LDS Dry Pack Cannery Pricing Changes

For those of you who live near an LDS Dry Pack Cannery, their prices will be going up as of January 16th. Check with your local Dry Pack Cannery to see when they are open, so you can go and take advantage of the lower prices before they go up! Most canneries are closed until January 5th, but check your local store and see if their times/openings are different.

The items that will be increasing in price are the following:

*Dry Powdered Milk 25lb. $35.40 (up $10 from before--stock up NOW before the 16th to get the AMAZINGLY low price of $24.80!!)

*Hard Red Wheat 25lb. $6.35 (up .45--not too bad, but why not save a few pennies)

Other items that will be higher from .45-$2.35 higher: pinto peans, sugar, oats, hot cocoa, fruit drink mix, and pancake mix. Stock up while prices are low!

Some good news..a few items will be going DOWN in price, they are the following:
black and white dried beans, rice (by $1.90--this is a GREAT deal!), macaroni, potato flakes (by $8--WOW, GREAT price!!!), and flour (flour still less expensive at Sam's Club and Costco).

Hope this update helps you get motivated to go and stock up before prices rise. OR..for those items that are less, wait and stock up when prices will be even lower--FUN!

**Just a reminder, most canneries do NOT mandate that you are LDS to purchase items at the cannery. Call your local dry pack cannery and find out what their policies are :)

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Freezer Frenzie!

Most of you won't think it is hard to believe that I have three freezers. You know, the crazy food storage lady and all..why wouldn't I have three freezers :) Yes, two of them are fridge/freezers and one is a chest freezer. Before you think I am crazy and that my food will just go bad if the power goes out..I do have a generator and gasoline :)

Freezers however, are a secret to saving you $100's on your monthly grocery bill! To be able to stock up your freezer when prices are low on meat, cheese, dairy products, bread/tortillas, vegetables, fruit, etc., it can save you a lot of money on your food bill. I don't know what I would do without my freezers, especially the deep freeze. Here are a few pictures of my messy freezers (unorganized and all)..but, boy do they make me happy!!



Many people ask me what I think about Walmart meat. Well, I don't love it, that is for sure! I have had a few bad steaks and hamburger, so I have kind of sworn off Walmart meat (unless it is Tyson Chicken). I am sure all of their meat is not bad, but I have found a new favorite place to buy meat. First, Harmon's meat is always excellent quality, however it RARELY goes on sale for a great price. When it does though, I stock up my freezer--I LOVE their hand trimmed chicken breasts.

My other favorite place is Sunflower Market over by Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah. They have Sunflower Market's all over Arizona, Nevada, Texas, etc. Visit their website for store locations www.sfmarkets.com

Not only do they have high quality meat, it is also all natural, hormone free, no preservatives, as well. I feel better about that, whether it really matters or not. I just went to Sunflower yesterday and bought about 15 pork roasts ($1.77/lb.) and 10 packages of chicken breasts ($1.67/lb.). I spent under $90 and saved $166! My freezer is PACKED with pork and chicken!



They also have amazing sales on their produce and it is all really good quality. If you shop there on Wednesday's they honor their LAST weeks ad as well as THIS WEEKS ad prices--so, double the savings. Beware though, the store is packed on Wednesdays! I had to wait in line for the butcher to bring out more meat..it was crazy, but fun!!

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More Super Savings!!

It's okay, you can laugh, I am posting ANOTHER picture of my GREAT deals this week!! My kids said, "Mom...are you going to take another picture of our groceries again?" (In exasperated voices ;) So...humor me and here is another picture :) So how much do you think these groceries cost?

