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Saving Money the Old-Fashioned Way

Sep 3

Posted by admin in food, grocer, news, shopping

The old-fashioned way: One penny at a time. It works and a grade-school mathematician can convincingly say it adds up.

Here’s a simple way to test the concept and put more money into the grocery bag: Buy some store brands instead of some national brands. According to a Consumer Reports blind taste test (October 2009 issue) of 29 food products, 23 store brands  tasted as good or better than the more expensive national brands. They found this to be true with Costco’s (Kirkland) Organic Salsa, Target’s Archer Farms Chewy Soft-Baked Cookies, and Wal-Mart’s Great Value Whipped Topping. These three store brands beat out Old El Paso, Pepperidge Farm, and Kraft respectively.

No need to be shy about trying the store brands– the savings can be impressive, and many grocery stores are confident in their in-house branding approach that they offer a money-back guarantee if customers are not pleased.

In another Consumers Reports study just released, they ranked and rated 18-high fiber cereals and found 7 distinct products noteworthy including Kirkland’s Signature Spiced Pecan Cereal (Costco) which cost 33 cents a serving and proved a flavorful fiber choice. Archer Farms (Target) High Fiber delivers 10 grams of fiber a serving, and Wal-Mart’s Great Value Raisin Bran is considered a strong choice for raisin bran purists.The others were all national brands: Kashi GoLean Crunchy, Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Extra, Post Shredded Wheat Spoon Size Wheat ‘n Bran, and Barbara’s Bakery Ultimate Organic. Cereal can be costly, but you should be able to find sales either in a store’s circular ad or part of the Sunday newspaper coupons. Now that you have the fiber list, you can clip or do online grocery coupon savings.

There’s money in these aisles. Especially when someone elseweg'sgrocery_large does the taste-test homework.

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More Fish to Ponder

Aug 18

Posted by admin in dining out, grocer, health, news

No matter what food you choose to purchase, cook, or order from a menu, there’ll be some discussion about the wisdom of the choice. Is it farm-raised? Are the eggs cafe-free? Was it humanely slaughtered.? The list seems endless as we have become more aware of our surroundings and the impact of our decisions.

Fish and seafood selections are often the core of heated dialogue. Knowing which fish to eat and determining its sustainability: Is it wild, farm-raised, US waters, etc creates a complicated conversation.

g_sfw_card_tnA handy pocketsize guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium takes the guesswork out of the equation. Each section of the country has its own regional seafood watch. A so-called “best choice” fish has high availability and is caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. The guide also has updated recommendations for some of the most popular fish choices such as shrimp, cod, and tilapia.

Greenpeace recently issued its annual supermarket report card (“Carting Away the Oceans,” a retailer scorecard) for fish.Some grocers improved, but Trader Joe’s , a progressively smart chain, still fails in the sustainable seafood category, but plans to make adjustments and follow the guidelines from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

In other grocer/sustainability news, Wegmans took marlin off the menu in response to the national campaign to prevent the fish’s extinction. Giant Food partnered with the experts from the New England Aquarium to make certain they are following sustainable practices. These are significant changes; all welcome news.

No single program can change everyone’s eating habits, but the ongoing program from The Humane Society, the Canadian fish boycott (The ProtectSeals Network) encourages chefs, grocers, and shoppers to avoid Canadian fish until the fishermen stop clubbing and killing seals for the highly prized fur. A quick tip: Avoid crab legs from Canadian waters.

We worry about so many issues: Overfishing, under supply, extinction, and mistreatment. All these considerations help us narrow our choices into smart decisions.

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I Love A Good Fight

Aug 15

Posted by admin in Economy, grocer, lifestyle

It’s actually about time that grocers have taken off the gloves and decided to toss the barbs into an open ring. No more double and triple coupon challenges, they are onto the real thing: Lowering Prices. Yes, we’ve read about this type of strategy, but seldom experienced it. Seriously, what’s taken them so long?

