Why The Grocery Game is first and foremost!

Today, a customer emailed us about a Kroger list, saying that we missed a bunch of sales that were in the ad. If you know The Grocery Game, you know what’s coming! (hahaha!) But first… Quality Control had to go through that list with a fine toothed comb to make sure once again that it was indeed a LIST fit for The Grocery Game. In the end, the kingdom of The Grocery Game is gloating! Read our response. And if you’re a member, you can gloat too!

(some places are blank so that the member can remain anonymous)

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the Kroger LIST for _____.

At TheGroceryGame.com, we do things differently than any other grocery savings site on the web. Most free sites have volunteers or un-trained personnel who simply match every advertised sale with any available coupon. In doing so, coupons are redeemed at the wrong time, which results in lost savings on the average of $32 a week nationwide.

Our Quality Control department re-checked all of the advertised sales against our historical databases, and found that those omitted sales were not at rock bottom, and/or that there was no coupon to go with those sales to make them worthy of being included on the list. Where a sale is not at rock bottom, the expiration date of any available coupon is considered, and a decision is most often made to hold the coupon for a better opportunity. The Grocery Game is the only website that has proprietary databases which are used to strategically purchase with or without coupons at historical lows. 

Another one of the major benefits of The Grocery Game is “Deal stacking”, which has to do with combining a sale with manufacturer coupon, store coupon, and possibly also a manufacturer’s register reward where applicable. Kroger’s electronic coupons are updated as often as twice a week. You will see a note in the footer (DC) with reference to the fact that some “DC”s may be missing due to subsequent updates.

Finally, and most importantly… The most unique and powerful benefit of The Grocery Game are the UN-advertised sales. Many UN-advertised sales are just as viable in terms of savings as advertised sales. Your Kroger LIST this week had 121 UN-advertised sales. _____ toothpaste is just one of the 121 UN-advertised sales on your list, which with the coupon, ended up being free. By contrast, _____ toothpaste was advertised, and was listed as blue at a 56% savings. There were 5 more free items listed that were also among the 121 UN-advertised sales and countless more great savings. The Grocery Game is the only place on the web where you can access UN-advertised sales each week.

We’ve attached an unformatted list of those 121 UN-advertised sales items to this email.

We hope this answers your concerns. And we hope that you will continue to join hundreds of thousands of shoppers who save an average of $512 a month on groceries for a family of four.

Please let us know if you have any more questions or concerns.

Be Careful What You Believe on the Internet

The internet is FULL of information. But just because you read it on the internet, doesn’t mean it’s true. It’s becoming almost a chore to plow through un-necessary or even inaccurate information. So what’s true and what isn’t? Reliable sources can be hard to find. And the best sources may cost money.

Many websites are starting to recognize that people will pay for premium content. The Wall Street Journal online has tons of free articles. But to get premium content, you can buy online access for $1.99 a week. And I guess that’s now a bigger seller than the hard copies of WSJ. That’s just one indicator that people are beginning to recognize the true value of paying for premium content on the web.

The other day, I blogged that TheGroceryGame.com showed 121 UN-advertised sales on one of our Kroger LISTs. 6 of those Unadvertised sales were for free items. Our Quality Control department compared that Kroger LIST to the “same” list at one of the most popular free sites. This site claims to have Unadvertised sales. We’ve always known that on the few lists where they actually do have Unadvertised sales, they only have a few. And on most lists, they actually don’t have any UNadvertised sales. On this Kroger list, however, they did indeed have 7 of the 121 Unadvertised sales.But among those 7 of 121, the free items were missing.

The loss of savings on those seven missing free items is $9.19.  But it doesn’t stop there. This free list is missing coupons on lots of their advertised sales. Even worse, where coupons are included, too many of them are listed at the wrong time. According to our databases, this free site arbitrarily posts coupons with any sales in the sales ad without regard to timing. Our databases indicate that many of those sales are not at their historical lows. This and too many more awful mistakes to list just lead to more lost savings. All in all, someone shopping this week at Kroger with that “free” list stands to lose up to $56 in potential savings than if they had shopped with the premium list at TheGroceryGame.com for a nominal sum of $1.25.

