A Month of Groceries: The List

I have received a few requests for our grocery list, and the items a vegan pantry can’t do without, which arrives me to this point: Vegan Master Grocery List. I know I gave you an example of what our grocery list looks like, but now we’re going to talk specifics!

Since we started on a $200 budget, that’s the list I will detail. Also to be noted is the fact that there is not much tofu on the list, but rather beans, this is because beans are cheaper, you can get a wider variety, which means varying nutritional benefits, and because too much tofu makes me bloat like a whale (sorry whales, that thick layer of blubber makes you the best analogy, I mean no offense!) ^_^

Also to be duly noted is the fact that I refuse to buy canned and processed food, for the majority of my shopping. I don’t buy canned fruit because there is little to no nutritional value, and a load of sugar, but if you enjoy it, by all means throw it on top of some ice cream and call it dessert! I have a can of “Veggie Base,” or granular veggie bouillon, which I recommend even to non-vegans because it is the only cheap soup stock option that does not contain MSG. I understand it’s triple the price of chicken bouillon, but I’m paying for real food instead of “Salt, Sugar, MSG,” plus I would implore you to make your own stock if the price concerns you. Since the ratio is not marked well on the can, I’ll spare you the math, it’s one teaspoon granules to one cup water.

Substitutions will be given later for those lovely items that I sometimes buy out of convenience, but can make cheaper (I will give you the recipes to make them yourself too!), until then here is your list! You will notice that I left around $10 untouched. This is purposeful, because inevitably something doesn’t make it onto the list, and you need to save up for things like paper towels, or you run out of random items that last a year at a time like yeast, baking powder and soda. And for those gorgeous spices that make a meal delectable, most cost 2.65 - 4 dollars at either Costco (I personally use the Business one for everything other than Paprika, which I get at the regular one), so if you can’t afford to front the cost that will be split up over a few months, buy one at a time, or buy smaller amounts at Winco. I did it the one-at-a-time way, and may I recommend this procession, in order: Italian, Garlic, Onion, Cinnamon, Paprika, Turmeric, Cumin, Curry, Parsley, Pepper. Then anything else you fancy!

Annnnnnnd, to announce the winners of last week's giveaway!

Ms. Cass Jensen!!!! My most beloved follower and contributor!

And my very own husband... Brandan Haertel!!!

Thanks for all of your support! More giveaways to come...remember, just comment or private message me with your ideas to win, I will always ask for permission to share!

The Famed Food Chart!

I have worked for many hours, charting the abyss of the food world, writing down costs and quantities of things I purchase, or might like to purchase in the future. From Whole Foods to Winco, The Costcos and Fred Meyer, from my local Asian Mart to Azure Standard!

 The blanks in this spreadsheet are a result of not even bothering to write down specific prices for stores where it was obviously more expensive. I also did not write down meat and dairy prices because our family is vegan, which is also why you will see things like Vegan Cream Cheese and Nutritional Yeast (a lovely source of B vitamins and tastes like Parmesan). 

However, I do know from past experience that Costco sells “40# boxes of chicken at $1.40 a pound, cheddar cheese at $8 for 5 pounds, and milk at $2.40 or less per gallon, from Costco, which we separated, portioned and stored in the freezer (aside from the milk) for future use,” as I mentioned the other day, and we would by Pork shoulder at Business Costco at $1.20 if I recall correctly. Lastly, those fryer chickens you see at the store that are a buck a pound end up cooking up to $1.16 - $1.24 after you remove the bones, which I hear make for great chicken stock (a triumphant savings over bouillon) if you’re willing to put in a little more effort.

        Without further ado...THE FOOD COMPARISON EXCEL CHART!!!

For those of you who are unaware, Azure Standard is a local, family-owned farm and distributer business that sells bulk and organic food. If you are interested in their wares, or their affiliated merchants, you can create a free account with them at http://www.azurestandard.com. The catch here is that you have to use a “drop point” because they will only deliver orders over a certain value, but you could contact someone close to you off of the drop point list and ask to include your order with theirs, or you could set up one with your neighbors so that you could all qualify for some sweet deals on natural foods!

I am curious as to the prices of some of these items at Cash n Carry, since you do not have to pay a membership fee to shop there, like you do at Costco. If anyone has insight into my inquiry, information would be gladly appreciated!

Now you have the tools you need to start your grocery list! You have two weeks before September starts...ready, set, go!

It’s a Load of Crap!

Unrolling the secret of toilet paper.

