Saving Money on Canned Fruits and Veggies at Sam's Club

For the past few months, I've been saving time and money by buying some canned fruits and vegetables at Sam's Club.  They come in 101-107 oz cans...so I had never given them a second glance except to think that this would be the way to go if I was feeding a small army.  Then I read the idea of buying the large can for my small family, and repackaging it for meal sized portions.  It REALLY does save time and money while giving us a nice name brand product to enjoy.  Here's what we do:  I like to buy the Del Monte Tropical Fruit Salad, Libby's Sliced Peaches, Red Gold Diced Tomatoes, and Del Monte Cut Green Beans.  I'll open one of the fruit cans per week, and dish them up into clean deli meat containers that I've saved.  This can of Tropical Fruit Salad made 5 containers of fruit for the refrigerator.

The Passion Fruit juice in this salad gives it such a great flavor.  And if there is cold, ready-to-eat fruit in the fridge that I don't have to wash or peel, I am much more apt to reach for it as a snack than the crackers and chips that are calling my name.  :)  With just three of us in the home these days, one of these containers will do us for a fruit salad with dinner.  The price for this one can is $5.58.  I don't know if you have priced canned fruit at the regular grocery store recently, but I can't get 5 dinners of fruit salad for $5.58 anyplace else, except maybe Aldi.  And the Aldi can's serving is much smaller than the servings I can put on the table from this container.  

24 servings per 107 ounce can.  Fruit salad for a gang!

$5.58 for 5 nice sized containers of delicious tropical fruit.

The Del Monte Blue Lake Cut Green Beans dished up 6 containers.  I have found that we just prefer a good canned green bean over frozen ones.  These have excellent flavor and texture, and are so, so easy.  I will put 2 of these in the fridge to use for meals this week, and freeze the other four.  They thaw and heat up just fine.  Yum!  And are an easy, last minute addition to a meal or to add to soup.

The 6.3 pound can of green beans costs $3.48.  That's 6 meals of green beans for my  family of three.

Again, this can provides 24 servings.  Not bad, eh?

I freeze the diced tomatoes in these same containers to use for soups, casseroles, and making homemade salsa.  The peaches are terrific too, and also dish up into 5-6 containers for just $4.98.  It only takes about 5 minutes to open the can, dish them up with a slotted spoon, then add a ladle of the juice to each container.  Snap on the lids, and BAM!  Done.  :)  I recycle the cans or save them for a project.  I used one of these big cans to hold gardening supplies in my outdoor bench.  :)

So keep this trick in mind the next time you are at Sam's Club or Costco.  Maybe you'd like to buy their large containers of spaghetti sauce, corn, or tomato sauce to divide up and freeze.  Aside from Aldi and places like it, this might be the best buy you'll find.  :)

Blessings,
Donna

Announcing my Very Own Little Etsy Shop!

Here she is Ladies and Gentlemen!  She is called Perfect Darlings and will feature vintage and handmade items for the home, garden, and children. Her beginnings are humble as I work at this in between home schooling and house wifing.  But I am very excited for this new outlet of creative crafting.  My shop features things that I love:  things for children to play with and wear, vintage items for the home, and FREE SHIPPING!!!  Please visit and let me know what you think.  New stock will be added shortly!  Thank you dear friends!

 Donna

http://www.etsy.com/shop/perfectdarlings

$185 for a month's worth of pantry and freezer goods!

Have you been watching Fox News? Reading articles on the inflation expectations? Seen that gas is going up? Then you'll know what I'm talking about. Stockpiling. I'm not someone who generally likes to stock up on things...I don't like the clutter or the full pantry and freezer of it. Maybe I'm weird, but I LIKE it when my fridge and pantry are on the emptier side of things...maybe because it feels more controlled, more open to my view, neater and tidier. However, since everyone is reporting that food prices are on the rise and I can easily see that gas prices are too, I decided to try an experiment. And boy was it fun! The picture above gives you a clue...just know that this isn't all of it...much of my purchase was already in the fridge and freezer.

I went to Aldi with the idea of buying a month's worth of pantry and freezer items. I stocked up on ice cream (my men-folk eat it nightly!) I bought 6 bags of frozen veggies and will get more at Walmart. I bought 4 cans of Fit and Active Chicken Noodle soup, 6 cans of beans, 4 cans of rings and meatballs (for my 13 year old's lunches), 4 boxes of kleenex and a package of papertowels. Cereal, chips, snacks, cheeses, tuna, and cans of Salmon. We also buy Aldi's cola now b/c we don't seem to get good sales on name brand cans of soda here in southern Indiana.
I bought 90% lean ground sirloin, frozen chicken, bacon wrapped beef fillets, frozen Flounder and Tilapia too. Wow...my cart was full and heavy! I purchased fresh produce for the week and yogurt, knowing I'll have to go back for more of those mid-month.
My husband also picked up these bottles of All at Menards for a steal of a deal...$2.99 each! So much cheaper than I have to pay at Walmart! Plus it has 25% more free in this size. I am excited that I won't worry about running out of laundry soap for months now.
My Aldi bill came to $185. That's a record setter for me! But it was so fun to bring it all home, lay it all out to see what I needed in the pantry for now, then bag up the extras in those cool reusable bags from Target, etc. Where to store them? Miraculously we still have a closet in our new house that isn't full. So these three bags are stacked one upon another in the corner of said closet. And I am feeling GREAT! Free as a bird! I have lots of meals on hand and don't have to worry that I might be out of canned tomatoes or beans for the chili that sounds good for supper. We got home from a big trip to Nashville on Wednesday night, and it was no problem to whip up some homemade pizza because I knew I had everything on hand.

I usually spend $300 a month for groceries (and a few paper goods) for the three of us. So it will be fun to see if this big stock up trip will end up saving money...I can't imagine that I will still need $100 worth of milk, produce, and dairy for the remainder of the month. Perhaps I can get by on $275 with this new method. And I figure that if prices go up in the next month at the store, I will be a month ahead of the game. Good savings in gas and time too. So are you game? Want to try this with me? Would love your comments. :)

Blessings!

Donna

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