Shopping and Gas This Week -- Mid-May

Now that I'm shopping in-person again, I can get more deals. At Fred Meyer I found both asparagus (1.99/lb) and a whole chicken (1.12/lb) on markdown, selling on the sell-by date stamped on the products. The asparagus was slightly wilted and the chicken needed using or freezing immediately. I wound up serving both for dinner that night. While I did find these deals, there were very few markdowns at Fred Meyer. In fact, they've completely eliminated the general clearance rack, having just a day-old bakery rack where marked down canned goods and pantry staples had once been. No markdowns in the dairy department and very few in meats.

Milk is now $3.09 per gallon at Fred Meyer, up 90 cents/gallon in the last year. I bought 3 gallons this time instead of 4. My milk decision is part of a growing trend in the US. Families are buying half-gallons instead of gallons, quarts instead of half-gallons, and for those families that use more milk (like mine) fewer gallons per shopping trip. The 3 gallons will be a 2-week supply for us. We normally use 4 gallons in the same time span. When we run out, we'll just have to be out for a couple of days. The upside to this trend is there could be some gallons that get marked down in coming weeks. I expect they'll be scooped up quickly, however. But someone will get a needed deal. I also bought a 5-pack of garlic (we ran out of our garden supply from last summer over the weekend), a 3-lb bag of onions, and 2 bunches of bananas. I spent $24.48. I also used my gift card to Fred Meyer (my Christmas gift from my husband -- I asked for it) to buy myself a pound of fresh strawberries. But I didn't count that into my grocery spending, as I see these as my Christmas gift. In November, I told my husband that the thing I really wanted was some spending money to buy special foods just for me. He was more than happy to give me this gift card, and I've been enjoying a treat now and then since the holidays.

I also shopped at Cash & Carry ChefStore (restaurant supply) for the first time in months. In the last month, raisins have increased in price by 65 cents per pound at Walmart. I checked several other stores around me and found raisins at a lower price per pound at Cash & Carry, sold in a case of nine 4-lb bags ($2.24/lb). Yes, that's 36 pounds of raisins. The best-by date is December 2022, 7 months out. A case is about a 9 to 11-month supply for us. I'll freeze several bags, which will keep them beyond that best-by date. (Dried fruit freezes well.) I also bought 15 pounds of fuji apples ($1.03/lb), 20 pounds of carrots (59 cents/lb), 25 pounds of lentils ($18.95), and a 13-oz container of chili powder ($4.09). I spent $131.26.

Walmart.com sometimes has great deals on Folger's instant coffee when bought in cases of six 8-oz jars. There's a limit of 1 case. Wanting free shipping, I added some supplements that my family takes. My cost for the coffee was $20.22. 

For the week, my grocery spending came to $175.96. Last week I didn't grocery shop, so I think I'm doing fine. I expect to be paying more overall on groceries, but I have yet to set a new budget amount. 

Gas topped $5 per gallon in my area for the lowest octane unleaded, $5.09/gal at Fred Meyer, $5.15/gal at 7-11, and $5.49/gal at Shell. We don't have a Costco membership, but Costco gas is the cheapest around at $4.89/gal. I use gasbuddy.com to find the lowest prices in my area each time I need to fill up. If errands take me to neighboring areas, I check gas prices online for those areas, too. 

Speaking of Costco gas -- my son and daughter-in-law (who do have a Costco membership) drove their own car down to Arizona the other week. We had 3 possible routes from which to choose, 1) straight south through WA, OR, CA, then over to AZ, or, 2) east through WA, OR, ID, then south through NV, and finally over to AZ, or, 3) east through WA, OR, ID, then south through UT, then into AZ. Each route had its merits and drawbacks. Due south through CA meant fewer mountain passes and frequent towns but much more expensive gas in CA. Through NV was definitely the shortest in time and miles, good prices on gas, but lots of mountain passes and a long desolate stretch where there are no gas stations. The route through UT was what my son and daughter-in-law chose, as there were enough Costco gas stations so they could get the least expensive gas the entire drive, even if it meant they drove some extra miles. The two of them are pretty careful about evaluating their costs, so I assume they costed out the benefit to driving extra but getting cheaper gas. My husband and I chose the route through NV. My brother advised that this route can be very desolate and said we should map out our gas stops before setting out. We topped off the gas tank at every gas stop we came across. Our small sedan got pretty good gas mileage, so even with a smaller gas tank, we did just fine. 

What's the shopping like in your area? Are you finding very many markdowns or clearance items? How are you changing your grocery shopping during this period of inflation? What's the lowest price on gas in your region?

A Great Resource for Using Every Last Bit -- IKEA Scraps Book (free to download or just browse)

I wanted to share a resource that has a lot of great ideas for getting the most out of your groceries. It's the IKEA Canada's The Scraps Book:A Waste-Less Cookbook. It's free to download or just browse. It may take several seconds to load. But patience is a virtue. There are roughly 200 pages of ideas and recipes for using every last bit, from the obvious of using bruised fruit to the not so obvious of using banana peels to make "bacon" (p.27) or chutney (p. 57) or in a chocolate-banana peel cake (p.155). 

There's a recipe for watermelon rind pickle (yes, I make these that, too --- post in this link). There's also a recipe for watermelon rind jam (p.29). Now that's something I haven't tried, but surely will. You may be surprised (as I was) that corn silks are edible. There's a recipe for frying those yellow silks on p. 41. And I found another recipe for using radish leaves -- a garlicky, cheesy green risotto (p. 71). 

Remember last summer when we talked a bit about using carrot tops? Well, this booklet has a recipe for chimichurri that uses copious amounts of carrot leaves instead of the usual parsley (p.99) Did you know that the peels from winter squash are edible? Turn to page 107 for a skillet dish that uses squash and potato peels.

How about getting more use from spent tea bags (p. 173) or used coffee grounds (p. 13)? IKEA's got you covered.

If you have an ingredient that you'd like to find a use for, no need to read the whole booklet. There's a handy index at the back that's organized by ingredient name (p. 211-213)

Some ideas are old hat for many of us, such as using the leaves and tops of celery. But many other ideas are fresh and new.

This free booklet is filled to the brim with useful ways to use foods that we might otherwise throw out. I know, I sound like an advertisement for IKEA. I'm just enthusiastic to share what could be a good tool for many of us as we try to keep our grocery spending down and/or get the most out of gardens this summer. 

Happy reading!

A good friend passed this on to me, knowing that I am trying to get all I can out of what we grow and buy. I'd like to be a good friend, too, and pass this on to you.