Sunday Eve Picnic: Mini Wine & Cheese Party

January 28, 2013 by
Today became “Use Up All the Gift Cards Weighing Down Your Wallet” Day.
Fueled by a scrambled egg/bacon/English muffin breakfast from The Shore Restaurant followed by a couple of West End Tavern Bloody Marys, we headed to Great Northern Mall.
First stop: DSW, where I stretched a $25 gift card (and then some) into two pairs of brown heels on clearance.
Next: Best Buy, where I lumped three gift cards toward a Magic Wand scanner.
Then: When starting to feel almost shopped-out, a quick stop by Starbucks cleared out the few dollars left on my Starbucks gift card with a Skinny Vanilla Latte. For the record, the taste difference between this and the Caramel Macchiato is as massive as the caloric gap.
Last stop: A tour through World Market, where a gift card more than pulled together a mini wine & cheese party for a Sunday evening picnic on the rug.
For less than $12, we present: Smoked Salmon Pate ($3.99); Sesame Water Crackers ($1.49); Sweet Mustard ($1.99); Spicy Sausage ($1.49); Tomato & Basil Cheese ($1.49); and Jalapeno Jack Cheese ($1.49). Paired with a $16 bottle of Cline Cashmere wine.
What a spread! The only thing I’d do differently is buy two of everything and turn a snack into a feast.
I noticed that the can of salmon pate didn’t expire for another 4 years, and the other foods were equally packaged to last, no refrigeration required. My plan is to restock, and prepare the classiest supply of long-term, protein-packed survival food you’ve ever seen.
Forget tuna and beef jerky – I’m going out in style, like this:
Filed Under: Around Town, Food, shopping, snacks+apps, wine Tagged With: , ,

How I Got the Grocery Store to Pay Me for Shopping

January 29, 2012 by
Yes, you read that right: I got the grocery store to pay me for buying name-brand toothpaste. And believe me, I don’t work for Giant Eagle. I’m just a savvy bargain shopper.
First, a disclaimer: I don’t usually buy groceries at Giant Eagle, because I know that you can get better deals on better quality perishables at local grocery stores than giant chains, no pun intended. So that means produce, meat and dairy from Nature’s Bin (preferred) or Heinen’s.
But when it comes to toiletries, some canned goods, and other, more mass-produced “stashables,” the big boys can often offer better sales – and you can usually find manufacturer’s coupons to sweeten the deal.
This is the setting for my story: How I took saving to the extreme and got Giant Eagle to pay me for buying toothpaste.
Here is the formula:
2 coupons, each for for $.75 off one Crest toothpaste, PLUS
1 Giant Eagle weekly sale flyer announcing Crest toothpaste for $1 with a Giant Eagle Advantage card, PLUS
The frequent shopper knowledge that Giant Eagle doubles coupons up to $.99.
You do the math: $.75 x 2 = $1.50. And $1.00-$1.50=-.50. Make that +$.50 that Giant Eagle pays me for buying toothpaste from them with each coupon.
So, to recap, this is how you cheat the grocery system:
1. Clip coupons.
2. Keep your eye on the sales.
3. When the forces of 1 and 2 combine on a single product, you win.
Filed Under: Around Town, coupons, shopping