Amazon.com Grocery
From Katie on the Yahoo Group:
For those who like to buy in bulk (and don’t like to go to the
store!), Amazon.com is beta-testing their new grocery site now & you
can get $10 off any purchase of $49 or more through Aug 31st. All
items in their grocery store include free shipping, too, which is
good. What I like about the site is it has some products that are
sometimes hard to find and/or rarely go on sale and/or are difficult
to find in bulk (e.g., McCann’s Irish Oatmeal and Glide floss tape!).
I’ve seen that the level of discounts vary depending on the product,
so pay attention to the % off and make sure you know your prices.What I haven’t figured out yet is whether you can use this promotion
more than once (I haven’t figured out that you can’t, but I haven’t
tested it yet).
Thanks, Katie!
Community
Morning everyone. I am proud to report that Stone Soup DC now gets around 150-200 hits a day. Very cool.
I am glad people are finding the information useful, at least I hope you are. I believe one of the best resources anywhere and anytime, is community. We can make this resource so much more powerful if we pull together our information and ideas. Anything from what’s on sale this week, to a great store you’ve found, to free/cheap community events, to how to make something yourself that you would have previously purchased. That’s what we all want to hear. I am sure each one of you has ideas to add. Please consider joining the Yahoo discussion group, posting a comment on the blog, or even sending me an email at stonesoupdc@gmail.com. I want to hear from you!
Have you all heard the story of Stone Soup? I’ve added some stones. Anyone out there have some cabbage or carrots or an onion?
ALDI
Ever pass an ALDI and wonder what the deal is with that store?
I went into one once down in Alexandria and was a bit put off by not understanding how the shopping experience was supposed to work and what items were worth purchasing there. Someone recently posted a review on one of the listserves I read. I asked the author for her permission to post what they wrote here. It’s good info. Check it out:
This is from Lindsay:
I finally went and checked out ALDI yesterday (the Langley Park store, 7609 New Hampshire Avenue on the east side of NH just SOUTH of University Boulevard).
And although I have to say it’s an unpleasant shopping experience, it was so cheap that I still think I will go back.
I would describe it as an amalgam of Costco and the dollar store. ALDI is much smaller than Costco but sells a similar assortment of things, with mostly house brands (similar to Costco’s Kirkland brand), AND the items are not super size. ALDI also sells electronics and other weird (for a grocery store) stuff. They’re international, originally from Germany. (One of the brothers that owns ALDI in some European countries also owns Trader Joe’s, although the OTHER brother owns ALDI in the US.)
I’ll start with the cons, as they are legion.
1. You must deposit a quarter (which you get back) to get a shopping cart, AND there are no handbaskets inside. So if you don’t have a quarter, you’re kind of screwed, because the average ALDI shopper is so cheap s/he would rather return the cart to the sidewalk in front of the store after s/he loads his car than give up his/her quarter. NO ONE will just give you a cart to save the hassle of walking it back. Seriously. (Which is why they do it, by the way. If shoppers return their carts to the corral on the sidewalk in front of the store themselves, ALDI does not have to pay someone to round them up from all over the parking lot.)
2. They don’t take credit cards (but they do take ATM/debit cards). Some people won’t consider this a con, but my credit card company sends me an annual report that shows how much I spent by category, which I love. Paying for groceries another way goofs that up. (Same as Costco, unless you have a Costco AmEx or Discover.)
3. You have to pay for bags or provide your own. Paper bags cost a nickel, I think the plastic ones (much heavier than typical grocery store plastic bags) cost less. That just irritates me (partly because I know the bags don’t cost them a five cents each). (And at least ALDI offers bags, where Costco does not.)
4. You have to bag your own groceries. (Same as Costco.)
5. Neighborhood is kind of sketch. I would not go after dark.
Pros:
CHEAP. Milk was $2.19/gallon for 2% (more than a dollar less than the SFW near my house). I only got a few things (no quarter and no ATM card!), but all their stuff seemed similarly cheap. Lots of kinds of cereal for less than $2/box (it freaks me out that a big box of Cheerios costs $5.69 at Giant).