Long before the idea of paying for premium content was popular,TheGroceryGame.com was a “pay to play” content site and still is. Now, we have tons of free things like Teri’s Coupon Tracker, printable coupons, and other resources in Teri’s Coupon Center. But by and large, it’s the “pay to play” portion that has become ever more valuable to those who really want to save the most time and money. In fact, they usually save enough in the four week free trial to buy a deep freezer. Sure, there’s lots of free grocery information out there on the web, even free “lists” loaded with unreliable information. But they’re not the premium content as in The Grocery Game, and they don’t deliver the same savings…  not even close! 

I feel vindicated once again, that sometimes you have to “pay to play”. And glad we’re providing truly premium content that saves our members more money than anywhere else on the web… Every week on our 220+ LISTs nationwide!  

HFCS getting a new name! Oh, wow!

So the people who make High Fructose Corn syrup are trying to get a name change in hopes of resurrecting their dying sweetener.  Corn refiners have petitioned the FDA for use of ‘Corn Sugar’ as an alternate name to ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup’

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corn-refiners-petition-fda-for-use-of-corn-sugar-as-alternate-name-to-high-fructose-corn-syrup-102845349.html

Remember, that was a press release written by CRA, Corn Refiners Association. And they do have their agenda.

There are tons of conflicting results in research. But I am veering toward what happened to the poor rats that were fed HFCS in a Princeton University research study released in March of this year. This study is definitive enough for me to put the matter to rest.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

You decide.

Money Saving 4th of July Menu

You’ll find great deals for your 4th of July menu, but…

Be sure to stock up on huge holidays sales on:

  • Condiments – mustard, mayo, ketchup, BBQ sauce, salad dressing, with a shelf life of up to a year or more.
  • Sodas and beverages – Best prices until Labor Day are now. So stock up for all your summer BBQs, day trips and outings.
  • Grilling meat – Some of the best prices of meat for the grill are right now for 4th of July. Fill your freezer!
  • Paper goods – Paper plates, napkins, paper towels, plastic cups, aluminum foil, almost anything and everything at great prices for picnics and more BBQs!

Save even more:

  • Pass on the big 4th of July display, at least for now. Some of those are indeed the best deals, but look in the aisles and in the sales circular. Other brands are on sale too, and may cost even less.
  • Cash in on instant rebates. Some grocery sales come with manufacturers’ incentives if you mix and match various items. Buy the right quantities and you could get more money off at the register, which could mean you just picked up a few extra groceries for “free”.
  • Look for store coupons to download to your club card or cut from the circular. The deals are there!

My 4th of July menu made from the deals of the season also happens to be very EASY:

  • Burgers on the grill – Nothing like a burger, especially when ground beef is more than half off. Plus, there’s sales on buns and all the trimmings.
  • Potato Salad – A “do-ahead”! I love making my Killer Potato Salad the night before. The flavors come together, and it gets one more thing crossed off my list.
  • BBQ Cole Slaw – Another “do-ahead”, because it’s even better when it sits in the fridge overnight. Cabbage is cheap, and my Best BBQ Cole Slaw recipe  is easy and delicious!
  • Corn on the Grill – 4th of July is peak season for the best corn, and it’s only about 20-25 cents an ear at most supermarkets nationwide. This is how to pick out the best corn, but don’t open it! Here’s how to make Perfect Grilled Corn on the Cob.
  • American Flag Cake – My sister’s great contribution to our patriotic BBQs couldn’t be better! Her recipe made it to SugarLoco.com. So you think you only want one piece??? NOT! Hahaha!

Have a Happy 4th of July!

Part 2 – How to Make the Best BBQ Corn! Next stop, the Grill

Perfect BBQ corn starts with knowing how to select the best ears. See yesterday’s post on “How to Make the Best BBQ Corn! First Stop, the Market”.

I started BBQing corn long ago, and have been through years of metamorphosis. The old days of pulling back the shucks, taking off the silk, and tying the shucks back up are over. Yeah, I did try all kinds of things to put in the shucks. And once I discovered that was just destroying the corn, I decided to perfect it, by leaving it as God intended until I actually eat it… in the shuck! And that took many tries, before I came up with this EASY method:

  • Soak the ears in water for at least 15 minutes (husks fully in tact)
  • Set the grill on Low-Medium heat.
  • Grill each side for about 2 minutes with the lid closed = 8 minutes (4 sides)
  • Remove corn to a large pot or tub, still in its husk. Cover with plastic grocery bags, then with a large towel for insulation. This allows the ears to steam in their husks. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes.
  • Shuck the corn. It will be hot to handle, so oven mitts are handy. Silk will come off much easier cooked than raw.
  • Brush with melted unsalted butter and put back on the grill for a few minutes to get that pretty roasted look and flavor.

