I finally am back to posting about my grocery shopping trips — after a long self-imposed hiatus while I finished writing my second book. I know some of you have missed these posts and I’m excited to bring them back again!
I stopped by the health food store while I was out and about on Saturday and was so glad I did! Here’s what I got:
Health Food Store Shopping Trip
Blueberries — $1.99
3 3-lb. bags of potatoes — on sale for $0.69 per bag!
5 apples — $0.99/lb.
3 pears — $0.99/lb.
5 organic oranges — $0.99/lb.
8 grapefuit — on sale 4 for $1
I love it when I get deals on fresh produce — especially organic produce!
Lisa Pepper says
You mentioned above that you’d just finished your 2nd book. Is it out yet?
Crystal says
The manuscript is written (which is the lion’s share of my work) and turned into the publisher, but there are still months of edits and other things ahead of us. It’s slated to be in bookstores in early 2014 and I’ll keep you all posted!
Thanks so much for asking!
Marie says
I think it’s such a blessing that you have that health food store and a Dollar Tree that has bread!! God knows our needs. He never fails to amaze me with the deals I am able to find. Many times they are unadvertised and I just happen upon them but I know it’s God’s blessing. For two years in a row now I have wondered into Aldi’s for a regular trip and walked out with 30lbs of fresh chicken breasts for under $1 a pound.
Diane says
Looks delicious! Nothing better than fresh fruit! I do love your grocery trip posts.
Shelly says
This week I was able to get avocados for $.50 each. Strawberries in one pound packages for $.50 each. Two cantaloupes for $.50 each and kale at $.25 a bunch. My best buy recently was fresh blueberries for $.22 a pound. I found them at my local discount grocery store. I bought a whole case of 9 pounds. I wish I would have bought more at that price.
Kara M says
I’m so glad you’re back to doing your grocery store posts also! Although, your posts about your finds at your health food store make me terribly jealous and envious. Nothing like that remotely around these parts I call home!
Rebecca @ Swappin Spoons says
Thanks for sharing!
Here are a couple of my recent trips.
Stocked up on vitamins and more at Publix—Saved $87.19, Spent $1.84 in Tax! http://swappinspoons.blogspot.com/2013/02/publix-trip-saved-8719-spent-184-in-tax.html
Then a here’s another trip, where I Spent $9.83 and Saved $215.72
http://swappinspoons.blogspot.com/2013/02/publix-shopping-trip-spent-983-and.html
*Most everything from this trip was donated.
Karen says
I will pay you to take our grapefruit. I’ll even pick them for you.
Crystal says
You don’t like grapefruit?!? We love it around here!
Karen says
Oh, we love grapefruit. But there is a limit on how much fruit, juice, and sorbet one family can eat. We planted three grapefruit trees and never considered just how much fruit each tree would produce. Unlike my sad apricot (who only gave us a dozen apricots last year), each grapefruit tree has at least 100 fruit–all at least 5″ in diameter.
My mom took a suitcase full of grapefruit home to Alaska. I wonder what the TSA thought about that suitcase.
Crystal says
Maybe start asking your friends to barter for grapefruit? Or bless a local shelter? When I have an abundance of something, I always pray that God will bring opportunities for me to bless others with it — and He never fails to do so!
Diane says
Grapefruit is awesome! I agree with sharing with a shelter, ours will take fresh produce or friends or your church or whatever groups you are involved in. And having it picked fresh can’t be beaten!
Kim says
People taking medications need to be very cautious when eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice. The body does not absorb certain drugs normally if consumed within 24 hours of having the grapefruit or its juice. In fact, the drug can build up to toxic, even fatal levels in the body. It can be VERY dangerous. Certain allergy medications, blood pressure medications, heart medications, & anti-rejection drugs (taken after someone has had a bone marrow or organ transplant) are among the effected drugs. The university here took grapefruit off its hospital menu, because of this, when I was a nurse there. If you are taking medications, please ask your pharmacist about a possible drug interaction with grapefruit.
Here are two links the FDA has on the topic:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm292276.htm
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/SpecialFeatures/ucm341437.htm
Kim says
Certain cholesterol lowering drugs also interact with grapefruit/grapefruit juice.
Shannon says
Seeing those apples also makes me wonder if there is a homemade applesauce recipe that is for the crockpot. I am buying the Aldi applesauce and feel guilty because my toddler can eat practically the whole jar in a few days and I know I need to learn to make it so I can add natural ingredients and less sugar.
Crystal says
Yes! Here you go: https://moneysavingmom.com/2011/01/homemade-crock-pot-pear-sauce-or-applesauce.html
Whitney says
Applesauce is so easy in the crockpot! All you need to do is cut the apples and remove the seeds (remove the peel if you prefer), add any spices you like (cinnamon, vanilla etc) and maybe 1/4 cup of water. Let that sit for a few hours until you can mash it with a fork. If you want it really smooth you can use a blender once it’s cooled. Hope this helps!
Jen says
Homemade applesauce is SO easy. If you buy a few 3 lb bags of apples, you can peel and core (technically you could just core but my daughter doesn’t like apple peel 🙁 ). Add about 2 cups of water to a large soup kettle and your apples. Boil them until they’re soft. The recipe I have from my parents says to add 1.5-2 cups of sugar, but that seems like a RIDICULOUS amount of sugar to me. If you’re using sweet apples to begin with, you should only need maybe 1/2 cup of sugar. We always add cinnamon to our applesauce, well, cause it’s just yummy that way. Bring to a boil again to ensure your sugar has dissolved.
