SUNDAY DINNER DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A ROAST How do you celebrate Sunday? A roast beef for Sunday dinner every week could get extremely costly for today’s grocery budget but don’t let that stop you from creating new traditions for your family. I’m sure almost everyone has heard of the Sunday dinner where your parents cook up a hearty full meal as if it were Christmas dinner. That’s what it was like in my house growing up in England and something I hope to continue with my family here in Canada. The idea around Sunday dinner is that it was a time where family would come together for at least one full meal at the table. Even today families still prepare Sunday dinner as one of the few days of the week where time permits a full meal especially since life is far busier than it has ever been. Thank goodness for the crock-pot and now the Instant Pot. What’s for Sunday Dinner Mum? Growing up family dinners were pretty standardized in our house as far as meals and times would go. My mum likes to cook but was never adventurous so my siblings and I would look forward […]
Our Sunday Dinner Traditions With 6 Recipe Inspirations: The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 #2 Apr 9-15
The Ultimate Guide To Canadian Grocery Stores Return Policy : The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 #1 Apr 2-8
IF YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY AND YOU’RE NOT HAPPY THEN RETURN IT A return policy is a BIG check for YES when customers can easily locate and review such a policy on any grocery store website and in-store. The problem is sometimes it’s not so easy finding the FAQ’s or the return policy so consumers understand what they can and cannot return. This can get frustrating for customers who are already shy to return something or for those who have to hunt for information and don’t want to call or visit customer service. The name of the game for grocery stores in Canada must be, simplicity. To keep things simple for my readers I went and did the work for you as you will find a return policy below for most major grocery stores in Canada. My advice to everyone is if you are unsure about a return policy or whether an item can be returned, call the store. There may be time limits for a return and other stipulations but for the most part they are great with food items especially if you hand on to your receipt. One tip I like to give is to store your […]
The Most Expensive Canadian Grocery Stores To Shop At : The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 #4 Mar 26-Apr 1
YOU MAY NOT ALWAYS HAVE CONTROL OVER WHERE YOUR DOLLARS ARE SPENT BUT YOU CAN MINIMIZE THE IMPACT BY KNOWING YOUR OPTIONS. Why would anyone want to know about the most expensive Canadian grocery stores to shop at? Well, it has been a hot topic on Canadian Budget Binder for a while now so I decided to talk about my experiences over the years. You may be saying, don’t shop there if it’s too expensive but how do you know if it is and what if there were no other options? Opinions will vary from person to person ranges from person but most likely because it’s easier to avoid them rather than waste your time going to them. The second reason is money is tight for almost all Canadians who are looking for ways to stretch their food dollars. Sometimes people suffer in silence financially when they’re stuck and others do what they have to do to earn some money just to live. This morning I read an article about how people are pan-handling on the streets of Toronto just to make ends meet since moving to Canada. It’s heart-breaking to read but poverty is out there whether you […]
Free Printable Checklist Of Common Spices For Your Kitchen : The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 #3 Mar 19-25
SUPPLY YOUR KITCHEN WITH THESE FAMILIAR SPICES AND ADD A SPLASH OF FLAVOUR TO ALL YOUR MEALS Having common spices on hand that many recipes call for is one of the smartest and most inexpensive ways to flavour your dishes. It’s that time of year when we do a full spice cabinet wipe and clean along with an inventory of what we have on hand or need to replenish. Get your FREE Printable Common Spices Checklist below!! Storing Herbs, Spices and Extracts My father-in-law would make sure his organic herbs were properly dried in parchment paper and sat in a box that resembled a pop case. He’d dry the herbs in the basement on a long 8 foot table during the winter and eventually he would have boxes of herbs to use. There were always herbs hanging upside down from the ceiling as if there were bats in the house. “Be careful what you walk into”, he used to tell me if I would go down to grab something. Once dried always store your spices in a dry space such as a kitchen cabinet where moisture won’t have the opportunity to get inside. Having a good kitchen […]