Here’s me and my BFF, Sami, cooking our corn and other BBQ goodies!

Juicy Tip: When grilling shucked corn, only brush with Unsalted butter. Salted butter will draw out the moisture while grilling, and dry out the corn. So no salt, until its on the plate and ready to eat!

My favorite way to eat corn on the cob is Mexican style. Slather with mayonnaise, and then roll in grated parmesan cheese! Now THAT’s the perfect way to top off a perfect ear of corn!

Leftover tips – Cut leftover corn off the cob and use in soups, casseroles, chili. Try a delicious side dish, Kari’s Corn Casserole. Also pretty in in salads. If you’ve already buttered the corn on the cob, and you want to use it in a salad, you can rinse it in lukewarm water before chilling it in the fridge. Perfection!

How to Make the Best BBQ Corn! First Stop, the Market

When farmers grow corn, they usually start planting as early as March, depending on where they plant, what type of hybrid they’re growing, and when they want their corn to go to market. They’ve been getting ready for corn season, and so are we! We saw our first sales on corn for Memorial Day. By about midsummer, corn is at the peak of its season, on sale for about 25 cents or less, and it’s just divine.

When you buy in season, select the best ears, and prepare it just right, it will be the sweetest and juiciest corn ever!

Here’s how you can select the best corn:

  • Bigger isn’t better. I used to figure that since I was paying per ear, I should find the biggest ones to get my money’s worth. Not so. The biggest ears are often tough and chewy. The smallest ears can have too many undeveloped kernels. A medium sized slender ear is your best bet.
  • Go sight unseen. We’ve all seen the big bin next to the corn in the produce section. This is where people toss the shucks. Don’t do that! Leave them in their shucks completely. Don’t even take a peek! Let it be a surprise right before you eat it. Once you shuck them, the corn is drying out, and losing it’s goodness. So, how do you know what you’re getting?…
  • Inspect the husk. The husk should be a smooth green color, moist, and laying tight against the ear. If the husks are turning light green, losing color or even drying out and beginning to separate from the ear, what’s inside will be dry and chewy.
  • Inspect the tassel. The tassel of silk coming out of the top may not be clean, but it shouldn’t be dark brown or mushy. It should be light in color, even with a little green tint to it. If it’s fresh, the tassel will not be totally limp, but have some body to it. The tips of the tassel will have started to dry. Take a look at how it is while it’s still on the stalk to find your ideal. If you find a tassle that’s all of the above, and sticky to the touch, you’ve probably found an ear that was picked today, and you’re probably at a corn stand by a field. Oh yeah! It doesn’t get better than that!
  • Buy a few extra for back up. Given all of the above, back at home, while preparing to serve your corn, you’ll occasionally open up an ear that doesn’t look good inside. So you’ll want to have extra ears to make sure everyone gets one. It’s OK if they’re all good. Go ahead and grill all of them for leftovers.

Entertainment for Fun Car Trips with Kids

Living on the west coast and having family over a thousand miles away, we made many a trip from California to Texas and back. One thing I learned about driving long distances with kids is that you need to circumvent boredom before it strikes!

Stop by the dollar store  before you take off, and find some coloring books, and activity books. You’ll get lots of entertainment for just a few bucks. But…

Coloring or reading can cause car sickness, so unfortunately, those activities could be cut short. By contrast, listening and watching the road are the best remedies for car sickness and boredom.

Here’s a few of our favorite things that helped us cover many miles…

Audio Books and CDs from the Library  – Visit your library to borrow a number of books on CDs or check Overdrive Search to download audio books from the library. Our favorites were the Louis L’Amour book series available online from libraries nationwide. These are western stories with multiple characters’ voices, sounds of trains, horses, kids and dogs. Our kids actually looked forward to getting in the car to finish their stories. 

Audio Books MP3 – Visit TheAudioBookBay.com  & AudioBooksForFree.com to download free MP3s of books from many genres. 

There’s lots of ways to entertain kids on summer car trips with nothing but your own eyes and ears. Try the old “I Spy” game, or…

The Alphabet Game – We play this for hours, and it never seems to get old. Starting with the letter “A”, look for words on signs that start with the letters of the alphabet. It takes awhile to get to “Z”, but it’s challenging and fun for even little ones.

Survival Supplies: Provide each child with their own pillow. Now, those sleepy heads can pass the time with some Zzzzzs!