It’s doubtful if shoppers will return to their anything goes routine anytime soon. Too many unanswered questions about income, health care, and overall cost of items: It’s still the economy. Even in the midst of increased at-home meal preparations, the focus remains on what is purchased. How much did it cost? Could you have gotten a store brand? Why are two products with identical ingredients so different in price? These are the issues driving consumers to find the lowest prices for the foods they want, and with the increase in store brands, some of this shopping strategy has become easier.

Look at Costco and its house-brand, Kirkland318459f. They’ve been strong contenders in private labeling for years and continue to expand the product line.

In the U.K., Brits are enjoying a real price war. Nothing like this has broken out to that extent yet in the U.S., but we do have multiple players making the same pitch: We have lowered prices on XXXX items (hopefully they mean more than 40 items)! Just this week Whole Foods continued its strong message that they are the go-to store for not just healthy foods, but foods that are reasonably priced. They added coupons to all their e-mail newsletters and have the Whole Deal Value Guide prominently displayed for shoppers to take advantage of immediate savings. They are also promoting “money-saving tips.” This is not the old Whole Foods. They heard. They’re onto something.

Safeway has new banner signs that proclaim they lowered prices on thousands of items. They also moved into personalized coupons, discounts on items you regularly purchase with savings automatically linked to your card. This is in response to Giant Foods‘ earlier aggressive price-lowering strategy that proved successful.

What has taken grocers so long. Was their bubble one that projected things would be fine and everyone would be happy to live the good life again.

Not so fast. These cannot be temporary fixes. The situation has become a permanent lifestyle change. Listening does not end with tiny glimmers of hope.

Keep on lowering.

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My 5-Ingredient Campaign

Aug 5

Posted by admin in grocer, health, lifestyle

IMG_0282You’ve heard of all these Buy Local campaigns to support growers, farmers, and producers.

Here’s mine: Take the Grocery Store Challenge. For all those products you need to have on hand for last minute meals and ease of life, limit the ingredient count to five.

When was the last time you looked at what’s in bread crumbs, pancake mix, syrup, or cake mix? Yes, four random products but each with the same story: Too many ingredients to tally; too many unknowns. If you need to put on your glasses to read what’s in a product, then you maybe should take a pass. Look at the 4 so-called staples, kitchen standards: Each could be made without too much effort, and with few ingredients. They may all be time-savers, but the ingredient list should frighten us into cracking crackers, working with flour, or buying all natural maple syrup.

As we take away the ingredients, we add to the healthy side of eating. What do these words mean anyway? What are all these ingredients?

Read the labels and take the grocery challenge: If there are too many ingredients, return the item to the shelf.

In some respects, I think Haagen-Dazs’s campaign sorted this out for me. Their ads now cleverly say there are actually six ingredients: You add the spoon!

Limit the confusing, unclear items that can help create a column of unknowns.

Join my campaign.

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Not Your Mama’s Wheaties

Jul 27

Posted by admin in grocer, lifestyle, news

Sometimes a product loses its shelf space luster. It gets lost behind all the new rollouts. That’s certainly been true of the soda or pop aisle. Actually, some stores have moved the waters, spring, filtered, still, sparkling and house brands, into their own aisles so both types of beverages get the draw. Shelf space visibility is critical.

If you think you hear the beverages crying out for attention, you should spend some time in the cereal aisle. So many choices; so many iterations of the basics as in Special K and Cheerios and their long line of cousins (with fruit, nuts, in cereal bars…). Rather than continue to feel neglected, Wheaties is about ready to flex its muscles again and move up to the top of your shopping list. With so many choices, it’s not easy maintaining a consumer’s attention.

The 85-year old brand has a special focused product coming out 09/09/0Wheaties_85th_Anniversary_Box_Image9, a new highly-marketed Wheaties (Watch the Evolution–it’s muscle-power) that appears to be marketed directly (solely?) to men. The Breakfast of Champions will have a new line: “Fuel. Win. Evolve.” Exactly how that’s going to affect my low-fat milk and fresh blueberries is still uncertain.

