Today I want to talk about the first and most common savings
tricks: Bonus cards & Savings Days
I have bonus cards from the two chain grocery stores closest to my apartment. I’m also subscribed to Trader Joe’s and Whole
Foods’ mailing lists as they are a great source of coupons, deals, promotions,
what have you, in case I find a good deal. Normally though, since running around
to a million different places for groceries can be a hassle, I like to stick with only one store as much as possible. So let’s start there.
A few Fridays ago I decided to head down to my local Safeway to pick up some beer and snacks for the weekend (this was pre-Paleo). As soon as I walked in I saw signs for $5 Friday. "What's $5 Friday?" I wondered. Then it hit me. It's happy hour for grocery shopping!! My two favorite things have finally found each other (sigh). Basically its a day when certain items are bundled or marked down to $5. $5! Unfortunately I didn't have to buy groceries at that point, so I went back last week (Week 2 of Paleo) to see what I good deals I could get. This time bell peppers were bundled at 4 for $5 and olive oil was marked down from $9.29. Awesome! By the time I got all my good ol' Paleo meat, fruit, and ton of veggies my total would have been $89.52. But thanks to my bonus card and savings day deals, I only paid $74.66!
Plus! A lot of bonus cards also include gas rewards so, for example, every time you spend $100 or more you get 1 gas reward point. 1 gas reward = $0.10 off a
gallon of gas. Discount off gas? Yes, please! Now not only can you save on food, you can
save on gas, which we all know is expensive enough. The kicker
is that they, too, expire after about a month. Lame sauce. So use ‘em while you
got ‘em. The next time I go to fill up, I'll be saving $0.20 per gallon. :)
There are some things, however, that your traditional
grocery stores just don’t carry (in some places anyway). For me, that’s Paleo-friendly nuts and dried fruits. With some exceptions, almost every nut or trail mix option includes peanuts,
which—as a Paleo—just doesn’t work.
And those few options that don’t include peanuts are coated with added sugar or
corn or soy products (example),
or they cost more than what they’re worth. Same goes for the dried fruit
selection. That’s when Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods come in. And since I had saved so much from my bonus card and awesome discovery, I figured I should treat myself to something, especially something that would stay fresh in the pantry for a while.
On the way up to Hershey Park a couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend
(who’s also doing Paleo) and I stopped into Whole Foods to look for some Paleo
snacks to bring with us so that we wouldn't be tempted to eat way more chocolate
than we should. We managed to come across some excellent no-sugar added dried fruit and this
delicious trail mix that, while not that expensive on the surface ($6.99
for a 16oz bag), is easy and cheap(er!) to replicate at home. So instead of
loading up on—let’s say—four 1 lb bags of that for $27.96 (w/o tax), I headed over to Trader Joe’s
for some raw nuts:
½ lb Pecan (halves) = $3.99
1 lb Almonds (roasted/No salt) = $4.99
1 lb Walnuts (raw pieces) = $7.99
1 lb Hazelnuts (raw/No salt) = $6.99
(Ignore for a minute the raw
almonds and tea…I’m using the raw almonds for another culinary project and I
just love me some tea)
That's
$23.96 (w/o tax), $4 less than
the alternative. I also added half a container of the $2.50 for raisins from
Safeway which brings the total to $26.46 before tax. That's a total savings of $1.50. Now wait. Before you go all "A buck fifty ain't even worth it," think a second more. You have 4 lbs (ish) of nuts in front of you. Who eats 4lbs of nuts, much less 4 lbs of trail mix? Squirrels. But since you're reading this blog, you're probably not a squirrel (no offense meant if you are). So what do you do? Throw it all in a giant bag and have a sh*t ton of trail mix is one option. Hang on...You bought some tilapia on Friday. And you've been thinking about all the awesome Paleo recipes you could make with it....that's it! Almond crusted tilapia! (recipe coming soon). And then there's that recipe you found for Paleo carrot banana muffins with walnuts in it! You don’t have to have 4 lbs of trail mix! Better yet, you can make a yummy dinner (or 2), have left over ingredients for other meals, and STILL have about 2 lbs of trail mix. Yay!
Since neither Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have bonus cards, subscribe to their mailing list for deals, coupons, and sales. When you sign in for the first time, you get to choose your local store which will also show up in your subscriptions. This way you know what's on sale across the entire chain, as well as the sales at the stores you frequent. All it takes is a few seconds of scanning over a couple of emails, and you get some idea of who has the best deals so you can plan accordingly.
So going off of all of that--bonus cards, savings days, and Trader Joe's--I only spent $106.89 on groceries last week. Add in the $19.01 I spent on kielbasa and red wine (a little treat) from the local German deli,[1] and my total was $125.90. Sweet!!
So there you have it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Now get out there and do it for your self!
[1] Ethnic stores...more to come on them.
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