TheSnackHound

‘Tis the season to put my head in the sand and pretend Black Friday is not happening. Ever since the trauma of Black Friday 1995, involving a customer of mine who decided to shop while she was in labor, I have stayed away from the crowded bustle. (“I was in labor for 24 hours with my first one, I have to pass the time somehow!”) Instead, I am busy stock piling critical non-perishable or freezable ingredients for my favorite Thanksgiving and winter desserts. No…I do not use “Winter” as a euphemism for Christmas. The desserts just can’t possibly last that long before restocking. I brandish my coupons on top of the “10 for 10″ sales all the time, but not everything can be neatly found at the triumverate of Kroger, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.

Savings.com has a few discount codes to help things along if you are looking.

1. A Cooks.com code for 20% off one single item is good through November 2012.
2. A second Cooks.com code expires December 1, 2011 and is good for $30 off an order of $250 or more.
3. Vons is offering $5 off an order of $50 or more.
4. King Arthur Flour is offering 10-40% off, depending on the items.

I was surprised to see King Arthur Flour as a retail site. They do carry baking staples, but have a range of baking tools as well. Discounts of 20% and $5 might not seem like a bargain basement deal, but if you check the clearance section and also buy the things you actually really want, you can make your own sale and avoid all of the pushing and shoving and bake a cake instead.

For years, I stayed away from Greek Yogurt, because its made with feta cheese, seeded with dust from the Acropolis, and imported from Greece. I have no issue with Greece, just that its quite a long way to import a non-aged non-cheese dairy product without the risk of spoilage. Okay, no its not. What is Greek yogurt, really? The yogurt may come from Greece, but most likely comes from a local dairy or at least is of American origin (or Canadian or British if that’s where you live and shop.

Greek yogurt is more of a style or preparation technique. Regular, run of the mill yogurt is carefully strained to remove excess liquid. You can do this yourself by pouring, or more appropriately glopping, a quantity of yogurt in a fine strainer or onto a non-bleached paper towel. As the liquid drains, the yogurt remaining takes on a thicker consistency. What remains is a protein-concentrated and creamier product. However, you might not have time to allow the yogurt to strain and may opt for purchasing the variety outright. Commercially, some of the brand-names are Athenos and Oikos, though mass-market brands sometimes carry “Greek style.”

This type of yogurt may be slightly pricier than its counterparts, but when you consider the added nutritional value, you may decide its worth it.

A few extra super frugal tips:

• Print and save  Greek yogurt coupons whenever you find them online or in the paper. Make special note of the expiration dates. Most coupons are valid on one single item only, but some qualify for multiple purchases of the identical item on the same receipt. Fage, Oikos and sometimes Athenos are typically in the Organic/Natural section, while Greek-style Yoplait sits in the conventional dairy aisle. Chobani is another brand that I have yet to try.
• Look out for when your favorite grocer runs a sale. Hollywood Markets and Kroger sometimes run a “10 for 10 promotion on individual-sized yogurt. I am sure your other local names run similar sales. Slap the coupons on the register at that time if you can hold out. If the coupon is about to expire and no sale occurred, use it on the last day. A 1.25 to 1.75 was marked down to 1.00, then I slipped in my .50 to .75 coupon.
• Spot a manager’s special. Sometimes, a store location discounts short dated yogurts. I do not advocate buying a large tub of yogurt or other dairy products short-dated. However, you are very likely to eat a single individual yogurt or three within perhaps the five days before expiration. I spotted yogurt normally $1.25 on special for .78. With a .75 coupon, I scored one almost for free.

Try these slick tricks and try Greek yogurt if you haven’t already, for a price you can’t say “no” to.

Oh joyful day. I was just perusing the corral of Savings on Savings.com, and was alerted to a vapors-inducing deal for Fiesta Ware fans. Now through March 12, 2011, Sears.com is offering a set of two Fiesta Ware casserole dishes for the paltry sum of $24.99, down from $46.00. Quantities are limited, so be sure to shop early, as in right now. I am not revealing which color I like the best so you won’t buy them up on me.

Granted, the ship-to-store option isn’t available for the items, at least not as far as I could see, so you will have to pay shipping of $12.50 per set. Dishes are heavy to ship, so that’s not out of the ballpark. You’ll still enjoy substantial savings. My investigating attitude is going to stalk the local Sears stores to see if the same deal is offered in-store, if it is, you can beat the shipping cost, but you may not get your choice of color.