I love a mystery.

Stay tuned.

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Is the Fish Fresh?

Jul 15

Posted by admin in grocer, news, shopping

180px-Herring2We’ve all been in the situation where we ask the purveyor, fish counter person: When did that piece of fish come in? How many times have you heard the answer: Just this morning. Or, maybe they say, last evening. Our suspicions run to the top burner as we are never certain. Oh, yes, there are obvious eye tests of freshness as in color, shape, and form. Some people even like to touch the fish to test its firmness and maybe even smell it. Nothing holds a candle to the newest advance that promises greater reliability.

Now there is a freshness indicator that will put our anxiety into check. Fresh Direct, the New York City full-service grocery delivery service has adopted a star rating system to help consumers select the best fish for the day they want delivery. The Daily Seafood Rating System (which is similar to their produce rating program) takes the guesswork out of selection and makes meal planning almost effortless. The company believes that more consumers will venture beyond their “regular fish selections” and depend on the rating system to try different products.

There are guides and an abundance of recipes to help us sort through the taste differences and cooking methods (click on the link for recipes) for a broad range of fish. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, a fish rating system will become an industry standard.

Then we can just select the fish and not ask the question.

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Here’s a Shocker: Panic Over Food Safety

Jun 27

Posted by admin in grocer, health, life

food_technology_dyk2IBM, yes, that IBM, conducted a food safety study and learned that 60% of Americans are concerned about the safety of the food that they purchase. An even higher percentage say they study the label more carefully than maybe they did before the continual rash of food recalls. Another way to look at the significant study: Less than 20% of consumers trust food companies to develop and sell food products that are safe and healthy for them and their families!

IBM figured out that they  could wear a newer, more critical hat that has moved them into food safety and monitoring.

The early June study was conducted in the 10 largest US cities with adult grocery shoppers (once or more a month) and revealed even more about the American consumer:

–83% could name a recent food product recall, with the largest percentage citing the peanut butter recall. Yes, we do love our peanut butter.

–49% said they would be leery of purchasing a product after it was recalled.

–63% said that they have changed the way they shop in the past two years because they want better value for their money. Locavore alert: Almost half define the change as a search for fresher foods; 76% want more information about a product’s origin.

What do all these numbers tell us: The consumer is smarter about his money and is seeking out value and quality with a concern for freshness.

With all the food recalls, we are a worried consumer society reaching out to get the latest information about safety. We have lost confidence in our suppliers.

We want to know and are prepared to act based on the information.

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A Little Footnote or Two: Updates

Jun 17

Posted by admin in grocer, health, life, news, shopping

carrots-vitamina-lgIt seems no one wants to be ignored on the antioxidant bandwagon. Look at this latest product that should add to the confusion: Kraft Foods has decided to up the ante in the sugar-free Jello department. Health writers are all over this, and I appreciate the detail and the absurdity of the concept. Are we all that gullible? Now, carrots…

On the Ciao Bella front, I found the product at Target. Sorry for the omission, but the Mango Sorbet should not be omitted.

On the grocery smart scanner input, not all is as it seems. Yes, it is definitely fun to get a free item when the price comes up incorrect on the scanner. It is just  a little confusing when the scanner offers you savings on products that do not match your profile. Let me say do not even approximate a match. Some of the offers today were so not for me that I hope whomever is typing in my card number is having fun. So kinks still need to be worked out, but as for fun, I’m still loving the scan and bag approach.

One final note on the grocers. It seems that tracking is so powerful that your absence from the aisles is actually a positive. I just received a survey questionnaire and 4 separate $5 off coupons from Harris Teeter. They miss me. That’s sweet. They wonder why I haven’t been there in a while. No problem. For the coupon savings, they have me at least 4 more visits. I love being loved; especially with a $20 savings.

Life goes on.

