Monday, August 22, 2011

Expanding The Grocery Budget

Vanilla Beans to make Vanilla Extract & Pumpkin Pie Mix, meant to get plain pumpkin, but this works just as well for my pumpkin muffins.


In my last post I talked about wanting to go organic and unprocessed. I realize that on a tight a budget as mine this is an extremely daunting task. (If anyone knows an easier way speak now please!) I need a way to expand my food budget with out actually putting in some cash. Enter the Amazon stage left & Swag Bucks from stage right.

I've found that many 'savings' bloggers are also members of something called Swag Bucks. It's a web site that you 'win' Swag Bucks at random for using their search engine. That's their main thing. There are many ways to earn Swag Bucks such as 'watching' tons of SwagTV. (I usually just run them in the background while I do other things on the computer.) There are also daily polls, surveys, special offers (such as signing up for netflix or credit cards) & so much more.

Just a brief summary. There are many bloggers who would be more than happy to tell you about Swag Bucks. Me? I'm just letting you know how it fits into this picture. One of the many rewards to be redeemed using the Swag Bucks you've earned are Amazon Gift cards. As soon as these show in Swag Bucks I'm adding them to my Amazon. So far I can usually earn about $10-$15 worth of Amazon credit in a month. Not bad.

Amazon sells almost everything under the sun it seems. This includes food. In my search I've managed to find organic versions of vanilla beans, canned pumpkin/pumpkin pie, oat meal, flour and more. I'll have to buy it in bulk for many items (25lbs of flour?!), but it's almost like getting it 'free'. I've talked to my mom and she's willing to 'split' the cost on some items given she thinks she can use them as well.

Yippie! Now how do I go about actually going unprocessed, organic & local?

1 comment:

  1. Check out http://chickensintheroad.com/ She has lots of great ideas for organic and making things like the Vanilla Extract, I do this also and it tastes so much better! Good Luck

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