Case lot shopping!

I LOVE case lot time of year!! It is such a great feeling to restock up on several of the food storage items my family uses on a regular basis--at the lowest prices of the year. For those of you who have not taken advantage of the case lot sales this month, you have ONE more day before they are over (Maceys deals are good through Sept. 30)! Stock your shelves and save HUNDREDS of dollars throughout the rest of the year. If you have missed this months deals, save your pennies for the next case lot sales which will be in February 2009. Isn't food storage shopping fun?? With todays economic uncertainty, natural disasters, etc. it sure feels great to be prepared :)



**A big THANK YOU to my husband and brother in law who aren't as excited about case lot time as I am!

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Need some more fiber in your diet?

If you have a lot of wheat in your food storage like I do, I am always trying new ways of incorporating it into my families diet. If you have had this as a child, I would recommend trying it again. I have enjoyed it much more in my adult years than I did as a child ;)

Wheat is a GREAT source of fiber. For one cup of wheat you will get 23 grams of fiber--wow! If that won't get you regular, I don't know what will!

How to make wheat berry cereal:

Put 2 c. of wheat in a crock pot with 4 c. water. Turn on medium heat for 2-3 hours, or until wheat is tender and soft. Watch to make sure the crock pot does not run out of water. Add a little extra water if the wheat absorbs the water more quickly than is expected.

When wheat is soft and tender, serve with milk and honey for cereal or add to several of your recipes. Wheat is great to help many recipes stretch. Add a 1/2 c. to your meatloaf, taco meat, meatballs, etc. and you will NEVER know it is their. I just added wheat to my homemade chili and you would never be able to tell it was in there--it was great! Not only will the wheat help your recipes stretch but it will add extra nutrients to your meals as well. Keep a tupperware full of cooked wheat in your fridge and you will be surprised at how many recipes you can throw it into.

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What about expirations??

QUESTION: I have been a member now since the beginning and am loving your service. However, a lot of times your expiration date is different than what
shows on the product. For instance, I have a bunch of ranch dressing that has expired.
It would be great if you could address expiration dates. Currently, I have chicken broth, canned tomatoes, peanut butter and ranch dressing. . . . all that has expired. (I guess I'm not eating
it as fast as I am a buying it.)
Are these products okay to eat after the date?? I don't want to make my family sick, but I hate throwing out food.

ANSWER: Good question! Expirations are put on food to make people do exactly what you were thinking of doing--tossing out your food so you have to go and buy more. From most of my research (and from personal experience) food will last MUCH longer than the expirations say it will! The expirations I use on the weekly deal sheets come from information I have found online, the LDS church's expiration chart (not in print any more) and from what I have found from my own storage experiences. If I say '2 years' in the column for shelf life, you can assume that item will last up to 2 years from the day you buy the item. I know some people are uncomfortable with eating items after the expiration date has passed..and that is okay. Just buy less of those items you know you will not cycle through before the expiration day comes ;) For those who aren't as particular (like me) here are a few guidelines that I have found:

I have found/read that anything in an aluminum can will last 2 or more years, food in glass jars will last 3 years, anything bottled from home will last 1-2 years, boxed or packaged foods will last 2+ years, sugar and honey last indefinitely, yeast will last up to 3+ years in the freezer, anything put in your freezer will last at least 1 year, dry legumes will last 10+ years and your grains (pasta, rice, wheat, flour) will last at least 10 years if not up to 30 years--depending on how you package it and the temperature and conditions it is stored in. According to a study done by the LDS church, it showed that most of the nutritional values of grains were still there after 30 years, which was MUCH longer than originally thought (go to http://www.providentliving.org/ to see more results of the study) So...the bottom line is that unless the food you are about to eat tastes bad, smells bad or if the container it is in looks like it has been damaged, is bulging or leaking, your food should be fine. The only two foods that I am a little more watchful of expiration dates are peanut butter and oil. The good thing about these foods is that if they are 'bad' or expired (6 mo. or more over expiration date) you will be able to tell because they will smell and taste rancid. Even then, I don't automatically throw them all out until I have opened a jar and smelled it or tasted it to make sure it is in deed rancid.

Continue to stock up! Nearly every food item will last at least 2 years. That is why when items go on sale I always buy a little more than I think I will use in a year because even if it takes me 2 years to cycle through it, I will of saved money by buying it when it was on sale--and I know eventually we will eat it.