15 boxes of Chex cereal
22 boxes of Bisquick Mix (large 40 oz.)
20-2 liter Pop
24 -5 lb. bags of Gold Medal Flour
4-12 Double Roll Quilted Northern
5-8 roll Brawny Paper Towel

Well..if you paid Albertsons regular prices, it would be over $400! Did I pay that? Of course not, I only paid $149.41. Wow!! That is savings of nearly $250. You can see why I am so excited about it! The best part is, I bought this all with only 2 coupons (from http://www.coupons.com/ for the Chex cereal). You don't have to cut coupons to save $! Just buy those items on sale each week for the BEST deals and then stock up!

Happy Shopping! (If anyone needs pop, come and get it! They were FREE when you bought the Chex cereal--a fabulous deal! I know what I will be bringing to family parties for awhile!)

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Gift Certificates--the PERFECT holiday gift!

GIFT CERTIFICATES ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

Looking for that perfect gift? We have the answer! Give your family & friends the gift of TIME & MONEY SAVED this year, with a membership to My Food Storage Deals! In today’s economy, who is not looking for ways to save money and stock up on their food storage? We have the solution! Give your friends and family the gift that will keep on giving, ALL throughout the year. You can purchase a gift certificate TODAY in increments of 3 months, 6 months or 12 months! There is a membership for anyone’s budget!
If you would like more information on our gift certificates, email us at Gifts@myfoodstoragedeals.com and we will email you the details.

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A great bargain at Cabelas!

I have been looking at propane heaters for awhile now and was thrilled about the deal I got today! This Mr. Heater Big Buddy is a GREAT item to have for emergency preparedness. This heater runs on propane and can be used in an enclosed area, such as your home, a tent, garage, etc. This makes it the perfect option for keeping warm when your power is out. We have a generator, but would rather use our fuel for keeping the freezer/fridge cold and not have to use it for keeping us warm (in the event the power was out for an extended period of time). This heater can run off of the small propane canister, or you can buy a hose and hook it up to the larger propane tanks you keep on your grill. Either way, it will run for about 12 hours on two small propane canisters (that is running it consistently, which you wouldn't need to do). (Make sure to have several propane canisters in your storage--last time I priced them out, Costco was the least expensive place to buy them).

Anyway, these heaters are regular priced at $139.99, but are on sale at http://www.cabelas.com/ for only $119.99. Besides this sale, they have a special that when you spend $100 you get FREE shipping OR when you spend $150 you get $30 off (see website for details). Basically you can buy another item for around $30 and get it for free. For those who are on Cabela's mailing list, they also just mailed out coupons for $20 off a $100 purchase and $10 off a $50 purchase. With these combined savings, it makes this heater the PERFECT Christmas gift!! I had the coupon/mailer, went to Cabela's, had them match the online price of $119 (they do that--cool!), got the $20 off...making my heater ONLY $107!! Fabulous! I am not sure how long the $119 sale will continue, but here is the link below if you want to order one online:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/common/search/search-results1.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&selectedPerPage=&hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&_D%3Asort=+&sort=all&Ntt=mr+heater&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=20&Go.y=15

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Money Saving Tip

With Thanksgiving come and gone, how many of you used SEVERAL cans of chicken stock? Well, I have a simple and inexpensive solution for you. Instead of buying Swanson Chicken Broth at .50 a can, but the McCormick Chicken or Beef Base from Costco. It is like Chicken bouillon but in an easy to use container that stays in your fridge. You just add a teaspoon of the chicken base with some water and you have chicken stock. This container of the beef/chicken base at Costco is around $3 and mine lasts for 6 months or more! I have SEVERAL of each flavor in my food storage. They don't have to be refrigerated until they are opened. For the same price as a few cans of stock you get ALL of the flavor without the expense. I also use the base in rice to add more flavor, soups, gravies, on my roasts, etc. It is nice and salty & one of my favorite 'special' ingredients...next to my beloved Montreal Steak Seasoning :)

Also shown in the picture is the Morning Moo Chicken Base. This will last longer in your storage and is another inexpensive option instead of stock or bouillon cubes when bought in bulk (wait until February for the next case lot sale for this to go on sale). Enjoy!

