Saving on carrots does come with some upfront work

If buying a 25-lb bag of carrots was as simple as bringing them home and popping them into the fridge, I suspect that stores would sell a lot more carrots package this way. However, as with many methods for saving money, this one comes at a cost in convenience, and upfront time taking care of this large amount.

I don't have a shelf in my fridge that is large enough to accommodate this size package. I have to repackage 25 pounds of carrots into 5 pound bags.

But also, there are always some carrots that will rot or mold quickly, if not taken care of right away. They need to be peeled, trimmed and chopped into sticks or dices, and stored ready to use in the fridge or freezer.

Last Friday, I spent an hour doing just that. I bagged up about 15 pounds of carrots that were in good condition, for use in a few weeks. And I peeled, trimmed and cut into sticks another 10 pounds, to use right away. My end result with these carrots was 2 good-sized bowls of ready-to-eat carrot sticks.

An hour is a lot of time for my aching shoulders, to work over the counter. But the pay-off comes in both the savings on the carrots (a savings of about 14 cents per pound, over buying in 5-lb bags), and in my future convenience for preparing meals.

I can instantly add carrot sticks to lunches and dinners. Or, I can toss some with oil and roast in the oven, for an easy side dish. Or, I can simmer with onions, ground unsweetened coconut, curry powder, garlic powder and salt, then use my immersion blender for a super easy curried carrot soup (my lunch on Saturday).

The inconvenience of dealing with so many carrots on Friday will level out with the convenience in future meal prep.

I only find these large bags in a few places around town, our restaurant supply, Cash & Carry, produce markets and stands, and WinCo. I would imagine that Costco and Sam's Club would also carry this size bag. They are sometimes referred to as juicing carrots.

How long will this bag last us, you wonder? In cool weather, our carrot consumption is high, with homemade soups, roasted carrots, carrot salad and carrot sticks as one of the few fresh veggies we keep on hand. I think this bag will last 2 months, for us. At 32 cents per pound, I will substitute cooked, pureed carrots for pureed squash and pumpkin in many baking recipes. For Thanksgiving dinner, I'm experimenting with preparing ahead, then reheating at the last minute, curried carrot soup, for a simple starter to the meal. And most of our fresh salads will now heavily feature raw carrots, such as carrot-cabbage slaw, carrot-raisin salad, and carrot-apple Waldorf salad.

Do you have any favorite carrot recipes you can add to my growing list?

October 2016 Grocery Spending Journal

October 3. Stopped at Imran's the ethnic market next to Home Depot, for 2 green peppers (2/$1) and 5 very ripe bananas (29 cents/lb) for making banana bread. Spent $1.49 (Oddly, the very ripe bananas were getting eaten up and I had to hurry to make any banana bread at all. Lesson learned, buy more bananas when that cheap!)

Oct. 4. Fred Meyer for Senior Discount day. Again with the nice touches, I got a cup of Starbuck's coffee plus a cookie when I walked in the door, and a carnation when I left. Oh, I spent a lot of money today. I know it's all good, stock-up stuff, but boy did it feel weird to spend close to $200, on food, OTCs and gardening supplies.

What I bought -- 1 head of cabbage (49 cents/lb), 4 large cans of coffee, 2 decaf, 2 regular ($4.49 each), 4 15-ounce jars of natural-style peanut butter ($1.35 each), 3 butternut squash (69 cents/lb), just over 2 lbs of walnut halves ($5.39/lb), 8 half-gallons of whole milk (90 cents each), 1 gallon skim milk ($1.75), half-gallon soy milk ($2.51), almost 10 lbs of whole almonds ($5.39 lb, plus I had $1 off coupon to use on these nuts), 3/4 lb dry-roasted edamame ($4.49/lb), 2 bags chocolate chip ($1.97 each), 1/10 lb black pepper ($19.79/lb), 2 half-gallons orange juice (90 cents each), 2 large jugs of unfiltered apple juice ($3.99 each). Plus, I picked up my lunch for today here. I stopped in after a long doctor's appointment. By the time I was almost done shopping, it was near 2 PM, and I was beyond needing to eat. I went to the deli section and bought a kale salad, a pot sticker salad and turkey breast, spending $5.98. It turned out to be enough for 2 days of my lunches. So, less than $3 per lunch isn't all that bad, for a take-out lunch that was healthy. Total spent on food today -- $130.42

October 14. My trip to WinCo. I bought a little over a lb of candy corn, at $1.48/lb,  1/2-lb of baking cocoa, at $3.08/lb, 2 lbs of raisins, at $1.79/lb,  4 acorn squash at 78 cents each,  2/3 lb of sunflower seeds at $1.70/lb, 1 lb of chopped dates, at $2.14/lb, 5 lbs of carrots for $2.28, 72-ct of corn tortillas for $2.18, 10 bananas at 48 cents/lb, 5 bags of chocolate chips for $1.68 each, a loaf of bread for $1.98, a package of English muffins for 88 cents, a 12-ounce package of bacon for $1.98, 5 Hershey's miniatures at $4.98/lb, and trick or treats for $3.98. I received a bag refund of 6 cents, using my own bag. total spent, $38.30

October 21. Fred Meyer to pick of 3 freebies, and get milk on sale. I bought 8 half-gallons of whole milk for $1 each, and 2 half-gallons of orange juice for $1 each. I also found 2 containers of coffee on clearance for $3.99 each, and got my 3 freebies -- a box of BelVita breakfast biscuits, a Hershey bar and some Airheads. Total spent today -- $17.98

