March 12, 2012

Bargain Tip: Buy “Reduced Price”

Posted in Beef, breakfast, budget friendly, Chicken, easy!, General, make ahead, OAMC, Pork, Turkey, Vegetable tagged , , , , at 10:08 pm by Maryann

I am so excited about this post! I can’t even stand it.

Recently, I went to the newly built Fresh & Easy in our area. It’s about 5 miles from our house. I’m even more excited that there will be a Fresh & Easy built about 1 mile from our house and its grand opening is NEXT WEEK. *Wooot* The easiest way I can describe this grocery store is, how my 10-year-old described it: “Its like Trader Joe’s & Safeway combined”. Her description is absolutely spot on, Fresh & Easy is very comparable to Trader Joe’s but has a more refined look similar to Safeway.

The best thing about Fresh & Easy is they have a “Today’s Special” section! This is a huge money-saving tip: buying products reduced in price because their sell by date is the next day or in a few day! At Fresh & Easy they price the item 50% off its original price. The best part of this system is that they do this up to 3 times a day! So you can save up to 3 times a day. *happy dance*

I am so excited about this because I’ve been shopping “reduced priced” meats for years. I can’t believe I can now buy other items at a reduced price at Fresh & Easy. On this particular day, I was doing my normal grocery run and I decided to go to Fresh & Easy on a whim just to poke around. Well as you can see from the above picture, I filled half my cart. The best thing about my cart was that it was full of items I buy on a regular basis!

For $31, I bought the follow items:

  • 4 bags of everything bagels – $1.25/ea
  • 4 bags of mini multigrain bagels – $1.25/ea
  • 2 bags of english muffins – $1.00
  •  4 clam shells of organic basil – $0.52/ea
  • 1 package of chicken quarter – $3.02
  • 1 package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs – $3
  • 2 packages of ready -made pizza crust – $0.50/ea
  • 1 bag of clementines – $0.52
  • 1 box of Fresh & Easy butter crackers – $1
  • 1 bag of green onions – $0.52
  • 2 loaves of french bread – $0.98/ea [everyday price!]
  • 2 bags of onions – $0.52/ea
  • 2 packages of whole wheat tortillas – $1/ea
  • 2 packages of red bell peppers (2 per package) – $0.49/ea

Now you must understand what my criteria was before I loaded up my cart. I understood that this haul wasn’t going to be eaten in its entirety within the next two-week so here’s my train of thought.

In order for me to purchase the items in bulk:

  • perishable items (fruits/vegetables/crackers/cookies/dairy products): must be consumed within the week, if not sooner
  • other miscellaneous items: must be freezer friendly, if I wasn’t going to use them

All of the produce has already been used. The crackers were eaten the day I bought them. Half of the bagels, english muffins have been flash frozen and are stored in freezer bags. All of the chicken meats have been flash frozen and are stored in freezer bags. The only item that hasn’t been repurposed is the pizza crust dough which I will repurpose for the kids this week.

I saved 50% on items I already purchase and I didn’t use coupons. (Although Fresh & Easy does have store coupons AND a store rewards program.) I was so syked leaving there! I felt like I robbed the place.

Moving forward, I have a new game plan for grocery day, check Fresh & Easy and pick up what’s “Today’s Special” and work my meals around those items. It’ll help save me more especially on items that I really can’t coupon for such as produce and meats. I can’t wait till March 28! I will definitely be a regular.