My thoughts on local grocery stores

It is a rainy Monday and I am feeling the need to give some constructive criticism (aka: griping) to several stores. And in fairness some kudos too. Being the main shopper of the family, I have built up enough experience at these stores to have developed some opinions about how they can change and either attract customers or keep the customers that they already have.

WINCO: After having kids this store used to be my main weekly shopping store. I used to drop $100 to $150 here weekly. The first blow to our relationship started when they quit giving a store credit for bringing my own bags. And then after starting in on couponing I have seriously cut my expenditures at this store. Yes, it still is the best store to go to if you need to pick up a specific grocery item that you know is not on sale anywhere else; but really my love for this store has definitely waned. I used to think that they had really great prices. Now I am just not that impressed. I am not sure if my expectations have changed or if their prices have creeped up. A little of both I suppose. I also have noticed that the offerings in the bulk section have decreased. Several spices that I used to be able to get in bulk are no longer offered. They are generally a little coupon-phobic. I can appreciate the no-frills, bag-your-own groceries to get a lower price; but lately I have been getting a lower price other places without bagging my own groceries.

PROS: overall low prices (but not always, be careful!), high volume of turnover so you rarely have to worry about expiration dates, great shopping cart return design: you are never more than a few cars away from one and they face both directions. Decent bulk foods section.
CONS: rarely do they advertise a sale and unadvertised sales vary from store to store, bulk foods selection seems to be shrinking, prices here have been rising over the last year whereas they seem to be decreasing at other stores causing the price difference margin to be shrinking IMO. Coupon friendliness varies from store to store and cashier to cashier. No rewards program.


ALBERTSONS: Sort of a love-hate relationship with Albies. Pre-kids I shopped almost exclusively here and then for years I did not shop here at all. Now I find myself shopping here more often, but not always finding it a pleasant experience. They have great sales that match up with coupons and catalinas, but their non-sale items are grossly overpriced. If they would just price their non-sale items a little bit higher than other stores, say 10-50 cents, then I would probably pick up more than the sale items while I am shopping. I will pay a few cents more to save me a trip to another store, but I just can't bring myself to pay 2-3 times as much! So with the ridiculously high regular prices, Albertsons needs the special sales and really needs to cater to the coupon shoppers. It will seem that they are doing this, such as by offering double coupons, and then they will put tons of restrictions on them, or they will really crack down on the cashiers who will then be wary of coupons. I also really do not like the recent changes to the gas program. I have been buying less from them since this change.

PROS: Good manufacturer sales that match up with coupons. A gas rewards program.
CONS: Overpriced non-sale items. The corporation comes across as trying to cater to couponers but the individual stores tend to make the couponers feel unwelcome. Low-volume turnover so you really have to watch the expiration dates. Very likely to be out of any really good deals. Recent changes to gas rewards program make it harder to earn rewards.

FRED MEYER: Probably my favorite of stores lately. Their regular prices are somewhat more expensive than Winco, but they do have great sales. I love how they rotate fairly consistently between sales of necessary items like eggs, milk, o.j., bread, etc. They also have a rewards program for both store rewards and gas rewards. They have great clearance sales and are one of the few places that frequently puts items such as legos and video game software and equipement on sale. Plus you gotta love the free child care while you shop.

PROS: one-stop shopping, good sales, rewards program, free child care, fairly coupon freindly. Generally high-volume turnover. Can get rainchecks on most sales.
CONS: Sales are generally store brand, fewer manufacturer sales than Albies (but that is okay with me), poor cart returns in parking lot (I wish they would steal Winco's design and placement). Fewer catalinas than Albies.

Our wishlists

Mostly things we want, a few we need...

ME:
Nice suit jacket / blazer to wear with dress pants or skirts
A couple of dress slacks
A pizza peel
Pressure canner
A new rack for my water canner
Laptop computer
Wii fit
A new salad shooter
Pampered Chef small dough roller
Digital video camera (plus get all the old video transferred to DVD's)

HUBBY:
Greenhouse
New matress or matress topper


KIDS:
Ski pants - size 8-10
Trampoline
Wii Resort game
Legos
Redecorate rooms and seperate boys

HOUSE and YARD:
replace or refinish wood floor & front room carpet
replace formica countertops
kitchen tile backsplash
refinish or replace cabinets
pavers for side and sitting area
Arbor w/ Concord grapes
Compost Tumbler


NECCESSITITES:
New tires for pickup
pickup 30,000 mile service
Chimney swept and inspected
New burners for grill
New vacuum

The First Frost - Oct. 1

Well last night was the first frost and it is always a hard decision at this time of year whether to cover all the garden plants or to just let them be done. We (meaning my husband) covered all of them, as I would still like to reap a few more of all those tomatoes that are on the vines. Also our sweet potatoes are only about the size of my finger and nowhere near big enough. I am not sure if squeezing one more week out of them will make a difference or not. I suspect that the problem may be that the soil we had them planted in was too clay and not well enough drainage. However it could be that the season was just too short. Our sweet potato slips were delayed in getting to us and we had to plant them several weeks later than I would have liked. I need to remember next year to write down the date that we plant them so that I can keep track of when to pull them out. They take around 115 days, so it is really pushing the boundaries of our planting cycle around here. Even if we don't get any good sweet potatoes this year I would be willing to try them again next year. The foilage was really quite lovely and I think with better soil we could get a nice yield. Mmm... now I am craving broccoli and sweet potatoe stir fry.

