Grocery Shopping From Home

Amazon ... not just a book store anymore.
















When it comes to online shopping, most people have some experience with big companies like Amazon, Overstock, QVC, Home Shopping Network, and eBay. All have their advantages and pitfalls much like physical stores do. Yet in this time of rising gas prices and the need to save money on groceries and other necessities these online stores can save you both time and money.

Although I’ve shopped at all of the stores mentioned previously, Amazon is my favorite. They have an extremely generous return policy and simplify the process (although I’ve only had to return two items over the last 10 years I’ve shopped there). And Amazon carries more products than most other online retailers. You can literally purchase a HD television, a new bikini, the latest DVD release, a gift basket of fine chocolates or Omaha steaks, and a home gym all in one shopping trip. And many items have free shipping.

Recently Amazon started selling 25.000 items of non-perishable groceries and nearly every one of their grocery items includes free shipping if you purchase a $25 minimum. To make this an even sweeter proposition, Amazon offers both clearance items up to 40 percent off and monthly deals with discounts up to $25 off special purchases. (Example: Save $15 today when you spend $39 or more on any combination of eligible Kashi products and similar deals).

Amazon also features a ‘Subscribe & Save’ option on most groceries. If you know you’ll need that favorite coffee or protein bar delivered every one to six months sign up and save.

Here’s the deal straight from Amazon: “For September, find instant rebates on many popular brands and hard-to-find specialty items, including Kellogg's, Gatorade, Slim Jim, Peter Pan and many more. Find all our current deals in Sales & Special Offers.
Plus, these and all products offered in Grocery are eligible for Amazon Prime and FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.”

My last order from Amazon included Folgers Gourmet Coffee and DeCecco Pasta and I saved over $15 in instant rebates and another $13 was saved on shipping. I shopped leisurely in my jammies. And I save on gas!

Honorable Mention Shopping Sites:

Lensshopper – Contact Lens Price Comparison

iGourmet - Specialty Cheeses, Fine Foods, Exquisite Gifts

Netrition.com - The Internet's Premier Nutrition Superstore!

Reasons Dieters Get Stuck & Solutions - Number One: Making Mistakes In The Grocery Store

Reason Number One - If you buy it, you will eat it!

Your first defense against getting stuck on your diet, plateauing, or even gaining weight while "on program" is making the right decisions in the grocery store.

Here is a perfect example:















I bought this Sam's Choice Roasted Garlic & Rosemary Chicken Kit at WalMart. Now my eyesight is not what it used to be I admit, and bifocals complicate the matter. I read the nutrition information and ingredients list while WalMart did that danged annoying "dim the lights every two minutes to save electricity" thing I absolutely abhor. It gives me a headache. At 300 calories, 9 grams of fat, 17 grams of carbs (I figured that was the sauce), and 37 grams of protein per serving (4 in all) I judged the product an acceptable choice. It wasn't until I got it home and looked at it in decent lighting I realized it had potatoes in it.

Now, if I was on a carbohydrate cycling phase that would be okay. But I wanted all chicken! I thought I was buying chicken! Not potatoes, for diet's sake. The product's name mentions nothing about potatoes. And to me the photo looked like chicken in the lousy lighting. On the bottom of the back of the box in small print it says "Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Potatoes". And if you really look closely at the photo a few of those yellow slices actually look like potatoes. Maybe I should have caught that. I still say the box is misleading.













Well, I cooked it and ate it anyway. I can't afford to toss good food to the dogs even if it's not the best choice diet-wise. But this just goes to show, even reading the package isn't always enough. I should have just bought a package of skinless chicken breasts and spiced it myself. Next time, I will. My attempt at buying a shortcut backfired. To top it off, the ingredients list was a mile long and had things that do not exist in my kitchen.

Solution Number One: shop carefully, read labels, and avoid buying packaged foods - even if they appear to be healthy. When at all possible, buy fresh whole foods and cook them yourself. The extra time spent will be worth it.

By the way, this product did not save me any time. The chicken meat was raw and frozen, and it took a lot longer than the "preparation time 20 Minutes" listed on the package. I cooked a hamburger in a separate pan and ate it before the chicken even cooked. Convenience my arse.

On the up side, I'm back down to 119 pounds today. And the cranberry extract supplement is improving my urinary tract infection. Yeah!

They're Taking Over! But They Are Soooo Cute!

Frugal Shop-a-rama

"Say what? Cheese? How about tuna."
















Every 3 or 4 months our local Smiths grocery store has a case sale. Buying in bulk saves a lot of money and right now just about everyone I know is cutting corners someplace. Well, by stocking up on non-perishables like tuna, peanut butter, chili, and soup, we saved $158.30 today! We bought a case of Bumblebee tuna, a case of JIF, a case of chicken noodle soup, a case of tomato soup, and two cases of Hormel chili. See photos of my plunder below.

Gasoline was $3.52 a gallon this morning. Groceries are higher than even a few months ago. The price of hay cubes went up, and so did our satellite television and water bills. Amazingly we're not feeling it too badly. We've made minor adjustments like we eat out less (yeah for my waist line!) Instead of once every weekend we eat out once every three or four weeks. (Partly because the last time we ate out Bruno pouted most of the time and didn't eat his food. We can watch him pout and waste food just as easily at home. Not to mention the food and atmosphere is almost always better at home).

I've started using coupons again - mostly because Smiths prints them out and shoves them at you and they're tailored to our usual purchases. I saved another $5.50 today alone from they're targeted coupons on stuff I buy anyway. And I'm buying less unnecessary items like magazines, books, and DVDs.


But I refuse to cut corners when it comes to cheese!

And of course after purchasing all that food Bruno demanded the one case sale item I passed on - macaroni and cheese. Luckily we had nearly a case in storage.

Eeeeuh! It's not even real cheese! It says "real cheese" on the package, but it looks like orange powder. Soylent green, Soylent orange...Soylent GROSS. Soylent Green was my favorite movie in junior high. (Not to mention Charlton Heston was hot back then).

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My cats don't even like tuna flavored cat food, let alone tuna despite oggling the cans. But, do not regularly feed your cats canned tuna intended for humans. It can cause a vitamin B1 deficiency and even death.