Preparedness Project June 2013
Here's a quick glance:
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Preparedness Project June Issue
Here is the latest newsletter for June 2013. Please note, due to the Expo, there were no April or May issues. Additionally, this is the last regular issue of the newsletter. I've given you the basic information you need for gathering your food storage and preparing for emergencies. I'll continue to post more in depth information on topics as I see fit.
Preparedness Project June 2013
Here's a quick glance:
Preparedness Project June 2013
Here's a quick glance:
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Updated Grocery Price Comparison 2013
Sister Beach and I have been trying to update prices for the local grocery stores. I made a spreadsheet back in 2010 and it's amazing, and quite depressing, how much costs have gone up. Three years makes a HUGE difference!
I'm sure we don't all purchase the same items, but I hope that by sharing this, you might be able to get an idea where is the cheapest place to buy groceries.
It's been quite the learning experience trying this. As most of you know by now, Kroger has changed it's coupon policy and it's pricing methods. I used to think the "old way" was confusing enough, but now I think it takes a PhD to figure out all their sales. They have "Summer sales" (good through Sept. 8), 10 for $10 (sometimes on these it just means everything is $1, and you can purchase however many items you want), and other 10 for $10 mean you have to purchase EXACTLY 10 items-no more, no less, to get the discounted price. Now they have "Buy 4, get $4 off", "Buy 5, get $5 off", "Buy 8, get $8 off" and "Buy 10, get $5 off". Is that confusing enough?
Meijer doesn't have quite as many sales, but they do have some. They have their "Buy 10, get the $11 free" (which means you need to purchase 11 items, and they will each cost $.90 each). They also have similar "10 for $10" (but you don't have to really buy 10), or the "Buy 5, get $5 off". They also have "Price Drops" which usually last a couple weeks to a month.
I think the biggest shocker, besides the price of meat these days, was that I learned something new about the "pricing strategy" of the stores, and it BLEW MY MIND. Have I really been naive all these years?!?! You know when you go to the store and they have the "sale" tags, and right above it is the so-called "regular price"? Well, some of the stores are MARKING UP the so-called "regular price" during their SALE, so it looks like a better deal. So the pizza that was $5.99 last week, regular price, is now on sale for $5.49, with a regular price of $6.99 listed! I think it's down-right fraudulent in my mind, but that's the way they work. So you really need to know what the REAL regular price is, so you can make your own decision as to whether or not it's a good sale or not. I was in the store today and I even saw one that said, "Sale-2 for $6.00". I pulled the sale tag off and found that the regular price is already $3.00. So it wasn't on sale after all. YEP! They are doing this.
And before you put the item into your cart, take a second to check out the EXPIRATION DATE. Here again, I've been trusting the stores to rotate their products. I happened to see a post yesterday that was complaining about the local stores not rotating items, so customers were purchasing expired items. I didn't really think it could be that wide-spread. Well, I happened to be at the store today and decided to check the expiration dates on the 4 items that I purchased. Low and behold, the mayonnaise EXPIRED SIX MONTHS AGO! I heard salad dressings, mayo, and dairy products are the main ones. So check your dates!!
Ok, so let me give you a quick heads up on this Excel sheet. If you see a ( ), it probably means it's a generic/store brand name product. I didn't do this for all the items, but it's there on some. Under the "sale category", you may see two prices. The first one is the "normal sale price", if there is such a thing, lol. And the second one is one of the better sale prices, such as "Mega events", "Cart Busters", etc. Those are the prices that you want to "STOCKPILE".
Be sure to compare the oz/lb/ct on the items as it may have been cheaper to purchase a bigger bottle at another store. In the past I've done all the division and highlighted the best price for each item, but I don't have the time to do that right now. Most of them you can figure out the best price with mental math.
And lastly, remember that these are SPRING/SUMMER prices. Baking products and canned soups usually are discounted around WINTER holidays. So the prices may be quite different now, from what you were paying in November. Maybe this Nov. I'll update the prices and see how much of a difference there really is.
Download the Excel file here: 2013 Grocery Price Comparison
Happy Shopping!
I'm sure we don't all purchase the same items, but I hope that by sharing this, you might be able to get an idea where is the cheapest place to buy groceries.
It's been quite the learning experience trying this. As most of you know by now, Kroger has changed it's coupon policy and it's pricing methods. I used to think the "old way" was confusing enough, but now I think it takes a PhD to figure out all their sales. They have "Summer sales" (good through Sept. 8), 10 for $10 (sometimes on these it just means everything is $1, and you can purchase however many items you want), and other 10 for $10 mean you have to purchase EXACTLY 10 items-no more, no less, to get the discounted price. Now they have "Buy 4, get $4 off", "Buy 5, get $5 off", "Buy 8, get $8 off" and "Buy 10, get $5 off". Is that confusing enough?
Meijer doesn't have quite as many sales, but they do have some. They have their "Buy 10, get the $11 free" (which means you need to purchase 11 items, and they will each cost $.90 each). They also have similar "10 for $10" (but you don't have to really buy 10), or the "Buy 5, get $5 off". They also have "Price Drops" which usually last a couple weeks to a month.
