Are You a Food Waster?

Ok...I have to admit I am guilty of this too...The average household throws away 14 percent of the food they buy. Recently I have been noticing that I am forgetting about food and end up having to throw it away, which drives me crazy!

So I have been researching and thinking about how to get more bang out of my buck and not be so wasteful? I came across a great article from wholeliving.com “12 Ways to Prevent Food Waste at Home”

1.      Watch Your Trash – analyze what you are throwing away, then make changes accordingly. i.e. if you threw away ½ box of cereal, next time you buy cereal put it in an air tight container immediately after opening. Or if you are throwing away vegetables or fruits, maybe you are purchasing too much.

2.      Reorganize the Fridge – if you keep your fridge orderly, you are less likely to lose track or forget about a perishables. Place fresh foods & healthy snacks on the top shelf. This will place the perishables at eye level when looking in the fridge. You are more likely to grab a snack that is within sight.

3.      Serve Smaller Portions – serving smaller portions at dinner will help eliminate waste; you can always go back for more if you did not take enough.

4.      Be Flexible with Produce – just because your produce is over ripe does not mean it is not edible.  Many soups, casseroles, smoothies taste better with over ripe fruit or vegetables. Imperfect does not mean inedible.  

5.      Check Your Settings – keeping your fridge at 39 degrees can help the longevity of your food. Studies have shown that the average fridge is to warm which will cause foods to expire faster.

6.      Freeze Your Leftovers – if you know you will not get to your leftovers, freeze them.

7.      Shop for Produce More Often – if you purchase your fruits and vegetables once a week, you will be able to eat them before they have a chance to go bad.  

8.       Buy Local – local food will last longer because it has not had to endure the 7-10 trip to get to your local store, which is half of most produces life span.

9.      Plan Ahead – develop a weekly menu around your schedule. if your kids have soccer practice on Tuesday, you know you need to have an easy quick meal, you are not going to be able to make your homemade lasagna. Every Thursday is my Costco trip, so on Thursday, I buy their roasted chicken ($4.99) and make whatever vegetable I have left from the week and that is our dinner. I know on Thursday nights, I am not going to be able to feasibility make a big dinner and get everything I need to get done.

10.  Rethink Quantity – especially in the bulk aisle or deli counter. Do you really need 2lbs of cheese? Analyze how much you actually eat and see where you can cut back.

11.  Learn Label Lingo – “sell-by” and “use-by” mean two completely different things. Sell-by date is the last recommended date you should purchase the product and use-by is the date the item will be at its top quality. If stored properly, most foods can go a few days after their use-by date. Of course take note of the smell and looks J

12.  Have a Plan B – if you are planning a meal you have never tried and it calls for an uncommon food, for example, Okra, before you purchase the ingredients think of another way you can use your ingredients, if you are unable for whatever reason, to make the original dish.

Sounds simple right? Well, it is but it isn’t. Analyzing your waste is absolutely something you have to get use to. It is easy to ignore especially when you are busy. Watching your waste will take some time, but once you learn where you waste and make those changes, it will be second nature.

Like I have said before, I am a big fan of pureeing fruits and vegetables when they are close to going bad, then freeze them. Many pureed vegetables are great to use as part of your soup stock. Pureed fruits are great to make fruit pops or smoothies.

Think of being a saver as a lifestyle, not a chore :)

Happy Saving!
Courtney

Saving Dilemma…I need HELP!

Sorry it's been about a month since my last post : /

Next year, Matt and I will finally be tying the knot!! I’m super excited!! At the same time, I’m blown away on how much a wedding cost…We are having a small (about 50 people) semi destination wedding, we will be getting married in Hatteras, NC (the outer banks).

So my question to all married ladies – how do you save on your wedding? Where can you cut cost and still have a nice picture perfect wedding? Looking back what would you have done different on your wedding day? The 2 things I feel cannot be sacrificed is food and photography. We are a bit of a food snobs and want a nice meal on our big day and a great photographer is essential because, memories fade and you can’t remember all the details. However with a great photographer they will catch all of those priceless moments so the memory will always be there.

Thoughts??  Suggestions??

Managers Special!

Coupons for meat and produce are very far and few between. A great loop-hole is MANGERS SPECIAL! Yes I said it, ‘Manager Special’ but why not?  

Yes they usually are about to expire within a day or two, however, when you get home just freeze it. IT is worth it! Why pay full price if it's not necessary. ‘Manager Special’ meats usually get marked down at night. When I’m looking for these deals I typically go to the store around 8-9pm. A penny saved is a penny earned!

To keep the freshness of my frozen meats, I have purchase one of those air tight packaging systems(LOVE IT). Zip-lock sells one that is inexpensive and actually works well.

Ohhhh I have also invested in another great tool that I LOVE…first just let me say, I’m not one for gimmicky things but the magic bullet blender system is GREAT! It’s small, easy to clean and it has many more great features.  I’ve been using this to puree fruit and veggies that are on the verge of going bad and I freeze them. This allows me to re-use the fruit for smoothies or for pies and the puree veggies are great to add into soup to give a nice thick broth or to sneak veggies into another dish. Ideal  for kids or any non-veggie eater…they will never know it’s in there lol. Pasta sauce works well for hiding pureed veggies in hehehe.

Best of Luck!

Beginning of my stock piles

Just showing off the beginning of my stock piles!

