable mixture just a couple of times and remove from skillet.
4. Cook the scrambled egg mixture until cooked through, seasoning with salt and pepper.
5. Remove from heat, add cheese if desired, and cover skillet until cheese is melted.
6. Divide vegetable mixture between the flour tortillas, being careful not to add the excess water (from the mushrooms).
7. Top vegetables with egg, sprinkle with hot sauce (opt) and roll into a burrito.

Cooking Method #2

1. Spray skillet with non-stick spray and add bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms over med-high heat. Cook for 1 min.
2. Add scrambled egg mixture to the vegetables, season with salt and pepper, and cook until eggs are cooked through.
3. Divide the fresh spinach between the flour tortillas
4. Add the cooked vegetable/egg mixture on top of the fresh spinach.
5. Sprinkle with hot sauce if desired.
6. Roll into a burrito.

The heat of the mixture will slightly wilt the spinach when rolled in a burrito.

If using mushrooms, it really is best for the mushrooms to rest a moment before adding them to the burrito.  They tend to sweat more than the other veggies, and adding them straight from the skillet to the flour tortilla tends to make the tortillas almost gummy. 

 Every Ingredient Is Optional:

For my husband, breakfast is an on-the-go meal.  He practices the art of waking up in just enough time to get dressed, grab his stuff, and head out the door.  To my surprise, this year he woke up early enough for two weeks straight to eat breakfast, get his lunch ready, shower,  and get dressed with about 15 minutes to spare.  What a big shock!  It was too bad that it only lasted two weeks.  So for him, if I don’t have a breakfast that he can take with him, he won’t have enough time to eat at all. 

We’ve tried different variations of an egg sandwich or breakfast burrito, and a veggie burrito is my favorite way to go.  My husband and I have two very different tastes when it comes to breakfast burritos.  Thankfully these are very easy to alter for each of our preferences.

My husband hates mushrooms.  There are some things that he can swallow down, but mushrooms are not one of them.  Even if the mushrooms are even diced until almost unnoticeable, he will know and he will sit there and pick out every last piece.  On the other hand, my husband likes cheese.  No, he loves cheese.  When we were first married, he went through more cheese in a week than my family would go through in a month.  He has limited the amount of cheese he eats by quite a bit, but if there is cheese in the house, he will eat it.

Unlike my husband, I love mushrooms.  I don’t like egg (only sometimes) and I don’t like cheese in my breakfast burrito.  If there is extra after cooking for my husband, I’ll eat it, but it’s not my first choice. I also like lots of onion.  When onions are cooked over med-high heat with a light seasoning of salt, there tends to be a sweetness about them that comes out.  I love this.  While I’m not crazy about bell peppers, they really do add lots of flavor to mixture. 

So even though our tastes are different, I just prepare the dislikes separately and cook them accordingly.

Prepare Vegetables Ahead:

A quicker way to throw together a burrito in the morning is to have the vegetables already diced and ready to go.  Onions and bell peppers, zucchini, and jalapeno (or other peppers) can be diced and stored in a container together.  Tomatoes tend to get mushy and spinach can get soggy if prepared too far ahead, so I just wait until that morning.  Mushrooms, I'm not sure about.  I haven't had any issues preparing mushrooms ahead, but I'm not sure if you can combine them with anything else.  I've always stored them separately.  If you prefer breakfast meat like bacon, ham, or sausage, these can also be precooked, stored in your fridge for a few days, and just reheat them on the skillet.

Sometimes a little preplanning will save you a lot of time in the early morning.

Nutritional Yeast B12 Fortified

I have had handful of inquiries about WinCo's nutritional yeast and if it is Vitamin B12 fortified.  I was finally able to remember to check and yes it is Vitamin B12 fortified.

For people located in Utah, Good Earth's nutritional yeast is also B12 fortified and is currently cheaper than WinCo's.

Nutritional Yeast-
WinCo $8.68/lb
Good Earth $8.05/lb

The WinCo price list has been updated!

