Help a Mutha Out: Random notes on saving money

My ridiculous MUST SAVE MONEY FOR GAS price shopping has taken me across town to all kinds of stores, clipping coupons from the paper, scouring sales ads in print and online and hunting high and low in-market to find the best deals available.

It's not that I am cheap.

It's that I hate finding out I spent too much.

That, and... okay, I'm cheap.

Recent discoveries:

Inexpensive Vegetative Perfection
- The awesome fruit stand at Willow & Herndon: I do all my veg shopping at non-grocery outlets lately. This stand is my constant. Why? Fantastic quality. Amazingly low prices. Local fruits and veggies. From onions and garlic to strawberries --YES! STRAWBERRIES!-- to green beans and squash and tomatoes to nectarines and peaches, this stand has everything my family eats without having traveled across half the country to get to my table. It is actually RIPE. I mean, tomatoes are RED (not orange). And the price is excellent.

Food & FREE Family Entertainment
- Clovis Friday Night Farmers Market: I'm a little late with this, as it is apparently a summer activity and will be ending soon BUT, if you have a free night (like say, tonight), check it out. Old Town Clovis has an amazing, block-long farmers market with music and food stalls and lots and lots of produce. It's a great family event and, if you want to go indoors for a bit of history, check out the Clovis Museum on the corner of Pollasky and 4th.

COFFEE!
- Trader Joes: I like good coffee. Peets? Starbucks? Two words: OVER THEM! The coffee is nice, but expensive and frankly, I'm not THAT big of a fan. My best coffee-by-the-pound find in terms of quality, price, and good JuJu can be found at Trader Joes.

First, the coffee is Fair Trade, which means the middle man was removed from the haggling process, and the grower (who does all the work) actually gets more money for the product. Second, it's organic. I'm a fan of organic. 'Nuff said. Third, it is great coffee, availale in a variety of roasts all for about $5.99 per pound. And for a caffeine hound like me? That, friends, is the perfect coffee storm.

Cheap Finds
- Winco: Hunting for the best deals, grocery-wise, I've recently turned to two places for non-veg items. Winco is one of those awesome rediscoveries. First, for name-brand products and dairy items, they have really good prices (that are r-bst free, too). Second, I make lunches for my kids. I load up on chips here, as well as bread and now... LUNCH MEAT.

I don't do bologna or Oscar Meyer packaged sandwich meats, but not for snobbery or health reasons (which, for my character, either would be fitting). Truth be told, I love bologna, or did when I last had it at age 12. Nothing was quite as delicious as bologna on white bread with mayo and mustard, and a bit of green leaf lettuce. Unfortunately heath class ruined my ability to ingest such ambrosia, when I learned that scientific scrutiny of such meat revealed bits of cockroach and other non-meat items in said preformed "meat."

So if I wanted a deli sandwich, I relied on the roasted, sliced $5+ per pound items in the glass case.

Until recently.

In the meat case, one can find small hams and whole roasted turkey breasts available.These are much, MUCH cheaper than buying presliced deli meats. "Yes," you say, "but they are WHOLE. I like it sliced, and when I try to slice it, the meat ends up in slabs. Eew."

To you I say, "deli counter." And when your puzzled face makes that little-tilted, wde-eyed grunt of non-understanding, I say, "Take your small ham or roasted turkey breast to the deli counter and ASK THEM TO SLICE IT FOR YOU." Because they will. And cheese, too.

The price on Jennie-O whole turkey was $2 less per pound than the stuff in the deli case. And cheaper than the Oscar Meyer Deli select stuff by about the same margin.

The ham was also about that much less per pound.

I found better deals on brick cheese, too. The deli staff is more than happy to slice these items for you, and you will end up saving enough for maybe a gallon of gas... depending on how much you buy, of course.

- Vons: In short, MEAT. Watch for their sales. They have in-paper coupons and amazing 2-for-1 sales that, at the right time, are the best I've found. Recently, I got buy-one-get-one-free on packaged ground turkey.

So okay, Moms. I've shared my finds. But I NEED yours! If I'm going to be able to feed and clothe six kids in the current economic environment, i'll need all the help I can get.

Any advice you can share??