Take lots of walking and stretching breaks.

Take time to stop and smell the roses.

Make some fantastic family memories, and have a great trip!

Tangy Tuna Ceviche

In looking for recipes for ceviches, look no further. This Tangy Tuna Ceviche is the perfect, light and easy summer dish that everyone will devour! The key is lime and cilantro… and canned tuna!

What is cilantro? Cilantro coriander is a very aromatic herb with soft leaves, sometimes called Chinese parsley.

I grow vegetables and herbs, and I always plant cilantro, because it’s great for cilantro salsa, cilantro rice, cilantro chicken, and anything and everything mexican! Besides, it’s so pretty, and makes my vegetable garden look like something from better homes & garden!

I learned this recipe from my friend, Lidia, who taught it to her kids, who taught it to my kids, who taught it to me!!

This cilantro recipe… err… I mean Tangy Tuna Ceviche Recipe, uses cans of tuna, instead of raw fish. It’s easy to make at picnics or camp-outs, which is why Lidia came up with it in the first place. Needless to say, I have to be sure to keep all the ingredients on hand. My big 21 year old son, Christian, makes up batches of this with his big hungry friends, and they devour it! That’s probably the main reason I grow cilantro in my garden!

Cilantro Growing Tip: Keep trimming it whether you eat it or not. Once it flowers, it goes to seed, which is the “coriander”, and it dies back. If you keep trimming it, and eating it, it can last all summer!

For Little Kids, just omit the serranos and hot sauce. The tangy-ness of the limes will make it plenty good sans the spice. For party food, I usually make two kinds, an adult batch and kid batch. Serve it up with tortilla chips, and they eat it as a chunky dip.

My family has always preferred solid white tuna for sandwiches, but for this, Lidia uses chunk light, as do we. I think because of the spices and lime, it just works.

Money Saving Tip: Chunk light tuna is cheaper too!

Once you try this recipe for ceviche, you’ll want to load up on sales on tuna, and that time is now! Walgreens has 5 oz. cans of chunk light tuna on sale for 79 cents a can with the store coupon through this Saturday. There’s a limit of six at that price, and my savings tip is to always buy the limit. You’re going to need it, because this is one of those things you can’t stop eating.

Tangy Tuna Ceviche is also handy for healthy dinners. Stock up on sales of taco shells or tostada shells with coupons if you have them, and serve them up for easy dinner ideas.

Gluten Free and Hating it!

Yeah, it’s rough. Our whole family has had a an intolerance to wheat, now known as the gluten element.

What is gluten free? Wikipedia explains it in a nutshell: Gluten (from Latin gluten, “glue”) is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye. Gluten gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture.

So, gluten free diets are free of that stuff!

Our first brush with the ravages of gluten…

When Joe was a baby, 28 years ago, he was plagued with ear infections, and lived on antibiotics for about 7 months. He was scheduled for tubes in his ears. As a last ditch resort, I took him to an alternative medicine doctor who basically took away his wheat cracker, and gave him a rice cake.

Three days later… What??? No ear infections?!?!?!? He’s happy. He’s smiling! There’s my boy!

The sweet church nursery ladies felt sorry for him that he had to eat rice cakes, and wanted him to be able to eat saltines like the other babies. I said, “Go ahead. Give him some. But just for fun, watch his nose start to run.”  They were flabber-gasted! They switched all the kids to rice cakes, and saved a boatload on Kleenex!

Now, my youngest, Christian at age 21, has all kinds of problems with gluten, but let’s talk about me! I retain water, get achy joints, big time sinus trouble…. and the list goes on. My husband Greg is gluten intolerant too, but he prefers to live in denial, and hasn’t crossed over to the dark side… yet!

Why do I HATE it??? A gluten free diet can be so expensive, you’ll need a second job to pay for it. But wait! I’ve made some observations, and starting to break it down…

What is gluten free? And how can you save?

Gluten Free is expensive when:

  • You try to eat Italian food, AKA pasta or pizza, substitutions for yummy carbs that are not naturally gluten free. We’re used to paying 25-50 cents for a box of pasta on sale with coupons, or even free!  Never four bucks! I may as well take on new car payment! Sheesh!
  • You just want a sandwich or a burger! I’ve learned that gluten free flour is actually gold dust, and Fort Knox now has loaves of gluten free bread in place of gold bars. I’ve even made it in my bread machine, but the stupid gluten free flour is outrageous! And WHAT is that crumbly mess that was supposed to be bread?

