Money Saving – Page 2 – in thriver words

Consider Subscription

As the price of gluten-free products increases and availability decreases, it may be a good time to consider subscription.

I can’t tell you how many times recently I’ve looked at the gluten-free bagels, cookies, or crackers available locally and left them out of my shopping cart. I simply can’t justify the high price.

What I tell myself is that I’ll just cook or bake whatever I was considering. Then a day or two later when I’ve dropped everything to handle a crisis or meet a deadline and I have no breakfast to grab quickly, I wonder what I was thinking.

Sometimes it’s not that we can’t do. It’s just that we can’t do as quickly as we thought. In those moments, it’s great to have something handy to tide us over. There are different ways to make sure there’s something on hand without breaking the bank.

I can freeze portions when I bake. I can wait until things are on sale or come with a great offer. I can buy in bulk when doing so reduces costs. And I can consider subscription services.

Subscriptions to food services mean food arrives regularly. I like the certainty of that much more than the frustration of finding no gluten-free brands on the shelves except those that contain sunflower oil or high histamine ingredients. As inventories evolve, I increasingly value certainty.

Before its acquisition by Misfits Market, I subscribed to Imperfect Foods. I had a great experience! I loved the selection, the filter options that made tailoring my orders easy, and the food. I looked forward to delivery day.

I even looked forward to confirming my order and the chance to add new, exciting discoveries. I’ve never gotten the same feeling from shopping online at Walmart, Target, or Amazon (including Whole Foods). Imperfect was faster, easier, and more pleasant. I miss it.

My subscription to Jim’s Organic Coffee began in 2018. It’s even easier than Imperfect in the sense that I don’t think about it at all unless they send me an email, which they do sparingly. The service has been reliable and stable. And Jim’s Sweet Love Blend makes each morning better.

In my six plus years with Jim’s, there’s only been one price increase. That’s pretty amazing! And they’re great to work with. Early on, there was a month when they sent me five times as much coffee as I ordered. When I contacted them to see how to return the extra, they told me to keep all it for free. It really doesn’t get any better than that and that’s the only error on an order to date.

I’m exploring subscription options for gluten-free baked goods to fill some availability gaps and address price concerns. While I haven’t landed on the perfect thing yet, I’m enjoying the learning process.

Subscriptions are easiest when the system has you confirm your order right before shipping or when you use a predictable amount. That means they won’t be appropriate for everything. But subscriptions are worth considering for both reliability and price consistency at this time when everything else seems uncertain.

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.”

You Better Shop Around

With the price of groceries these days, you better shop around! I can’t type that without hearing backup singers bahdododoing in my head. But I digress. Food prices are erratic right now. Gone are the days you can count on any specific store having the lowest price. A combination of supply chain issues, product shortages, and inflation have led to unpredictable shopping in 2023.

I recently ran out of Pickapeppa Sauce. When I pulled it up on the Walmart site, it was $10 (marked down from $13.95) for a 5 oz bottle. A search on Amazon found the same item for $7.89. Both of those seemed high so I looked at Kroger through Instacart. Kroger was the cheapest by far at $4.99.

Today, I need cranberry juice. I want the kind that’s nothing but 100% cranberry without any added grape or apple juice. A 32 oz bottle is $7.18 at Walmart, $6.39 at Kroger, and $9.99 at The Fresh Market and Natural Grocers. The choice between $7.18 and $6.39 is less than a dollar. That difference may not change my mind about where to purchase it. On the other hand, $2.81 seems like a pretty big difference.

But the math isn’t that simple. I often have 30 items to purchase at one time. If the price of each one is as erratic as these two examples, I can end up spending $30 – $60 more per shopping trip than if I shop at 3 or 4 different stores.

To comparison shop, I also have to factor in the amount of time I spend reviewing prices. Admittedly, online shopping reduces the amount of time this takes, but I can easily eat a dollar in time trying to save a dollar in cash.

For years, I had the luxury of ignoring grocery prices for the most part. And I got used to the fact that gluten-free items would be expensive in comparison to their gluten-containing counterparts. Now, I find myself questioning every purchase. Do I REALLY need those crackers? Do I NEED French bread from the store or do I have time to bake this week?

Last weekend, I hosted a birthday party. After searching four stores for two slabs of ribs, I checked a local barbecue restaurant. It was cheaper to buy the ribs there already smoked than to buy them uncooked from Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, or Kroger. I could save cash and cooking time by purchasing from the restaurant. That made my decision easy.