Winco does have a few new granola flavors, but they took out their new granola flavors that were on the endcap for two months.  They have also added vanilla beans in their spice section.

The biggest price increases were:
Pecan Halves - Increased from $9.28 to $10.61
Walnut Halves, pieces - Increased from $5.48 to $6.98
Taco Seasoning - Increased from $2.75/lb to $3.79/lb.

Also, something else I noticed as I was updating this list, is WinCo's bulk items that are "on sale" are given a green label. I thought it was interesting that the walnuts and pecan halves were on sale, but in reality their bulk price increased quite a bit from last month.  This may be a precursor to a substantial increase in price...we'll see.

Good Earth-
For those of you who live in Utah, I have decided to add Good Earth to my blog.  Once upon a time I had full list for Good Earth and Sunflower Market, but I think they must have been accidentally deleted.  I gave it a shot to go and write down all the bulk items they carry.  I was able to get through most of the bulk food section before I ran out of time, so the list does not contain the snacks located at the far wall.

I actually really like Good Earth.  I have a friend whose daughters first familiarized me to this store.  She was always bringing in yummy/healthy snacks and I had to know where she was getting them - Good Earth!  This was my first introduction to a real bulk food section, aside from bulk herbs.  Good Earth is a local family owned and operated health food store that has only a handful of stores in Utah.  You just cannot compare them to WinCo.  The bulk section is very different, carrying a broader range of grain, flour, and sweeteners, most of them being organic, and good amount being gluten free.

In my opinion, there is healthy, and then there is really healthy.  To me, Good Earth falls into the really healthy category.  Most of the bulk items are organic and non-GMO, and even a handful of the dried fruit is unsulfured. They used to have more unsulfured dried fruit to choose from, but that was over a year ago that I noticed some change.

If you want to compare prices against Good Earth, I would suggest comparing them with Azure Standard.  Azure Standard has a lot of organic bulk food, many of them being the same to what Good Earth carries.  Azure Standard carries a lot of 25 lb and 50 lb bags of grain and such, but they also sell things in smaller quantities like 1 lb, 2 lbs, 5 lbs, and 10 lbs depending on the product.  They also carry unsulfured dried fruit.

Xanthan Gum-
For those who are on a gluten free diet, Good Earth carries xanthan gum at a considerably lower price than WinCo.  I saw it as I was walking out of the store.  I'm not sure of all the locations, but at the American Fork location, the xanthan gum was located on an end cap nearest the registers as you walk toward the bulk section.  It is in a brown paper bag, and it is being sold for $12.67/16 oz.  That beats WinCo's $17.43/lb by quite a bit.

Our Experiment with “Cheese” Sauce

My kids and I did a test run on several vegan “cheese sauce” recipes that I have collected here and there and voted on the recipes that were our favorites. I’ve been curious about cheese substitute recipes and have tried one or two in the past (I am still experimenting with one that uses beans).

What is in a cheese sauce?

Most of the recipes we came across contained four or more of these ingredients:

Tomatoes

Pimentos

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Salt

Nutritional Yeast

Nuts of some sort

Lemon Juice

Red Bell Pepper

I want to find a recipe that appeals not only to me, but to my family. Out of the 5 recipes we tried, we narrowed it down to one. At the time, I didn’t happen to have any red bell peppers or cashews on hand, so none of the recipes we tested called for peppers or cashews.

Now keep in mind that when I ran this “test kitchen” I didn’t tell my kids that this was a substitute for cheese. I let them assume that these were merely different sauces/dips, and I wanted to see which ones they liked the best.  If they were in the mind frame that these were supposed to taste exactly like cheese, they would have been greatly disappointed.  With a bit of altering to our own preference, we were able to create a recipe that everyone was happy with.  None of the recipes I tried ever tasted exactly like cheese. The recipe we ultimately chose had a good taste (similar to that of cheese, with a twist), texture, and thickness.

The sauce does turn a darker orange color once it has been thickened.  It only takes a few minutes to warm and thicken and the sauce can scorch so be careful.

