Your Dekalb Farmers Market (YDFM) Haul - The Produce Prices Are Unbeatable - Vlog!

Damn, that post header sounds like a commercial....

Basically, I got really caught up in the wide world of major grocery stores. Costco! Aldi! Kroger! Whole Foods! (Side note: I had a terrible awful no good cashier experience at a local WF, and the team responded by offering me a $25 gift card, but I'm rarely at that store so I haven't picked it up yet. When I do, perhaps THAT will be a video....)

Yesterday my husband said he wanted to run to YDFM (which longtime blog readers know is actually our number one grocery store of choice - for a long time it was our ONLY store, with short trips to Kroger for fill-in items) and I hadn't been in a few weeks so I went along - and I fell in love all over again, which happens EVERY TIME I skip going for a few weeks and then return.

I made a haul video because I thought that since the store's policy of no video inside was so strict, I'd be one of the few who did so. I was wrong - there are various videos on YouTube if you dig around, including videos inside the store. I don't know how they got away with it, but they did. I didn't do that - my video is after we got home, showing what I bought.


In brief, when I shop at YDFM I buy almost NO processed items (not zero but not much). I buy largely organic items. The produce prices are, as I say in my commercial-sounding header, basically unbeatable. Organic apples are, at least right now (prices fluctuate with the market), about $1/pound less than what I have been paying at Costco (which I never should've even done but I swear the first time I bought Costco organic apples the price WAS less than YDFM that week) and also I can pick and choose my own fruit vs. buying a big plastic container. The dried mango (I show this in the video) is half the price of what I paid at Aldi and tastes better and fresher.

Stop here and watch the video - the rest of this post is just my random thoughts and you can totally skip that. (If you do watch the video, hop over to YouTube and give it a Like would ya? Or even SUBSCRIBE OOOOOOH.)

Rambling thoughts about my recent grocery travels vs. YDFM

The tempeh? With a coupon and sale, that's cheaper at Kroger, but it's one of those "we're here already, just grab it" foods.
YDFM doesn't sell certain food my family likes to eat that I have to get elsewhere.
YDFM also only has food and sometimes it's easier to go to Kroger/Costco/Target and get not only food but also household items.
Right now Aldi has an unbeatable price on almond milk, for example (even with coupon, sale combo). Aldi also is likely the winner in snack food (though YDFM has some higher end items). But YDFM seemed to beat Aldi on fancy stuffed olives (in the video I show plain kalamata olives - unbeatable price for those for sure).
Costco's giant-ass blocks of cheese beat everyone else - but they're nothing special and certainly aren't organic. Both YDFM and our local Kroger (which has an entire special fancy cheese section) can probably beat Costco if I want something different....at least in a more reasonable size.

It takes time, energy, and gas to go to 5 different stores to save money. I could drive myself crazy trying to catch all the sales. I've started ignoring the Target sales. I've been also skipping some of the buy-X-things-save-$Y sales at Kroger even though they often include freebies or super-cheap things because I just don't have the brain space for that right now.

Also we don't go to Publix at all anymore and that used to be our main store - but there's a rumor I'm getting a Publix in WALKING DISTANCE of my house (right now I can walk to a tiny Kroger that has recently upped its game in the organic/healthy aisles). A Sprouts is opening in about 2 months that's around the corner, and soon after that we're getting a nearby Whole Foods 365 (supposedly a competitor to Trader Joe's). Oh speaking of TJs, as I'd hoped, most of these other stores have finally taken over my desire to go there. I simply cannot be good in TJs - but we do need a few specific things there soon (like the cereal bars my kid loves - no other store has an option that is both tasty and priced well).

This is all stream of consciousness rambling and if you made it this far, I congratulate you. I hope you liked my vlog and grocery haul!