My husband like cushy, soft, luxury toilet paper. I like cheap, run-of-the-mill, regular toilet paper, and I don’t care if there’s an imprint or if it feels like notepaper. I used to buy a package of Kirkland Brand from Costco that cost 14.99 for 30 rolls, or 50 cents a roll, but after some complaints I opted for Charmin Ultra Soft, which is 30 rolls for 18.99, which is 63 cents per roll...not bad for the soft stuff!

Needless to say, I am always scouting for an alternative that will satisfy the need for plush paper, and this month I thought I scored with, check this, a package of AngelSoft with 96 rolls of paper for 26.99!!! The name sounded soft and the price was sweet: a whole 28 cents per roll! That is less than half the price per roll, for only a few dollars more. I had hit the toilet paper jackpot and was rollin’ in the fluff!

Until I ran into a roll of Charmin in the recesses of the bathroom cabinet and noticed that the actual roll of toilet paper was twice the size of my new AngelSoft. Oh sure, they were 2-ply, but I realized the surplus of rolls taking up my beloved closet space was made up of more tubing than toiletry! Now I was unsure whether I got a good deal or a load of crap, so here’s the part where I teach you the math, because it is likely that you will not have the same deals going on in your area that I do in mine:

A roll of Charmin is 231 sheets and each sheet measures 4.5” x 4” while a package contains 6 rolls and there are 5 packages per Costco box, for a total of 30 rolls. The individual packages contain 173 sqft total.

A roll of AngelSoft is 132 sheets and each sheet measures 4” x 4” while a package contains 4 rolls and there are 24 packages per Costco box, for a total of 96 rolls. The individual packages contain 58.6 sqft total.

There are 3 ways to measure the quantity of paper:

1) Total Square Feet;

Charmin: 173 (sqft per package) AngelSoft: 58.6 (sqft per package)

x      5 (packages) x    24    (packages)

    865 Total Square Feet  1406    Total Square Feet

2) Linear Feet;

Charmin: 6930 Total Sheets AngelSoft: 12672 Total Sheets

x        4  Inch Length per sheet x            4 Inch Length

              27720 Inches Total        50688 Inches Total

/       12 Inches per Foot /           12 Inches per Foot

    2310 Linear Feet    4224 Linear Feet

3) Total Sheets;

Charmin: 231 (sheets per roll) AngelSoft: 132 (sheets per roll)

x    30 (rolls) x      96 (rolls)

             6930 Total Sheets 12672 Total Sheets

Some would argue that the square footage is the true quantity and users will grab the same amount in square feet no matter how wide the paper is, or how many sheets that comes out to. In that case we take the price of the box and divide by the total square feet.

Charmin: 18.99 / 865 =  2.1 Cents per Square Foot

AngelSoft: 26.99 / 1406 = 1.9 Cents per Square Foot

Kirkland: 14.99/ 1594 = 0.9 Cents per Square Foot

Others would say, to an extent it doesn’t matter how wide your paper is, you’re going to grab the same length of it, which would mean the key lies in the linear feet! In that case we take the price of the box and divide by the total linear feet.

Charmin: 18.99 / 2310 = 0.82 Cents per Linear Foot

AngelSoft: 26.99 / 4224 = 0.64 Cents per Linear Foot

Kirkland: 14.99 / 4250 = 0.35 Cents per Linear Foot

And the quick way to tell, with the least amount of math in the aisle of toilet paper is to go by sheets, which is akin to the linear feet. In that case we take the price of the box and divide by the total number of sheets.

Charmin: 18.99 / 6930 = 0.27 Cents per Sheet

AngelSoft: 26.99 / 12672 = 0.21 Cents per Sheet

Kirkland: 14.99 / 12750 = 0.12 Cents per Sheet

I threw in the Kirkland Brand after doing the math on my own, which by the way is the same width as Charmin if you were curious, and after ALL of that math, we have figured out that AngelSoft is definitely cheaper, but only by pennies, rather than the doubled inventory I seemed to acquire for a third of the price per roll! So if your budget (or your linen closet for that matter) can’t fit the extra dollars in, don’t sweat it. The benefit is that you will save around $7 per box of AngelSoft for the same quantity of Charmin, which may or may not be an acceptable loss to you. Plus, you will never run out of those short toilet paper tubes that are so popular for art projects!

And if you don’t have the budget for plush paper, relish in the fact that you will pay half the price for your TP no matter which way you measure, which is a whopping $14 per box of AngelSoft! I’ve heard the argument that a person uses more paper when it is thinner like Kirkland, but I counter that same person doubtedly uses 1.5 times more (which is when it would catch up to AngelSoft prices)!!!