Alright, forgive me for the rant…

I HAVE uncovered some solutions …

Gluten free is affordable and even cheap when:

  • Most of your gluten free foods are unadulterated as God intended (not substitutions or copies of glutenous foods)
  • Your carbs are mostly potatoes and brown rice, which are naturally gluten free and super cheap!
  • You buy mainstream groceries that are already gluten free, but not necessarily labeled as such, because they can’t guarantee that nothing accidently got in there. Here, it depends on how intolerant you are. So far, we’re fine with some mainstream granola bars, corn tortillas, or Fritos, for example. Read the labels and find one that works. Then use a coupon when it’s on sale and stock up!
  • You know where to find the substitutes at the best price! This is where it pays off to do some scouting around, as inventory and prices vary from place to place.

Sprouts has a huge inventory of gluten free. Hop into any department, and gluten free items have their own great big shelf tags, “Gluten Free” and lots of it, but still mostly very expensive. Of course, I stocked up on some $1.89 salad dressings and a few other pantry items on sale. I also fell for some over-priced pasta.

There’s a maze of info on the web on gluten free. Sprouts gives away a great little purse size booklet, sort of the cliff notes on gluten free living. Ask for it at checkout.

Back to my Vons, a Safeway supermarket… Their inventory on gluten free is about 1% of what Sprouts has. But wait, there’s more… I found two brands of gluten free pasta for $2.99 a box, as cheap or cheaper than Sprouts!

I AM finding money saving delicious solutions for those of us surviving and thriving as gluten free, and I promise to share it.

My Top 5 Favorite Financial Apps

There is an existing app designed to make almost every aspect of life easier: calorie-counting, exercise-tracking, navigating and traveling, recipe-learning, sales and shopping, language-learning, news-reading, and the list goes on. It’s all accessible with a touch and a swipe on your mobile device. But some of the most useful apps (to me) are apps that help me to better manage my money. Days are busy and I don’t always have time to stop what I am doing and think about tracking my spending, let alone budgeting for the future. Here are my top 5 favorite financial apps that simplify the money side of life!

1. LearnVest

This app helps you to create budgets and outline your financial goals, while keeping you on track to meet those goals. This app connects to your personal accounts – checking, savings, credit cards, and investments – to track your spending. This feature is designed to give you an instant picture of how you are spending your money, and whether you are spending too much in one area.

2. HelloWallet

This app takes a behavioral science approach to business to help you plan your financial future. The founder of the app molded behavioral psychology with technology to come up with an app that offers individualized personal finance recommendations based on your age, spending patterns, and income. It also brings to your attention financial gaps in your life, for example, inadequate emergency-savings plans.

3. OnBudget

This app includes a fee-free prepaid card, so that you cannot spend more than what you have in the budget. With the MasterCard prepaid debit card, this app is designed to help you organize your spending by using different “envelopes” for each spending category. The envelopes are used to track spending patterns, give you tips on saving, and to give you constructive advice on better decision-making.

4. Better Haves

Better Haves is a budgeting app designed for couples. This app allows you to easily manage a budgeting envelope, and allows you to track expenses individually and together. 

5. Checks   

This app monitors your bills, accounts, and credit cards and reminds you of payments you need to make. If you are prone to being late or missing payments, this app may help keep you on track! 

Healthy Thanksgiving side dish recipes, that won’t leave you feeling regretful

The Thanksgiving turkey tends to take the glory. But what truly creates a splendid Thanksgiving meal are the extravagant side dishes. It is easy to overfill our plates with these eye-catching, mouth-watering sides. And, as a result, they tend to leave us feeling guiltily full. A meal that is supposed to be enjoyed and shared among friends and family turns into a feast of overstuffed and uncomfortable guests.

In an attempt to save the Thanksgiving meal from the “I overdid it” syndrome, I have compiled a list of five light and healthy side dish recipes. Keep in mind that despite being healthy and nutritious, these side dishes still have calories. So, what it truly boils down to is this:  don’t over-stuff your plate, and you won’t become over-stuffed!

Enjoy!