Ten Things I Like to Eat Right Now - October 30, 2013

1. Pomegranates. Cut one in half and smack the shit out of it with a wooden spoon and voila, arils.
2. Real whipped cream. Yesterday was a weird day, but it was also grocery day. We're doing very well staying on grocery budget - GO US! - and shopping mostly at YDFM has worked out beautifully for a full month. My special treats have changed from a box of packaged something or other to some sort of fancy fruit or bread. This time my splurge was a one-cup container of heavy whipping cream, which I whipped by hand because I didn't think to see if the Vitamix could do it (it can, and it also can make butter by the way...) and ouch my arm. But cream plus a bit of sugar plus vanilla...and then I put dollops on parchment paper and flash froze that so that now I can have whipped cream in my coffee every morning. I am happy. (I also bought mustard seeds because I think I may try refrigerator pickles.)
3. Single-serve vegan chocolate chip cookie cake from this recipe. Note that her calorie count/nutritional information is absolutely ridiculously wrong - the cake is at least twice that and around 9 WW points, but it also makes a GIANT cake that is easily two servings. And it is delicious. I plan to halve the recipe the next time I make it but I will be making it again. Maybe with maple syrup or brown sugar or...
4. An apple in the microwave with a dash of allspice and a smidge of cinnamon. I put it in for a minute at a time and by the end I had something delicious. Also vegan apple cider donuts over and over and over.
5. Roasted cauliflower with Frank's hot sauce. Sometimes batter coated, more often not. See also: roasted zucchini chips with a sprinkling of parmesan.
6. A mini whole wheat pita from YDFM (nothing artificial, real real bread baked that day) with pears and gorgonzola (hot gorgonzola = amazing, I had no idea) and maybe some basil and spinach and onion.
7. Coffee with peppermint extract. Ideally chocolate coffee (like the iced mocha flavor I got on super clearance from Tarzhay). I am over pumpkin pie spice already and am ready for the peppermint/chocolate explosion that comes next.
8. Frozen banana ice cream. Recent realization: I always make recipes in the Vitamix by starting at 1 and cranking up quickly to high speed. But the banana ice cream comes out richer and creamier if I do that briefly and then run it on 2-3 for a short while. Ingredients? Frozen bananas and a splash of almond milk. And chocolate syrup after.
9. Brownie Brittle. It's a good thing this stuff is hard to find because it is amazing. I actually DID get sent a free sample of it from one of the various sampling programs I am hooked into, but this is the first time in a while that I have legitimately falling in absolutely love with the freebie to the point of having a friend with a Costco membership buy me a monster-sized bag that I ate rather quickly over the course of a week 5 days 4 days.
10. Steel cut oatmeal with maple syrup and almond milk. I make a cup of dry oats at a time, put the whole thing in a container in the fridge, and eat 1/4 of it as a serving - heated up in the microwave for a minute, then stuff stirred in, then another 30 seconds, it's perfection, really. And the kid likes it too.

Other things I bought on a whim at YDFM that I plan to eat over the next week: delicata squash, acorn squash, beets, radishes. My child keeps asking for strawberries, cherries, and watermelon, but I am trying to get her to understand seasonal food. It's bad enough that we buy sub-par tomatoes...

Trying a New Grocery Tactic - October 2, 2013

If you didn't already know, both my husband and I work from home as freelancers. And this means that every month our bills are the same but our income fluctuates. It's continually a learning experience, and we always have to tweak things.

Money has been a bit tight for a few months, so I decided to dig into some of our financial choices and see where new changes could be made. After a chat with a friend of mine, I wondered just how much we were spending on groceries. We never set a specific budget, but I was sure we were fine - I use coupons! I shop sales! I'm vegetarian! I don't buy a lot of processed food!

I went into my files and did the math and...no. We were not fine. We spend way too much on groceries. And we've consistently been overspending for months.

I do shop carefully. I do shop sales. I do use coupons. And my family shops at a range of stores to get the most bang for our grocery buck...and there is what we realized is one of our downfalls. Every time we go to a different store (ahem, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods being the biggest culprits), we get the deals and the items on our list - and then, somehow, we also throw in special items that we can only get at that store. Even if those special items are on sale or inexpensive, they rapidly add up. I admit it - I was in deep denial about this. (Also my husband throws ridiculous things in the cart every time...ahem.)

I still believe that spending more at grocery stores on special treats keeps us out of restaurants and keeps us from stopping for treats (we're surrounded by amazing donuts, cupcakes, popsicles, gelato...). While we overspent in this area for sure, we also dramatically cut back on our purchases of prepared food of all kinds. So that worked. But right now we need to cut back even more. Treats? I've been making multiple batches of these amazing baked vegan apple cider donuts and I'm eyeing a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies next. I'm working on it!

So where am I going with all this? We're trying a new experiment. For the month of October, we're going to only shop at Your Dekalb Farmers Market (YDFM) for food - or at least 95% of our food. (As I've noted in the past, YDFM is a warehouse sized grocery store that's full of organic vegetables, bulk spices, and a gigantic wine selection. It's an amazing store, basically.) I started listing the things that we can only get at a mainstream grocery store and it was very short. The prices on a few things at YDFM (which is cash/debit only and does not take coupons) might be higher than the prices at Publix, Kroger, TJs, Whole Foods, but I think that the general pricing will balance that out.

Better, we'll buy mostly vegetables and basic ingredients if we shop at YDFM. The store does carry treats and snacks, but they're higher quality and easier to avoid as well. One of the best deals is a fresh-refrigerated pizza - far cheaper than going out for pizza and much healthier (and handily beats any general grocery store frozen pizza in all ways). And I won't be swayed by sales or deals because there aren't any. I think this could work.

I will need to shop at Publix or Kroger on occasion - there's a big sale on laundry detergent coming up, for example. If there's some amazing deal on something specific, then we'll run in - and only buy that thing. Yes we will. We will! (Sidenote: I am very disappointed that Kroger has stopped doubling coupons and claims to have "lower prices" that are, in fact, not so much.) This isn't a strict challenge or a game, it's a process. It's about being more mindful.

