Category: Money Saving

Is This a Great Value?

If you are doing price comparisons, you may be asking – is this a great value or is it just cheaper? To be a food product with great value, it needs to contain the same amount of food and nutrition for a lesser price. If it comes with fewer additives, even better.

I’ve seen videos that say store-brand foods like Great Value are exactly the same as their name-brand counterparts, come off the same manufacturing line, and are just put in different packaging. While I have no doubt many store-brand products are made by the same manufacturers as their name brand counterparts, I’m not as certain they come off the same line and only differ in packaging.

potato chips spilling out of plain brown wrapper.

Sometimes that may be true, but beware of the videos that advise things like Great ValueTM Toasted O’s are exactly the same as Cheerios. One is labeled gluten-free. The other is not. That’s an indicator that there’s some difference. It’s also a reminder that reading labels remains essential if you must avoid certain foods or ingredients.

Walmart is revamping the packaging for Great Value. It’s a two-year project. One of the aims is to have the nutrition information listed and in a consistent location. I’m all for better labelling! https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2026/04/15/walmart-unveils-modern-redesign-of-great-value-its-flagship-private-brand

I sometimes prefer store-brand or lesser advertised products because they contain fewer chemicals and additives. Often the additives are flavor enhancers. Those may make the food taste better, but flavor enhancers trick your brain. If you eat a lot of processed food, you aren’t just ingesting chemicals that don’t add to your health, it can change your perception of fresh food.

So back to value. If the ingredient list is the same or preferable to your usual product, the amount of food per package the same, the nutrition value comparable, and the price less – yes, it’s a great value. The packaging isn’t always as appealing, but that’s not critical.

Now that we’ve addressed store brands, here are some other great values to consider:

When fresh vegetables aren’t in season or affordable, store-brand frozen vegetables can be a great value replacement.

I sometimes buy organic milk because it stays fresh longer. That means less waste. Also, keep in mind store-brand organic milk can be $2 less than name-brand.

I don’t like the texture of most frozen fruit, so I don’t use it in fruit salad, but it can work well for baked goods and be less expensive than fresh. It’s also easy to always have on hand without worrying about it spoiling.

Look for deals on protein. One local grocery store does a Pick 5 meat deal for $25. You can mix and match cuts as long as they have a Pick 5 sticker.

Some save by buying in bulk. If you live alone, consider partnering with neighbors to maximize your bulk buying power. I live on a block with lots of cooks. It’s not odd to suggest a food exchange on the neighborhood text chain.

Grow your own herbs. Fresh herbs are both expensive and easily grown in pots. Growing your own is a great value. To reduce the initial investment, look for free pots on a community gifting group or check a thrift store. You can grow from seed or plants. Sometimes herbs are available in plant exchanges.

There’s no shame in finding new ways to save. I always keep the question, is it a great value, top of mind!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Conservation Conversations

Given current prices on everyday necessities, it’s a great time for a conservation conversations. How can you stay on your required diet, eat healthy food, not exhaust yourself, and spend less money?

Let’s start with a given. It will not be easy. Fighting this fact will delay making progress and mentally exhaust you. The quicker you make peace with a need for change that may make portions of your life more difficult, the sooner you will be able to improve your circumstances and quality of life overall.

Pink round piggy bank with pennies around it on white background.

Here are a few guidelines to follow when conservation is required.

Explore things that can stay the same. This can make transitions easier. For example, instead of giving up meals at a favorite farm-to-table restaurant, reduce the frequency. Skip the iced tea or soda in favor of water.

Stop buying things you throw away. We all have things that sit in the refrigerator or pantry because we thought they were a good idea at the time, but we don’t use often enough to justify keeping them on hand. Cocoa powder, vanilla beans, saffron, lasagna noodles, and hot sauce are things I seem to think I need all the time. I don’t.

Use less. Following a low histamine diet has resulted in me recognizing how much flavor can be imparted by a smidge of tomato sauce, a spoonful of ranch dressing, or a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Reducing the amount I’d typically add has made things tolerable for my system and saved me money as well. For what to do with leftover tomato sauce – freeze it in ice cube trays to make it go a long way. You can also share with friends or neighbors.

Rely on herbs, spices, and veggies rather than cheese. Cheese is delicious. Cheese is also expensive. You can enhance the flavor of casseroles with herbs and spices. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and even beans can be used to add a creamy element to casseroles, soups, and one pot meals.

Add rice and/or beans. A meal will feel more substantial if you serve it with rice or beans. You can pull back on the amount of beef, pork, or chicken per person by serving bowls that include rice and/or beans.

We’ve made it through five guidelines that don’t require extra baking, sorting through sales, or organizing coupons. That may be enough to keep your budget working. If not, consider a few more:

Make more soup. Soup is delicious and filling whether it’s hot or cold. As we enjoy the farmers market, it’s a great time to use bits and pieces, leaves, and stems in soup. Fruit is best used quickly, but vegetable bits can be collected in a container in your fridge for several days before you need to cook them. Think carrot tops, beet greens, Brussels sprout leaves, chard or broccoli stems. Prep them when cleaning up after the meal in which you used the rest of the vegetable. That will leave you with a container of prepped vegetables to use in soup.

Substitute ground turkey for ground beef. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years because I prefer it, but it also makes sense for budgetary reasons. In meatloaf and burgers, I add a splash of Worcestershire sauce to beef up the flavor (see what I did there).

Make yogurt. This may sound like a big deal, but yogurt is one of the easiest things to make. You don’t need anything but milk, starter, and a place to keep it warm. I prefer to use whole milk, packaged starter, and a yogurt maker that holds jars. But you can use yogurt with live cultures as a starter and an instant pot to keep it warm. Making your own allows you to process it for 24 hours to break down all the lactose if you’re lactose intolerant. It eliminates all the added sugar of flavored yogurt, and it means your yogurt isn’t housed in plastic. Lots of bang for a minimum of prep time.

Freeze gluten-free items. Instead of buying ready-made gluten-free muffins, pancakes, waffles, or cookies, make two batches at a time and freeze one. Since 2020, the selection of prepackaged gluten-free items available in local stores has shrunk and prices have increased. This makes an occasional afternoon of baking seem like an increasingly welcome activity.

Dispose of disposables. Paper towels, paper napkins, and disposable plates all have washable alternatives. If you’re already overwhelmed with laundry or dishes, this may not be the appropriate place to cut back, but it’s an option to explore. You can also conserve by saving paper towels used to dry clean hands for later use cleaning the table or countertops.

These ten guidelines don’t eliminate but do minimize change and additional effort while reducing costs. Keep them in mind as we all deal with rising prices and are required to have conservation conversations.

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Soup it Up and Save

Cold weather is time to soup it up and save! Not only is soup warm and comforting, it’s a great way to cut down food waste. With the high cost of food, it feels painful to even waste a morsel. If you’re not in the habit of making soup, we have a few tips to keep it delicious, nutritious, and budget friendly.

Three gold soups in small white bowls sitting on whitewashed board. Hand garnishing middle bowl.

Save vegetables

You may be in the habit of throwing away veggie waste, but some of it can be saved to add nutrition to soup.

Here are some commonly discarded items you can use.

  • Woody stems of asparagus
  • Mushroom stems
  • Misshapen ends of bell pepper
  • Outer leaves of brussels sprouts
  • Celery leaves
  • Carrot tops
  • Beet greens
  • Large broccoli stems
  • Cauliflower stems and leaves
  • Large stems from greens like chard or collard
  • Greens that are beginning to wilt
  • Stems of herbs

Save meat or poultry

If you’re wanting to create a flavorful broth, you can save fatty trimmings from chicken, beef, or pork to add to your pot.

You can also add leftover meat to soups and stews. Just chop and place in the pot for the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Save broth and pot likker

Save broth left from cooking beans, peas, greens, or potatoes. This can be used as a base for your soup or for additional flavor.

Save Time

It’s not necessary to chop veggies like broccoli stems or celery tops into bite-size pieces. You can use items to flavor the soup then remove them before serving.