Annnnnnnnd a GIVEAWAY!!

You remember those sweet Folders with pocket page protectors I was advocating for your PDA, right? For a longterm scheduling solution, that's versatile, sturdy and flexible...for pennies on the dollar!

Now you can have one of your own without spending your pennies! Just comment here, facebook, or private message me with a money saving tip to be entered to win one of these savvy solutions!! Each one comes with 7 page protectors so you can throw in a schedule for every day of the week!!! Winners will be drawn next Wednesday!

Porridge That’s Juuuuust Right!

Once-a-month grocery shopping.

I would consider myself an expert shopper; I do the research on every penny I spend on food and toiletries, and the first Wednesday of the month I make the trek...

I start with Business Costco, because they sell things like Tahini and Coconut Milk that I have not been able to price-match anywhere! 

I then continue on to Regular Costco, because they carry things like Almond Milk, if I am not going to make it myself. The next leg of the trip is to Winco, where they carry a vast array of healthy bulk items for the best prices I’ve encountered--this is where you will get your oats and beans that you don’t want to have to buy in a 40 # bag!

I round out the trip with a quick stop into my local Asian Mart for silken tofu (for yummy spreads and dips that I will divulge later) and noodles, because seriously, where else are you going to get a 5# box of noodles for $3?! 

Which brings me to my final destination: Fred Meyer, where I pick up anything I found on sale, veggies, and a couple backup things, like salad dressing and peanut butter, should I run out of time to make those.

Currently our food budget is $300 for a four person family, and by four people I mean 2 adults and 2 children under age 3 (although the soy milk purchased for said children makes them cost as much as a couple adults!). That budget is recently up from $200, because it now includes energy drinks, or fancy things like cream cheese (vegan style is triple the price of neufchatel), but I digress, I will detail our expenditures based on the $200 budget that makes the individual pay for things like Red Bull.

Since the beginning of the month is upon us, I will dive right into the inner workings of grocery shopping, that way you can work out your budget for next month! A couple tips to beginning your shopping list:

1) Start your list a week or so ahead of time, the point is not to make more than one trip out to Costco, and it would be a bummer to forget coffee!

2) Make a monthly menu to be able to account for all of your necessary grocery items, for now I will provide a general grocery list that I know contains a variety of menu options, but is easily tailored to your eating style.

3) Figure out your neighborhood grocery store’s restock day. For my Fred Meyer, that day is Wednesday, and the reason we want to know is because turning over product and restocking shelves will mean a surplus and clearance of last week’s items. So if you drink milk, you can find your supply at prices lower than Costco! Same with veggies, bread, dressings...just don’t buy it if you don’t need it.

4) Now it’s time to go online! Snag coupons, or load them onto your “Rewards Card”...the coupon sites I use are:

~Coupons.com
~Fredmeyer.com
~Valpak.com

~Save.com

Don't forget to keep any you find useful out of the circulars!

Most of these sites will be wrought with packaged, processed, pathetic junk that you don’t need, but there will be a few gems! For example, there is a vegan bread I buy at Fred Meyer that is $2 a loaf, but sometimes a coupon will be available that brings it down to $1.50, which adds up when you buy 4!

When purchasing spices, you will probably have to start out slowly, accumulating them one by one. Thankfully, Costco sells most spices for a few dollars for a bottle of at least 25 oz, so it will last as you accumulate more! Or if you are unwilling to wait, buy them in bulk at Winco!

And if you are not Vegan, which was our case not just a year ago, we forwent all of the beans, tofu, soy and almond milks, and most fresh veggies for 40# boxes of chicken at $1.40 a pound, cheddar cheese at $8 for 5 pounds, and milk at $2.40 or less per gallon, from Costco, which we separated, portioned and stored in the freezer (aside from the milk) for future use!

The PDA

No, not Public Display of Affection, actually closer to Personal Digital Assistant, but I call mine The Parade of Daily Adventures!

It works just like the digital PDA, only you don’t need to blow your budget to get one! I use a spiral bound notebook (which costs 10 cents if you buy them just before school starts up), and break down my activities into lists.

You will need 8 pages per week. The first page we will label “PDA: Week of x/xx,” (stands for the date) and continue on the following pages with “PDA: Monday,” “PDA: Tuesday,” and so on. I have done this a couple of different ways...

