Someone mentioned in a comment earlier about people who will buy six loose cans of beans (or anything) but yet often, those six cans are less expensive when packaged together but people just don’t pay attention.
I try to pay attention to things like that.
Near the first of the month, I look back at my previous four weeks menus to see what I’ve used that may need to be re-ordered to replace what I’ve used. I print my menus and put the menu for this week and next week on the fridge. Then as I take them down, I stick them in a drawer. At the end of the month, I use those, along with the menu plans I’ve made for the next four weeks to see what I need to order. No, we don’t always stick with the plan but say I have ham and scalloped potatoes on this week’s menu and we end up not eating it for whatever reason, I’ll just move it to the next week’s menu. Since I only have plans for four days, that accounts for days we decide to have a sandwich instead of a meal, go get food from a food truck or eat leftover pizza.
Saving a few pennies or even a few dollars a week isn’t going to make or break us financially but I love knowing I’m getting the best deal I can get. I think you know I’m not a tightwad and I buy what I need and too much of what I want but I don’t like wasting money and for me, buying two packs of cheese for $2 each, when I can buy one large pack that’s at least equal to the two packs and pay $1.80 for it, I can’t stand not doing that!
Again, not everyone will shop the way we shop. We buy pinto beans in 25 or 50 pound bags. We buy rice in 20 or 50 pound bags. Now that we have the Mennonite store near us, I buy all my flour in 50 pound bags. I really do spend a lot of time looking for deals and to me, it’s kinda like a hobby. I don’t mind doing it at all.
The other day we wanted to order garbanzo beans. I couldn’t believe how much the price had jumped on those. I checked Walmart, Target, Amazon, Food 4 Less, Sam’s . . not everyone has garbanzo beans. I also checked the places I buy in bulk but the least expensive place to order those was Vitacost.
Anyway, as I was looking at previous food orders, this one jumped out at me. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix is
Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix is $1.64/oz. if you buy the individual 1 oz. packet. It’s $1.25/oz. if you by the packet of 4 individual 1 oz. packets. If you buy the 16 ounce container at Sam’s, it comes to .536 per ounce, or $8.58 per container. So, you can go to Walmart and buy a four pack (4 oz) for $4.98 or you can buy a 16 oz. container at Sam’s for $8.58, use half of it, throw out the other half and you’ve still saved $1.38 but if you use all 16 ounces, you save $11.34.
What on earth would you do with one pound of powdered Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix?
Go to the Hidden Valley Ranch site and find lots of good recipes or here are some of my favorites.
Dip – This recipe is great for chips, veggies or crackers.
Crack Chicken (slow cooker) – I have this on an upcoming menu! Love this recipe.
Breaded Ranch Chicken
Snack Mix
Ranch Potatoes
Chicken Parmesan Meatballs (pressure cooker)
There are all kinds of recipes that use the dressing mix plus . . there’s always salad dressing that can be made with it!
Sibyl says
Judy I do the same thing all the time. An example of people just grabbing what they are used to—when grocery stores would put milk on sale–sometimes they would do 1/2 gallon for a dollar, when a gallon was close to 3 dollars. Of course I would get the 1/2 gallons, and usually there is someone grabbing a gallon jug. I would mention to them did you know the 1/2 gallons are on sale? Quite often way too often, they said oh I just need a gallon—well duh didn’t you know 2 of ’em make a gallon. I guess people only get what they are used to instead of thinking of the savings. I also get the Ranch dressing in the container. So much less expensive. I have done that for so many other items. I just have a hard time with some things being 3 or 4 times more expensive if you get a smaller quantity than a larger. Now if it is something I’d never use that much in a reasonable time–that is one thing–but everyday type things. I’ll pay extra to get it at a much better price per unit..
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Almost everyone shopping has a phone in their hand. Almost all phones have calculators. I don’t get it but there are probably a lot of people who don’t get what I do . . like sitting here trying to cross stitch with a cat on my lap . . who makes me sneeze, itch and have watery eyes. Yesterday, Boots sat all day with Vince. I was feeling kinda abandoned. Today, he won’t leave my side.
Sibyl says
About the calculators–I use mine at the store all the time. My biggest pet peeve there–is sometimes similar items will have different units–like 10 pounds of flour vs 25 pounds–but one shows in ounces, and the other is pounds. So I have to convert to see which is the best price.
Vivian says
I hadn’t seen that recipe for Crack Chicken before, but I’ll guarantee that’s something my husband would actually eat! (Except it would have to be breast meat, not thighs.) I think that’s actually a “first” – a recipe from you that my extra-fussy husband would actually eat!!! Wow! (Did I say “actually” enough times? LOL!!)
Catherina says
Hidden Valley pork chops are very good!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I forgot about those. Thank you!
Edna Gerrans says
I love how you think and plan. I have found a restaurant supply that allows regular folks to buy in bulk. So that is where I get frozen blueberries and oatmeal. I plan to go again in March and see if I can get frozen cranberries. The local stores were up to $2.50 for a 12 ounce bag. The beans however were not always the best price and garbanzos can really be hard to find here in New England. Target has them for $.99 a pound.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Our Target had them for .99 not long ago but the last time I checked, they were more and out of stock. That’s great about the restaurant supply allowing regular folks to buy!
Sheryl says
…Mississippi Pot Roast is also made with Ranch dressing. It’s delicious!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Yes, and I make that all the time. How did I leave that one out.
Rebecca says
.I didn’t realize that not everybody has unit pricing. I don’t see that it’s the law here in California, but it seems pretty universal (well, in the chain stores I shop), and have been as long as I can remember. They even show the unit price on sale items! The only thing is that some of the same product will have different units; like one will have ounces and another pounds.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
That’s the problem – sometimes it’s pricing per ounce; sometimes per pound and sometimes if it’s a multipack, the unit pricing is just per pack and often the unit pricing is incorrect. I was looking online at something and can’t remember exactly but say it was $4 for an 8 ounce container and it said the unit pricing was $4/oz. Didn’t even need a calculator for that one.
Rebecca says
-Oh, one more thing. John goes out to buy boneless skinless chicken breasts where I need about a pound. He comes home with a “family pack” and says he just canNOT pay almost as much for a small package! (Those big ones are usually much less per pound. Fortunately they can be easily frozen, and later cooked in a sauce so that frozen is fine.