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$250 Gift Cards for Struggling Families!

Happy holidays to each of you! We have been grateful to hear that our service has helped many of you keep your grocery bills low & build up your food storage at the same time.

We know that many people struggle all year to be able to put food on the table, and Christmastime can make that struggle even greater for some. My Food Storage Deals is excited to announce an amazing opportunity to be able to help a few families this holiday season. Thanks to a generous donation from Associated Food Stores, we will be able to help three families this Christmas season by giving them a $250 gift certificate to any of the Associated Food Stores. We are also going to give these same three families a FREE membership for several months to www.myfoodstoragedeals.com to help their $250 stretch even further!

We all know someone that has been affected from the current economy and know that there are also others who face difficult hardships every day. If you know of anyone who you think would benefit from one of these gift cards, please send us their story (Shandra@myfoodstoragedeals.com). Please include in your email any contact information for you and the person that you are submitting. The deadline to send in your email nominations is December 18, 2008.

**Nominees will need to live in Utah ;)

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Thanksgiving Deals!

I often talk about stocking up once a year...well, this is one of the weeks I mean that literally! Certain items this week will NOT go less expensive until NEXT Thanksgiving. If you stock up on these items and buy as close to a year supply (as you can afford) you will not have to buy these items again until next year. Why is that smart? Because you will not have to pay full price for these items again! Some of the items you should stock up on this week (and buy your year supply of) are the following: canned cranberries, canned pumpkin, stuffing, olives, whipping cream, cool whip, frozen vegetables, fresh cranberries (freeze for later), cream cheese, chicken broth, turkey, ham, etc. To find out where and at what prices to buy these items, become a member of My Food Storage Deals today!
30 Whipping Creams
(Great to freeze for cream soups, sauces, alfredo, desserts (doesn't whip well, but can be used IN recipes, etc.)
5 Stalks Celery (I am dehydrating some for my food storage)
7 Cans Cranberry
2 bags Cranberries
4 Apple Pie Filling
12 cans Pumpkin
9 Stove Top Stuffing
4 Boxes Wheat Thins
15 8oz. Cream Cheeses (This does freeze! I have tried it and as long as you completely thaw out the cream cheese and whip it well, it becomes smooth again. Fabulous!!)
5 Sour Creams
5 Dozen Eggs
10 lbs. Broccoli
15 cartons Cool Whip
20 lb. frozen Corn
15 lb. frozen Peas

Spent $111.07
Saved $98.76
(Saved nearly $100's from Walmarts ALL READY low prices!)

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Great Christmas gift ideas that can help you be more prepared

Here are a few GREAT gift ideas for the holidays. There is something for everyone, on any budget:

*A GIFT CERTIFICATE TO MY FOOD STORAGE DEALS!! (Information coming soon)
*First aid kits
*Flashlights for the whole family
*Jumper cables
*Fuel for your camp stoves or grills
*Camping stove
*Shovel
*Water storage containers
*Water purifier (such as the Katadyne)
*Heavy duty work gloves
*Warm winter clothing
*Spices and herbsseeds for the garden
*Nice heavy duty blankets or sleeping bags
*Car kits/back packs
*Bottles/jars for canning
*Dutch oven
*Solar-powered radio (or solar radio/flashlight combo)
*Wheat grinder (hand held or electric)
*Ready-made 72-hour kits
*Pressure cooker (small)
*Dehydrator
*55-gallon drum for water storage
*Rotating shelf systems (small)
*Large solar oven
*Generators (for information on these, read a Popular Mechanics article here)
*Extra gas canisters filled with gas for your generator (fill up now that gas prices are low :)
*A chest or stand up freezer
*Space heaters
*Extra extension cords
*Snow shovel
*Propane Lanterns
*Rope
*Tent
*Other camping supplies
*Giving basic food storage items for Christmas is also a great idea! Bags of wheat, beans, sugar, flour, powdered milk, honey, etc. are all GREAT items that can be bought for under $10 that would be a great gift.

