Window Shopper

My husband and I have prepared ourselves for the possibility that at some point we would not have as much money as we did for income. That time has come, well actually did come last year. But we have been shopping frugally for some time now. That’s got to be a plus for any family. We find the best buys in the best places. And yes, sometimes it costs a bit of gas. But if you weigh out what the gas cost is compared to the savings, well, it is good sometimes.

Our habit is to, once a month, go over 50 miles to a store that has a whole lot of savings. The problem now is…is it costing us more to go there. See, we buy for my Mom too and then deliver the groceries to her house which is 18 miles farther than our house. Do we get the savings we need? I don’t know anymore. It was when we started all this a few years ago but I am not certain of that now. Still, that store has things we cannot get around here. That’s a plus too but is it worth it?

That would be the question you have to ask yourself now that the gas prices are sky high and not likely to drop…ever. Oh, it will drop a bit sometime this fall, I’m sure. Possibly it will drop some for this winter. However, if history repeats itself, and it usually does, then we can expect higher and higher gas prices. So, how do we protect ourselves? We still buy smart. We still buy with the savings in mind. The list of supplies may change. It might have to. Ours did some years ago because we felt that we could not afford to buy the name brand items anymore. It was a good thing we did that. It was so worth it to learn how to shop cheaply then because it serves us well now. So, get ready to shop but shop efficiently and intelligently. Grab the energy pills and get out there because you’re going to need them by the time you get finished.

1) Stick to the store or generic brands as much as possible. Most of them are made by the same companies or “look alike” companies that want the brand to appear to come from a national brand. It sells better that way.

2) Despite the gas prices, go to more than one store and get the loss leaders if that’s part of your list. If not, leave it alone. Don’t buy just because it’s cheap. Are you ever going to use it? Don’t convince yourself that you will use it if you never have before. Buying on the spot just because you see something interesting is how the grocery bill goes up, up, up. Ask me how I know.

3) Now more than ever, do NOT go to the store hungry. It’s death to the bill at the register.

4) Make that list. Stick to it as much as you possibly can. Use the newspaper ads. Part of the list should include the sale items you need for the week or month. Don’t go to the store and “shop” without it.

5) When you go out, make your trip count. Go to all the places you want to shop in the one day. We go to two to three stores and usually the pharmacy. If we have a doctor’s appointment, it’s a shopping day too. Plan ahead. Don’t just go driving if you want your gas tank to stay nice and filled.

6) Do the best you can to find discount stores. They do not always have the best prices but they sometimes have some fantastic deals. Of course, that depends on today’s prices what anyone could now call a “fantastic deal”. But they are still out there.

The most important thing to remember is to plan and save. When you take several trips to buy small items, you use the precious gas that costs so much money right now. Combining it all into one trip saves a lot of gas dollars. Isn’t it about time to save that money and gas for other things?

We saw a report recently on food labels and how accurate they really are. Seems that they aren’t quite as accurate as most of would like to believe. The problem I see is that most people do count on the labeling to be reasonably accurate. But what if they are not? How wrong can we get??? I count on them to be accurate because I deal with diabetes. Many people have weight problems, either high or low, and need the labeling to be accurate there too.

For instance, a person wishing to lose weight believes the packaging label and eats whatever the item is. Then, they cannot understand why they have not lost weight. A person who is counting carbs believes the label and consumes more than they really should but they think they are only eating a certain number. People who are diabetic and need accuracy in the labels are also surprised when their blood sugar is higher than they believed it should be. What’s happening here?

The truth is there is little real truth in the labeling. The fact is that the government is allowing a 20% difference between what the label says and what it actually is. 20% OVER acceptable levels. So, what’s happening here is that your favorite brand of food is giving you way more than you thought it was. This could actually put some people in trouble nutritionally.

Good Morning America had some products tested and the results were not encouraging, to say the least. Wonderbread has 70% more total fat than advertised, Ritz crackers have 36% more sodium. There were many more. The problem is that each and every one of the products they had tested had more than the label stated. When contacted, the companies that were willing to address the issue stated that this was only one of those products and products do vary in content due to the machines that make and package them. While I do agree that is true, I also believe that the labels need to be much more accurate than they actually are.

In another case of the government having “double speak” (what a shocker), “No” does mean that there is none of that element in that product. However, ZERO does not mean none. The manufacturers are actually allowed to say ZERO when it contains up to .5 grams of an ingredient. What that means is that if you were looking for a product that has no saturated fat in it, and the label says a ZERO, there is the possibility that there is saturated fat in it up to a half gram. On the other hand, if you see on the packaging that it says NO saturated fat, then there is no saturated fat in it at all.

Now, this gets a bit sticky when you want to eat a few cookies and the label says there are ZERO trans fats in them. So, you eat a few. Who can eat just one? Those cookies could have up to a half gram of trans fats EACH!!! The government says that they can have trans fats in the product even though it also says trans fats are dangerous for us. Frankly, the government talks out of both sides of it’s mouth. The problem there is that the whole thing is so confusing that it’s likely that we should not eat at all!! Ever. Not if we do not know what’s in the product we are about to consume.

So, we are now in a pickle. What do we believe? Unless you grow all your own food, you have to depend on a labeling system that isn’t accurate. Is it any wonder that people get sicker even though they read the labels. From the consumer point of view, I believe that this is a legal scam the companies are putting on us. It’s universal too. GMA’s testing people literally found that each product tested had MORE than the label stated. MORE! That’s more fat, more sodium, more calories, more carbs and sugars. This could be dangerous to many of us.

Everybody knows that oysters sometimes have pearls in them. But what happens if, in some strange lightning flash, oysters all over the world started coughing up something besides pearls? Picture this:

You are walking down the aisle of your local grocery store when you spot some oysters in a barrel. Time to stock up. As you begin to scoop them up, it suddenly dawns on you that you could get them for free if only you were on vacation. That idea begins to take root. Rushing to the car, you speed homeward. If only your husband will get home early today by reading your mind! As you pull into the garage, you spot your husband’s car. ALRIGHT!

Having talked hubby into heading to the oyster beds, you both are anticipating a huge meal of your own handpicked shells. After looking for quite a while and gathering all you can, you spot an unusually shaped oyster shell poking up slightly taller than the others. As you head for it, you realize that this shell is really big! You call your husband because it is apparent that THIS particular oyster may be a good deal older than the others and will take some special effort to open it.

Working together, you pry open the shell. If you could see your husband, you would see that his eyes are popping out just like yours are. Inside the beautiful oyster shell rests a perfectly formed laptop which is up and running. Okay, the oyster isn’t REALLY surfing the net, right??? The laptop is fantastic! And you have wanted one for ages.

Do you eat raw oysters? You may be at risk for serious illness or worse. How can you tell? For those who have serious problems with stomach, diabetes, liver problems and more, you could be at risk. Please take the time to go to the Be Oyster Aware website to find out more about this subject. In the meanwhile, take a moment and enjoy the idea of having Gulf oysters for supper tonight!