I opened the container of “Cheese Sauce” after it had been refrigerated for several hours and the aroma was not incredibly pleasing.  However, after re-heating it, the cheese sauce was not as potent.  If this happens to you - don’t fret. Just warm it back up and enjoy.

This is great as a stand alone sauce for dipping tortilla chips and raw veggies.  It is also great as a condiment for tacos and burritos.

Sauce blended, but not yet cooked.

Vegan Cheese Sauce

1 cup rice milk (unsweetened), divided

2 Tbsp fresh or canned tomatoes

¾ tsp salt

¼ tsp onion powder

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/8 cup raw sunflower seeds

2-3 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Blend sunflower seeds in blender/processor until well crushed. Add the tomatoes and ¼ cup rice milk and blend again until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend well.

2. Pour into a small saucepan and heat over medium-heat until desired thickness, stirring/whisking frequently.

Makes about 2 cups

Cheese sauce after it is cooked.

Alterations / Substitutes:

• Use cashews in place of sunflower seeds
• Use any milk of choice
• Add cayenne for heat
• Substitute 1 tsp vinegar for 2-3 tsp. lemon juice
• Pre-soak nuts or seeds to make it easier to blend smooth

Building a Food Supply Part 3

Fruits and Vegetables:

Building up a food supply comes with benefits.  For me, an initial supply is necessary.  Having a stock of food and gives me a window of opportunity to restock as sales or group buys arise.  I’m not at the mercy of the current store price if I suddenly run out of butter or flour.  For me, living frugally means planning smart and being one step ahead.

Fruits and vegetables are just as important to have on hand as whole grains and legumes.  These are space consuming, so if your fridge and freezer space are limited, there are a few other options as well.

Fresh:

I like to keep my refrigerator stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, but space is limited and the variety available is dependent on the season.  There are lots of varieties to choose from in the summer and fall, but as the winter approaches, the produce is more limited and the prices increase. 

Frozen:

I try to have a good amount of frozen fruit and vegetables in my chest freezer, so if I need, I have an accessible variety in the off season, during the tighter budget moments, or when the price of produce is just not within my reach. 

Most times frozen produce that you can buy at the store is more nutritious than fresh.  Frozen produce is typically picked at the peak of ripeness then frozen quickly.  Fresh produce is sometimes harvested before it is even ripe, and even after that, it is stored in a warehouse.  A few of Costco’s frozen vegetables are organic, and the price per pound for organic is actually not bad.  They also have a handful of conventional frozen vegetables as well.  Costco also has a good selection of frozen fruit.  If you are looking for non-typical frozen veggies like greens, squash, or Brussels sprouts, most stores have general frozen vegetable sales pretty regularly.

Throughout the year, stores will have an “extreme sale” on fresh produce, and during those sales, I have purchased many things in larger quantities, storing some in my fridge for immediate use, and freezing the rest for later. If you happen to have an abundant harvest from your own garden, freezing is one way of preserving your produce.  We froze a little bit from our garden, but we mostly gave things away simply because I enjoy sharing.

Fruit is incredibly easy to prep for freezing, but vegetables do take more time.  Once you understand what needs to be blanched, what does not, blanching methods and times, it’s really not too hard.  The National Center for Home Preservation has good information on blanching food has well as other food preservation methods. It’s just a matter of weighing out the time and effort against the money saved to determine if it is worth it.  I have passed up some really great sales on things like broccoli and cauliflower simply because I just didn’t have enough time available to freeze them before they would go bad in my fridge.

Produce that I’ve stored in my freezer are:

Brussels Sprouts

Green Beans

Peppers, hot and sweet

Asparagus

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Celery

Corn on the cob

Pumpkin (pureed)

Summer squash

Peaches

Strawberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Blueberries

Cantaloupe

Honeydew

Bananas

 Canned:

Canned may not be your first choice, but it is not a bad idea to have some on hand.  Canned food is easy to store, is pretty economical, and has a decent shelf life. Canned goods are also great for an emergency short term supply.