I'm trying really hard to think of what else I might need from one of the larger grocery stores. Well...YDFM doesn't carry string cheese and I might go get that elsewhere (or skip it, haven't decided). While it does carry the almond milk I drink every day, I can get a much better price with a coupon at Kroger, so I'll probably buy it there. Or maybe try making my own. YDFM carries organic cow milk but it's not homogenized and, well, I prefer that, so we'll have to get it elsewhere. And don't get me started on YDFM's bananas....

There's also a bread issue (oh fine, I'll confess - the preservative-free fresh-made bread sold at YDFM is so much better/tastier/healthier than shelf-stable bread, and I just read Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal[that's a referral link, FYI] and I know all about the junk in grocery store bread, but the good stuff goes bad so quickly unless I freeze it and I know it is because it's supposed to but...it's one processed food I got used to! This will be a change), but I might be able to make that work, and my entire family would be healthier if we only buy bread from YDFM.

But we'll skip TJs (we just did a giant run there anyway...oops...) and WF for the month. And also for the first time in possibly ever, I have a dollar figure that is our entire grocery budget for the month, and we are going to stick to it.

This is new territory for me - I prefer coupons and sales and "I saved 50% this week!" - but it's not working. So this is a step. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Could this turn into "Every month I pick one store and only shop at it?" Maybe. But I actually think YDFM is the answer and the clear winner. We'll see.

Smoothie of the Day (and bread!) - September 20, 2010

Well, this part looked good anyway

I've been stuffy and sniffly and drippy for a few days - my chiropractor blames allergies and the changing seasons (it's still in the 90s every day - what change?) while I still think it could be something more sinister. My heart wanted a coffee smoothie, but my brain said no, be healthy. Be strong. Get your veggies in.

Behold, above this text, the smoothie-before picture. I'll give you a bit to look at it, because it looks so nice and innocent. I based it on the Ruby Smoothie from the Vitamix cookbook, with a few tweaks. One apple (Gala), a big bunch of kale, some unsweetened vanilla almond milk, some water, some raw honey from my friend's bees, and a handful of frozen berries from the Trader Joe's berry blend. OK, now scroll.

Yeah, not quite as appealing

How...greenish brownish. How swampy. How not at all what I was hoping for. And the taste was KALE with a hint of apple. It tasted healthy, you know what I'm saying? So I dumped it back into the blender with a half a cold banana and some frozen strawberries. That improved things enough that I'm drinking it. Sigh. Maybe later I'll make a coffee smoothie.

Here's a palate cleanser:

Nom nom nom bread

Just BEHOLD that bread. Take in the goodness. Click on it to read the ingredients. Look at how it was marked down just a touch (it was a day old) and yet even before the discount was reasonably priced. It was so good - I bought it on a whim at the farmer's market and have been dreaming of it since I gobbled down the last crumb.

Edited to add...that I myself did not read the ingredients closely enough, apparently. I ate the bread, I took the picture, and I thought "I'll post it on my blog so people can see it has things like cage free eggs!" I missed the partially hydrogenated oil in it. AKA trans fat. DAMN. DAMN AND DAMN AGAIN. Because that bread was so good, but I will never be buying it again. Sniff. How could you do this to me, farmer's market? My heart, she is broken.

Today was my daughter's first day back at preschool after her week break. She used her walker to RUN down the hall, and she walked into her homeroom with her hands above her head, cheering "yeah!" as she did so. Hooray! I'm more worried about tomorrow, when she realizes that yes, she has to go back every day, but today was good. Plus we picked up her first birthday party invitation from a classmate. The party is Saturday and I have plans to pick up a present from my favorite local independent children's bookstore, Little Shop of Stories.

I was going to shop today, but my husband just invited me to go see the Atlanta Thrashers practice, so I'm off to do that instead. Maybe I'll get some pictures I can share with you later...

Coupons aren't everything! (A savings post)

Om nom nom YDFM pile

I'm a big coupon user, and I love to save money, but coupons can also be a huge pain in the ass. Seriously. So look what I got without any coupons at YDFM - tons of fresh produce (mostly organic), including kale, broccoli, carrots, lemons, oranges, apples, bananas, red plums; mineral water; pomegranate juice; chia seeds (I'm going to try them in my smoothies); organic coconut oil; almond milk; cheese; and more, all for under $50. To me, smart shopping means making sure you get the most for your money, rather than spending the least amount possible. I tend to spread out shopping between YDFM, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods (and Harry's), Publix, and Kroger, with the occasional trip to a specialty market like Cherians or Super H-Mart. It just depends on the week, the fridge, the sales, the coupons, and what I have time for.

Oooh the bread! The bread!

Just look at this gorgeous bread. Look at it! Click the picture if you want to read the ingredients. It's not the cheapest bread I've ever bought, but it's absolutely the most delicious. Nom. I also have a weakness for their Italian bread, sourdough bread, baguettes...