6 Tips for Making Your Grocery Trips Count
By: Aviva Goldfarb, Six O’Clock Scramble Founder, cookbook author
I may be the last person that the supermarket owners want advising you about grocery shopping, since I built my whole business around avoiding trips to the grocery store. Because I don’t like to grocery shop (what a waste of precious time!), I have developed some strategies for making grocery trips count, so I can shop as infrequently as possible. Here are a few of my suggestions:
- 1. Trust the list: Keep your grocery list handy so you can add to it any time you run out of something you need to replenish. I stick mine to the side of the refrigerator so anyone in my family can add to it.
- 2. Check your freezer: Rather than buying more chicken or peas, go shopping first in your own freezer. By using what you have already purchased, you can save money and freezer space. For example, if you have some frozen seafood, just cook and top on pasta or salad and you have a meal! Gorton’s makes several great frozen seafood items, like Grilled Lemon Peppercorn Tilapia and Classic Grilled Shrimp.
- 3. Stock up on essentials: There are few things that irk me more than having to stop at the store just to buy milk or orange juice. Be sure to buy plenty of the things your family uses daily, so they can last until your next trip. (Note: Under Tips and Articles on The Scramble website we have listed the pantry essentials used most often in Scramble meals.)
- 4. Resist the candy and potato chips: If you don’t want to eat it (or you don’t want your family to) don’t buy it! Especially when shopping with kids or when we’re feeling hungry, it can be tough to avoid the displays of fabulous cupcakes or half-priced chips. Have a healthy snack before you shop and try to stick to your list, rather than getting thrown off course by foods you don’t want to eat. For me, that means averting my eyes when I pass the marshmallows.
- 5. Shop sales wisely: Is that sale item really going to save you money? In general, only buy sale items if they are nonperishable and are something you would otherwise buy. If it goes bad or sits in your pantry for 2 years, is it really a bargain? (I’m talking to you, 4-year-old-unopened-box-of-Lipton-Vegetable-Soup-Mix in my cupboard). On the other hand, if you can stock up on expensive items when they are in sale, and shop in your freezer before you go to the store (see item #2), you could save a bundle.
- 6. Don’t wait until the last minute to update your grocery list: I used to put off finishing my list, figuring that if I looked through the pantry and the ‘fridge right before shopping, the empty spaces would jog my memory of what staples I needed to restock — which leads me to my pet peeve (see # 3 above) – a second trip to the grocery store in the same week! Now I know myself (and my weaknesses) better and I add the items to the list as we run out of them, instead of waiting until the last minute.
P.S. Don’t forget to keep your reusable shopping bags in your car to protect our precious planet (and to keep zillions of plastic and paper bags from cluttering up your kitchen space).
I was sorting through a box of pictures and things today and I realized that I had saved like, ALL, the greeting cards I have received in the past 5 years or so. I could not believe how many there were…everything from wedding to baby shower, Christmas to birthdays!
I have saved them all because I feel that they have sentimental value but where on earth am I supposed to keep them? Right now they are piled in a photograph box and shoved into the craft closet. I just don’t know what to do with them but I don’t want to throw them away. Someday I will look back on my babies first birthday cards or cards that my husband and I have given to each other over the years and I’m going to want to read them. I want to save the memories but I also want some sort of order to it.
Anyone have any ideas?
P-daddy has been out of town for 2 weeks now, and surprisingly it’s gone by pretty quickly! Typically the first week drags on and on and feels like a whole month but that wasn’t the case this time. Thank goodness! I guess we’ve been keeping ourselves pretty busy, between preschool, dance class, coaching cheerleading, playdates, and a LOT of cleaning!
P2 looked at me yesterday and out of nowhere asked “where’s Daddy?”…like it took him two weeks to even notice he was gone! I guess that means Daddy works too much! 
Luckily, I haven’t had to hear the never ending “I want my daddy” coming from my daughter! Usually after he’s been gone for about a week she starts in with that at least 5 times a day! Maybe it’s because she’s getting older and she understands a little bit better this time.
Now, we just have to get through the next 4 weeks! With more activities planned and a my sister’s coming to visit, I am hoping that it flies by just as fast! I hate doing bath/bedtime by myself!
So Peyton, 3 almost 4, has been writing her name all by herself for a while now. She knows how to spell it and loves to get a piece of paper and a pen and write her name over and over again. When I picked her up from preschool the other day she rushed over with an art project (a piece of paper with different strips of colored tissue paper glued on) and as usual, she had written her name on it. Only this time it totally freaked me out! There was something different about it…she had written it backwards! I’m not talking getting confused and making the lines on the E go the wrong way, or putting the letters in the wrong order. She had put the letters in the correct order and turned them around so that if you hold it up to the mirror it reads correctly! She knows exactly what she did…when we got home, I handed her a piece of paper and told her to write her name the ‘regular’ way (she did) and then gave her a clean piece and told her to write it the ‘backwards’ way, and she did it without even hesitating! Guess she got bored and thought she’d try something new!
My little P’s and I made these for our Valentine’s Day treat. Although I did cheat this time and use a box of RedVelvet Cake mix, the Frosting is the best part anyways!
- 1 jar Marshmallow Creme
- 1 stick of butter, softened
- 1 8 oz. brick of cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and beat until smooth and fluffy!
We topped them with Wilton Message Hearts.
