My little brother has a nickname for it: Gross Out. He has a point. Outlets are one of the places commodities go before they die, not a place to find fresh, wholesome food. It’s a place are where companies send their surplus of hotel and hospital food. It’s a place for the expiring but slightly edible.

It’s the place I expected to find:

• dented cans of potted meat
• unnaturally puffy jugs of milk
• frozen shrimp of unknown origin
• bags of super-orange shredded cheese product
• seeping containers of sweet frozen ice milk
• wilty, sad-sack lettuce heaps

But I was wrong. I never thought I’d love you, Grocery Outlet. But I do.

My friend Michelle is a mother of twins and an accredited expert in grocery shopping (and other amazing child-rearing and non-child-rearing skills). She’s been lauding the glories of Grocery Outlet for years, and I was often skeptical of this mystical land of cheap milk and discounted honey. I finally heeded her advice and had a blast saving all kinds of money.

However, shopping at Grocery Outlet should not be approached in the same way you approach other grocery stores. You’ll become overwhelmed with all the items you don’t actually want or need, and end up missing all the great deals. Following a few ground rules will help keep dollars in your pocket and the cheap but unnecessary frozen cream puffs out of your basket.

Not all Grocery Outlets are created equal. My first Portland experience was at the Hollywood store a few years ago, and it was a complete Gross Out. It’s small and dark and their selection isn’t (or wasn’t at the time) great. However, the Milwaukie store rules! It’s bright and spacious, just like a regular grocery store. I was amazed with the selection, especially of natural and organic brands, such as Newman’s and Choice Organic. If you are first dismayed with a Grocery Outlet, try an alternate location.

Stick to the items you normally buy and stock up. It was very tempting to buy items that weren’t on my list because they’re so cheap. But that’s counter productive to the goal of saving money. Adhere closely to your list but stock up on pantry items you use regularly. I use canned, organic bean on a very regular basis, so at $0.99 ($1.69 at Trader Joe’s) I bought several cans of each variety and avoided the Amy’s Pizza’s regardless of the deep discount.

If you don’t know where to start, begin with typically expensive items. Flour tortillas must be of the most over-priced items at the average grocery store. The ones I like at Fred Meyer are more than $3 for a bag of 10. Cheese, tea, coffee and alcohol also put a major dent in our grocery budget. I began with these items because I figured that’s where I would find the biggest savings. I was right: Cabot Sharp Cheddar for $3.99/lb, flour tortillas for $1.69, avocados two for a dollar.

Don’t be afraid. Yes, at Grocery Outlet you will find many items close to their “sell by” date. But nothing on their shelves (according to their  website) is sold after the expiration or sell by dates. Meaning the meat, cheese, milk and eggs you take home are still perfectly safe for you to eat. Not going to eat that pork tenderloin in the next couple of days? Freeze it. Same with cheese or butter that’s nearing its prime. The “best by” dates are different. When an item is past its “best by” date, it doesn’t mean it’s bad. It means by this time next year, it might be rancid, but eat it in the next couple of weeks, it’s perfectly fine.

And, really, stop being such a wimp.

Photo credit: kevynjacobs

At home, we’ve embarked on a new adventure. We recently sold our house, downsized our possessions and our expenses, and moved into a two-bedroom rental, with the goal of saving money from the mortgage and other home-owning expenses. Part of this adventure includes greatly reducing our food and entertainment budgets.

I like to use the word “adventure” to describe this change, because it adds a positive spin on what is a very difficult process. To save what we want to save we have to dramatically adjust our lifestyle. I know a lot of people, including myself, who would like to spend less of their weekly budget on food, but don’t seem to be able to. How does one actually reduce their food spending?

Kat Merck’s recent article Let Me Eat Cake in the Willamette Week is one example of implementing dramatic budget cuts. Merck shares how she feeds two people for $35 per week, or about $0.83 per meal.  Merck makes all of her meals from scratch, bakes her own bread, and shops at discount grocers like Winco and Grocery Outlet. It doesn’t seem impossible, but scouring multiple grocery stores for deals and spending hours in the kitchen kneading bread sounds like a lot of work. But Merck’s article gave me some great ideas, such as snacking minimally and looking for discounts on the most expensive items, such as meat and cheese.

