Today, Kaitlynn and I had a little outing to the health food store and Aldi. I wasn’t planning to go to the health food store since I’d already gone on Tuesday, but Kaitlynn loves to go there (they have little children’s carts and samples!) and asked if we could please go, so we stopped by. And I was so glad I did because I found some great deals!
Health Food Store Shopping Trip:
3 loves of Rudi’s Organic Bread — marked down $0.99 each
1 bag of Rudi’s Organic Hot Dog Buns — marked down to $0.99
3 bags of Rudi’s Organic Bagels — marked down to $0.99 each
1/2 gallon of organic milk — marked down to $2.99
2 4-packs of priobiotic drinks — marked down to $0.99 per pack
1 bag of avocados — marked down to $0.99
1 bag of sweet potatoes — marked down to $0.59
2 bags of oranges — marked down to $0.99
2 bags of apples — marked down to $0.99
Spent $19.35
Aldi Shopping Trip:
1/2 gallon of orange juice — $1.79
2 cans of refried beans — $0.69 each
1 dozen eggs — $1.16
1 bag dried cranberries — $1.39
1 bag oranges — $1.49
2 bags baby carrots — $0.99 each
Tortillas — $0.99
2 packages of cheese — $1.79 each
Lemon Juice — $1.89
Spent: $16.79
walgreens had their eggs on sale for .99 this week, so i went in today (two days after the sale started) and of course they’re out of stock already. no problem, i thought. i’ll go across the parking lot to aldi’s, which always has good prices. their eggs were 1.52/doz. i nearly screamed in frustration! sometimes it’s so discouraging to see your good deals, knowing they never show up here like that…. i’m happy for you, but sad for the rest of the readers like me who never get a chance to get good prices like that.
I’m so envious of the deals you get at your health food store. I’m in NYC and can’t seem to find a bargain like you do. I’m so intrigued by your posts, though…
I would love to hear if anyone knows of a health food store in Delaware. The only one I was aware of near me, just closed. Just not a large enough population to support it.
I wish I could find great deal like that! For Christmas 2 of our friends gave us this big bag of GLuTEN free food taht they had found on sale at Whole Foods. I was just in shock and in HEAVEN!
I have Albertsons and Stater Bros… and havent been able to get such great deals 🙁 or maybe i am not shopping right.
I almost stopped reading your post on your health food finds because I was so jealous (I couldn’t because I’m genuinely happy for you). I live in a larger city so all we have are chain stores. However, I had no clue our farmers market was open year round! One post had a table the size of a small grocery store produce department which had markdowns. All bags were one dollar. Granted everything was on the edge of ripeness, I’ll have no problem using them. All locally grown! Score!
Any readers in the Greenville, SC area know of any health food stores like this around town? I’d love to find somewhere like it!
Also, Crystal, a little off-subject, but I’m hoping to do some freezer cooking in the next 2 months to prepare for the arrival of our baby in March. Do you have tips for ways to freeze things (packaging, etc.) or a list of foods that don’t work well to freeze? Thanks!
I have a Freezer Cooking section here with all my Freezer Cooking links/recipes:
https://moneysavingmom.com/downloads/freezer-cooking-planners
My best advice is to just jump in and try it! Freezer cooking bags and foil work best and make sure the air is all out when you stick them in the freezer.
I came across some great bargain mark downs at my local Kroger recently for fruit. Do you all just put the fruit straight in the freezer or do you have to prepare it anyway before its ready to be frozen?
Im in awww at the prices of food. No Aldi’s here and no health food store other than Whole Foods an hour away. Cost of living is cheaper here in Arkansas but having lived in the north and watching all my favorite blogs, I can tell you groceries are very much more expensive.
That’s a great health food store you have! We never find those kinds of deals at ours. The only thing I’ve ever found marked down were overripe bananas.
@Cathy, Make banana bread!!!
I grew up in Florida and we were often given oranges by friends who had orange trees in their yard. A great way to use up a bunch of oranges is to peel them with a knife all the way through the white pith. Then cut it in half top to bottom and then slice crossways. Catch all the juice you can and put them in a bowl and add some sugar or other sweetener. Let stand for 30 minutes giving it a few stirs. My children used to beg for these. We call them sliced oranges.
What do you do with all that bread/produce, especially when (I assume because of the markdowns) that it is all near expiration? I am really and truly clueless in the kitchen, but would love to take advantage of markdowns the way you do… so need to know what you do with it all! Fruit only seems to stay good for about a week (I live in Reno, NV, not sure if the lifespan of food is the same everywhere). We live in probably one of the driest climates in the nation, but our bread still molds quickly. Thanks for any tips you may have.
We freeze the bread and then just use it straight from the freezer. You never have to worry about it going moldy this way!
As far as produce, I often juice it, freeze it or find another way to use it right away. I try to only buy what I know I can use fresh within a few days or put in the freezer.