One way is to write down the time of day along the left side of the page, just before the margin, much like an hourly planner. Another way is to just write down your activities in the order that you think of them, with reminders of the times they are at if they are scheduled. The reason I have used the two different methods directly relates to what life looks like at the time; sometimes it is essential that a slew of things gets completed before a deadline, other times it is only imperative that I make my appointments, and whatever else I get to is just a bonus. That being said, choose the style that fits best with your current lifestyle needs. Remember, you can always change methods if one is not working out for you!

Now, go through each day and write down all of your scheduled appointments and activities. If you are using the hourly method, insert them into the proper hour slot, if you are using the freeform method, just write all of your appointments at the top of the page. Always leave room for more to be added later! After that, take a look at each day and jot down all of the chores that need to be done. Hourly method users will do this by inserting the chores into the schedule around their appointments, free-form users will put a list a few lines below their appointments. This is day specific. I do all of my laundry on Monday and all of my ironing on Tuesday, so I schedule those chores on their respective days only.

At this point, any chore or activity that does not need to be done on a particular day needs to be written down on your first page, the “PDA: Week of …” page. For some, all of their chores will be listed on this page, for others, only things like taking packages to the post office will be written. On the right hand side, there should be enough space for a grocery list. I just use the margin to write down things as I see they are running low. I am a once-a-month shopper, so I take all of these mini-lists and transfer them to a master list later, but there are always things like milk and lettuce that need to be replaced before the month is out. Your list is up to your discretion!

Now it’s time to sprinkle in those Adventures!! There are things we do bi-weekly, like going to Nana’s house, or lunch with Grammy, and playtime during open gym at Gymagine, so we spritz those into place. But then there are things like Craft Day on Thursdays, or the “Oscillating Wednesday!” Wednesdays are “hump” days right? So why not spruce them up a bit? Then you are halfway to your weekend in no time! What I mean is that I have activities, such as “Car Care Wednesday” and “Coupon Clipping Wednesday” that aren’t daily activities or chores, they only happen once a month, which adds variety to my week.

The first Wednesday of the month is reserved for grocery shopping (pretty self-explanatory). The second Wednesday is baking day, which is filled with pizza pockets, chocolate sauce, nut butters, cookies, and hummus! Wednesday #3 is Car Care Wednesday, where we wash the car, schedule an oil change, or any other necessary maintenance, and make sure Dad’s car is in good condition too! Then we come to the fourth Wednesday, where we clip coupons from the paper (although, I also clip the paper ones as they come in if they don’t expire for a while) and find the rest online. Coupon clipping day means I have created my grocery list for the next month, and my meal plan as well, so I am completely prepared to look for and clip only what I need. Finally, I fasten all of the coupons with a paperclip to the next week’s Wednesday PDA (first Wednesday grocery day!), while Kaylee strews the rest of the paper across the house!

Then on to “Field Trip Friday,” which could mean playtime with our meetup group, free storytime at the University Bookstore, a trip to the pool, and if it’s raining, a nice outing to the Children’s Museum! Keep in mind, this does not mean that it is the only time we get out to play during the week, it is just the day reserved for special field trips that may take longer than most of our other outings. You can choose to do something similar, or find what works best for you, based on the activities available!

Your new PDA has now saved you money! It allows you to stick to your budget more easily, and finds activities to do ahead of time, which usually means you can find more free activities and work them into your schedule! You can take it one step further and write down what meal is planned for each day, when you need to take meat out to thaw, or put ingredients in a crockpot! This simple addition will also save you money with it’s reminders! How likely are you to stick to your meals if you forget to take the meat out of the freezer (or get beans boiled at our house) in time? Not likely! Which means a quickie meal, that was not planned for and budgeted for. If you budget for and plan to go out once a week, that’s perfectly okay! It’s the unplanned that can get you into trouble, budget-wise, quickly!

It may not be direct income, but I have found it to be a SIGNIFICANT aid to stretching my dollars!!

You can choose to write your PDA as I have shown, or you are more than welcome to print the digital versions I have made! Just follow the links below. These digital versions are intended to be more consolidated than what I typically produce on paper. They are also easier to read for the purpose of putting into pocket protectors, as I have done when I have a schedule that’s going to stick around for awhile (as in each new quarter of school my hubby ventures off to, leaving me to hold the fort down), and then I just use a dry erase marker to check off things on my PDA, and add side notes.

PDA: The Master Hourly 

PDA: Whimsical

Just a wonderful tidbit: The Whimsical version of the PDA is designed with the font: Lora, how lovely that they would have a font with my mom’s name all over it!