Recipe #1:  Broccoli, Shiitake and Red Onion Roast 

  • ACTIVE: 25 MIN
  • TOTAL TIME: 45 MIN
  • SERVINGS: 6

Directions:

  1. One 1 1/4-pound head of broccoli
  2. 1/2 pound large shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
  3. 1 small red onion, sliced crosswise 1/3 inch thick
  4. Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
  5. Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  6. 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  7. Preheat the oven to 425°. Trim and peel the broccoli stems. Cut the broccoli lengthwise into long stalks, with 1 or 2 florets each. Cut any remaining florets into 2-inch pieces. Spread the broccoli on a large, rimmed baking sheet. On another large, rimmed baking sheet, put the shiitake on one side and the onion slices on the other. Generously brush all the vegetables with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for about 20 minutes, until just tender and lightly browned. Transfer the broccoli to a platter. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the mushrooms and onion rings and stir to coat the vegetables. Top the broccoli with the shiitake and onion and serve.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/broccoli-shiitake-and-red-onion-roast

Recipe #2:  Potato Gratin and Herbs

  • ACTIVE: 30 MIN
  • TOTAL TIME: 2 HRS
  • SERVINGS: 8
  1. 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the cake pan
  2. 1 large shallot, minced (about 1/3 cup)
  3. 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped thyme
  4. 1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
  5. 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  6. 2 pounds medium red potatoes, very thinly sliced
  7. Salt
  8. Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400° and oil an 8-inch round cake pan, preferably of dark metal. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and oil the paper.
  2. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the shallot, cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened (about 3 minutes). Add the thyme and rosemary and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook over moderately high heat until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 10 minutes.
  3. Arrange an overlapping layer of potato slices in the cake pan. Season lightly with salt and pepper and spoon a small amount of the reduced broth on top. Repeat the layering with the remaining potatoes and reduced broth, seasoning each layer lightly. Pour any remaining broth on top. Cover the pan with a sheet of oiled parchment paper and then a sheet of foil.
  4. Bake the gratin in the center of the oven until the potatoes are very tender, about 1 hour. Remove the foil and paper and bake until the top is dry, about 10 minutes longer.
  5. Turn the broiler on. Remove the gratin from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Invert the gratin onto a heatproof plate. Carefully remove the parchment round. Broil the gratin 6 inches from the heat until the surface is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Source:  http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/healthy-potato-gratin-with-herbs

Recipe #3:  Brown rice salad with cranberries, walnuts, mint and feta

Directions:

  1. 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  2. 1 shallot, minced
  3. 1 1/2 cups short-grain brown rice
  4. 3 cups vegetable stock
  5. Kosher salt
  6. Freshly ground pepper
  7. 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
  8. 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  9. 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  10. 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
  11. 3 ounces crumbled feta cheese
  1. In a large sauce pan, sauté shallot in 2 tablespoons of oil over moderate heat until softened, about three minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the stock, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until the broth is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350º. Spread the walnuts on a small baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Roughly chop.
  3. Combine rice with remaining tablespoon of olive oil, red wine vinegar, walnuts, cranberries, mint, and feta.

*You can substitute some of the ingredients for cheaper options! 

Happy cooking and Happy Thanksgiving!

Apple Pie Jam Recipe

Ingredients

  • 4 to 5 large Golden Delicious apples, peeled and sliced (about 2 pounds)
  • 1 cup water
  • 5 cups sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon butter
  • 1 pouch (3 ounces) liquid fruit pectin
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground mace, optional

Directions

  1. In a Dutch oven, combine apples and water. Cover and cook slowly until tender. Measure 4-1/2 cups apples; return to the pan. (Save remaining apple mixture for another use or discard.)
  2. Stir in sugar and butter. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin. Continue to boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  3. Remove from heat; skim off foam. Stir in spices. Carefully ladle hot mixture into seven hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot mixture. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars; screw on bands until fingertip tight.
  4. Place jars into canner with simmering water, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil; process 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool. Yield: 7 half-pints.

Editor’s Note: The processing time listed is for altitudes of 1,000 feet or less. Add 1 minute to the processing time for each 1,000 feet of additional altitude.

Earning Money Online: What’s Your Time Worth?

It’s hard to ignore the appeal of making real money online—after all, we live in a world where bloggers land book and movie deals, where top YouTubers are multimillionaires and where celebrities collect thousands of dollars in exchange for a single sponsored tweet.

While some of us dream of a wildly successful Internet career, the rest of us are happy to settle for online earnings that are a little more modest. Thousands of money-making opportunities are just a web search away. Whether you’re selling your old stuff, scoping out freelance opportunities or running your own digital storefront, there are tools and resources to help you along every step of the way. 

