Kitchen Fun with Carol

Hello everyone! As I promised, I am going to discuss the process I went through to build my price book. I have read a lot of different books on the general principal of building a price book. Everyone has their theories and I think I have tried them all over the years to figure out what works best for me.

Method 1: The first thing I tried was to build my price book one product at a time. You start off by creating a page for each product that you want to track. You can use a loose leaf binder, spiral bound notebook, journal, or anything that you are comfortable using. The loose leaf notebook works well because you can easily rearrange the pages to make it easier to find the page you want to update. Each page in the notebook is dedicated to one product such as milk, peanut butter, bread, frozen peas, etc. On this page you record information about the product as you shop at various stores. You record the store, brand, size, price, unit price and the date that you recorded the information. The unit price is the price per ounce or pound. This allows to compare the different prices and sizes equally. For example, a 20 ounce loaf of bread is 69 cents at Aldi’s and a 24 ounce loaf of bread is 1.07 at Wal-Mart. The Aldi loaf unit price is .0345 per ounce. The Wal-Mart unit price is .0446. This means that the bread costs less per ounce at Aldi. It is good to go through this exercise. Sometimes it pays to buy a larger size if you are going to use the entire quantity. Here is an example of what a Price Book Page could look like.

I used this method 4 or 5 years ago. It is a good way to begin to collect data if you are not sure of the grocery prices in your area. It is also a great way to evaluate bulk food stores such as BJ’s, Sam’s Club or Costco. You are able to accurately compare the prices of food at your local grocery store to the warehouse clubs and determine which is the best place to shop.

Method 2: If this is too much work for your first time out or you only need to do a quick comparison on a couple of stores, you can start out with a simple comparison sheet.  We have two grocery stores that are right by the house. One is a large national chain and the other is a regional chain. All other stores are at least 20 miles away. I already know that I would not do most of my shopping at the two local stores. I mostly shop there for loss leader items. I really needed to compare the out of town stores.

I put together a list of the items that I wanted to compare. I sorted the items by category so that they were easy to find on the list. For example, I have a category for dairy items, frozen foods, meats, and produce. I then listed the stores that I wanted to compare. Once I filled in this information, I then added a space to note the lowest sale price I had ever seen the item and the date of the sale. I also noted what I thought would be a good sale price. I used this information to try and predict when the item would be on sale again do I could determine how much to buy when it was on sale. Here is a sample of my simple Price Book.

I started using this method about a year ago. It has worked well for me since I am familiar with a lot of the prices in my area. I was surprised by some of my findings. Some of the stores had better prices than others. In the long run it has helped me become a better shopper.

Which method is the best? I believe that you have to work through the process yourself. Everyone is different and every situation is different. Do what works for you!

Updates on Previous Topics

I love hearing from all of you after the newsletter goes out! So many people have great suggestions on topics or further questions on what was covered in the newsletter. I thought it would be good to share this information with everyone.

In the November 2006 issue of Chewin’ the News I shared some ideas on cooking gadgets that are great to have when freezer cooking.  This spurred a big discussion on the merits of Glad® Ovenware. As it turns out quite a few people use these for freezer cooking. I know that they are one of the best investments that I have made. They are easier to use than the disposable aluminum pans and they seem to last forever. 

I wanted to add a couple of items to the list of gadgets that I love to use. I received a nylon whisk for Christmas. I know it is only one month later but I absolutely love using this utensil. It is great to have a whisk that I can use in a nonstick pan and not worry about scratching the coating!

The second thing that I have grown to appreciate for baking large batches of cookies is parchment paper. If you have not tried it before, you should! It makes baking cookies so easy. The cookies do not stick to the paper so it is very easy to remove them from the cookie sheet.

In last month’s newsletter, the Freezer Cook of the Month winner wrote about how she uses price matching to save money while shopping. I had some feedback from this article. Jeannie from Vinton, Louisiana wrote:

I shop my local Wal-Mart here in Louisiana, and they no longer do ad matching on any sale price on any product. Several years ago I had a long discussion with a manager about ad match and the policy was then to only ad match name brand sales. They never substituted their brand for a sale on a competitors generic brand (i.e.: 10 lb bags of leg quarters on sale at a competitor under a generic brand  for .19/lb would only be matched if Wal-Mart sold leg quarters in the same style of bag produced by the same company under the same generic brand, etc). So my advice to everyone looking to do this is to speak with the management of their local Wal-Mart to get the facts straight about ad matching in their store. If the management is willing to do an ad match using Wal-Mart brands with sales on generics from others be sure and ask the manager which cashiers are trained to handle this form of ad match (all should be, but who knows). This way you know which cashier to go to in order to get speedy service.

Thanks for the information Jeannie. If you are considering price matching, take Jeannie’s advice and ask before hand. I have done price matching before at other stores and each store has their own rules. Make sure you find out what they are beforehand.

Bonus Recipes

Black and White Striped Cookies
These are such pretty cookies and they are very simple to make. When dipping the cookie for the second time, you need to because not to mix the colors. Make sure you allow the white chocolate to cool a little before dipping otherwise the regular chocolate can melt a little.

