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Thread: What are you doing to deal with the rising cost of groceries?

  1. #16
    Bean bun going offline Ciel's Avatar
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    I have put a separate tab in my Excel expense spreadsheet to track what I paid for certain grocery items and if it was a sale price at what store. The plan is to use it as a guide against flyers (which I usually preview on SC) to see when items are on sale/special/promo.

    I've noticed one parent paid $3.99 for a bunch of celery this week at Fortino's. Had he gone to the reduced produced rack, he would have saved a $1. I'm checking crisper bins on weekends and trying to salvage/chop up produce before it all goes bad.

    Sometimes I put a little list on the fridge of some items brother buys that are on sale at the three grocery stores. I may also tell him of two or three specials so he's aware when I think he will go shopping that evening or day.

    The cost of groceries is not the only concern. Mom bought a couple of clothing items she thought were great but I was so unhappy with them (they don't go with anything she has) that I insisted she return them. Keeping tabs on clothing costs is another money arena.
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    Quote Originally Posted by lecale View Post
    I do, but it has no Freshco, so I still have to check that one separately.
    @lecale , salewhale.ca has freshco (for me anyway, always has ... i'm ontario). Perhaps change your location parameters for a wider search???
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    Quote Originally Posted by maple7 View Post
    @lecale, salewhale.ca has freshco (for me anyway, always has ... i'm ontario). Perhaps change your location parameters for a wider search???
    Aha, apparently Freshco is the only place I shop that is more than 5 km away. Thanks for this!
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    I already shared this in another thread, but here it is again.

    I am still enjoying the weekly AM offers that I load for Sobeys. I receive two 50% off offers each week in addition to bonus AM offers. They do a pretty good job reflecting my shopping habits. Examples of my 50% off offers: case of chicken breasts, Sobeys brand sausages, green giant frozen veggies, Sobeys frozen veggies, eggs, various brands of chips, 6pk of cheese bread sticks, mini wheats, 2L milk, 4L milk, etc. I look forward to these offers and they are good for 2wks on my card. When I had an issues with being charged full price on my 50% off sausage offer I called the number on the website and they loaded AM to my card to equal the amount that the discount should have been.

    I still do the regular pm, shopping sales, using my rebate apps, coupons, points programs, cooking at home, etc.
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    Canadian Genius lilo0003's Avatar
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    Angela: I have never had luck with the AM offer at Sobeys, i have not bother to call so i will try that when they dont work. I had great success when they switched to AM and had the bonus AM when you bought gift cards. I still have 350.00 in cards and have earned lots of miles just in regular shopping so it has worked out well.
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    Smart Canuck amira84's Avatar
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    Is there any seperate thread for sharing how to make your produce last longer or can we ask/share it here?


    The problem i am seeing at my house is that we have to buy certain fruitsbecause kidsLOVE them. For example, grapes! I used to buy a 2lb box @$3.88 when they used to go on sale and when i had pcplus offer on grapes. But now that grapes are getting very expensive ($5.88 for 2lb box) and kids are not very flexible about not seeing grapes in the house, i want to keep grapes fresh for longer period. What should i do when i buy grapes? Any ideas?
    It's so ironic that junk food stays fresh for a very long time but fresh produce gets wasted within 10 days.


    Now i have a tip to keep brocolli fresh for longer time period. I read it on the internet and now i do it all the time. When you buy brocolli, wrap it in aluminum foil and keep it infridge. It stays green and fresh for so long, i couldnt even believe it when i did it myself. Otherwise brocolli used to get wasted in our house resting on kitchen counter.

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    Quote Originally Posted by amira84 View Post
    Is there any seperate thread for sharing how to make your produce last longer or can we ask/share it here?


    The problem i am seeing at my house is that we have to buy certain fruitsbecause kidsLOVE them. For example, grapes! I used to buy a 2lb box @$3.88 when they used to go on sale and when i had pcplus offer on grapes. But now that grapes are getting very expensive ($5.88 for 2lb box) and kids are not very flexible about not seeing grapes in the house, i want to keep grapes fresh for longer period. What should i do when i buy grapes? Any ideas?
    It's so ironic that junk food stays fresh for a very long time but fresh produce gets wasted within 10 days.


    Now i have a tip to keep brocolli fresh for longer time period. I read it on the internet and now i do it all the time. When you buy brocolli, wrap it in aluminum foil and keep it infridge. It stays green and fresh for so long, i couldnt even believe it when i did it myself. Otherwise brocolli used to get wasted in our house resting on kitchen counter.
    Grapes are a hard one. I have some of the "produce bags" that are supposed to keep fruit and vegetables longer but truth is, I haven't tried them yet and have had them over a year (bought on clearance to try). Maybe this week will be the week! lol. I did read once on smartcanucks to not waste your money on them, that the liners from empty cereal boxes work just as well. Again, that is on my list to try too.
    Last edited by maple7; Sat, Feb 6th, 2016 at 07:00 PM.