I’m not sure if you guys have tried the refried beans from Aldi before or if this is your first time- but I don’t think they taste good at all! Really weird after taste. It’s one of the few disappointments I’ve had with Aldi. I agree with the other posters, it is so easy and cheap to make your own refried beans! We do the same crock pot method and then mash. SO good!
We’ve used them a lot and never thought they had a strange after taste. However, they recently switched brand names, so I’m anxious to see if we like these or not.
@Crystal,
The brand in your picture (Benita) is the kind we’ve gotten and not liked. Maybe we’re just used to the yummy homemade version, though :).
Do you have a link to your recipe? You’re convincing me maybe I should try again!
@Crystal, Here is the recipe I use: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Refried-Beans-Without-the-Refry/Detail.aspx
I cut the salt to 3 tsp and definitely add the cumin! You can adjust the seasonings more to your taste during the mashing process, too. Sometimes we’ll add taco seasoning* to them and use it as a taco filling. Cheap, easy, and SO good! I hope you have a chance to try it out, you won’t be disappointed. 🙂
*Taco seasoning: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Taco-Seasoning-I/Detail.aspx
Thank you so much; added to my list of “Recipes to Try Soon”. 🙂
wow, the eggs at your Aldi are “expensive” compared to mine! I’ve never seen them for more than 49 cents here in Dallas, a few times they were 29 cents!
@whitney, Wow. Believe it or not, in sc, the cheapest eggs are 1.29 at trader joes. Aldi is next at 1.49. You are lucky.
Wow!
Aldi’s here in Dallas has their dozen of eggs for $.49 cents and the milk is $.99 cents. I love how they dont have any brand named foods and they are delicious. I tried the belguim chocolates and fell in love with chocolate all over again. I have also bought the sugar free popsicles and my granddaughter loves them and my husband can eat them too since he is diabetic. Theres alot of food to choose from that I have never tasted. I have also tried the spicy spaghetti sauce and I mixed it with thier regular sauce and it gave it a nice spicy taste to the meal! But if you dont like spicy dont get it cause it is kinds spicy. Thanks for all the helpful hints Crystal God bless you!
My daughter is on a baby carrot kick lately. She dips them in peanut butter or just eats them plain. I had to stop her from eating carrots for awhile because the tip of her nose turned an organe tint!
Better than her wanting junk, though
@Dana @ The Coupon Challenge,
That should say orange
@Dana @ The Coupon Challenge,
I LOVE to dip my baby carrots in hummus!!
I love seeing your shopping trip posts – you did very well with the Rudi breads and bagels. We don’t have any health food store like that near us. I see that you have 3 bags of oranges – I know they last a long time in the fridge, but were you going to do something special with them? That’s a lot of oranges. Also the avocado – I just bought 2 hard avocados from Meijer on Monday & went to use them up yesterday (Thursday) & they had brown spots and lines through them. Already! Do you freeze your avocados or will you use them up asap? I find avocados hit or miss.
We’ve been having some colds running through our family so we’re juicing oranges to get in lots of Vitamin C.
I’m planning to make guacamole with the avocados.
I bought some Rudi’s English Muffins and Hot Dog Buns today – and even with the good prices at the military commissary, I didn’t come close to those prices. That is an awesome deal!
Crystal’
For some reason I’m not receiving email updates like I normally do. Just wanted pass it on to you to see if it was just me.
Thanks,
Robyn in ATX
Hi Robyn, We updated the feed recently. Did you happen to see the post in which it explained how to switch over? The other thing you might do is check your Spam folder to see if it’s getting sent there for some reason. Let us know if that doesn’t help!
@Amy Lynn Andrews, I think I got it now. I had FeedBlitz resend my password and I added it to my contact list, hopefully that works. The last email I received was on Wednesday, about the Walmart Deals this week, then they just stopped. Thanks for your help!! -Robyn in ATX
I love Aldi!
Since I can find most of my pantry items for cheap or Free, I love to shop Aldi for produce and meats. Their meats are pretty fresh to me. Towards the end of the month I always find their meats with $2 stickers on them or B1G1 Free!!
@Bernell, I found some ground sirloin for $2 off. It wasnt greasy like the regular ground beef is.
MAN! I wish we had a health food store with deals like that… Great deals.
I check out my health food store often for deals…and nothing! So I hope you know how lucky you are 😉
I agree with Marie. I wonder the name of the health food store you go to. We just moved to Colorado and they don’t have an Aldi here but they did back in Omaha and I miss it.
Great deals though! I went to whole foods tonight and there weren’t any super great deals but I got a few things.
@Sarah,
Colorado has some great places too. Hopefully you live near a Sunflower Market and can take advantage of their great produce and meat sales. I like bargainblessings.com as a resource for store sales in the Denver area!