Happy holidays!

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Testimonials...

Diana said...
"What can I say, other than ILOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!!! I can't imagine going back to grocery shopping the way I used to--the time and money I save by being a member to My Food Storage Deals is unbelievable--the $8 a month is pocket change compared to what I save EACH time I go to the store! For example, I just got back from Walmart and this is what I got for ONLY $123.58
(see picture):
8 1/2 lbs. of Tyson Chicken Breast, 6 lbs. petite sirloin steak, 6 Ball Park Angus Franks, 5 loaves of Granny Sycamore Bread, 5 dozen eggs, 2 cantaloupes, 11 bags of marshmallows, 4 boxes of hard taco shells, 4 boxes of Capri Suns, 8 Jell-O puddings, 2 lbs. carrots, bananas, 2 cantaloupes, 14lb. seedless watermelon, grapes, 2 gallons of milk, 3 boxes of graham crackers, 2 boxes of Ritz crackers, 4 boxes of wheat thins, 6 lbs. of frozen hashbrowns, 4 lbs. sour cream, 3 cream cheeses, 20 string cheeses, onions, 4 packages tortillas, and cilantro. WOW!! Need I say more???

Bowman Family...
"We have been using your service for three weeks now and love it. Just wanted to say thanks. Our monthly expenses are down and our food storage is up. We did our shopping for this week and only spent $100.00 but came home with more food than we can eat. We have been telling all our friends and family about your service. Here is a picture of our 'loot'." (They matched all of the 'red' deals at Walmart)

"I spent $128.76 and saved (according to their fresh value calculations $248.27 (General Mills Savings) and $29.30 in bonus buy savings…Definitely paid for my membership already! Thank you!** PS – I also went to Smiths and saved over 50% there too!" J

"About 10 years ago while my children were still young, I subscribed to a simlar service which cost me $30 a month and it was sooo worth it. I had the best food storage on my shelves. Now the kids are gone, but I want the security of having a good food storage again. Thank you so much for all of your efforts. I am totally floored by the exceptionally reasonable monthly fee. We will be sharing this web site with the women in our neighborhood next month. I'm sure there will be a lot of excitement over this great information. "

"Can I just say I spent over $1000 in the grocery stores last week? Before you fall over – it is ok – I saved over 50% on almost everything I bought and we have been planning to put our tax rebate to good use building up our food storage – and I would take that over a brand new plasma tv any day! So I love your service and I am telling friends – you are the most reasonably priced service out there."

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Wow! I love getting a good deal!

Do you want to know how to buy ALL of these groceries

THIS WEEK
for only $101.25?

*7 dozen large eggs

*18 29oz. cans peaches/pears
*28 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal

*6 lbs. bacon
*3 french bread loaves

*1 lb. carrots & 1.5 lbs. grapes
*20 Frigo string cheeses

*2 lbs. fresh peaches
*bunch of bananas

*3 lbs. tomatoes on the vine
*4 lbs. sour cream

*8 ears of corn on the cob
*5 lbs. ground beef

*4 gallons of milk


By becoming a member to My Food Storage Deals we will teach you how to ONLY buy those items on sale for ROCK BOTTOM PRICES and help you plan your meals around what is on sale! We can save you HUNDREDS of dollars by telling you which items are on sale from the FIVE major grocery stores for LESS than Costco and Walmart. When you stock up on what’s on sale, you are building up your food storage with the LOWEST POSSIBLE prices!
It will save you TIME & MONEY!

Try our service for FREE for two weeks! Sign up today with NO contracts and see how much you can save! Use the promotional code DEALS and get your membership for only $4.95 (Standard Membership) or $7.95 (Meal Planner Membership) a month! If during those two weeks you feel our service won’t work for you—that’ okay! Just email us and we will immediately cancel your service before you are ever charged. We want you to be happy and enjoy our service—that is why we GUARANTEE you will save, or your money back!!

