1. I don’t do much cooking.
2. I have no idea where anything is. Seriously, I often make several laps just to find one thing.
3. I always purchase the wrong item. I try really hard, but always seem to mess it up. I write detailed lists and try to call Mrs. Rocket if I am unsure about anything . . . but even that is not fool-proof.
4. I eat too much. I can’t go into a store because everything looks good and I don’t care if it is on sale or a good price or healthy. If I like it, I will buy two. One time I got up early on a Mother’s day and I wanted to cook breakfast for my wife. I went to the store to get what I needed and ended up spending $35 on breakfast for two. I could have taken her out to eat at IHOP . . . about three times.
5. I can’t resist the impulse aisle – especially the dark chocolate bars and I always spend too much on expensive fruit.

However, circumstances forced me to our local King Soopers the other day and I think I did okay. Here is my haul:

• Four ears of corn for $1.00. Supposedly this was a good deal, but I remember back in the good old days when sweet corn was $1.00 for a dozen ears.
• Eight boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese for $2.00. I was only supposed to get four boxes, but, c’mon, it was a quarter a box! I think I’ll go back for more tomorrow. Our five year-old claims that she would eat Mac and Cheese for three meals a day. For twenty-five cents, I think I might let her do it.
• $2.49 for a box of couscous. I have since learned that this was not a great deal and furthermore, not the right product. I was supposed to get white rice. Oh, well, can’t win ‘em all and I got to try something new for supper.
• Broccoli for $.88 a pound. I have no idea if this was a good deal or not, but I purchased 94 cents worth.
• Three mangos for $.50 apiece. Mangos were not on my list, in fact, I’m not sure that the Rocket household has ever purchased a whole mango before, but they looked good and I was impressed that my five-year old who can’t read yet, spotted them and knew what they were.
• Three pineapples for $1.00 apiece. This was my original assignment. Mrs. Rocket had a rain check for this deal from last week when the store was out of pineapple. She told me to get one, but I like pineapple and you know the rest. We might try to grill some of it.
• Three half-gallons of lemonade for $1.00 each. Once again, I was sent for one . . . and could not resist a couple extra cartons. I like lemonade.

Our total bill was $15.79. Once again, I have no way to know if my cart full of groceries was such a great deal, but here is where I think we started to do well:

• Our King Sooper’s loyalty card earned us $1.00 off our next fuel fill-up.
• We also used a KS’s gift card that came with a 10% discount when we used part of our stimulus check to purchase it: $1.58 worth of savings on this receipt.
• I originally paid for the gift card with our Chase Freedom Visa Credit Card to earn another 3% cash back: about $.45.
• King Soopers also scanned my loyalty card when I purchased the gift card for another $1.00 off our next gasoline receipt.

So, our net cost on this bill was $11.76. Hopefully the savings makes up for my buying couscous instead of rice.

There are a bunch of stores that are offering 10% bonuses if you use your rebate to purchase gift cards at their store. One such store is King Soopers – now our main grocery story since our move to Colorado. An immediate 10% return on free money is a tough deal to pass up – I just kind of wish it was on gasoline . . . We have decided to invest $1,200 of the money in King Soopers gift cards. We believe that this deal provides the best opportunity for our family.

The plan does not come without pitfalls, however. Here are some concerns:

1. Our grocery budget strategy is built on the idea of shopping around for the best price. The gift card will tie us to one store. I guess that is the point of gift cards.
2. With gift cards, as with credit cards, there is a temptation to overspend. In order for our budget to benefit from this investment, Mrs. Rocket will need to treat the gift card dollars just as she treats real money. It is real money – just like credit cards.
3. There is a suspicion on my part that the grocery store specials will not be quite as good once everyone is locked in with their gift cards.
4. It is possible that the gift cards might even inflate the current prices at the store. People with gift cards will spend more, thereby increasing demand. . . and you know the rest. . .

Will the 10% bonus cover my concerns? Will we come out ahead in the long run? I’m not sure, but we are going to plunk down our money despite the potential pitfalls. I think the best thing is for Mrs. Rocket to use the gift cards, but continue to comparison shop. If the prices are better at another store, she should plan to leave the gift card in her purse. Furthermore, we will hedge our bet a little by using our Chase Freedom credit card to make the purchase. The Freedom card offers up to 3% cash back on grocery store purchases up to $600, money spent beyond $600 in a single statement period only earns 1%.

Can we can buy $600 worth of cards this month and $600 next month? We are going to try.

The thing we can never get over, is how extravagant spending $40 in one day to feed one person seems to us. Granted, Ray seeks out mainly gourmet foods that are typical of the region that she happens to be visiting which drives up cost, but if our family used Rachel’s budget, we would be spending $200 per day on food while on vacation!

It seems shocking because my wife is typically able to feed our entire family on $10 to $12 a day. The even more remarkable fact is that I still manage to overeat . . Our family’s food choices are dominated by three factors: price, nutrition and taste. We usually try to feed our entire family of 5 for less than $40 a day when we are on vacation.

Now, there is a show!

We mostly drink basic, affordable store or mainstream brand coffe that we grind and brew ourselves. I am usually happy with this arrangement – I am primarily interested in the caffeine anyway. My wife needs to “doctor it up” quite a bit with cream and sugar to make it palatable. This type of coffee is not always the greatest tasting, but it gets the job done.

The other night, my wife brought me a  cup while I was on the computer. I took a sip and asked her if she had used a coupon or some other discount in order to get what I thought was gourmet coffee. It tasted great and quite a bit more expensive than what we typically brew.

She answered that it was the same old coffee that we always buy, but that she had mixed a little cinnamon with the grounds in the filter. She had read about the trick on one of her friend’s blogs. If you drink coffee, but you need a gourmet blend, this trick might save you a little cash.

These certificates can be a cheap date or an inexpensive way to try out an out-of-the-way place. We have a restaurant in our area that serves authentic middle eastern quisine. My wife and I really want to try it out of curiousity, but we can’t spend $20 a plate – especially if we don’t like it. A $25 gift certificate from restaurants.com for $3 solves that problem!

Get 3% cash back in your three main categories of spending each month: