Time to look for deals!

Need housewares for Pesach, or all year round?

Now's the time to start watching out for special sales.

I noticed that right now, you can get a set of 12 glasses for 12 shekels (1 shekel each!) at Yesh, thru Feb 9.

I think a shekel a glass is a pretty good deal.

Good news about supermarket gift cards!

Do you ever get gift cards for the supermarket?

You know, the annoying kind that say they are for 100 shekels, and then you go to the store and discover they are only worth 90 shekels, unless you shop at the most expensive stores of that chain (like Shufersal Sheli, or Mega Ba'Ir)? This has really annoyed me, any time I've had the pleasure of receiving a gift card! It was the kind of thing that really, really reduced the pleasure of the gift, sadly.

Well... that will be a thing of the past, it seems! 

Globes reported that the Knesset passed a law that requires all stores to honor gift cards at their face value. No more small print saying it's only worth 90% of the face value!

I only rarely find myself in receipt of gift cards, but I'm sure this is good news for lots of you!

Please let me know if this will make a difference for you!

Don't miss out -- like Frugal and Kosher on Facebook! See you there!

Price Wars in Modi'in

I am hearing rumors of a price war between Rami Levi and Shufersal in Modiin (in the Yeshpro Center?), with Mega joining in by lowering the price of chicken to 1.99/kg.

And Shufersal is selling cucumbers for 17 ag/kg, onions for 19 ag/kg, and tomatoes for 29 ag/kg?!

Has anyone seen this?

I won't be traveling to Modi'in to shop, but those of you around there, please confirm what I'm hearing!
It's ok, I'll live with the jealousy, and I will not hold it against you, don't worry.

Supermarket Musings

Supermarkets are set up to get you to make impulse purchases. They use prominent displays for expensive items and big signs that look like sale signs to get you to think that perhaps the regular price is a sale price.

It's hard to wade through and come out happy on the other side. And it's hard enough in English (or whatever your first language is). In Hebrew, it can be quite the task. I have seen this - grocery shopping with people with a limited grasp of Hebrew is difficult and overwhelming. Thankfully, I am pretty comfortable in my 2nd language, so I don't often get tripped up at the supermarket. I try to come with a list and stick to it. Although, often my list has an under-developed category - like "whatever produce is cheapest", or something like that.

That drives my husband crazy when he has to do the shopping. He is totally like the couple in this Ynet video on changing Israelis grocery shopping habits. He buys whatever is on the list without looking at the price, as his goal is "get in and out as quickly as possible!" My goal is "get as much healthy food as possible without overpaying." I haven't yet figured out how not to overpay in this country of inflated prices. They are inflated by the importers, the stores, the transporters who have to pay 8 NIS for 1 liter of fuel to make deliveries... and it keeps going. Everyone wants a piece of my nonexistent paycheck. And I just want to feed my family and keep everyone nourished and healthy...

I noticed that Globes reported that Mega was the first store to raise prices on several items - that had been on special for Pesach - back to their regular prices. So I read the article. Here are the foods they mention by name that they used as a comparison: Taster's Choice instant coffee, Sugat Basmati or Persian Rice, Osem Ketchup, Nutella. They say 10 items were on the list, but these were the only ones that appeared in the article.

Seriously, how are we supposed to have any idea what the supermarkets are charging when the comparison shoppers look at items like this? This is not a normal, balanced shopping list for a family with kids. I know that milk is price-regulated, and some other things too, but even so, prices vary, as not all stores charge the maximum price! Wouldn't it be so much better to take a shopping list that REALLY reflects the way people shop (who buys instant coffee every week? Not me. Nutella? No way!)? I mean, the way people should shop? Things like milk, whole grain bread, basic dairy products, eggs, basic meats/poultry, legumes, grains, and rice (yes, they included rice) vegetables, and fruits? The extras like ketchup, nutella, and coffee are JUST EXTRAS. But we'll have to work on that. Israelis seem to think chocolate and coffee are the building blocks of healthy eating (and yes, I know, I too, am addicted to coffee... but not so badly...). I know that we eat a lot less meat and eggs than most people, so I think those items should be included in a comparison...

What do you think? Do these supposed price surveys mean anything to you? Do you think Israelis eat healthy food? I'd love to hear from you!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

I decided that not going to the supermarket is good in so many ways - I don't lose hours in the checkout line, my kids don't lobby me to buy ice cream and popsicles and chocolate, so I don't have to listen to all that whining, and I don't spend $ on gas (and everyone knows that is a huge budget buster here! Recently, one of the gas stations here lowered their price to under 7 NIS per liter, and I was so happy. Until I realized I must be crazy. It's still a TON of money.).

So, I'm trying really hard to stick to the pantry challenge.

Here's tonight's plan:

Tofu sloppy sams with pitot

Steamed kishuim (summer squash similar to zucchini)

Homemade oven-baked "french fries"

Melon

And now I'm off to spend the day with my kids!
Let me know what you're making, and if you're doing a pantry challenge, let me know how it's going!

Thursday Night

I usually cut myself a little slack on Thursday night; I know that I will either be up late cooking for Shabbat or frantically cooking the whole next day (trying to end that bad habit!). We used to order pizza, until we started noticing just how expensive that really was... so in the States we switched over to pre-made pizza crusts, that we topped ourselves. Always yum!

Here, I haven't found premade pizza crusts. So we have a few options:
1) make our own pizza dough (too time consuming for a Thursday, in my opinion).
2) use pizza crust that we made previously and froze (an ambition of mine).
3) use pitot or other flatbread instead of crust.
4) buy french bread or bagels or random other breads and make "french bread pizza" or pizza bagels.
5) buy premade pizzas in the frozen food section of the supermarket (Yesh sells 3-packs for 33.80NIS), and add our own toppings.


So, the menu for Thursday Supper is:

Leftover Minestrone Soup (for those who want it)
A Variation on Pizza
Salad