If you’ve got a canning kettle, you’ll want to be boiling your jars, lids and tops while the apples are cooking.
Can the applesauce leaving a small space at the top of each jar. Return the jars to the boiling water and let them boil for 10 minutes. Take them out of the water (use oven mitts so you don’t burn your hands) and in a few minutes, you should start to hear the popping of the lids. This will tell you that you’re jars have sealed.
I think Crystal’s recipe might freeze the applesauce. I’ve never tried that before, but I’d guess it would work just fine.
Good luck.
Shannon says
Oh my goodness! Thank you ladies 🙂 I really appreciate all of these wonderful recipes. I’ve never made homemade applesauce and wasn’t sure if I could do it to taste close to the store bought kind but these recipes all sound great. I’ll take a little bit from each recipe and the canning is something I dream about doing someday soon. Thank you so much…
Shannon says
Amazing! Thanks for sharing. This reminds me that I went to activate our new Sams Club membership you posted about and was pleased with prices on their bananas at $1.48 for a huge bunch of them. I was not please about the grape prices at $7.50 though 🙁 That is the standard price for grapes this time of year I think and that is my 2 year olds all time favorite fruit. I probably need to go back and check Aldi’s grape prices.
Suzanne H says
I am curious about your plans for the potatoes. My store has had 5 lb. bags of potatoes for $1.49 recently – cheaper than buying just a few loose. I bought a bag a few weeks ago – made mashed potatoes but ended up throwing out the 2nd 1/2 of the bag as they went bad. Just bought another bag and have a plan for 1/2. I am planning to give away the other 1/2 unless there is some great freezer recipe or something?!?!
Stephanie says
I have potatoes last at least a month in my pantry. But I do have to make sure they are dry when I put them away (sometimes a bag will be a little wet and then they go bad).
Marty B says
Mashed potatoes freeze pretty well. Raw potatoes on the other hand do not. So make extra and put them in the freezer for another meal.
Mary G says
waxy potatoes (red, Yukon Gold, etc.) will freeze fine once cooked–e.g., potato soup–but Russets do not freeze well. I sometimes peel, chop, and cook potatoes with chopped onions to have with beans in tacos. Potatoes mixed with some veggies can also make a nice curry. You could also cook chopped potatoes (with or without some chopped veggies) in a skillet and then top them with eggs.
Rachael says
I freeze russets. both baked and boiled. but I’ve not had good results trying to mash the potatoes post-freezing.
Rachael says
When I find potatoes at $0.20 a pound, I will buy 15 pounds (and its only Hubby, Little Boy and me!). Cooked potatoes freeze fine and I’ve both boiled and baked the potates and have used them in soup and pot pies (I’ve not had good results with trying to mash them post freezing). Raw potatoes will turn black once defrosted, as I discovered this last weekend after freezing a small batch of raw, cubed potatoes.
The key to storage is dry, dark and cool. Wet, light and warmth will ruin potatoes in various ways. If you can provide a bit air flow that’s good. I have a large Styrofoam cooler that my father-in-law used to bring a bunch of cold stuff down when they visited. Its in a large cardboard box, and I leave the Styrofoam top off, but close the cardboard box. It helps keep the potatoes cool, but keeps them from freezing when the air gets that cold (they are in the garage). I’ll figure something out once it really starts getting hot, but this works for winter. If you’ve got a basement or cellar, that’s the best, just put them in a basket to allow air flow (nothing air tight).
Julie says
If you bake the potatoes, peel them, shred them, portion, then freeze – they’re AWESOME has browns. Just pull a bag out of the freezer, pop on the griddle or pan with a little butter. Fry until brown, flip, fry on other side until brown. Season. SO delicious!
Crystal says
Thanks so much for this tip!
Kim says
I empty a bag of potatoes into a cardboard box & cover it so that it’s dark & they seem to last longer. If you store them in a dark, cool place (like a basement), they’re supposed to last longer. I think the last batch has lasted me at least 2 months. Make sure to use any with bad spots up first. Then I use the ones that sprout up next.
I made this last night & just used mustard instead of purchasing turmeric. I also sliced turkey sausage & 3 freezer burnt hotdogs (hmm) I had in it. I probably made a double recipe. It’s really tasty! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ethiopian-Cabbage-Dish/
Other ideas: potato salad, vegetarian or regular shepherd’s pie, potato soup, cheeseburger soup, shredded potatoes in chili or other soups, hamburger cooked with sliced potatoes.
You can also go to allrecipes.com, click on “ingredient” located under their search engine, & type in potatoes &/or other ingredients you have on hand. It will pull up all sorts of recipes with potatoes in it.
Crystal says
Thanks for all the ideas!
Crystal says
I’m making potato soup this week and will probably do mashed potatoes and maybe Taco Potatoes. We use quite a few potatoes around here, so I doubt they’ll go bad.
You can freeze mashed potatoes, by the way: http://www.theyummylife.com/how_to_freeze_mashed_potatoes
Marty B says
I am still jealous of the great deals your store has. I am trying to buy more organic and less processed foods and the prices make my head spin. Thanks for sharing though. 🙂