October 22/ Stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up some non-food items, but also bought 1 box of crackers, to use in coffee hour, after church next Sunday. Spent $1

October 23. This month has been an aberration from my usual shopping and spending, for groceries. More evidence that I'm just not myself, these days. I'm coming down with a cold, feeling tired and yucky, and needing lunch and dinner for all of us, today (Sunday). We stop at Albertson's on the way home from church, and visit the deli. We decide on fried chicken for dinner, and some salads and meat for lunch. There was enough salads leftover from lunch that for dinner I could stretch then with the addition of some fruit, cooked pasta and cucumber, for us all at dinner. And there's enough leftover fried chicken to pull apart to turn into dinner for Monday, in something, and then use the bones in soup stock. So, we spent $18.89, and managed 3 plus meals out of it all.

Total spent for the month, so far -- $208.08

October 26. Stopped in to Trader Joe's for bananas, bought 16 bananas for 19 cents each. Spent $3.04. (Trader Joe's is in same complex as Hobby Lobby. My art student daughter likes HL art section better than Michael's. So when she needs something like paper, paint or pencils, this is where we've been going. And I can go into Trader Joe's to get bananas while she shops for art stuff.)

Total spent so far this month -- $211.12

October 28. WinCo one last time for the month, after an appointment nearby. 3 acorn squash at 78 cents each (I find the largest, weigh them, and only buy the ones over 3 lbs, for a per pound of at most, 26 cents), 2 bags of shredded coconut for holiday baking (green tag this month, so on sale), $1.38/each, 4 more bags of on sale choc chips (2 milk, 2 semi-sweet), $1.68/each, pound of raisins at $1.79/lb, 25 lb bag of carrots, $7.98 (32 cents/pound), 8 6-ounce cans whole olives, 78 cents/each, 4 cases (12 cans/case) of corn, peas, cut green beans, French cut green beans, 33 cents/15-ounce can, more candy corn (used a lot of it in trail mix for coffee hour at church), $1.48/lb, some wrapped candies for future treat-making (undisclosed varieties as some members of family read this). 3 bags for 6 cents each refund. Total spent $47.50

Total spent for the month $258.62

This month clearly deviates from my usual spending patterns. I feel like I bought too many prepared items, and way too much sweets. Maybe it's time for some changes, or maybe this was a one-off thing. Not so much in the dollar amount, but in the extra items I bought. We all need a break from time to time, if we can afford it. So, I'm trying not to be hard on myself for needing that break.

What I bought this month:

Produce

2 green peppers
31 bananas
1 head cabbage
3 butternut squash
4 half-gallons orange juice
2 large jugs of unfiltered apple juice (about 90 ounces each)
3 lbs raisins
7 acorn squash
1 lb chopped dates
30 lbs carrots
48 assorted cans of corn, peas, green beans

Meat

12 ounce package bacon

Pantry

4 large cans coffee
2 bags coffee
4 jars peanut butter
2 lbs walnuts
10 lbs almonds
3/4 lb dry-roasted edamame
11 bags chocolate chips
1/10 lb black pepper
2 lb candy corn
1/2 lb baking cocoa
2/3 lb of sunflower seeds
72-ct corn tortillas
1 loaf bread
1 package English muffins
5 Hershey's Miniatures
trick or treats (individual bags of pretzels)
Hershey bar (freebie)
Airheads (freebie)
BelVita breakfast biscuits (freebie)
1 box of crackers
8 cans of large olives
2 bags of coconut
1 lb wrapped candies, assorted, for treats in the future

Dairy

16 half-gallons whole milk
1 gallon skim milk
1/2 gallon soy milk

Ready-made meals

deli kale salad
deli pot sticker salad
deli sliced turkey
3 deli salads (about 1 cup of each: seafood, slaw and fruit/jello/whip cream)
8 pieces fried chicken
deli turkey and ham


This month, I had $573.02 available to spend on food items. I spent $258.62. Going in to November, I had $314.40 as a surplus. Add that to my usual $190, and in November I have $504.40 available to spend.

I'm not usually a big canned veggie person, but at 33 cents per can, that's a deal I can't pass up, especially as canned veggies are just so easy for winter. I bought and ate way too much sugary stuff this month. I have to curb that, as it is not good for my health. I'll try better next month. I did buy a lot of nuts in October, which will last for several months. I'll be looking for good sales on pecans in November. My buy price for pecans is between $9.50 and $9.75 per pound. I'll buy 3 to 4 pounds, if I find my price. And of course, whole turkeys, potatoes, celery, sweet potatoes and pumpkin or squash.

I've mentioned this before, but I often buy the 25-lb bags of juicing carrots for our fresh-eating carrots. Once I get the bag home, I go through it all, and sort out the ones that are likely to go bad the fastest. I set those aside, peel, trim and chop or cut for sticks to be eaten right away. The rest, I bag in paper bags, in 5-lb increments, then over-wrap in a plastic bag and store in the garage fridge. These carrots will keep like this, with no extra attention, for a couple of months. I sometimes, chop and freeze about 5 to 10 pounds, too, for convenience use in cooking. At 32 cents per pound, these make a thrifty substitute for all or some of the pumpkin in pumpkin pie/cake/muffins, as canned pumpkin is usually around $1 per 15 ounce can. Just an FYI, if you're living on a tight grocery budget, like I am.

I hope that October was gentle to your wallet!