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    A few things I've been doing a little different:
    1. less or no splurges. example: we almost never eat out, unless away on vacation, but we occasionally buy sushi at Superstore/Sobeys. This is now gone.
    2. Few pre-made bagged salads, which I would buy on clearance at 50% off. There are cheaper options for salad.
    3. Stretching meat a little further, example: buying chicken when on sale, leftovers get cut into strips to use in salads/stir frys but used in smaller portions now.
    4. Used to make cauliflower mashed potatoes all the time, we switched to eating more sweet potatoes instead.
    5. I've bought less baby carrots, more regular carrots since they are cheaper. Celery used to be a weekly staple and is now gone, I plan on growing more of it in the garden this year.
    6. Living off the stock pile, trying really hard to stay away from shampoo, toilet paper, freezer bags, laundry/dish/dishwasher deals and being more focused on getting deals on fruit and vegetables. I find I have a limited amount of time to go after deals each week and some items I'm good for another year or two.
    7. Buying larger quantities of fruits and vegetables when they are cheap and freezing them. In the past, except for berries which I would stock whenever there was an awesome sale, we would mostly buy what we needed, then wait for another good price. Now I'm working from the viewpoint that a lot of items might not come down again for awhile.
    8. I've bought basil plants from Superstore during the "3000 points wus $10 on produce" promos. I plan to buy more herbs this spring/summer so I don't have to pay next year's winter prices.

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    Canadian Genius lilo0003's Avatar
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    We have started to use meat as a side dish and at least two nights a week we go meatless. I also recommend a site called budgetbytes.com. Many meals are meat less or have just a little bit. Our fave is a recipe called Dragon Noodles. We eat this almost every week and the left over are fought over. I am feeding an almost 16 yr old boy child so I do add meat. Usually 1 chicken breast or some shrimp. It's also a great site to use when kids are learning to cook.
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    I Googled 'how to keep produce fresh longer' and here are a couple of sites I think are worth checking out:

    This one has a chart for quick reference:
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/...es.asp?id=1103

    This one has links to info on how to store specific veggies, fruits, and herbs (scroll down to see all the categories):
    http://www.thekitchn.com/the-kitchns...roundup-176308

    Fyi, both sites say to store grapes in paper bags

    Silk
    Last edited by Silk; Sun, Feb 7th, 2016 at 12:36 AM.

  11. #26
    Smart Canuck amira84's Avatar
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    Wow. You guys are amazing. Thanks for all the tips and links, maple, lilo and silk.

    I went to my rcss today and....ummmm.....coughs....cough, cough....uhhhhmmmmhmm..... i picked up another pcplus card. I am so embarassed.
    I don't have the courage to tell this to my hubby. but i thought i needed it because i wanted to get tons of different produce offers.
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    Quote Originally Posted by lilo0003 View Post
    We have started to use meat as a side dish and at least two nights a week we go meatless. I also recommend a site called budgetbytes.com. Many meals are meat less or have just a little bit. Our fave is a recipe called Dragon Noodles. We eat this almost every week and the left over are fought over. I am feeding an almost 16 yr old boy child so I do add meat. Usually 1 chicken breast or some shrimp. It's also a great site to use when kids are learning to cook.
    Thanks for the link to that site lilo0003. What a great resource - the site even has vegetarian and GF recipes. And I'm going to put Dragon noodles on my 'to try' list

    Silk
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    Quote Originally Posted by amira84 View Post
    Wow. You guys are amazing. Thanks for all the tips and links, maple, lilo and silk.

    I went to my rcss today and....ummmm.....coughs....cough, cough....uhhhhmmmmhmm..... i picked up another pcplus card. I am so embarassed.
    I don't have the courage to tell this to my hubby. but i thought i needed it because i wanted to get tons of different produce offers.
    lol, I get this. I find having multiple cards for pcplus to be really helpful. Even duplicate offers are good for stores with price-matching limits, using coupons which are limited to one per customer or checkout51 limits. Also, occasionally with duplicates, I will hold one for next week if the price is better and use the other to buy the minimum of what I need to get me through the week.
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    lot of great awesome comments
    -I am freezing more produce -like broccoli this week is .99(lococos) so buy a few freeze some and I am freezing carrots too when on sale
    -I still have celery in my freezer from oct -I chop it and freeze for my soups -almost out so may skip using in my soups til I find a better price
    -I am always making muffins from scratch now and use frozen blueberries in the ones called for fresh
    -as for meat on buy on sale or with my p.c points -got a lovely pork loin large strip the other day 2.00 off from the points
    --we have a few meatless nights too -pizza ,breakfast for supper ,pasta for sure to stretch the buck

    -again like someone said using up the stockpile and saving more money for the real food
    -plus trying to use checkout51 a lot more to put more money in my pocket (when kashi bars were limit 3 save 1.50 for 2 weeks in a row I bought the 6 bars over the 2 week promo and paid 1.49 each after checkout51) gotta think ahead like that
    Last edited by coupon girl; Sun, Feb 7th, 2016 at 09:11 AM.
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    Smart Canuck grumpy's Avatar
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    I started using make your own meal food/recipe/ingredients delivery. It's actually cheaper because I'm not going to the grocery store to buy groceries (after work), many of which I end up throwing away.

    They send everything you need for a meal (like 1 tomato, the bit of flour or butter you need) and it only takes 25mins to make and you can even clean up while it's in the oven or on the stove pan. I'm using Chef's Plate in Toronto (love it!!) but hoping to find something like this in Vancouver for my mom. It's only about $10 a plate and they deliver it to your house.

    Also, frozen veggies are sometimes even more nutritious. I just don't know how to make them less soggy though. Maybe cooking from frozen instead of thawing?

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