Another tip to cycle through your food storage quicker is to cook as much from scratch as possible. Many of us are busy, but with a little planning (become a meal planner member and we will do all the work for you) you can make homemade meals, snacks, desserts and side dishes that are made from the items in your food storage, freezer and fresh produce from the store. I got an email from a lady who had the same 5 lb. bag of flour that she was given for her wedding over 10 years ago. Well...I can see why to her the idea of getting 75 lbs. of flour per person in her family for their year supply of flour would seem outrageous. However, if you cook most of your meals from scratch you will soon find 75 lbs. is not enough :)

When you keep an accurate inventory of what you have in your food storage, this will also cut down on wasteful spending and buying. You will not buy too much of the items you have found you do not cycle through quickly enough. You can adjust the totals I give you each week to an amount that would be more realistic for your families year supply. Each family eats different foods and should store more of the items they are accustom to eating. If you need an inventory sheet, you can visit our website http://www.myfoodstoragedeals.com/ and under the FREE DOWNLOAD tab there is a PDF file labled FOOD STORAGE INVENTORY SHEET that can help you get organized and know what foods you need to buy when they are on sale.

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Walmart price matching--a few simple tips to make it easier!

QUESTION: I went to Walmart to price match I printed off the tips of the week and the meal planner to take with me. I got to the check out and it was a complete mess they wanted to see all the ads, I was wondering if this is normal it sounds like you don't take the ads with you have you or others had this problem? Do you have any ideas to make this easier?

ANSWER: I have been doing this for well over a year and I have had them ask me only two times for the ads (usually on meat). I have noticed that as long as you do a few easy tips, your shopping will be a lot easier.

*Go when the lines are not busy and without children if possible (early morning or late at night).
*I always shop on the same day and generally go to the same cashier (if you can do that). I have found one or two cashiers that are fast and know what they are doing and now that they recognize me it makes things a lot easier. Also, be friendly and smile…if you are pleasant you will have the cashiers melting in your hands and do what ever you want them to ;)
*Ask the cashier before you begin ringing up your items if they know how to do price matching. Many employees are new and haven’t been trained properly and it makes it take MUCH longer and can be a headache.
*Find a Walmart that is cooperative with price matching. I have heard that the Jordan Landing Walmart and the American Fork Walmarts are VERY difficult and strict with a lot of things, and sometimes won't price match at all. If that is the case, go to the one on 90th South or Riverton. There are plenty of Walmarts in the valley ;) If you are only shopping every week to two weeks, it won’t be a big deal to drive a little farther for your grocery shopping.
*Tell the people behind you that you are price matching and that it will take awhile so that you don’t have other shoppers breathing down your neck getting frustrated that you are taking too long.
*Bring the ads and have them showing in your purse so they know you have them and that you are not just making up prices.
*Put all of the items that you are NOT price matching on the scanner first so that they can ring those in quickly and then you will be ready with the other items to price match all at one time.
*I don’t do this (only because I have the prices memorized), but people say it works great---bring a stack of post-it notes and when you put an item in your cart, quickly write the price and the store that you are price matching the item from. This way, as you are putting your groceries up on the scanner they can begin scanning and not have to wait for you to find how much it is on the list and which store it is from.
*One of the main tricks is to make sure you look like you know what you are doing. The cashiers get frustrated when the customer is slow, taking too long, or acting like they don’t know what they are doing.
*On the weekly grocery list I highlight the items I need for my weeks groceries in different colors to make my shopping easier. I highlight the produce items I need in green, canned or boxed goods in yellow and other items in pink. This way, if I am checking out and I have an avocado (for example) and I need to know the price I am matching, it is easy to scan my list through the green produce items and find the avocado price and what store it is from.
*Try to have identical items to price match when available. They will match the Sam’s Choice brand for other stores’ name brand items that are on sale. Each Walmart has a different rule on which meats they will price match (i.e.-some will price match Tyson chicken for any boneless/skinless chicken breast on sale, others won’t). Find out what each stores’ policy is before you shop…or, just try it and see what they do.)

Either way, once you get the hang of shopping at Walmart and price matching, it will be a breeze and when you leave knowing how much money you have saved, it will be even better!

P.S.--When it is case lot time, like it is now, I would go to that particular store to make sure you can get as many of each item as you are wanting. Walmart doesn't stock their shelves very well, so it would only take one or two price matchers to wipe their shelves clean. Save the headache and just go to the store having the case lot.

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