What is this store, "Kroger", you speak of?

I follow the $5 Dollar Dinner blog. It's a really great website dedicated to dinners that serve 4 for under $5...hence the name. It usually features a meat main dish, which I don't typically make here at home, but it's interesting to see some creative ideas for inexpensive meals. That being said, the foods used to prepare these "$5" dinners are from a store called Kroger. Flash forward to yesterday (Back to the Future except for Forward to the Past), and there is the "coupon mom" on Oprah getting, like, $120 (or some other similarly disgusting number) of groceries for $37. Now, I've always wanted to do this. As a kid I would look through all the circulars...I can remember wishing that I needed to sale shop, make a budget, and make cheap meals.

First of all, if I could collect coupons and use them, I would, but the two stores I have access to and shop at (like many people in Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Downtown, or the North End), Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, don't have too many foods that you can use coupons on. WF does provide some, which I will use if I need. (This month's "circular" type publication has a great coupon which makes Horizon organic eggs less than the just cage free ones. So, I grabbed a bunch of copies and will now have cheaper organic eggs until 4/30/09). Even if I did shop at Shaw's or S&S, the money I would spend on the train alone negates some savings, and their goods are just generally more expensive (My boyfriend, Mike, and I will usually walk to TJs and save the trip for a beautiful day). I saw an interesting comparison on organic.org that basically shows that natural, healthy foods are actually less expensive at health food stores like WF vs. say, Shaw's.

Second of all, food at this "Kroger" is ridiculously cheap. Can we just talk, for a minute, how they managed to name a really, really, hugely popular store in the midwest (?) "KROGER". What in the hell kind of name is that for an American supermarket??? Well, on Long Island where I'm from, we have a "Waldbaums"...so that's kind of weird too...anyways (there's something really off-putting to me about this "Kroger" place...maybe I'm just jealous, but I don't think so). At Kroger, you can find coupons online, upload them to your customer card, and just use them. They also double manufacturer's coupons, and have sale prices like "$.49 for bag of baby carrots". If I had this Kroger, I would own the coupon mom. Or, as my friends like to say online, she would be "pwned".

Third of all, a lot of the food that you can get at a deep discount when combining sales and coupons isn't necessarily food I want to eat anyway. Sure, she got a $3.69 loaf of bread for $.30, but I wouldn't really want to buy a loaf of Pepperidge Farm bread with preservatives in it anyways...I make my own, for probably not much more than she paid.

That being said, here in Boston, our grocery prices are heads and shoulders above the groceries that these "$5 dinners" are made of. The website is great, and the idea is great, too. It's just that a lot of them aren't going to be made under $5 in this city. Which is why I'm writing this blog: To help anyone who needs it find healthy, affordable food in this lovely city. I was trying to figure out if it was worth the trouble to make my own bread (read: can I save money?). I used this equation I found by some grad student, and was all disappointed that I would just break even. Then I noticed that he shops at (you guessed it) KROGER, and he pays $1.99 for 5 lbs. of flour and $1 for a loaf of bread. Needless to say it wasn't worth it for him to make his own bread considering it costs A DOLLAR A LOAF where he lives.*

I haven't found anything like this blog - a Bostonian's guide to scrimping through a moderately priced city. I do a lot of reserach and shopping around, as well as experimenting with different menu plans and recipes. I hope to develop this blog into a digest of sorts. A one stop shop for those looking for tips to live frugally and naturally in the city!

I hope to share all of my ideas and techniques that I use daily for cooking, cleaning, entertaining, decorating, baking, and general household management. I also hope you enjoy reading and find them helpful.

xo
Taylor

scrimpyTip
*Just for your information, WF has very inexpensive flour, $2.99/ 5 lb. bag of All Purpose (and there organic is very reasonable as well...I will have to check the price. But Whole Wheat is only $3.39/ 5 lb. bag - which is really good. Even Trader Joe's can't beat that, since they only carry King Arthur brand and WF 365 brand is much cheaper.)