 

 

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Before Christmas my friend Julie came over and we made cookies together. This recipe is one that we made together. Her mother used to make these for her when she was a little girl. Her mom would make them and store them in the freezer for Christmas day. Julie and her brothers would sneak into the freezer and “steal” an after school snack!

 

 

Freezer Cook of the Month Contest Winner

Our winner this month is Michelle from West Valley City, UT. Michelle has a great story to share about her first cooking experience and how she was able to help others.

Let’s hear from Michelle:

I am new to 30 Day Gourmet and decided to get a few recipes off the board prior to ordering the book. Well, I got three and tested all of them the day I printed them. The next day, I sat down to make three of each dish to freeze and see how they worked after the original assemble and freeze. While cooking the meals, I got a call from a lady in my church asking if I could take dinner into a family for several days. I laughed because low and behold, there were the meals they needed cooking along with mine. I froze them up and the next afternoon, took all three meals over to this family. I explained to them what they had to do and that they could keep the ones they did not use in the freezer until ready to cook. This sweet lady called me that evening and asked me if I could possibly give her the recipe and find out how I was able to make the meal and freeze it. She said her family loved the meal and wanted to make more of “this kind” of dinners for the future. Well, I gave her this web-site and I am now hooked. Because of this, I will be ordering the book this week and can’t wait to try more. Thank you so much for giving me great recipes and an easy way to help others while making my life easier as well. I am HOOKED!!

Thanks for the wonderful story Michelle. It is great to be able to help others in their time of need and learn something new in the process!

So, how do you make 30 Day Gourmet work for you? How do you use it to help you deal with a challenge in your life? How do you use it to help others? Do you have a funny cooking story to share? Click here to send me an email!

Closing Comments from Carol

My son has discovered Alfredo Sauce. He thinks it is absolutely wonderful! I agree with him but unfortunately I know that it is not good for me. I am working on a reduced fat version that still tastes great. We will see if how it turns out. Next month I will share with you the next step after building a price book – building a master grocery list. I should be knee deep in planning my spring cooking menu so I will talk about how the price book works into that process as well.

Do you have any other topics that you would like me to cover? Click here to send me an email. I enjoy hearing from you!

Have fun in your kitchen!

Carol

Kitchen Fun with Carol

Hello everyone! I always like to review my cooking plans and quarterly menus after the fact. Holiday menus are no exception! It is always good to make notes on what recipes worked, which ones did not and what you would do differently next time. We hosted three large gatherings over the holidays. Each gathering had different menus. One was a full formal meal, one was a casual meal, and one was a potluck.

Casual meal: 

• Soft Tacos and Chicken Fajitas with all the toppings including Mexican Rice
• Layered Dip with tortilla chips and salsa
• Brownies and ice cream with Hot Fudge Sauce

Formal Meal:

• Turkey with dressing
• Green Beans
• Corn Casserole
• Mashed Potatoes and gravy
• No Knead Bread (below)
• Freezer Cheesecake
• Pumpkin Roll
• Carolyn’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Grandma Petrini’s Gingersnaps
• Pecan Pie Bars

Potluck:

• Turkey Wreath (using leftover turkey from the formal meal)
• Vegetables, crackers, and dip
• Freezer Cheesecake
• Pumpkin Roll
• Carolyn’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Grandma Petrini’s Gingersnaps
• Pecan Pie Bars

There are several things that I learned from this experience. It was great to have a lot of things made ahead of time. We made all the desserts ahead of time. It was so easy to make a double batch of everything and freezer it until serving day. We cooked the meat ahead of time for the Chicken Fajitas and the Tacos. I baked the chicken, sliced it, and then froze it in large freezer bags. I cooked the hamburger with onions and garlic and froze it in freezer bags as well. All we had to do on serving day was warm the meat up and add the seasonings. It was very convenient.

Another lesson that I learned was that it was hard to estimate the amount of meat needed when planning meals for a large number of children. We ended up with a lot of left over meat. Since it had already been frozen, we were unable to freeze it again. This meant that I had to plan other meals that used the meat that was left over. We used the left over chicken for Fajita Salad and we turned the left over Taco meat into Taco Chili. It worked out well.

On the other hand, I bought an extra large turkey for our formal meal so that I would intentionally have leftover turkey. I used part of the leftovers to make the Turkey Wreath for the potluck meal. I even had enough turkey left over to make more wreaths for the church Christmas party. It pays to plan ahead. This year I bought a second turkey that we cooked for New Years. I used the broth and extra meat to make Bowtie Soup (from the Lunches to Go ebook), Turkey and Cheese Hot Pockets, Turkey and Broccoli Hot Pockets and Turkey and Noodles.

One of our favorite family traditions is to make Christmas cookies. This year I found myself evaluating this as well. We made too many cookies this year! We made Sugar Cookies, Buckeyes, Chocolate Pizza, Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Sticks, Butterscotch Bars, No-Bake Cookies (members can access online), Chocolate Chip Cookies, Black and Whites and Chocolate Sandwich cookies. They were great but we ended up with too many leftover cookies. I ended up placing them in snack bags and putting them in the freezer. I packed them with my kids’ lunches for weeks. Needless to say, I think that we should scale back next year on the cookie production!