Visit our website TODAY!

http://www.myfoodstoragedeals.com/

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COUPONS--TO BE OR NOT TO BE???

This is a question I get quite often...so, here is my philosophy on coupon clipping (PLEASE no one be offended ;) If coupons work for you, then that is great! This is what I have found though...

I used to be a 'coupon clipper' and still do on occasion, but I have found that watching the deals each week saves me more on groceries than cutting coupons. I know you may beg to differ :) I do have several people who are avid coupon clippers that use my sight and wish I did more with coupons but here is my philosophy:

1- You can still use coupons along with my program. When you see something on sale for 'red' prices AND you have a coupon--by all means, use your coupons. The only problem is I have found this rarely happens. It seems items that are not on sale for Red/Great prices are not the ones that have coupons (red deals mean they are less expensive than Costco, Walmart and other warehouse stores). I have found that coupons (generally) are on items that are not necessarily long-term food storage items and are on mostly frozen goods, processed foods and specialty items. These items are great to buy one or two, but the idea of our program is you are stocking up on your year supply of items that go on sale, not just one or two. For example, last week ketchup was on sale for .50 a bottle. When items go on sale for these prices, you are to buy as much of that item as you can afford (a year supply is 15-24 bottles per family). With coupons you may save $1, but when you buy 24 bottles, that savings isn't as significant as the $20 you saved by buying them at RED prices.

2- Buying your year supply saves you time and money! I found that when I clipped coupons I was only buying one or two items at a time (mostly because Utah stores don't double coupons, so each coupon had a Limit 1 on them). So..if I bought one or two items at a great price, that only lasts me so long, so when I run out of that item, I then have to go to the store and buy another one at regular price. If you stock up on items when they go on sale for ROCK BOTTOM PRICES, and buy a year supply, then you won't have to buy that item again for a YEAR--and can guarantee you bought that item at the best price.

3- Coupons do 'sweetin' the deal if they are used on the right products. A few weeks ago the newspaper had coupons for the Lawry's marinades, Best Foods Mayo and Lipton Sides. All of these are some what basic food storage items (counting towards your oil, grains, etc.) and were worth clipping the coupons for because they were items I would add to my food storage anyway. I DO look through the newspaper every week and cut the coupons out for the items I KNOW I will buy anyway (I post coupon information in the 'tips of the week' for members). For example, cereal coupons and toothpaste coupons are worth clipping for me because I KNOW they will go on sale and then I will get the item basically free. Granted, I only get ONE for free, but every bit helps. This week General Mills cereal is on sale for $1 at Harmons (with in ad coupons), if you have coupons for $1 off General Mills cereals, go ahead and use it and get a box of cereal for free. I buy 25-50 boxes of cereal at a time when they go on for this price, so I'm not sure how much I care about the ONE free box of cereal--but it makes me feel good! (I get the newspaper because of my 'business' but I still think I haven't saved enough to make my monthly newspaper subscription worth it).

4- Focus on foods your family eats on a regular basis and you won't waste money on groceries you don't eat. Go to our website and download under the FREE DOWNLOAD tab the FOOD STORAGE RECIPES and get an idea of recipes that you can make the COMPLETE meal with items found in your food storage. The idea of food storage is that in the event you have to feed your family solely out of your storage, you would be able to make complete meals. Instead of focusing on which coupons there are to cut each week, focus on basic food storage items that your family eats.

5- Learn to cook from scratch! In my experience many of the coupon deals are items that I could LESS EXPENSIVLY make on my own. This seems to be a lost 'art' for many. Our society is so used to eating out of boxed items, prepackaged foods and processed foods that we have forgotten how to make meals from scratch and how to use basic food storage ingredients! Why buy pancake mix when you can easily make your own with a little sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, milk, oil and eggs (all of which are BASIC food storage ingredients). Learning to cook this way will save you SO much money!