In recent years, a new approach to making a quick buck online has been gaining traction: online rewards programs where you can earn money by performing a variety of online activities. Some sites are based on consumer activities (e.g., online shopping, submitting product reviews, watching video promotions), while others are geared towards data-related activities (taking surveys, image tagging, transcribing information). Though the sites vary in nature, they share some commonalities: they are built around “microtasks”—online activities that do not require much time or experience to complete. 

Microtask and shopping rewards websites are appealing because of their perceived easiness. Most of their paid activities can be completed in mere minutes and almost anyone can do it—it doesn’t get much better than that, right? Other ways of making money online suddenly seem slow and labor-intensive by comparison. Why spend time and energy getting a freelance gig when you can sit around filling out surveys instead?

Well, before you go signing up for every free trial and installing every search bar plug-in, consider that the selling points (Easy! Fast! No experience necessary!) on these websites also serve as red flags that this type of money-making may not be worth your while. The following questions can help you weed out the underpaid clickbait from the better-paid gigs:

1) What’s the “hourly wage”? 
This might seem like an obvious first step, but comparing the real hours you’re spending to the real money you’re earning is an incredibly helpful tool in determining whether or not an online pursuit is worth your time. Many rewards sites use point systems in which points need to be accumulated before they can be redeemed. Point systems are really great at obscuring how much you’re actually earning, so take the time to figure out the approximate cash value of a single point. If it takes 500 points to redeem a $5 gift card, for example, a point is worth roughly $0.01. Completing a survey for 25 points sounds decent, but (following this example) if the survey takes 10 minutes to complete, the reality is that you’re working at a rate of $1.50 per hour, which sounds a lot less decent.

2) How much talent or expertise does the gig require?
When considering joining a microtask or shopping rewards website, evaluate the sort of activities you’d be engaging in. Do any conditions or restrictions apply, or can anyone with an Internet connection do the task? As a rule of thumb, online gigs with the fewest barriers have the most people competing for them and therefore tend to pay less. A little know-how can go a long way, so look for opportunities to complete slightly higher-paying activities: for example, submitting a video product review will likely earn you more credits than watching a 30-second ad. 

3) What are you willing to compromise?
Sometimes the ease and convenience of microtask and rewards sites comes at the price of your personal data and online identity. How much is your personal information worth to you? Would you be okay with a fuller inbox (and mailbox!) as a result of filling out surveys and promotional offers? Are you comfortable linking your social media accounts to the product reviews you submit? Are you willing to sell out your ‘likes’ and ‘faves’? Taking stock of your web presence and browsing habits can help you figure out how much you’re willing to compromise for some extra spending cash.

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Microtask and shopping rewards sites, although increasingly popular, generally aren’t practical options for any substantial level of online income. That doesn’t mean they have to be avoided completely—if you’re happy clicking around and then redeeming a gift card every couple of months, then all power to you! As with all sources of online income, it’s important to have realistic expectations and to treat your time as a valuable resource.v

iEntrepreneur featuring Tip Whip, LLC

If there is one thing it takes to succeed in small business, it’s determination.

And Spencer Wood has a lot to show! His relentless pursuit of his goal led him to opening his own business, Tip Whip, LLC. The business runs successfully with seven volunteer drivers, giving FREE rides to students in the Orono area within a three mile radius of the heart of the University of Maine.

But financially, how is it possible? In Spencer’s interview, he shares his strategies on how he leads his business to the next level. Check it out, and share your thoughts on running a successful business in the comments.

Tweet this! 

“Believe in what you have in terms of your idea, and relentlessly pursue it.” Spencer, @Tip_Whippen207 @YoungFreeME

Show Notes: 

  • Determination is essential in small business.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask any questions.
  • If you don’t know the answer, ask until you find the missing puzzle piece.
  • Business doesn’t have to be complicated if you are determined to make it work.

Spencer’s Aha! moment sparked his idea! He saw that students needed rides around campus, and that responsible drivers could make tips. He took action, and pursued his goal.

Spencer made Tip Whip happen by entering business competitions and applying for grants, receiving family money, and reinvesting 20% tip money into business operations.

Do you have what it takes to pursue your ideas?

If you have the determination to pursue your ideas, your credit union will give you AWESOME financial advice, and will point you in the right direction! If you have big ideas, or lots of questions, they can help get you moving toward success. Sometimes, making the decision to pursue something won’t happen until you dive in and take action!

