Food Challenge: Chapter 2

So I was just visiting my friend Melissa's blog, BrokeTO, just this morning and got really excited as I read her latest update in the Grocery Challenge. Finally, I can shamelessly admit my love for perusing the grocery store flyers every week. Seriously. I love it, people. It's like a little present that shows me things I can get for cheaper for the next little while. How awesome is that?! (I have definitely become a grandmother. I'm aware, and I've accepted it.)

I especially enjoy stocking up on things I need around the house, like cleaning supplies or band-aids or shampoo. These things are the best to hoard since they don't go bad, I'll always need them, and my taste in shampoos and cleaning supplies is unlikely to change. Find a brand that you like, stick to it, and watch for sales. My favourite cleaning line, GreenWorks, often goes on sale for $2 a bottle at Shoppers, down from about $4.50. Crazy! I recently got a giant-size bottle of my favourite shampoo at a discount price, AND it came with a free bottle of the matching conditioner. Sweet! And if you shop at a store with a points system (like Shoppers Drug Mart with their Optimum points thing) the savings can really add up. And it's a bit of an insurance policy in a way; I know that if things get tight around a few key times of year (which it inevitably does) we won't have to worry about not having enough change to scrape together for necessities like toilet paper or dish soap. And I know that if I DO happen to run out of something, I can cash in some points at the register and save some precious dollars. Here is where you'll be rewarded for loyalty, and it makes sense to take advantage of it.

Melissa's point about sale prices is a good one, too. I recently read an article about what food items are best to buy on sale. I couldn't find the original article despite my best search efforts, but there are some similar ones here and here. It really opened my eyes as to what I was being gouged for and what to buy only when it's on sale. One of the biggest things I didn't realize was putting holes in my pockets was cereal. For this reason I now only buy cereal when it's on sale; this week my local grocery store has big boxes on sale for about $2.50, which is a big dip from their regular price of $4.75 for the smaller, slimmer boxes. Score! And if there's a great sale at a grocery store that's 20 minutes away, and if I need to do a "big" grocery run anyway, I'll go and it will be worth the trip. Grocery stores often won't reward your loyalty, so there's no real need to just stick to one. Shop around. Most stores have their flyers available online as well, so even if you don't get a regular news publication delivered to your door you can still keep up with what's on sale. Unfortunately for me, the only grocery store in my little town is a 24-hour Foodland, which generally has prices that are higher than most. But this means I just hunt that much harder for deals at grocery stores in neighbouring towns. To make the drive when I need more apples is a bit silly, but for large trips the savings really add up, and what you can get at a discount store for $50 is more than what would cost the same at a 24-hour store.

The only grocery chain that offers rewards (as far as I know) are the PC-associated stores (Loblaws, No Frills, etc). If you get a PC Mastercard, you can earn points on any dollar you spend, ANYwhere, which is pretty great when you think about it. If you take it a step further and create a PC bank account, you earn points anywhere plus double the points when you use your PC Debit card at participating PC stores.

I feel like an infomercial announcer. But wait! There's more!

For those who drive cars daily, there's another way to save on groceries: If you head to a Superstore/No Frills gas station, you will earn $0.02 on every litre that's redeemable for a discount off your next purchase at a PC store. (On top of that, the gas prices at these locations are the cheapest by at least about $0.05). If you use your PC debit card to pay at the pump, it doubles to $0.04 per litre. And in a car with a large gas tank, that can really add up. I've been handed receipts from these gas bars with numbers like $1.98 at the top. The biggest one I got was something like $2.06. Two whole dollars! I know! Filling up a few times a week really adds up the savings, all from something we have to buy anyway: gas. I had maybe 4 or 5 receipts with me last time I did a big grocery trip, and we saved about $7. That's 3 loaves of bread, or a big family-size pack of chicken drumsticks. For free! Awesome, right?!

I know this extra discount is only available to people who drive a lot, and happen to live in an area with these specific stores (location finder can be found here). But the Superstore/No Frills/Independent grocery store trend is growing, as people realize that shopping at over-priced "boutique" grocery stores is a rip-off. Do a little looking around, and you'd be surprised at what you find! The deals are out there, you just may have to put in a tiny bit more effort to take advantage of them. Good luck with your deal-hunting!

Food Challenge!

The phrase "food challenge" evokes images of Kitchen Stadium, all fog and lights and shiny knives while opposing chefs stare menacingly at one another.

This isn't like that. This is a challenge where we can set goals regarding the food we buy for ourselves and how we eat. I'm aware that I'm a little behind in officially starting, but I unofficially challenged myself a few weeks ago to start eating healthier, and this has expanded into the following goals:

1. take advantage of the glut of fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season,
2. hone my cooking skills so as to be able to comfortably experiment with and incorporate new flavours into my meal rotation,
3. save a bit of money by buying my fruits and veg from a local farmer's market,
4. be smart about buying in large quantities, and utilize my freezer for its awesome preservation abilities,
5. lose a teensy bit of weight.

The last one has already started to come about, mostly by accident. I don't actually own a scale--though I should probably get one--the only reason I know is that I was told recently that it looks like I've "lost a bit of weight". It's not my primary goal, hence why it's the last on my list, I'm just aware that it's an inevitable consequence of eating a diet that's lower in fat and sugar and higher in whole grains and fresh things.

In last week's grocery run, I will admit that there were more frozen and pre-packaged food than I would normally buy--however someone in my household is currently going through recovery after a some minor surgery, and "want" foods became "need" foods for comfort reasons. These include some frozen pizzas, toaster strudels (my weakness! which I have successfully resisted! go me!), frozen waffles, and some pizza pops. These items are in my "occasional treats" category, and I've been pretty good lately at reaching for healthier alternatives for snacks than constantly having these same things. And if I do reach for some frozen waffles, I make sure to have them with a bunch of fruit on top and a glass of milk. Like this!

But for the most part, the grocery list has been successfully tweaked: bottles of pop, bags of chips, and frozen pre-prepared foods are no longer seen as necessities like they used to be. This time last year, I was at the same point, except I gradually let these things become essentials. I let my dietary standards slide and got into a vicious cycle of valuing convenience over nutrition, and settled into a routine of bad habits. Now that we've gone backwards, we're feeling much better about how we're eating, and surprised at how little we find ourselves wanting these things. Chips? What are those? Now, if I want some chips as a snack, it'll be whole grain tortilla chips that I can eat with salsa. Ideally the ones with flax seed in them, they're awesome. Because salsa counts as a vegetable dish, right? Totally.

Last night's dinner was especially successful; I was tempted to just throw in a frozen pizza but I caught myself--I remembered that I had a whole crisper drawer chock FULL of fresh green veggies to use up. And so I made a whole-wheat pasta dish with three different kinds of vegetables and some chicken. And it was awesome.

Oh, and today I stopped by a farmer's market on the way home, but it was closed. Boo.

Something I still need to work on: actually bringing food from home to eat while I'm out at school, every freaking time. I tend to underestimate my need for a meal being at school for 4-5 hours at a time, and I assume I'll be fine--but I never am. I have a change purse that is almost always full, which allows me pretty much whatever I want from a vending machine. So I need to stop that.

So that is where I'm at, a few weeks after making a conscious decision to eat better. Special thanks to my good pal Melissa over at BrokeTO for the inspiration to share my dietary and budgeting goals for the month of August. Follow her $100 Grocery Challenge and stay updated here (original post with instructions here)!