Given other demands, such 40-plus-hour jobs, hobbies and active social lives, feeding the two of us on $35 per week is a little extreme. This week, I’m going to aim for a $60 grocery budget, down from our typical $80 – $100 bill. Here are some of the strategies I plan to implement:

• Build recipies around pantry items I already have, like dried beans and rice.
• Visit Grocery Outlet and stock up on cheap cheese and other staples.
• Substitute some of our higher prices snacks (almonds, cheese and crackers) with cheaper foods (cut carrots, homemade muffins).

Stay tuned for more ideas and examples of living on the cheap!

My husband Peter has a saying: “Whatever you do on the first day of the year, you’ll do the rest of the year.” In the past, my New Year’s Day often included a greasy hangover breakfast and bloody marys. Not necessarily what I want to be eating for the rest of the year.

More recently, I’ve added black-eyed peas into first-of-January plate. Black-eyed peas are a traditional New Year’s Day menu item in the south United States. It’s considered good luck to eat them today, and make a fine hangover cure when prepared with plenty of salt, pork fat, or smoked meat.

Also, like most legumes, they’re packed with fiber and inexpensive too, especially if you start with dry beans. Make a big pot of black-eyed peas and you’re one step toward keeping your financial and diet-related New Year’s resolutions.

Texas Caviar
, Hoppin’ John
, Black-Eyed Peas and Collards – there’s as many recipes for black-eyed peas as there are hangover cures.With so much variety, you can eat them all year long.

Photo credit: Nep

Last night I prepared one of the most gourmet dinners I have prepared in a very long time. It was incredibly fancypants. What’s really wonderful about this highbrow meal is I spent about 10 minutes preparing it and the cost was under $5.

Pizza. Simple, glorious pizza. It was the ingredients that made it fancy. Proscuitto. Arugula. Tapenade. The words sound expensive. This pizza was so fancy, that I’m not even going to give you the amounts of each ingredient. It’s the kind of pizza that a gourmet chef could make by casually tossing ingredients together, adding this and that to her liking.

Damn, it was good.

Pizza with Prosciutto, Arugula and Olive Tapenade

• homemade or prepared pizza dough
• olive oil
• olive tapenade (Trader Joe’s is inexpensive at $2.99 a jar)
• grated mozzerella
• proscuitto
• fresh arugula

Roll pizza dough into desired size and shape. Transfer to pizza stone, cast iron skillet, or baking sheet. Brush entire surface with a light coating of olive oil. Spread a thin layer of tapenade on the dough. Layer additional ingredients as desired, but save some of the parmesan for the top. Cook in 400 degree oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Sometimes a blogger has to take something back. A few posts ago I wrote about how the best Mexican food could only be found 500 miles south of Portland. Well, that was before I stumbled upon La Tarasca in Centralia, Washington. In my defense, I didn’t write anything about what lies north. Now I am.

La Tarasca is a tiny oasis on Main Street in Centralia, tucked among the vacuum repair shops and abandoned storefronts of this tiny farm community. It’s a family-owned and operated business. Based on reviews in Yelp and Trip Advisor, this tiny cantina has attracted fans from up and down the northwest states.

I ordered the carnitas, which were slow-cooked rather than fried and packed with flavor. Peter had the chili verde, which was bright green and tasted like fresh chilies.

Homemade tortillas, people. It’s all I really have to say, but I’ll go further. The beans and rice were perfect cantina style, served on a big hot plate. While La Tarasca does not serve free chips, they do a tangy, spicy verde salsa to pour over your entree or tortillas and pickled carrots that I ate like they were candy.  For dessert, we tried the flan. A little too thick for my liking, but the flavors of caramelized sugar and creamy custard were a perfect finish.

There are a couple of other reasons to visit Centralia: Olympic Club (the coolest McMenamins yet), antique shopping, historic murals. If you are inclined, you could make La Tarasca your only reason.

Photo credit: J. Zay