In a separate email to me, Lindsay added:
One thing I would add is that I said it’s like the dollar store because it has all these house brand items in packaging VERY similar to the famous name brands, NOT because I think the quality of the merchandise is suspect (which I think is true of the dollar store). Although ALDI has something of a reputation as being frequented mostly by people who can’t afford to shop at a “real” grocery store, the quality of their house brand items has generally been rated quite highly.
I wrote the review because, well, they ARE amazingly cheap, which is awesome, but I would really have appreciated knowing “the procedure” going in. Next time I will be more mentally prepared.
Thanks Lindsay!
Someone else on the listserve recommended the Hyattsville store over the New Hampshire Avenue store as being a much more pleasant shopping experience. They also spoke of the quality products and recommended ALDI as a place to pick up great deals on milk, eggs, sugar, cream sheese, crackers, chocolate and vegetables.
You can check out their specials on their web site to see what they have for the week.Here is some further reading about ALDI from the Wikipedia (another great resource to find information on just about anything):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi
Armed with knowledge, ALDI seems worth checking out again.
Saving Dinner
Saving Dinner is a meal plan for getting you through the week with as little hassle as possible. The website offers a weekly email service that sends you a week’s worth of recipes featuring foods fresh at the time, and an organized shopping list for getting everything you need.
When you sign up, you choose from several different menu plans including: Regular, Low-Carb, Body Clutter, Frgual, Crock Cooker, and Heart Healthy. They also have menus for the southern hemisphere if you are ever down that direction. There are several free recipes and examples to check out on the web site. If you decide to try the menu-mailer feature, they charge $9.95 for a three month trial, $17.95 for 6 months or $29.95 for a year.
In all honesty, I have not tried the service yet, but I have used the Saving Dinner books which I’ve really liked. The original Saving Dinner one has a year’s worth of menus organzed by season with the shopping lists included. The recipes are pretty fast and easy, and most have been very tasty. I checked the book out from the library until I’d tried out a few menus and was sure I liked them. Eventually, I did buy one of the books and there are several recipes I use regularly. One nice thing is that all of the shopping lists from the books are on the web site, so when heading to the store, you can print out that week’s list instead of lugging the book. I have been toying with signing up for the mailer when I get a little more organized (maybe the mailer would help with that).
There is also another similar service called the Six O’Clock Scramble I have heard people like. This one I have not tried out personally, yet. They also have sample menus on-line, so you can decide which one is more to your taste. This service is slightly more expensive.
Baby Supplies Deal
This was sent in by Nancy:
I went to Super Fresh the other day to buy diapers and I found out that if you belong to the Super Fresh Club, after spending $200 on baby items you get $20 back.
Farmer’s Markets
If you are searching for fresh produce, breads and cheeses, try one of the area's local farmer's markets. The prices may not always be lower than the local supermarket, and even within the farmer's market itself it can pay off to shop around before you buy, but I much prefer the atmosphere of the farmer's market to the typical grocery store.
(Germantown) Pick Your Own
Today we went up to Butler's Orchard in Germantown, MD. The temperature and breeze made the day perfect for frolicking in the fields and the smell of fresh, ripe strawberries filled the air as soon as we opened our car door. After picking six pounds of bright red berries, we stopped at the field full of plump sugar snap peas and filled a bag. There were many more people picking strawberries than peas, which was a shame for them because those sugar snaps are delicious!
Costwise, PYO strawberries were $1.69/lb and the peas were $2.09/lb. We spent about $20 on our six pounds of berries, bag of sugar snaps, some fresh corn and zucchini from the orchard shop and a pack of old fashioned red licorice twists for my husband. To be fair we have to add in a few dollars for the gas to drive from Silver Spring to Germantown, but overall it was a delightful weekend outing that felt like a trip to the country. Plus we'll be able to snack on the fruits of our labor for the next week or so (if they last that long!). According to the Butler's web site, Strawberry picking goes through June 24 and Blueberries begin around June 20. I can't wait!
Does anyone have any favorite pick you own farms in the region?