Total paid under $45!!!!!!!!! Total retail worth over $230!!!!

Luckily I already had shelving in my basement :) although Matt had to move his stuff hehe.
However, he totally supports me saving so he was happy to move his things :)

DEAL ALERT!!

SO here is a great deal...Shop Rite has the Schick Hydro razor on sale for $3.99 (reg $8.99) and in this past Sundays coupon inserts there was a coupon for $4.00 off Schick Hydro! I LOVE free products! The catch...it is a 4 day deal, it started yesterday 6/15 and good until Saturday 6/18

Also, if your local Shop Rite is out, ask for a rain check!


Happy Savings yours truely,

Court

My Favorite Online Coupon Sources

As promised, here are a few of the sites I use to search for online coupons. Online coupons can be a hassle (but worth the hassle) because you almost always have to register for each site and download the “coupon printer”. The coupon printer will limit the number of like coupons you can print per IP address.  If you have access to multiple computers you can print the max from each computer (that’s what I doJ).  Also, check the website of each store you plan to shop at. There are usually coupons to print via those sites too.

If I do not see a product I’m looking for on one of these sites, I will Google the item (i.e. Heinz Ketchup, coupon) I will find a coupon for that item only about 30% of the time but hey it’s worth a shot J

Remember stock up on as many coupons as possible J

http://www.coupons.com

http://www.coupons.com

http://coupons.smartsource.com

http://www.valpak.com/coupons/home

http://www.couponnetwork.com

http://www.redplum.com

http://www.shopathome.com

http://www.eversave.com/common/dynamicflows/PROMO_ES_Coupons_Savings-MiniFlow5033.jsp?sourceid=83157

http://www.couponmom.com

Couponing - Getting Started

So most of you know I recently jumped on the couponing bandwagon. Since I've had several people ask me about how to get started I thought I would start a blog to discuss -how to, strategy, tips and any great deals I come across. I was also thinking about starting a monthly “coupon swap”.  I’m happy to host it at my home or we could alternate. Let me know if any of you are interested J

Getting started

1.       Get the Sunday paper (if you don’t already) - this is a great source for coupons. The News Journal will just deliver the Sunday paper and it’s only $4/month (totally worth it). Also, the daily paper sometimes has coupon inserts. I do not get the daily but my parents do and they give me their inserts.

2.      Have your friends, family & neighbors who are not interested in couponing, save coupon packs for you – don’t be ashamed to ask.

3.      Clip all coupons – build a large base of coupons. I clip just about all coupons because even if I don’t use the product, I most likely know someone who does.

4.      Search online for coupons – great source!! (in another post I will list the sites I go to)

5.      Know the coupon policy for all stores – you can do this by emailing the store. I have also found that although Pathmark is cheaper than most stores but they are stricter on their coupons. Whereas Acme and Shoprite are not strict with coupons.

6.      Sign up for e-newsletters of brands you use. A lot of the time there are coupons in the newsletters or on the brand site.

7.      Look through ALL weekly circulars – you never know where the good deal is. I look at all the drug store and grocery store circulars.

8.     Just because you have a coupon doesn’t mean you should buy that product – hold on to your coupons until you find that great deal.  If something is on sale but still isn’t a great deal I will hold on to the coupon until I find a good deal. Sometimes I end up losing the coupon but more then not I have found that great deal before it expires. If the coupon expires don’t worry you will most likely get another coupon for that product. Many of the weekly coupons are the same.

9.      Each shopping trip needs to be planned. I typically paperclip all the coupons for a store together and label, with a post-it, which store it is. Know what you are going for, but do bring your coupon binder because there are always deals that are in store but not in the circular.

10.  Buy the smallest size your coupon will allow –the smaller size is cheaper and usually is a better deal. For example – almost every week, there is a Colgate coupon for $.75 off any Colgate toothpaste, the 4oz tube is $.99, the coupon is doubled and depending on the store it will either be FREE or you will get paid $.51 per tube. The only store I have found that has doubled to more than the worth of the product is Shoprite.

11.   I go down ever isle in the store – this is time consuming but has been proved to be worth it!!

12.  Most important – STAY ORGANIZED. I have an organizer divided by type of product (dairy, paper products, toiletries,  etc) and keep all like coupons together

To be a good ‘couponer’ it takes a lot of time, and you need to have a strategy.  I will sometimes go to 3-5 different stores. It sounds like a pain, however, once you have a really good couponing experience you will most likely be hooked and going to the store becomes exciting! If I see a good deal I generally have to go to the store right away because I get really anxious… and will think about it all day and even dream about going to the store (I know, I’m a dork but a dork that saves lot of money).

I have heard many excuse on why people do not use coupons – most common “I’m too busy”…yeah again that is an excuse not a reason. I know working moms who coupon and I’m a great example of a busy person who coupons. I work full time, I’m in grad school working on my MBA I have 5 hour classes (each) 2 nights a week, I go to the gym 5 days a week 2 of which I work out with a trainer, several nights a week after the gym I’m bound to my school books studying and doing home work …oh and there is cleaning, laundry and the other great joys of being an adult and homeowner.  PRESTO somehow I have managed to have a clean house, 3.8 GPA, go to the gym, spend time with family/friends and coupon.  If I have time trust me so do you. Having good time management is essential!

GOOD LUCK LADIES! I hope this was helpful and gets you on your way to becoming a Coupon Queens!