Ours is just a local store with only one location.
You all must really like oranges. 🙂
We’re juicing them, so we can go through a bag every other day. 🙂
I wish I lived near a health food store. 🙁
Have you made your own refried beans? I put a crockpot of pinto beans on at night. In the morning add taco seasoning, smash, and let cool then place in freezer baggies.
This is a great idea. I am going to try it.
@Mary C, More info please! So you put a bag of dried pintos in the crockpot, but:
1. I assume you rinse/pick thru first…
2. How much liquid (and is it water or a broth) do you use in the crockpot?
3. Do you set it to low or high temp?
4. Do you drain the liquid off in the morning before seasoning/mashing? Do you add fresh liquid, and if so, how much? Or do you just leave the old liquid? Throw in a packet of taco seasoning and nothing else?
5. Do you use a potato smasher or electric beaters?
Thanks for any help.
@Amanda,
yes, I rinse and drain.
at least an inch of water over the beans. add accordingly just to keep covered closer to being done.
2 TBS of oil
salt to taste .
leave liquid
add taco seasoning. I use one packet for 1 1/2 lb of beans.
potato masher or mixer
cool then place in baggies to freeze
Easy lunches or dinners of bean / cheese burritos when we are in a rush.
We’ve tried doing that before, but I’ve yet to find a recipe my family loves as much as the storebought kind.
I keep crossing my fingers to find Rudi’s on sale. It’s the only bread I’ve found that’s soy free.
Have you thought about making your own refried beans. We started a couple years ago because of food allergies and they are so much better than the canned!
@Theresa, Can you provide your recipe? We love refried beans, actually beans in general, but I only ever attempt to cook my own beans for white chicken chili (great northern). Would love a recipe to make refried beans from scratch?
On another note, Crystal I am amazed at the produce deals your locally owned health food store is able to offer and still stay profitable!
@Jen, Oops, maybe I should have read further down before posting this request. 🙂
@Jen,
My recipe is here…
http://coffeebeankisses.blogspot.com/2009/05/beans-beans-musical-fruit.html
I’ve noticed they’re best fresh as the freezer seems to dry them out a bit, but just adding a bit of water when reheating does the trick.
I saw that you purchased the Kalona Supernatural milk! I live near Kalona and their products are the best! If you ever have a chance to buy their yogurt-buy it-you won’t regret it!
I was wondering the same thing about your health food store — you seem to get great mark downs. We have a Health Foods Unlimited, and it’s always so pricey, hardly every any markdowns.
I’m curious what kind of health food store you got to. Is it a branch, like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, or is it a local only type. You seem to always find amazing deals there. Do you know if they mark down on certain days of the week?
And on the side note I LOVE Aldi’s!! When I don’t have time to super coupon Aldi’s still saves me tons!!!
It’s a local store with only one location. They just happen to often have marvelous markdowns — which I am thrilled about!
When you buy a bag of marked down sweet potatoes what do you with them before they go bad? Do you make something with them and freeze it?
Julie,
My mother in law cooks them immediately, peels them and freezes them!
She just takes them out whenever she’s ready.
@Bernell, Can you do this with regular potatoes? Would imagine you would need to peel an Idaho potato BEFORE you cooked it though, then you would freeze the whole potato? Or maybe you could peel, dice, cook, then freeze? Thanks…
@Bernell,
Thank you.
You can cook, mash and freeze them or use them in place of oil in baked goods. However, we usually go through them pretty quickly around here, so I rarely have to worry about them going bad.
@Crystal,
Thank you. I am pretty new to freezing so I am just learning what can and cannot be done. What do you find is the best way to thaw your frozen items. In the refridgerator? If so, how long does it usually take?
Here is a $1 Off Rudi’s coupon for the next trip to the store 🙂 http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=yadxdtd14833769&bt=vg&o=80555&c=RB&p=TM19tGXi
@Dana, Oops! It’s only for Rudi’s Gluten Free Bread.
I wish we had some health good stores down here! I live in Orlando and all we have us a high priced chain called chamberlains! Wow! You really hit the jackpot! Look at all of that beautiful produce! I can’t believe they were mark downs! Awesome!!!
Great deals especially at the Health Food store! We always enjoy the prices at Aldi’s. We got a tray of cookies at Aldi’s on clearance after Christmas when we were having 10 guests stay with us for a week for $0.25 each.
Love hearing about your adventures! Thanks for sharing, glad you had some time with Kaitlynn, I love shopping with my kids too!
Wow, that health food store you go to has amazing deals.
It looks like Aldi cut the price on their OJ! Yeah! I have been waiting for that. I am going on Saturday, but yesterday I went to Publix and spent $3 on more than $50 worth of groceries.
We do not have any great health food stores around here, and I sure miss the ones we had up north.
JR
Frugality Is Free