How Spring Cleaning Helped Us Uncover A Hidden Pot Of Gold : The Saturday Weekend Review #251
SELL DUST FOR CASH WITH SOME GOOD OLD-FASHIONED SPRING CLEANING Don’t wait around for your pot of gold because the only way to fill your pot with cash is to get out there and make it yourself. Let the green of St. Patrick’s Day today inspire you to start spring cleaning your home for some green of your own. Many people go chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow not realizing they have a pot right under their nose, at home. It’s time to clean up the cash you having lying around the house and put it back where it belongs, in the bank. A deep spring cleaning includes more than just wiping walls, cleaning cupboards, windows and the outside of your home. One of the most dreaded chores but most rewarding is a thorough spring clean-up that uncovers ‘stuff’ you haven’t used in months or even years but has worth to it. If you put it for sale online you’d likely find a buyer and recoup some of the money you spend buying the product. It’s amazing how many people tell me they are broke yet they have loads of stuff around their house […]
First-Class Grocery Receipt Pricing Errors You Might Be Missing : The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 #2 Mar 12-18
PRICING ERRORS AT THE GROCERY STORE GO BEYOND THE SHELF-PRICE Your grocery shopping trip is not over until you’ve read your receipt and are happy with what you see. We’ve created our own consumer pricing policy in the CBB household and that is to make sure we don’t pay more than we should be, EVER. Grocery receipt errors are more than just watching for the wrong price which most but not all consumers are aware of which is why reading your receipt is Step 1 in saving money at the grocery store. Over the years we’ve conditioned ourselves to look for pricing errors and for those stores that do offer what many of you know as The Scanning Code of Practice this can mean free product. No one wants to believe that a store is being dishonest and in most cases errors that do happen are human errors. This means both the consumer and the grocery store are at fault, not just the grocery store. The pricing errors don’t just stop at the wrong price though even though we’ve come to depend on price checkers that I believe every store should have available for customers. Most people won’t […]
13 Food Items That Do Not Require Refrigeration : The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 #1 Mar 5-11
ENJOY THE QUALITY OF FOOD THAT YOU PAY FOR WHETHER YOU GROW IT YOURSELF OR NOT I have to admit before I met my wife there were food items I thought needed refrigeration but really, they didn’t. Growing up you may have learned about food storage in home-economics class, reading books/magazines, cooking shows or your parents shared their knowledge with you. If you grew up on a farm you probably know more than your friends do and sometimes I’m envious of the farm friends I have because they know so much about the earth and how foods grow. I do have a green thumb but need to find time to get back at it. In the meantime I’m foraging when I can and will continue to do so all thanks to my father-in-law who taught me where to look for mushrooms, asparagus, herbs and berries in Ontario. There are so many foods you can forage but even then you must know how to store food items or risk wasting them or losing valuable nutrients and flavours. Coming from a gardening family Mrs. CBB had a dad who knew exactly how to store food items that he grew in his […]
How To Create An Organized Monthly Grocery List : The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 3/4 Feb 19-Mar 4
GROCERY SHOPPING REQUIRES PRECISION PLANNING FOR BEST RESULTS I know that everyone has different planning strategies when it comes to preparing for a grocery shop however if you fall into the monthly grocery list category you know the importance of over-planning. One of the most asked grocery shopping questions I’ve gotten over the years apart from how much a grocery budget should be revolves around grocery lists. How do you make a grocery list that gets you in and out of the grocery store? How to create a grocery list for one, two, family of 4, or students? A basic grocery list is straight-forward but when weekly shopping turns into a monthly grocery list you’ve got a bit more work to do. I don’t know many people who like to spend more time than needed in the grocery store which is why a meal plan and simple weekly shopping list is ideal. The problem with this is that not everyone has an opportunity to make a weekly super-fly trip to the grocer. If this is you than you may find yourself planning a bi-weekly or even monthly grocery list which is far more work. Related: How monthly grocery shopping […]