The price beats Amazon, but does not beat Macy’s IF you select Evergreen at Macy’s.

Hurry scurry, because they are disappearing awfully fast. I almost don’t have time to contemplate if my oval platter is really Yellow or Sunflower to help choose a complimentary color or should I just choose my favorite hue with no regards as to rhyme or reason, like I usually do. Any thoughts?

(At left, Chris Hovard who discovered a 3 ft 3 inch 10+ pound lobster in the English Channel. The lobster was estimated to be over 50 years old. You don’t have to swim the channel to get decent seafood.)

I get sticker shock every time I see the Red Lobster menu and lobster is “market price,” or in other words, if you have to ask you can’t afford it. Maybe I’m spoiled as I used to live near where the lobster boats moored for the night and you could have a lobster dinner for the price of a scoops of Ben & Jerry’s. I ended up going a little crazy. I bought the biggest lobster I could find at the grocery store. all $32.97 worth. I waited until the weather was really bad and the lobster traps were all safely on the shore, then I released her. Yes, it was a “her,” I checked. Then I caught her again. I forgot to take the rubber bands off of her claws. No wonder why the release had been so easy. Somehow I thought she like a baby rhino accepting a tug from an elephant to escape quick sand and would just “know” I was trying to help her. She snapped at me anyways, or whatever is it that they do with those things. The release was eventually a success and I had the scars to prove it.

My lobster adventures are over, but I still have a taste for seafood. It is so hard to wade through all the information and find it from a good source. I get so disheartened with all of the salmon and shrimp at the super market that comes out of Asia. You can still get fresh seafood shipped, I have found. In fact, there are a few sources that offer sustainably caught seafood and the price either is only slightly higher or matches conventional seafood at the supermarket.

What is sustainable? The fish or shellfish caught is the species targeted. There are no “bycatches,” such as dolphins, turtles caught in nets. Fish species that the fisher is not seeking also is not caught either. This prevents areas from being overfished and allows species to thrive. Sustainable fishing also does not rely on fish farms, which can be a breeding ground for disease as the fish are raised and live in man-made pools. Dead fish do not get decomposed naturally by the ecosystem. Fish do not become hardy, with only the strongest living to mate. Natural selection that protects fish from passing down disease does not occur. Those big fish that live a zillion years and are more prone to mercury issues, such as swordfish, are not caught by sustainable seafood merchants.

Where do you find sustainable seafood, such as Oregon pink salad shrimp, albacore caught with fishing poles in Hawaii and Canada, Skip Jack tuna and more, when you buy seafood online. Skip jack is a small tuna with a shorter lifespan that you may enjoy without mercury worries. So, it won’t make you sick, and it certainly nothing will grab your fingers or toes in mouths or pinschers.

Have you purchased seafood online or did you find a source, like an organic store that carries it? If so, tell me what you think!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iNetVideo. All opinions are 100% mine.

We all know by now that if you are an “indoor person” you can get fit with Billy Blanks, but Billy Blanks doesn’t stop the video or DVD and tell you how you are actually doing compared to the folks in the studio.  Does he really know you are not sitting on the sofa watching him do all the work? Personally, if I was actually exercising, I’d make sure to send him an email or something to make sure he knew, because the last time I checked, it looks like Billy Blanks could flatten you if he wanted to, and maybe he doesn’t take kindly to sitters.

If there is a way to NOT exercise while having spent a lot of money on gadgets, there must be a way to feed your face too.

Over at , iNetVideo I have found amongst the sea of blu-ray movies and dvds, that Nintendo makes a game where Jamie Oliver helps you cook. Well, he really doesn’t, but its an interactive experience where you get grocery lists and figure out how to do all sorts of stuff.  In fact, they actually had other titles on dvd and various games revolving around cooking and nutrition.  iNetVideo has been around since the late 90s and has offered movies and games at a discount, but with the information overload of all the other movie websites out there, I’ve overlooked it until now.

If you interested, it appears to be a title that is being discontinued, or they just bought a lot of them, because its 70% at $5.99. It really doesn’t matter if they are coming out with a new game system, if a DS is what you have.  I still play the old Atari 2600. I don’t think Jamie Oliver would come over give you a whooping like Billy Blanks could, but he is certainly more skilled at wielding sharp objects, so you best make an effort, kids. Actually, he doesn’t have to do anything because if you choose to eat garbage all the time, you will cause more damage than a one time encounter with a juicer-of-steel could.