One fun thing we did was to create gifts from the kitchen. It is fun, especially if you have little kids on your list. This year we made Monster Cookies,  White Chocolate Snowmen and Peppermint Patties (recipe below). The monster cookies are fun. We made these for all the cousins in the family. Kids love big cookies. They are fun to make for birthday parties as well. The White Chocolate Snowmen are easy to make. Put two marshmallows on a wooden skewer to form the body of the snowman. Dip it into white dipping chocolate which is also known as almond bark. Then decorate the face of the snowman with decorating gels. Each snowman seemed to have its own personality. We made the Peppermint Patties for the grandmas and grandpas. After making them we wrapped them in plastic wrap, tied them with a ribbon bow and packed them in Christmas coffee cups. It makes a very pretty presentation.

And the last thing that I learned over the holiday was to be prepared. If you are not, you may end up with the dreaded “empty freezer” at the end of the holiday. What a shock it is to open the freezer door and see that it is almost empty! I was surprised. With this revelation, I realized that I have to prepare for my next cooking day!

Bonus Recipes

No Knead Bread
I love to make fresh bread in the winter. It goes great with fresh hot homemade soup. This is such an easy recipe to make. What makes it easy is the fact that you can make it in your mixer without the regular kneading that is usually required to make a yeast bread.

Another fun variation of this recipe is No Knead Rolls. One recipe will make 20 rolls. Instead of baking the dough in a regular bread pan you can put it in muffin tins to make individual rolls. It is such an easy way to make homemade rolls.

Peppermint Patties
My husband and mother-in-law love Peppermint Patties. This is a fun recipe to make and give as gifts. This recipe uses dipping chocolate. I like using dipping chocolate because it sets very quickly. This makes it an easy recipe for kids to make.

Freezer Cook of the Month Contest Winner

Our winner this month is Debby from Locust Grove, GA. Debby has some great tips on how to save money by price matching.

Let’s hear from Debby:

1. Did you know that Wal-Mart matches ANY price (not gimmicks like percentages off or buy one get one) in any ad, including groceries? If Kroger has their generic of an item on sale, Wal-Mart will match with their item if it’s the same size or qty. So, instead of going to 3 stores, I gather all of my grocery ads (Target, Walgreen’s, etc.) and circle the items I need in black marker. Then, I go to my Shopping List.
2. One thing that has helped me, both in freezer cooking and everyday life is having a pre-printed grocery list. It’s an Excel spreadsheet, one page, front and back. I have it divided by aisles in our Super Wal-Mart. On it are all of the items I buy on a regular basis: Jiff Creamy Reduced Fat Peanut butter, 40oz. for example. (This also helps when you send your husband to the store for you and he has NO idea what brand or size to buy, even though you’ve bought the same thing for the entire 7 years you’ve been married!) There are also blank rows for all of those “special items” that you buy infrequently. The columns are: quantity, item description/size, Wal-Mart price, price match, and store.

I hang my list on our refrigerator, along with 2 highlighters and a pen. When you run out of something, all you have to do is grab a yellow highlighter, highlight the item and write in the qty. (Even your husband can do this!) When shopping time comes, go thru the ads and find everything you need. If it’s a price match item from your ads, grab a blue or pink marker and highlight over it (so the color changes to make it easier to see those when you get to the register!). Write in the price that the ad has and which store. You’ll have to show the cashier the ad and the price. It will make checkout easier if you put all of your price-match things on the belt first, that way you don’t accidentally miss any! Beware though – many of them don’t know how to do it! As soon as she greets you, tell her that you have price matches, that way she can call for help right away!

Doing this helps in several ways:

• As you use the last of something, you just highlight it and it’s on the list.
• No more running from store to store!
• Your husband won’t by a tiny jar of expensive peanut butter instead of the massive cheap one that everyone likes!
• You know right away when a sale is actually a good deal! So any times, I’d see a price in an ad and ASSUME it was a good sale price! NOT!
• Catching the meats on sale, you can stock up and save BIG!

It takes a little work, but here in Georgia where things are so spread out it takes more time to go to 3 different stores! Not only have I saved as much as 68% on my groceries by price matching, but with the price of gas I’ve also saved money!

Happy saving!”

Price matching is a great idea – especially when you are doing your shopping for cooking day. Knowing your prices can help you save a lot of money. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

So, how do you make 30 Day Gourmet work for you? How do you use it to help you deal with a challenge in your life? How do you use it to help others? Do you have a funny cooking story to share? You can post your recipes on the 30 Day Gourmet Facebook® fan page or click here to send me an email. 

Closing Comments from Carol

Next month I will share with you my recipes for the Black and White Cookies and the Chocolate Sandwich Cookies. They are both fun recipes that are great to make for a school Valentine’s Party. We have taken both cookies to group gatherings and there are never any leftovers. I will also take your through how I built my price book and turned that information into a master shopping list.

Do you have any other topics that you would like to cover? Do you have any nagging questions that need to be answered? You can post your recipes on the 30 Day Gourmet Facebook® fan page or click here to send me an email.

Have a Happy New Year!

Carol