If you have a limited amount of time to research prices online, you may want to consider a price comparison app. I haven’t used any of these so I can’t recommend one, but online reviews and a look at their description can help you determine which app may fit your shopping style.

The other thing I do is limit shopping. I do this by:

growing vegetables and herbs
using as much of a food as possible (leaves, stems, trimmings)
eating and repurposing leftovers
minimizing spoilage
eating what I have instead of what I want
trading food from the garden with neighbors
keeping basics on hand
doing pantry challenges

While I can limit shopping, I am not fully self-sufficient so I will continue to purchase from grocery stores, Amazon, discount, and big box stores.

As long as prices continue to fluctuate drastically, you better shop around.

Keep the Costs Down

With expenses rising, how can you keep the costs down on a specialized diet? It’s a question we’re all having to answer. All food costs more right now. It doesn’t matter whether you cook at home or eat out – everything is more expensive than it was a couple of years ago. And that’s on top of higher gas prices and increased shipping costs that are driving up prices on other items. The trip from feeling comfortable to feeling pinched can be a short one.

Having a plan can help remove some of the stress from the necessity of adjusting the budget. And to keep stress as low as possible, that plan must stem a realistic analysis of yourself, your obligations, family dynamics, finances, and time available. What fits well for one family will not work for another.

How can you get started making a realistic plan?

Here are some steps to take. Use them in any order that fits your situation.

Review your budget. If you do not have one, take a look at how much you’ve spent on food in the past 3 months. If you already know the past three months were over budget, go back to a 3 month period in 2020 or 2021. Use this as a rough guide for future budgeting.

I don’t really use budgets, but I have a sort of running idea of how much I spend per week/month on groceries. This is easy to keep up with ordering online. I can simply go to past purchases in my accounts and see what I spend.

If you’d like additional automated help, consider a service like Imperfect Foods, Misfits Market, or Hungry Harvest. Imperfect Foods allows an “always include” list. You can add to or take away items during the shopping window, but each order will begin with a list of foods you’ve specified. This makes it easy to hit a predetermined price range. It also saves time.

Assess your priorities. Within your specialized diet, there will be many ways to be compliant. What is most important? Fresh food, convenience, patronizing restaurants, budget, quality of food, time management, being able to include favorites. Make a list that includes any significant priority. Number them in order of most to least important. Let this guide your plan.

Explore options. My priorities include fresh food and having something I can grab in a pinch available at all times. That means that my ideal plan should include time to bake or prepare food that I can store in the freezer for quick, easy use later. This might mean making and freezing biscuits, muffins, waffles, soup, and baked chicken breasts. It could also mean making one pot meals that will last a few days without creating lots of dirty dishes. Or it could mean that I splurge on steak because it’s quick to cook and cheaper than restaurant food.

Because I enjoy the physical benefits of gardening – fresh air, sunshine, playing in dirt, bending and stretching, I reduce my vegetable costs by growing some of them. And you simply can’t get anything fresher or tastier.

One blackberry bush can produce enough berries to save me about $100 per year. Of course that amount may vary due to weather conditions and whether I am a consistent harvester. But planting a raspberry bush alongside it will double the savings. And growing fresh herbs in pots can quadruple the amount of savings in my pocket. Even if you don’t have much space, growing one pepper plant in a pot can make a difference if you eat a lot of peppers.

If you love baking, consider buying gluten-free flour in larger quantities from online sources or warehouse clubs.

If you’re looking for convenience baked goods, consider buying direct from the brand’s website. When I order, I buy enough to get free shipping and freeze many of the items on arrival.

One site I use is Katz® Gluten Free. They offer flash sales and other specials. Katz also allows you to sort by gluten-free; gluten & dairy-free; gluten & corn-free; gluten & egg-free/vegan; gluten & rice-free; gluten & soy free; gluten & sugar-free. They have some mini-donuts that are completely grain free. I like that the site is robust and customer friendly and the sales allow me to purchase items when they’re most affordable.

Be Realistic. Even though I may prioritize fresh food, there are periods of time when baking and freezing or cooking 100% of each meal simply won’t happen. Family obligations and work projects sometimes dovetail into too much to do in a given amount of time. That means I need to rely on the closest I can get to my priorities for a period of time. I allow for these times in my overall plan by researching prepared foods that I can purchase online in bulk and place in the freezer. Anticipating and allowing for a few periods of up front allows me to keep myself on track.

Know yourself. I am not a coupon shopper unless there’s a coupon that shows up on the item when I click to order it. If a code comes via email, it’s out of sight, out of mind. If a physical mailer comes via snail mail, I will file it so I can find it and still never think to look in the file before I make a purchase.