I think the biggest shocker, besides the price of meat these days, was that I learned something new about the "pricing strategy" of the stores, and it BLEW MY MIND. Have I really been naive all these years?!?! You know when you go to the store and they have the "sale" tags, and right above it is the so-called "regular price"? Well, some of the stores are MARKING UP the so-called "regular price" during their SALE, so it looks like a better deal. So the pizza that was $5.99 last week, regular price, is now on sale for $5.49, with a regular price of $6.99 listed! I think it's down-right fraudulent in my mind, but that's the way they work. So you really need to know what the REAL regular price is, so you can make your own decision as to whether or not it's a good sale or not. I was in the store today and I even saw one that said, "Sale-2 for $6.00". I pulled the sale tag off and found that the regular price is already $3.00. So it wasn't on sale after all. YEP! They are doing this.
And before you put the item into your cart, take a second to check out the EXPIRATION DATE. Here again, I've been trusting the stores to rotate their products. I happened to see a post yesterday that was complaining about the local stores not rotating items, so customers were purchasing expired items. I didn't really think it could be that wide-spread. Well, I happened to be at the store today and decided to check the expiration dates on the 4 items that I purchased. Low and behold, the mayonnaise EXPIRED SIX MONTHS AGO! I heard salad dressings, mayo, and dairy products are the main ones. So check your dates!!
Ok, so let me give you a quick heads up on this Excel sheet. If you see a ( ), it probably means it's a generic/store brand name product. I didn't do this for all the items, but it's there on some. Under the "sale category", you may see two prices. The first one is the "normal sale price", if there is such a thing, lol. And the second one is one of the better sale prices, such as "Mega events", "Cart Busters", etc. Those are the prices that you want to "STOCKPILE".
Be sure to compare the oz/lb/ct on the items as it may have been cheaper to purchase a bigger bottle at another store. In the past I've done all the division and highlighted the best price for each item, but I don't have the time to do that right now. Most of them you can figure out the best price with mental math.
And lastly, remember that these are SPRING/SUMMER prices. Baking products and canned soups usually are discounted around WINTER holidays. So the prices may be quite different now, from what you were paying in November. Maybe this Nov. I'll update the prices and see how much of a difference there really is.
Download the Excel file here: 2013 Grocery Price Comparison
Happy Shopping!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
BYU-TV on Preparedness-Wealth at your Finger Tips
You don't have to be a Cougar Fan to love BYU-TV!! They have some fantastic shows, but two of them are perfect when it comes to Preparedness...
"Living Essentials" covers a variety of topics that we deal with in every day life. I've watched them on everything from home organization, budgeting, depression later in life, communicating in marriage, canning meat, solar ovens, food storage basics, family dinnertime, a sick child, infertility, retirement planning, investing, etc, etc. So much information!! And it's all explained in "down to earth" terms so that even I can understand it! I think Gordon is getting tired of me watching and then quizzing him on it. After the retirement planning one, I asked him all about our 401, annuities, IRA, etc and tried to see if we were diversified enough and on track for his retirement. And I love the fact they they are only 30 minutes, and many have demonstrations. I feel like I could go buy my pressure canner today and do chicken without reservations,after watching the show.
Here's a link to all their shows: http://www.byutv.org/show/9e945bac-b08d-4f4e-a0c5-bdc28e6d6f03/living-essentials-from-byu
"Home Grown" is another program, with the same host as "Living Essentials", and she walks you through everything about gardening. We started with "how to plan a garden", "soil", etc and have now watched ones on "bulb vegetables", "container gardening", "Square foot gardening", "Irrigation", etc. The one on soil was very informative and helped me to know what I needed to mix in my clay soil to get it workable for landscaping. The one on square foot gardening has really inspired me to try that method because you save so much space and I like the fact that I don't have to try and make my clay soil "workable".
As far as food storage goes, I even learned some things there that I didn't know before. They said that commerically canned foods will last indefinitely if the can is not bulging or dented (and if stored in a cool, dry, place). Same with "Crisco" (this brand is the only one that guarantees this). The experts on the show also don't worry about rotating spices. If they start gettin old and weak, they say just to add more-don't worry about rotating it. They also talked about powdered milk and how the recommended amount for one year is 50# per person. They said that you can decrease this to 16# per person if you increase the grains to 400# per person. But you won't get all the necessary calcium you need so storage a vitamin.
One thing they mentioned on water storage was that it is NOT RECOMMENDED to use 55 gallon barrels that had soda pop syrup in them. They said it's because the sugars in the syrup eventually leach into the plastic and become a breeding ground for bacteria. Ok, I guess I might be able to understand this, but I'm not giving up my barrels. I figure I can always treat the water when I want to use it and that will take care of any bacteria.
Here's a link to all the shows: http://www.byutv.org/show/a5c0c27f-d930-4fbe-8ae7-f59e30f98a83/homegrown
Happy viewing!
The Preparedness Project-May 2012
I am excited to announce the first issue of The Preparedness Project, my monthly preparedness newsletter. Each month we'll cover a different topic of focus-everything from storm prep to 72 hour kits and more. Here's a sneak peek of the first issue, covering the most important topic, water:
You can download the entire issue here:
Here is a worksheet to help you organize and calculate your water storage needs. You can download it here: Download Ready Steps Worksheets
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