SavvySugar

5 Tips For Grocery Shopping With Kids

Rebecca M Gruber — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:01:15 PDT

As if mama didn't have enough to worry about when walking the grocery aisles – organic produce, food dyes, and the dirty dozen produce items to name a few – she can now add the store's grocery carts to their list. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 24,200 tots had to be treated in emergency rooms due to injuries involving falls from shopping carts. From cart related accidents to whining kids, a visit to the supermarket is never quite a walk in the park. Check out these five tips for shopping for food with your tykes in tow.

How Much Do You Spend on Groceries a Month?

SavvySugar — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 05:00:36 PDT

Food is an essential part of our lives. As an avid foodie, I wholeheartedly stand by that statement. I love cooking at home, and sometimes groceries can get quite pricey, especially if you're going organic. I'm wondering - how much do you spend on supermarket shopping a month?

Do You Eat Grocery Food Samples?

SavvySugar — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 06:00:10 PDT

I always see people take some bites of a sample at a supermarket, then walk away without buying anything. When you don't have any intention of buying the delectable products, do you still take a bite of their samples?

Bargaining Your Way at the Farmers Market

SavvySugar — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:00:00 PDT

I recently decided to take a quick look at a nearby farmers market without the intention of buying anything. It's been a while since I've checked it out, and I'm the type of person that loves browsing the supermarket and flipping through recipe books to look at food. I like to call it food window shopping.

While browsing, I chanced upon a German bakery stall and started drooling over this goat cheese and chorizo quiche. It was $4.25 and I didn't bring enough cash because I didn't think I was going to buy anything. I was honest with the seller and told him all I had in my wallet was $3 and we struck a deal.

Prices are set in supermarkets and you can't exactly start haggling with the Whole Foods salesperson, but it's definitely done in farmers markets. Would you bargain at a farmers market?

Five Ways to Maximize Your Grocery Shopping

babysugar — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:00:00 PDT

A trip to the supermarket isn't usually on a lil one's list of favorite activities. Aisles filled with goodies that mom won't add to the cart is quite a tease. While we all do not have the luxury of babysitting services at our local grocery stores, we can create our own activities to occupy our tots that help them build important learning skills while allowing us to get our errand done. Check out these five ways to incorporate learning into an everyday errand.

Organize Your Health

FitSugar — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:30:00 PDT

On the road to becoming the healthy, happy you, it pays to be organized. Keeping a mental list of all your various projects can be overwhelming. There is just no way to remember all those things you need and want to do.

Many of us use day planners for work, so why not use a planner as a tool for your personal life as well? I came across these from lobotoMe.com. Talk about organization! They make notepads for everything.

My favorite is the Feed ME meal planning to do list. It's a pad of 50 sheets ($8) and helps you plan out your meals for an entire week. On the right-hand side, there is a preprinted grocery list so you can keep track of all of the ingredients you need so you are organized when you go to the grocery store. This way you don't wander into the cookie and chip aisle, and hopefully the organized list keeps you from having to make multiple trips back to the store for forgotten ingredients.

I also like the organizeME Weekly Planner ($16 per pad of 60). It's a way to organize all the chores and errands you need to get done in each day, and a way to remember to take care of yourself too. It has a spot to write down what healthy dinner, exercise, and "me time" you have planned Monday through Sunday. It even has a little spot on the bottom to check off when you've had your 8 glasses of water a day. These sheets can tear off and fold to fit in most daily planners.

Taking care of yourself is something you need to do everyday, and sometimes you need to plan for it in advance. I'm all for anything that can make eating healthy, getting exercise, and staying stress-free easier. There's a lot to keep track of, and these day planners can help keep you on track.

3 Disease Cures Hiding in Your Supermarket

Prevention — Mon, 28 May 2012 05:11:10 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

Yup! You can demolish these diseases with your diet.

By Molly Raisch, Prevention

Here's one thing to add to your grocery list: disease-fighting foods. A growing body of research shows that you can squash certain symptoms with what you eat. In fact, eating the right foods may be just what the doctor ordered for these ailments:

Dry Eye 
If you suffer from dry eye (you know, that annoying gritty feeling when you blink), then relief may be found in a simple cup of joe, according to researchers from the University of Tokyo's School of Medicine. Study participants were given either a caffeine supplement or a placebo, and they then had their eyes tested 45 minutes later. The results? Not a dry eye in the house for those who'd had caffeine: they produced more tears than their noncaffeinated counterparts. This could be especially good news for women, as dry eye tends to affect postmenopausal women more than any other group.  

7 Diseases That Strike Younger Than You Think

Learn more food cures after the break!

10 Tips to Save on Memorial Day Grocery Shopping

Emily Co — Sat, 26 May 2012 00:15:10 PDT

It's fun to host people for a barbecue, but it can also get quite pricey when everyone isn't chipping in. Consumer expert Andrea Woroch provides suggestions to cut your grocery bill when shopping for your Memorial Day meal:

Prepare most of your meal. Woroch says, "The general rule for prepared foods is that they are more expensive, and it's cheaper to buy the ingredients to prepare yourself." For example, prepared veggie platters and fruit salads "are never a good deal" and aren't exactly the freshest produce. However, prepared potato salad at a regular supermarket is less expensive and will save you time in the kitchen.

Get chicken from the butcher. Buy chicken breasts from the butcher counter instead of the prepared packets. They tend to be cheaper and are generally more fresh.

Consider boxed wine. Save money by skipping the bottled wine and going for the box. "Boxed wine is an affordable option for large parties, and the quality has greatly improved in recent years," she says.

Buy liquor at a superstore. If you're insistent on a specific bottle, then check out warehouse clubs like Costco. There are better deals on wine, liquor, and beer at a superstore, according to Woroch. While you're there, pick the store's generic version of vodka for an even cheaper deal.

Make your own salad dressing and marinade. Check out recipes online - here's a list of over 60 different marinades to make. "Most people will already have the basic ingredients like olive oil, some type of vinegar, and herbs at home," she says. "Other ingredients like lemon or lime, soy sauce, or honey won't cost much extra."

Read on for more.

Savvy Links: 10 Guilt-Free Strategies For Saying No

Emily Co — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:42:08 PDT

10 guilt-free strategies for saying no - Real Simple
Celine Dion sells her $29 million private island - Tecca
My nonprofit career means I can barely afford groceries - LearnVest
Lessons new grads will learn - The Billfold
The real reason single women may be working less - HuffPost Women
How to do black-tie on the cheap - Corporette
6 tips to rocking yard sales this weekend - Budgets Are Sexy
Make your dream career a reality for less than $100 - Wise Bread
5 reasons not to check your email over the holiday weekend - The Grindstone

I'm Asking: What's on Your Grocery List?

Emily Co — Thu, 05 May 2011 10:33:42 PDT

We always talk about saving money on groceries, but I'm wondering what are the common staples you reach for in the grocery store. I always get items like milk, eggs, bread, chicken, fish, bananas, oranges, and some fresh vegetables like broccoli, green beans, or lettuce. To satisfy my soda addiction, I occasionally buy some sparkling water, and once in a while I reach for some cheese! As you can see, I don't really buy processed meats or frozen foods.

I know all of us have different diets, but I'm interested to know what the typical grocery list looks like. What do you reach for when your browsing the aisles of your local grocery store? Don't be afraid to add your whole list!