While canned food is not as nutritious as frozen, if nutrition is a concern, there are options.  Read the labels and the ingredients so you know what you are buying.  A lot of canned fruit is packed in syrup, but you can find fruit packed in fruit juice.  Canned vegetables generally have a lot of sodium, but I have also found vegetables with reduced sodium and even sodium free.  Canned tomatoes in many varieties probably take up more shelf space in my house than any other vegetable.  In the case of tomatoes, sometimes the brand does matter.  I have come across plenty of canned tomatoes with more “stuff” added to them than I originally assumed.  Hunt’s seems to be a big one for this.  I’m not exactly sure why, but even generic brand tomatoes seem to have less ingredients than some of the Hunt’s varieties I have come across. 

Dehydrated and Freeze Dried Food:

If properly packaged and stored, these two varieties can last a few years and sometimes even far beyond that.

 

Dehydrating produce is actually pretty easy, even though it is a bit time consuming.  My mother-in-law gave me a dehydrator for Christmas one year, and I was so excited, but I wasn’t quite sure on how to use it.  I pretty much used it to make dried and dehydrated apples.  One evening I came across several YouTube videos from a woman named Tammy (dehydrate2store.com) teaching about dehydrating.  I consider her to be the dehydrating queen.  She dehydrates every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable, and then some.  She answered every question I ever had about dehydrating and she quickly helped me to understand the difference between dehydrating and drying.  While I am in no way at her level, she has inspired me.  I have been able to dehydrate spinach, kale, strawberries, hot peppers, sweet peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and several others.

Freeze drying is a different concept that is highly marketed.  The idea is to evaporate all the liquid out of the fruit or vegetable without comprising nutrition.  This method allows the produce to maintain its original shape and size.  I personally don’t buy freeze dried foods.  For the amount that you get, it is quite costly.  One small can is about $10 (depending on the product) and might last two meals if I stretch it, but no more than that.  If you eat the food in its freeze dried state, it is similar in texture to cheese puffs or Styrofoam.  After re-hydrating the food, I have found the texture to be no different than re-hydrating dehydrated food.  Freeze dried food looks prettier than dehydrated, but you can essentially achieve the same result with dehydrating when dehydrating at lower temperatures (under 115 degrees), resulting in a more compact form.

Dehydrating Ideas-

Fruit:

Freeze-Dried Peas

Apples

Apricots

Bananas

Berries

Cherries

Grapefruit

Lemons

Mango

Oranges

Pears

Pineapple

Plums

Dehydrated Peas

Pre-packaged frozen fruit

Vegetables:

Asparagus

Beets

Broccoli

Cabbage

Carrots

Cauliflower

Corn

Cranberries

Dried Strawberries

Greens (spinach, kale, collards)

Mushrooms

Onions

Peas

Potatoes, all varieties

Pumpkin

Squash (Winter and Summer)

Tomatoes

Pre-packaged frozen veggies

Herbs:

All varieties

Variety is Important:

I think that having a variety of fruit and veggies in their different forms are important.  I not only have an immediate supply of food for my family, but I have an emergency supply as well.  Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes are only some natural disasters that affect our nation, and sometimes they even hit in unexpected places.  While the intensity of a disaster can be predicted, the result is something we can never prepare for.  Some people are emotionally stronger than others.  Some people are creative and inventive when given only a minimal amount of supplies.  

Emergency preparedness isn’t only centered around mother nature.  Divorce, bills, death, and illness are only some events that can turn our lives upside-down, leaving us vulnerable.  I know from experience that having even a small supply of food greatly reduces stress during unpredictable events.

With the economy the way it is, and people losing their job without a moment’s notice, I feel lucky that my family can still maintain our self-sufficiency.  My husband has been blessed to be a part of a school that is not cutting teachers.  The administration has worked really hard to budget wisely and for that I am grateful. 