Creating a unique ‘mailbox’ to receive your Valentine’s is easy. All you need are a few supplies:
a child size shoe box- wrapping paper
- construction paper or scrapbook paper
- small piece of cardstock
- tape
- scissors
- markers
I took Peyton to the craft store and let her choose her wrapping paper and coordinating scrapbook paper. I told her to pick something pretty for Valentine’s day and this is what she chose.
First, you want to wrap the shoe box in the wrapping paper using tape.
Let your child personalize his/her mailbox by drawing or decorating the piece of construction paper. Peyton wrote her name and then used glitter glue sticks (her favorite).
Cut a flag shape out of your small piece of cardstock and attach it to the inside of the box with tape.
Last, attach the decorated piece of paper over the top of the box, securing with tape on the inside.
You can use this to collect Valentine’s at a school party or keep it up in the family room and have family members leave daily ‘love notes’ for each other in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day! The kids will Love it!
Well we have been hit with our second big snowstorm in the last 7 weeks. This time my husband was supposed to be heading to the west coast but couldn’t make it out and my mom and flown in Thursday night and was stuck! So combine me and the hubs, my mom, a 1 yr. old and a 3 yr. old, no power for 11+ hours and 2 feet of snow..this is what you get!
Its started snowing on Friday….
2-5-10 7pm
The power went out over night but came back on around 3 am. This is what we woke up to:
2-6-10 am
And it snowed and it snowed and it snowed…and P-daddy kept shoveling and shoveling and shoveling! I think he just wanted to get out of the house!
The power went out again Saturday morning around 9 am and by the time P2 was up from his nap we realized it wasn’t coming back on anytime soon. Time to entertain the P’s!
Yep, those are finger paints! It was actually P2’s first time playing with them…I’m a bad mom that likes to keep the messy stuff away from my kids until they’re at least 2 but desperate times call for desperate measures! Oh, and notice the garbage bags on the chair…they are great for keeping the chairs clean! You can also cut one open, drape it on the seat and tape it underneath then the whole chair is covered and spill proof!
Whipped up some home made playdough next! We also played cards, candyland, chutes and ladders, colored and built a fort in the living room! Then we realized it was getting dark and we gathered candles so we could cook dinner (thanks to a gas stove!) and have some light for the rest of the evening…
I was so glad that I love to decorated with candles…we had plenty of them!
When my cell phone died, I decided to brave the elements to walk over and check on my next door neighbor…
The 'wall of snow' around 7pm 2-6-10
I made it out of the front door and yep…
the snow was up to my knee...and I'm 5'10"
my footprints heading back to the house...
The snow stopped that night and we finally got power back on around 830 pm…we did it! We survived all day without power in the year 2010!
The next morning we woke up to find the sun shining but we were completely snowed in! The back ally’s are the last thing that the plows get to so my mother and I shoveled through 3, two-car-garage lengths to make enough room for us to get out and we finally did…Monday morning!
Gigi, trying her hand at snow shoveling!
the sidewalk
Park benches
someone's car parked on the street
the back ally before we shoveled it
And now for the really fun part (add sarcasm here)…we are getting another 10-20 inches tonight!!!!! This time my mom made it out and my hubs is attempting to get out this morning..it’ll just be me and the kids!
On my daughters first day of preschool, the teachers sent home a printout with the words to the Pledge of Allegiance. I was so happy to hear that they were teaching this to our children and that every morning they would be honoring our flag and our country by reciting the Pledge!
My husband has a ‘Man Cold’. If you all are not familiar with what that is here you go:
The Man cold: A man comes down with your average cold virus and acts as if he is on his death bed!
Yep, that’s right he has a stuffy nose, a sore throat, and is probably a little more tired than usual. Except if this happened to any one of us Women, we would go about our day as usual. Cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the kids.
He has gone and bought the entire cold medicine isle from the drug store and is guzzling orange juice (I want to tell him, uh Vitamin C is not going to do much after the fact). I would love to take cold medicine when I’m sick but, unfortunately I have to be coherent enough to take care of a 1 and 3 yr. old!
And the excessive sleeping! He came home from work and is currently sleeping on the couch next to me (it is only 6pm, the kids are in the other room watching a show and they still need bathes and to be put to bed). I want to rip the pillow out from under his head and beat him with it! UGH!
Now my baby is also sick. He has had a fever since Monday, now has a cough, stuffy nose, and isn’t eating…he gets my sympathy. The hubs calls on his way home from work and I tell him how horrible Preston is feeling. Do you know what he says to me? “ya, I feel horrible too. I haven’t felt this bad in a long time. I just can’t break this fever”. Okay, the man DOES NOT have a fever, is not dying, he has a freakin’ cold! GET OVER IT!
A super sweet Valentine’s Day tutu for your little sweetheart…and Too Tutu Cute is giving it away!
Red, Hot Pink, and Rosette Tulle with a special ‘Hugs and Kisses’ bow!
Your little princess will be a bucket of love at her Valentine’s Day party. And don’t worry, if she doesn’t have a party to go to, a picture day or dinner with daddy is a great place to wear this tutu also!
Want to win one for your little Valentine?
Visit host’s Leslie and Theresa this Thursday Night, January 28th for some Girl Chat and our Giveaway:
10:30 ET/7:30 PT
They will be giving away this tutu to one very special viewer during their show so don’t miss it!
