I love to cook and bake. I’ve worked with many national and local brands to create hundreds of recipes for AkronOhioMoms.com as well as their websites. If you know me personally, you also know that I like to be thrifty and save money where I can. These these passions have merged over the past 6 months and I have to share my how I’m saving money and still eating gourmet.
I’ll be talking about this on WNIR 100.1FM The Talk of Akron tomorrow morning, July 9th during the 9 o’clock hour, tune in!
Recipe Creating with Acme Fresh Market Private Label Food
I started creating recipe videos for Acme Fresh Market earlier this year. Head on over to their YouTube Channel to see all my videos and subscribe so you don’t miss any!
When I started creating recipes for Acme Fresh Market, they asked that I use their private label brands. I was a little reluctant because I wanted to showcase the best flavors in my recipes. Fast forward a few months and I’m 100% sold on private label products. The food I’m preparing for Acme recipes as well as daily recipes have never tasted better.
My family is constantly telling me that my recipes taste like a restaurant. Now, granted, we haven’t been to a restaurant since the pandemic started but still! ha!
Some of my family’s favorite recipes that I used private label food to create include this Grilled Shrimp Rolls recipe.
These are the best pork chops we’ve ever had – Grilled Pork Chops with Grilled Peaches and a Parsley-Mint Yogurt Sauce – you have to try this on the bbq this weekend!
Melt in your mouth Barbacoa Pork Sandwiches are delicious any time of year, make easy in a crockpot!
All of these recipes are complex in flavors and taste amazing – if I do say so myself. 🙂 But the one thing they have in common is that I made them with private label products, keeping the price down.
So, after hearing multiple times that the food I’m making is gourmet or like a restaurant from my family – and a few friends that we’ve seen social-distanced – I decided to do some research for a post – to share my findings on how I’m saving money and eating gourmet.
Saving Money with Private Label
We are all watching our money these days with the uncertainty of the pandemic. People who shop private label brands save on average 25% on groceries but up to 60% on some. That’s a LOT of money!
According to the USDA, the average family of 4 spends an average of $220 per week or $880 per month. On conservative levels, if you save 25% using store brands, that saves $220 per month taking the monthly budget down to $660! This could be a savings of $2,640 per year! Wow! I had no idea it was that much!
Personal money-management expert Dave Ramsey prepared 3 dinners with private label and national brands. By switching to private label for just 3 meals a week can save you $20 a week or $1,040 a year.
Eating Gourmet?
A lot of eating gourmet isn’t about fancy cuts of meat or specialty foods, it is about good recipes with quality ingredients. I just learned that even professional chefs shop private label! According to a survey by National Bureau of Economic Research professional chefs and bakers choose private label for baking and staple items. There are no differences in baking supplies like baking mixes, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, spreads (jams, jellies), cheese, and spices. Many of these items are just 1 ingredients, so no difference at all besides price. If private label is good enough for professionals, why not you?
This Triple Berry Cobbler was made with 100% private label baking supplies and taste divine!
This Peelz Mandarin Orange Upside Down Cake was made with Food Club boxed cake mix, brown sugar, and butter. There is no difference except the price.
How You can Start Saving Money and Eating Gourmet too!
Maybe you are like me and have always shopped some private label / store brand products.
First, while shopping check the ingredient listing on the back of boxes, it’s primarily the same. If the ingredients are the same and the only thing that is different is the price then why wouldn’t you buy the less expensive? (This goes for cleaning and personal care too where most products have the same active ingredients.)
Next, make the switch on a few new items and see if your family notices the difference between private label and national brand products. Chances are good they won’t notice.
Finally, start trying out my delicious recipes on the Acme Fresh Market website and AkronOhioMoms.com where I’m also using private label more often!
A bonus idea is to tuck away the savings you save with the switch for a surprise vacation or other savings account and surprise your family in 6 months or a year! How fun would that be?!
Top Shopper Contest
Now is the perfect time to start shopping private label at Acme Fresh Market too! Over the next two weeks, they are holding the Top Shopper Contest! Earn points for every private label product you purchase. The Top 500 Shoppers are entered into a grand prize drawing for $3,000 in Acme Fresh Market gift cards! 1st place prize gets $1,000, and second place gets $500! These are the brands that earn you points! Acme Fresh Market, TopCare, Food Club, Simply Done, Wide Awake, Paws / Pure Harmony (Pet), Full Circle, Cape Covelle, Over the Top, Crav’n, and Sweet Ps!
Stay tuned as I’ll be sharing my favorite private label products over the next week via Facebook Live!