Time to plant garlic

Info from Debbie Cook's gardening column in the Sept. 19th Idaho Press Tribune:
Now is the time to plant garlic. Here are the details.

Two types of garlic: Softneck and hardneck.
Softneck - the type at the supermarket, adapted to wider range of climates, keep longer in storage, mature faster, tend to be more productive. Stems are easier to braid but cloves are harder to peel.

Hardneck - More colorful, stronger flavor, wider variety available, edible flower stalk.


Requirements: Good drainage, full sun.

How to grow: Plant on the first day of fall (can be planted in the spring but the bulb will be smaller.) Plant each clove with root end down and the tip set 2 inches beneath the soil. Plant cloves 4-6 inches apart. Top w/ layer of mulch. You should see shoots in 4 to 8 weeks depending on weather. The goal is to get good root growth started before the ground freezes. They stop growing in winter and start again in the spring. Leave the mulch in the spring as it will conserve moisture and suppress weeds. When growth begins again feed w/ a foliar spray every 2-4 weeks using liquid seaweed, fish emulsion, or Miracle Grow. Requires about an inch of water per week in spring growth, but also requires good drainage. Too much water may cause root or bulb rot. Stop watering when the leaves begin to yellow in early summer.

To harvest: Harvest when the leaves have yellowed or fallen over. (Should be around early June.) Carefully dig the bulbs. Don't pull or the stalks will break which may cause the bulb to rot. Once harvested, get them out of the sun as soon as possible. Dry by braiding or tying the stems together in a bundle of 6-10 bulbs and hang in a cool, dry area with good air circulation. Once dry the tops may be removed if desired and bulbs stored in mesh bag.

Williamson Orchards

Here is the number for Williamson Orchards: 459-7333

I don't know why, but I always have to look for it, so i am putting it here. Call for pears and/or peaches in late August. Call for apples in October. They usually have a bin of mixed apples at a very good price in October for making applesauce.

goals this week

Here are my goals for today (Monday):
- start blog
- letter to sponsored child / get some vacation pictures to send
- thank you note to mom
- GET STAMPS
- make, send car pool schedule
- see if raincheck grapefruit has come in yet at Albies

Daily goals:
- bible study
- exercise

Goals for the this week:
- finish downloading and organizing crockpot recipes
- get books back to Joy & Jason
- make jalepeno jelly
- call orchards for apple picking / Williamsons to see if applesauce apples are ready
- organize water/drinks in garage
- start (and maybe finish?) scrapbook for Joy
- make some cards
- go thru boxes of old papers in garage

Maybe if i write it down i will get at least half of it done!

Meal Planning Friday

OK - I know it doesn't have the same ring as Meal Plannnig Monday, but it works better for me. I prefer to plan in two week chunks and to have more of a list of possible meals than meals locked in to specific days. The flexibility just works better for me. If I plan out specific daily meals for the two weeks then invaribly i end up changing them because i just don't feel like whatever i planned that night, or we have a bunch of ripe tomatoes or something that needs used up, or i am in the middle of a project and don't have enough time to do that involved meal. So I rather like a list of meals that I try to have the ingredients for and am able to choose from. Hopefully I will soon add links to the recipes.

These weeks i need to work around the stuff coming from our garden, which is: tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, zucchini, pattypan squash, cucumbers, peppers

K - Homemade pizza (Fridays)
K - Hamburgers / homemade french fries, fried zucchini (weekend)
V - Tomato bruscetta
V - Roast Tomatoe Fettecini / garlic cheese bread
P - Scalloped potatoes w/ ham
K,C - Orange chicken / rice / egg rolls / salad
B,F - Lasagne (from freezer)
P - Ham & cheese braid / salad
S - Rosemary scallops / couscous / green beans w/ almonds
S - Curry salmon / cuban black beans / rice / sauted zucchini
S - Shrimp fajitas / leftover black beans & rice
C - Chinese chicken salad
C - Green bean chicken w/ pattypan squash / egg rolls / rice
- Stir fry (not sure what meat)
K- Baked potatoes


New recipes to try:
V - Corn omelet
C - Catalina chicken

V = vegetarian
K = kid favorite
C = chicken
P = pork
B = beef
F = from freezer

Here I go!

So today, on the verge of 40, i am entering the blogging world. While i know that everything i put on here is open for public view, i really am not expecting anyone else to read it. (But i will try to be careful, just the same.) It really is more for my own benefit. i am starting to see the benefit of having a place to put all the bits and scraps and links that i use. My goal is to put recipes, garden info, coupon links, etc. here so that i can easily find it later. We will see how successful I am!

BTW - If i am blogging it must mean that it is on the downhill side of the slope of popularity because you know that i cannot ever start doing something until it is past being fashionable!