Use a slow cooker. Soups are best when they have a chance to slowly simmer. That doesn’t mean you have to be home to enjoy the aroma. Throw everything in a slow cooker and go away. You’ll have a flavorful broth and tender meat when you return. Any vegetables that are too done for your taste can be removed with a slotted spoon. You can then transfer your soup into a pan, bring to a boil, add frozen vegetables, and cook for five minutes before serving.

Start with boxed chicken broth, beef broth, or vegetable broth. You don’t have to cook from scratch to make a delicious, hearty soup. Begin with store-bought broth, strained tomatoes, tomato juice, or canned pumpkin. Make potato soup using mashed potatoes from the store. With sufficient herbs, spices, and vegetables you can dilute these bases with generous amounts of water, milk, or cream to create a flavorful soup.

When there’s no time to simmer, use the microwave, boxed broth, rotisserie chicken, and frozen vegetables. Or make a quick tomato soup using strained tomatoes, and Italian spices. Add a few leftover meatballs for more umph.

Change it up

Soups are versatile and easy to change with minor adjustment. Rev up basic chicken soup with a bit of coconut oil, curry powder, honey, and frozen English peas.

Add a peeled, thinly sliced sweet potato to chicken soup. Allow it to break down and thicken the soup.

Consider seasoning soup with fresh grated nutmeg, ginger root, turmeric root, cilantro, pesto, bay leaves, lemon, lime, honey, maple syrup, or balsamic vinegar.

Add some milk or cream to tomato soup. Top soup with a pat of butter for added richness.

Serve a cold soup when least expected as long as there’s a cozy fire to warm the room.

Add rice, noodles, or lentils to give the soup a new feel.

With winter approaching, upcoming holiday gifts to buy, and high grocery prices, there couldn’t be a better time to soup it up and save!

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Budgetween?

Hoping to make this year’s Halloween a Budgetween? I normally buy Halloween candy early because the specially bagged versions have always seemed expensive. I also mix less costly favorites in with pricier ones so that every child can grab a handful. In spite of this, and other penny-pinching measures, Halloween does not come cheap.

torso of child holding pumpkin with black tape creating a jackolantern face

The typical US household spends between $100 and $500 on Halloween. This year, many of us will need those dollars to cover the increased cost of necessities. This leaves us needing alternatives that keep the holiday fun for the kids and affordable for the adults.

Here are a few options to explore:

Shrink it down. Instead of buying pumpkins you won’t eat, make smaller jack-o-lanterns out of food you can use. Hollow out butternut squash, acorn squash, eggplant, or potatoes and use the internal meat in recipes.

Draw it on. Make cabbage pirates, aliens, or skulls using a nontoxic marker. Place on a clean, food-safe surface for Halloween night. At the end of the evening, peel off the outer two layers. Later you can cook the cabbage or use it for coleslaw.

Put creepy removeable makeup on your kids’ dolls. Add witches hats made from construction paper. Drape the dolls in ghostly gowns and hang them from the porch ceiling.

Draw a bat pattern onto black paper. Cut it out. Use fishing line to hang groups from the ceiling using removeable hanging strips.

Change it up. Instead of purchasing decorations, Line the sidewalk with Halloween luminaries made by the kids using paper bags. Hang a couple of ghosts made from balloons draped with white trash bags or use milk jugs, markers, and battery-operated tea lights to create porch ghosts.

Stretch it out. Buy party favors or fidget toys in bulk. Some assortments include 1000 pieces for around $24. The inexpensive toys will make the candy go further while still giving the kids a treat.

Party on. Consolidate the efforts on your street with a porch party. Everyone brings their own drink, a dish for potluck dinner, half the candy they’d buy for their house, and any decorations they have on hand. Party with three or four neighbors while greeting trick-or-treaters.

Halloween may not be the only holiday that’s different this year. When things are uncertain, we sometimes have to batten down the hatches and do what it takes to get by. There’s no shame in having a simpler, less flashy, more connected way of life.

In fact, if this sort of life were more common, we’d probably be healthier both physically and emotionally. The largest decorations, flashiest house, and most expensive candy don’t automatically signal you are a wonderful person who has a wonderful life.

Trappings are often deceptive and easily avoided. Perhaps foregoing the trappings is the fastest way to a successful Budgetween.