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What's Good for the Goose

Jun 16

Posted by admin in Advertisers, Environment, grocer, health, life

..may not really work for everyone. Trends are like that–they come; they go. No matter how many superfoods, aka, miracle ingredients or products that get special label marketing can survive the reality test. There is no cure-all for life’s realities: Aging and all its precursor cousins. Sure some fruits and vegetables are particularly healthy in and of themselves, but we cannot live on them alone. No matter what. It’s becoming a challenge to separate the wheat from the chaff. Ok enough of that.

Realistically, confusion centers around the importance of antioxidants. It seems if you write high in antioxidants on the label, that almost guarantees high sales! How do these claims get tested? Who monitors reality? My favorite antioxidant claims are on products that are well known antioxidant fighters–fruits already high in antioxidants now jump out of the bins and off the shelves if they have the antioxidant banner.sunsweetantioxidant

What are these antioxidants and can we really get enough or the right amount from food? The foods that are naturally high in antioxidants are the easiest to take. If you’re going to concentrate on antioxidants and its benefits, summer is a wonderful season for you with its own natural bounty of antioxidants: BERRIES. Eat up, enjoy, skip the hype; it’s a natural occurrence. On the vegetable side, gardens are just beginning to produce the ultimate summer joy: TOMATOES. Sure there are numerous other foods high in antioxidants, and many antioxidant health claims may actually bear fruit.

Then there’s the whole beta carotene discussion. The old universe said eat your carrots. Limited explanation followed other than the statement: They’re good for you.  Now they are not just carrots but a food high in the all-important, necessary beta carotene, an important antioxidant. Don’t forget when you visit the farm markets, there are other easy choices: beets, cabbage, and kale, for example.

Then there is the new wonder product, the acai berry.  It seems to be touted everywhere. Unclear what it really does for you. It’s possible that no one knows the real answer, but when a product gets so heavily promoted so quickly, it moves into my suspect category.

Foods that promise can only promise more than they can deliver. Great skin, perfect eyesight, immune boosters, anti-aging, diet loss are just some of the claims that are part of the promise universe. We are looking for too many cure-alls.

What works is the same thing that has always worked: Smart eating. Not overeating.

That I am sure of.

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No Shock; Just Comfort

Jun 15

Posted by admin in Economy, FDA, food, grocer, life, news

Even though there are some signs that indicate we may slowly be emerging from under the dark economic cloud that has reshaped so much of our country, the reality is that consumers have changed their buying habits. We are different, and the hope is we will have learned something that has stickiness.

There is nothing surprising to hear that comfort foods are still the rage. Why not? Well, maybe a little salmonella scare here and there, but peanut butter and  jelly top many lists. There’s protein and multiple beneficial ingredients, and the price is right. It does not mean we deviate from our brand purchasing, but that in some instances we are more careful. Some studies indicate that in cautious times we are less likely to experiment with a new brand, even a much less costly alternative, and stay with an old friend. M&M’s plain chocolate candy was one strong, popular purchasing indicator from this survey of almost 25,000 consumers.

Candy, of course, is about the reward. Why take a chance on something you’re not certain will provide the boost you need? Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars all scored high. Wonder what this says for all the new Dark Chocolates which every company seems to be touting?

Across the aisles in the packaged meat case, bologna is a major winner. Some attribute its recent and continual spike in sales to a return to the foods of our childhood. They worked then and seem to be playing a similar comfort role. Definitely will need to talk healthy foods. Don’t even want to know how to make bologna!product_logo_reeses

If Mom served what we considered old-fashioned foods such as peanut butter and jelly or bologna sandwiches, we hear the message. It worked then; it works now.

Grocers clearly recognize the new patterns. We see it everywhere. The Wegman family just discussed how shoppers have changed than they were a year ago. The company’s direct price-cutting actions, which greatly impacted their already slim profit margins, earned them new customers and a different approach to marketing their stores. It seems to be working.

Will we return to the shoppers of yesteryear, as in last year?

I hope not. I hope we are smarter now.

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