My husband and I have had a time in our life where money was incredibly limited and job availabilities were scarce.  Just one year prior, we had slowly built up a small and simple food supply. The time soon came where that food supply was needed and we used it gratefully.  Even though it didn’t eliminate all of our worries or stress, it did reduce them. 

Everyone has their own story and for me, I am thankful that ours was only a small circumstance.  I would love to maintain a variety of only fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, but I know that for my family, we need to open more options for those unpredictable situations. Every family and every situation is different.  I recently came across a statement that sums it up: Store what you are willing to eat, and eat what you are willing to store.  It is as simple as that.

Building A Food Supply Part 2

Creating a Food Supply:

Start slow-

The initial start up can be intimidating, but they key isn’t to buy everything at once, especially if you cannot afford it. 

Once a month, evaluate your grocery budget and see if you can make room for one or two pantry items.  For me, I allotted myself $10-$20 a month on buying supplies.  Your monthly purchases can look something like this:

Example 1:      Buying everything

Month 1 - 1 HDPE bucket 

                 1 Gamma lid and 

                 1 PETE container 

                 1 Rubber Mallet 

Month 2 - 25 lb bag Rolled Oats 

                  2-3 lbs Dry Goods (beans, grain, sugar, salt)

Month 3 - 1 HDPE bucket 

                 1 Gamma lid and 

                 1 PETE container

 Month 4 - 25 lb Bag hard white wheat

      or 40 lb Bucket of wheat 

      Bucket opener

Month 5 -  3-4 PETE containers

                  3-4 Varieties of Dry Goods

Continue this process until you have the variety you want. 

Example 2:      Frugal Version

-Save and wash all PETE containers with lids for future use

-Find a local bakery that is willing to sell/give you their used buckets

Month 1 - Find a good price on Gamma Lids and buy 3-4 of them, 

                 especially if it is online (reduce shipping costs).

Month 2 - Purchase buckets if you prefer new buckets, spending 

                 no more than $5 a bucket.

Month 3 - 25 lbs Oats and 2 lbs Dry Goods

Month 4 - 25 lbs Sugar and 2 lbs Dry Goods

Month 5 - 25 lbs Rice and 2 lbs Dry Goods

Adjust food and containers around the sales and your budget.

Example 3:      

No Buckets - Just Containers

-Each month buy or reuse 

2-3 PETE containers  purchase 

and enough dry goods to fill them.

-Continue this each month until 

you have the variety of dry goods you want.

Food Storage / Bulk Food Sales:

Many stores in my area offer Food Storage Events, Case Lot Sales, Bulk Buys, or Group Orders periodically throughout the year.  Sometimes just the label “sale” can entice people enough to just grab and go.  You would think that if it is a store’s “semi-annual sale” (which is highly advertised), it must be a fantastic deal, right?  Unfortunately this is not always the case.  This is where already being familiar with prices comes in handy. 

Some items are a great deal, and are worth buying the whole case for, but some items are not.  Sometimes I can find canned tomatoes, tomato paste, fruit, beans, and soup at lower prices than at the case lot sales.  Sometimes I can even find comparable items at Costco’s retail price for lower than the case lot sale.  Familiarize yourself with prices so you can stock up when the price is right.

What I have learned:

• Grains and beans are cheaper in the summer and early fall and more expensive in the winter.  Of course if it is a bad crop season due to weather conditions, the price of your dry goods is going to increase.
• Buckets, bucket openers, and lids tend to go on sale in late November - December (right after canning season) and once or twice more throughout the year.
• WinCo offers a 10% discount from the bulk section price if you buy the whole bulk bag (25 lb or 50 lb).  It won’t hurt to ask your local health food store if they do something similar.
• If you’re not sure about an item, email the company.  A simple, pleasant inquiry will almost always have a quick reply.  Emailing has answered questions or concerns I have had on certain products, packaging, and labeling.
• Having a variety of dry goods, canned goods, and frozen foods on hand has been better for my family than all dry, all canned, or all frozen.