Free 2 Year Wedding Website

One of the new things couples are doing these days is getting their own website so they can spread information, photos, etc. There’s a site, we have no affiliation with them, that’s giving out two year wedding websites for free:

http://www.tgwedding.com/tgwedding/index.php

We’ve never used them but they look reputable.

Wedding Cost Cutting Tip: Skip Live Cocktail Hour Music

Our first wedding cost cutting tip is a pretty well known one to anyone who has even though about weddings and that is you should cut out live cocktail hour music, if not cut live music all together. If you want live music, don’t get it during the cocktail hour because your guests will be chatting it up for that time anyway so their music will fall on deaf ears. Instead, play a Frank Sinatra CD (Try The Very Best of Frank Sinatra, a two-disc set of Frank’s very best) and save yourself a few extra dollars.

As for the rest of the wedding, skipping live music all together will not save you as much as you think because the alternative is a disc jockey, which aren’t cheap themselves, but will save you a couple dollars in the long run. Also, you can avoid tricky audio issues like feedback (since the microphone won’t be used too often) and bad singing (since it’ll be pre-recorded!).

Envelope Stuffing: Legit Work At Home Business or Scam?

If you have ever looked for a home business, or even just opened up your city’s free weekly paper, you’ve probably seen an ad claiming you can make thousands of dollar stuffing envelopes.

All you have to do is pay a small fee and you will get paid for each envelope stuffed—you’ll be able to make tons of money, all from the comfort of your own home.

Are you picturing yourself going through piles of envelopes will watching Buffy reruns and eating potato chips? Your only concern is how to avoid paper cuts?

While that would be great real life is quite different. In reality, most envelope stuffing work from home jobs don’t involve either envelopes or stuffing. According to the FTC, most of these ads aren’t offering you a job at all. You send them money and they send you a letter telling you to place the same envelope-stuffing ad in newspapers or magazines, or to send the ad to friends and relatives. You get paid when they send you money looking for information about envelope-stuffing jobs. So the only stuffing that is happening is when you sucker someone else into stuffing $10 into an envelope and sending it to you. And the only thing being stuffed is a copy of the same letter they sent you.

Are there legitimate work from home envelope stuffing jobs?

Let’s look at a few facts.

Why would anyone in his or her right mind pay you loads of money to stuff an envelope?
That’s right, they wouldn’t. No sane person would pay you $10 to stuff an envelope. I called my neighborhood Kinko’s who quoted me a price of $260 to stuff 1000 envelopes. That’s no where near $10 an envelope.

Beware the “starter kit” scam
Um, do you really need a kit telling you how to stuff an envelope?

Free envelopes and stamps
Envelopes and stamps are expensive. The only way you’re going to get them for free is by people sending you self-addressed stamped envelopes—which seems so ancient and outdated now. Don’t these people know that you can reach way more people online?

Extra fees
So-called work from home business opportunities like these love to attach fees whenever and however they can: processing fees, disclosure fees, starter kit fees. You get the picture. Whenever someone asks you to pay a fee like one of these ask yourself what they need the money for. What, exactly, are they processing? A disclosure fee is the most ridiculous. They are asking you to pay them before they tell you anything, like stuffing envelopes is some highly classified secret that must be guarded with one’s life, until of course someone else shoves $20 in their face…

Work From Home Testimonials & Super Special Reports
These come in the form of special reports that tell you all about legitimate home businesses that are really, really real. These exist only to sell you the original product. The whole purpose of these “special reports” is to convince you to send more of your hard-earned money to these shysters. Testimonials mean nothing. You’ve all seen the quotes, “I’ve made thousands stuffing envelopes from the comfort of my own home!” –Susie Homemaker. Well, Susie Homemaker probably doesn’t exist. And if she does she’s probably the original scammer’s mother or girlfriend. Just because something is in writing doesn’t make it real.

Ok, so you still think there might be legitimate opportunities for you to stuff envelopes and make easy money working from home?

Here are a few warning signs you should be aware of:

  • No contact info. No email. No phone. No address.
  • If they do have a phone number no one ever answers it.
  • If they have an address it’s a P.O. Box.
  • They ask for money before they’ll tell you anything.
  • They promise you the world, or at least tons of cash.

Have you been scammed?
Report the foul deed to the Federal Trade Commission. Call 1-877-FTC-HELP
(1-877-382-4357) or log on to www.ftc.gov