…It’s how much you spend.  And what you get for your money.

After we finished our field trip to the grocery store yesterday with Nicole and the 700 Club crew, I had mixed feelings.  It just wasn’t a great day for finding deals at the particular stores we were at.  This is common every where.  Some weeks there are so many deals it’s hard to know where to start and some weeks you might as well stay home. 

Despite the lack of outrageous deals there were a lot of teachable moments.  One of those was price comparing between bagged lettuce verses head lettuce.  Sometimes the premade salad is less expensive and easier at the same time!  Part of that is because once you tear up lettuce it doesn’t keep as long, so the store can become a motivated seller.  Bagged salad isn’t always less expensive, but it’s an option worth checking out.

We bought some things that weren’t particularly fantastic deals, but if you have to feed your family that week and there isn’t much at home, they were the least expensive ingredients to build meals out of.  These included fresh potatoes, fresh chicken quarters, brown rice, tomato sauce, and whole wheat pasta.  They were every day good values that sometimes go on sale for even less.

Image Source Better Homes and Gardens

It’s even better to start building a stock pile or pantry out of foods that are fantastic deals, so when there aren’t any good deals, you can just stay home.

As we were walking out of the store a woman was parked nearby with a cart heaping full of food.  She looked me over and looked at my camera crew and said in a snarky way:  “I sure hope you saved a bunch of money, because I certainly did.”   I know part of it was her needing a little pat on the back and some recognition for her hard work.  But it stung a little.  (I’m still working on that thick skin.)

Nicole’s family is bouncing back from a huge hardship.  They lost their house and all their possessions in a fire last year and her husband is searching for a full time job while she does her magic at home with their sons and keeping a frugal lifestyle.  She needs to whittle her grocery bills down to $200 a month so they can get traction with their life.  If I filled her cart to heaping with non-nutritious foods she might show a larger percentage of savings, but she would also blow her entire budget and more without a healthy meal to show for it.

The real magic with grocery savings happens in the kitchen.  I sent Nicole home with bone in chicken, chicken breasts, whole wheat flour, lettuce salad, brown rice, whole wheat flat bread rounds, whole wheat pasta, spaghetti sauce, fresh fruit, potatoes, and neufatchel cheese.   She can make chicken alfredo, BBQ chicken sandwiches, creamy chicken and rice, chicken ceasar salad, mini pizzas and more with these ingredients.  She spent about $50, we saved $22 and her family could eat for a week by adding a few spices and pantry items (like BBQ sauce and parmesan cheese) that she already had at home.