Tips For Saving Time & Money And Still Getting A Healthy Dinner On The Table

SupperWorks is convenient, most people are aware of that.  But is it budget friendly?  It is!  It doesn't really add to my grocery bill.  And I am a price matching shopper.   In fact 88% of respondents in a customer survey said that, since using SupperWorks, their monthly food bill has either stayed the same or gone down! It can seem expensive as it is an upfront investment because you pay for multiple meals at a time. But it is something you will use over several weeks, and I buy less week over week when I know I have a SupperWorks meal built into my plan for the week.

SupperWorks has done the cost comparisons and when you compare what you would pay to purchase all the ingredients, the cost of using their service is not a hit to the budget as you may think it would be.  Here are the reasons that using SupperWorks doesn't inflate my grocery bill:

1.  SupperWorks uses Triple AAA or higher grade meat.  And the portions you get are huge value. For a pork tenderloin recipe, you get 2lbs of pork.  Any chicken breast recipes includes chicken breasts that are 5 ounces.  When they say that one meal serves 4-6 people, I always find they base that on large serving sizes so you absolutely get what you pay for, if not more.  If you bought the same grade of meat, you would pay a higher price as they have access to volume discounts and a restaurant level supply chain.  At this point, to get enough chicken to feed my family (with a bit left over for lunches) for dinner is costing me $18 or more!  And I haven't even bought the rest of the ingredients for any recipe yet!

2.  Ingredients you don't use often and fresh herbs.  I love using fresh herbs but to buy them at the grocery store leaves you with large portions that I find hard to use up.  Cilantro, fresh rosemary and fresh parsley are three herbs that I love but usually stick to dry versions (or omit them all together) as I don't want to buy the large quantity and have it go to waste.  To me that seems like a waste of money.  At SupperWorks you use fresh herbs and the recipes are full of flavour and freshness.  I also love using things like shallots and sherry in cooking but often don't have those items on hand (and cleaning shallots is a pain!) but I love being able to incorporate those things in the meals I choose at SupperWorks.

3.  Variety.  I find trying new recipes can be expensive as you usually have to buy ingredients you don't have on hand.  SupperWorks adds variety to my dinner table and gets us all trying new recipes and proteins (Basa fish anyone?) with little effort.  One of the reasons people stick to the same recipes is because they want to use up ingredients on hand but that leaves little flexibility and makes the cost of trying new recipes expensive.

If I bought the exact same ingredients for a SupperWorks recipe I might be able to save a bit of money (I do have honey and garlic, etc on hand) but if I add in the time for chopping and prepping and cleaning...there is no contest in my mind.  The money I spend at SupperWorks is totally worth it to me and doesn't bust my budget.  SupperWorks is a smart solution for those who appreciate family time and good food while sticking to their budget.  No more last minute poor quality meal choices that are expensive and unhealthy.

Still some time to take advantage of their free entree offer! Choose an additional entrée of your choice when you book a 6, 9, or 12 entrée session or pick up in January!



Click here to see the January menu
Click here to see the February menu

A Funny Thing Happened At The Grocery Store

As I was out and about doing errands and getting ready for a week at the cottage, I stopped in at a grocery store where I don’t normally shop, but fit in better with my route that day.  When I got to the checkout, the cashier asked me if I needed bags.  Turns out, I did.  Normally, the cashier counts the bags you need and hands them to you to pack your own groceries.  This time was different.

The cashier started bagging my groceries in the manner that used to be common practice.  She bagged them right after she scanned them, carefully taking the time to pack things well and maximize the bag space.  She bagged my berries in a produce bag, in case they were to open, and then added them to the grocery bag.

While this was going on, I was thinking two things:
1) This was taking forever!  I for sure could have done it faster, even if my method was just to chuck things into the bags or bins I brought.
2)  I felt awkward just standing there watching her do all this while I did nothing to help.

Upon further reflection, I realized that this was how grocery shopping used to be done all the time.  And I even remember there being a big of outrage amongst society when they took away the bagging/free plastic bags. But how quickly we've gotten used to adding things to our lives that continue to let us rush, full speed ahead. I actually have been stressed at the checkout because the cashier moves right into processing the groceries in the order behind you, leaving me scrambling to get my stuff bagged before the shopper behind me also wants to come to the end of the checkout and bag their items.  Or there is even a hold up in scanning because the cashier can just whip through customers now that they don’t stop to help bag the groceries.

And so yes, I also felt awkward.  So what did I do when faced with a situation where small talk seemed appropriate with a complete stranger?  Break out my smart phone of course!  I say this in jest, it’s not like I don’t ever make small talk with a customer service person, but the difference in this case was that the transaction was long!  We are so used to everything being rushed, being automated or having the option to do a self-checkout that this situation where the whole transaction took 20 minutes left me feeling awkward with not much to say and awkward that the cashier was doing all the work while I watched.

So which way is better?  Interestingly enough, if my kids would have been with me, having someone bag all of my groceries would have seemed like a huge help.  But when it was just me, I was more focused on finishing the errand so I could move on to the other three I still had to do.  And people don’t seem to value the relationships they have with their local stores like they used to…remember when everyone used to write personal cheques for groceries?  I remember my Grandma paying that way.

There certainly is no going back.  I don’t think we’ll ever have people bagging groceries all the time but I also didn't like the uncomfortable feeling I had when it came to having to slow down and get wait for someone to do what they considered part of their job.  Another quick reminder to slow down my pace and take a minute to talk to people who are happily lending a helping hand.