My haphazard coupon use means I know not to rely on coupons to keep costs down. It’s not a realistic strategy for me. I don’t feel bad about that. A lot of managing finances comes down to managing to your strengths.

Whether you’re like me and keep a rough budget in your head, have a strict written budget, or fly by the seat of your pants, you’re sure to see a difference in the prices you’re paying for food. Developing a plan now can help you navigate what’s to come with less stress.

Review your budget, assess priorities, explore options, be realistic, know yourself and keep the costs down without giving up your specialized diet.

Easy Peasy Drop-Off Food

Let’s explore some easy peasy drop-off food for your gluten-free friends. It’s winter and I have 7 friends who are currently under the weather. Having a restaurant meal delivered to each of them would be quite expensive. Cooking a meal from scratch for each of them would be quite time-consuming. I’ve been looking for a happy medium.

I’ve settled on some simple combinations I can make quickly and drop off by the door. I’m keeping these gluten-free. By using non-dairy milk and cheese, many can easily be dairy-free as well. If you’re needing some similar options, here are a few ideas:

Potato soup (not dairy-free). Purchase already prepared mashed potatoes (not dried potato flakes). Place them in a large pot over low to medium heat. Thin with gluten-free chicken broth the desired thickness. Add a dash of garlic powder and fresh ground black pepper.

Make the soup even richer by stirring in some shredded cheese – cheddar, Monterrey Jack, asiago, parmesan, or a blend. If this makes the soup too thick, add more chicken broth. For extra flair, include some canned, fire-roasted corn and garnish with chives.

Carnitas enchiladas. Purchase prepared gluten-free slow-cooked pork carnitas, canned refried beans, cheese, soft corn tortillas, and gluten-free green enchilada sauce.

Place the pork in a large skillet. Add refried beans (about 1/2 can or until the balance looks right to you), cheese, and a few tablespoons of enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with garlic powder and cumin. Exact proportions can vary and this will still be delicious. Simmer for a few minutes while you heat the corn tortillas in the oven or in a skillet.

Fill each tortilla with mixture from skillet. Place open side down in a disposable baking pan sprayed with olive oil spray. Top with enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake at 350⁰ for 15-20 minutes or until cheese melts.

Because this starts with warm tortillas and fully cooked, warmed filling, there’s no need to bake for a long time. That means, I don’t worry about covering these with foil.

Chicken stew. Begin with 32 oz gluten-free chicken broth and a cup or two of water. Add a couple of shallots or half an onion and a clove or two of garlic that are peeled, but not sliced or chopped (you’ll remove them later). Sprinkle in some garlic powder and a few red pepper flakes. Simmer for a few minutes.

Add a drained can of diced potatoes, a drained can of black beans, and a drained can of corn (if desired). If more liquid is needed, add either chicken stock or water.

After the stew simmers for a few minutes, add some pulled rotisserie chicken. You may need to break the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Continue to simmer for a few minutes. Remove the shallots or onion and garlic. Taste. Add salt and black pepper if needed.

You can use only corn and potatoes. You can use black beans and corn, but substitute quick-cooking rice for the beans. There are many other options I haven’t mentioned that can be tailored to your friend’s tastes.

I like to put my deliveries in disposable, reusable containers that are microwave or oven safe so that my sick friend can reheat right in the container. I also don’t want them to have to worry about returning a dish.

Snack basket. When you’re sick, you may feel well enough to focus on necessities but leave it up to your friends to provide the frivolous.

If you know the kind of snacks your friend likes, put those in a basket or a cute bag along with a few magazines, a crossword or sudoku book, an adult coloring book, or a puzzle.

I include things like dried figs, cocoa dusted almonds, dried Bing cherries, candied or spiced pecans, gluten-free pretzels and hummus, corn or grain-free tortilla chips with individual size guacamole, a selection of cheese (look for samples), pepperoncini peppers, stuffed olives, summer sausage, gourmet chocolate bars, and unsweetened, flavored water.

The choices are truly endless!

Breakfast basket. These are easy to do and fill a gap that most people don’t think about.

Fill a basket or bag with an assortment of gluten-free bagels, donuts, banana bread, muffins, cinnamon rolls, rugelach, and English muffins. Add some gourmet coffee or tea and jam or jelly. Perhaps put in apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes.

Providing food to a sick friend is a kind gesture. Lessening the financial burden and time commitment for yourself is also a kind gesture. With easy peasy drop-off food, you can be kind to all involved.

Just Do What You Can