6- Use the Meal Planning Tips (post below) to help you plan your families weeks menu and save you time and money by not having to make extra trips to the grocery store.

Bottom line, you need to find a system that works for you! We all will obtain our food storage and feed our family differently. The important thing is that we are working towards a goal and saving money in the mean time! If you have the time and energy to clip coupons, then go for it! That is great and hopefully between your coupon clipping and our program you will be saving more than the rest of us ;)

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Last weeks savings$$

Last week was a GREAT week for food storage shopping! Thanks to Albertsons I was able to stock up on several items I needed for my food storage. I was running low on my 'legumes' and was able to get AWESOME deals on S&W Beans--the white beans are my favorite for White Bean Chicken Chili (Yum!). The other items I added to my food storage last week were the Lipton Onion Soup Mixes (great to have in your storage for flavoring/spices), Lipton Rice/Pasta Sides (makes an easy side dish or meal in an emergency or on a busy night), Best Food Mayo (part of your 'oil' yearly totals), Lawry Marinades and Terriyaki Sauce (good to have in case you had to live off of all of your rice--these would give it some flavor and are good for marinating in a hurry), and Wishbone salad dressing (part of your 'oil' yearly totals). Here's what I bought (to give you an idea of how much money you can save each week and how you can get your food storage shelves stocked a little at a time!)

*21 bottles of Lawry's Marinades
*16 boxes of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
*47 Lipton Rice/Pasta Sides
*4 Wishbone Salad Dressings
*6 jars of Best Foods Mayonnaise
*70 cans of S&W beans (black, kidney, and white beans)

Total: $106.56 + tax
TOTAL SAVED: $233.69!!

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I LOVE grocery shopping!!

Do you ever come home from the store SO thrilled with the purchases you made! Today was one of those times for me. For those who live near the new Harmons off of Bangerter and I-15 (it was their Grand Opening), they had some GREAT sales this week on their meat and other items! To give you an idea of how much money you can save by only buying those items in the ads that are GREAT (red on my deals sheets) deals, let me tell you what I bought....

*27lbs. of hand trimmed boneless/skinless chicken breast
*32lbs. of 93% lean ground beef
*3 loaves of bread
*5 dozen eggs
*Swiss Cheese
*23 Yoplait yogurts (Albertsons)
*4 boxes of fruit snacks (Albertsons)
*4 boxes of granola bars (Albertsons)
*16 lbs. of fresh strawberries (for freezer jam) & the Pectin to make the jam
*108 bars of Ivory Soap (I think that is my LIFE supply of soap!)
*14 Secret deoderants
*4 gallons of milk
*2 Betty Crocker cookie mixes (Albe's)
*10 boxes of Angel food cake (Albe's)
*10 Pilsbury crescent doughs (Albe's)
*And enough produce to make my WHOLE WEEKS meals for (mushrooms, zucchini, 5 lbs. potatoes, green onions, cilantro, bananas, limes, romaine lettuce, celery, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc)
**As an added bonus, I got a coupon for .50 off 20 gallons of gas at Harmons (that's $10 off-yippee!!)

$245.18

Is that cool or what?? I was thrilled! We have been in Canada & Washington all week and I couldn't believe how expensive the groceries are there. We spent WAY over $225 for one weeks worth of food. I didn't realize how lucky we have it living in Utah. All the more reason to stock up our freezers and food storage shelves, because if our food prices ever get to what they are out of state and out of the country--wow! It would be tough to add higher food prices and higher gas prices to our monthly budget.

Thanks for letting me share my shopping success today. Hopefully it gives you an idea of how much money you can save if you watch the ads carefully (or...let me do the work for you and tell you EXACTLY which items you should buy and where to buy them :)

Have fun shopping and if you have success stories, email them to me and I will post them under our "Top That" portion of our blog. Have a great day!!

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