# Calculating your preps grocery list...



## MountainKing (Jul 26, 2012)

Hello (new member here)..

:newsign:

If some of you are like me, you read the weekly circulars for the grocery stores and take note of the specials that might fit into the list of things you'd like to stockpile (ie: rice, beans, sugar, etc.,) Well, my memory is pretty poor these days, so when confronted with a price I usually can't remember if it is a good price or not compared to other places.

If any of you have iPads, I found an awesome little app that preppers will love for calculating and keeping track of the lowest price for the things that are looking for. The app is called Shopper Calc and it is available for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad). I don't know if there is a comparable Android app..

Anyway, the app lets you set up different categories and then add fields under those categories for each place. For instance, one of my categories is "RICE". Under that field I have four or five places that I could buy rice (Walmart, Sams, Food Lion, Ingles, and even Emergency Essentials). All you have to do is enter the price and the unit (for instance $11.68 for 20 lbs.) and next to each entry is an apples to apples comparison for all the other entries. Therefore, you can mix prices and units (ounces/pounds/kilos) but the comparator is always the same unit (lbs or something). A green check mark appears next to the entry that is the cheapest.

For example this is what I have under RICE right now:

Emergency Essentials $57.95 / 44 lbs. / $13.17 per 10 lbs.
Walmart $11.68 / 20 lbs. / 5.84 per 10 lbs.
Ingles $5.98 / 10 lbs. / 5.98 per 10 lbs.
Sams $17.69 / 50 lbs. / 3.54 per 10 lbs. ***
Food Lion $6.08 / 10 lbs. / 6.08 10 lbs.

So you can quickly see that even though the units aren't all the same size (10 to 50 lbs bags) you get a quick breakdown of the cost per 10 lbs. Thus, Sams is cheapest by far. I can always change one if Food Lion or somewhere else puts something on sale to evaluate on the fly whether it is a good or great deal.

It saves all the data so you can keep adding items and sub-items for each category.

Right now I have categories running for:

Black Beans
Bleach
Elbow Mac
Honey
Pinto Beans
Popcorn (to grind)
Red Beans
Rice
Sugar

This week Food Lion has a sale on 4 lb sugar for $1.49 (limit two). I plugged it into the app and discovered the unit cost of $3.72 per 10 lbs. is not quite half what the next cheapest place is (Walmart at $5.58 per 10 lbs.).

Anyway, it is a great and useful app for those looking to find the best deal and having to deal with lots of different unit sizes and prices. I was going to write an Excel spreadsheet to figure it out but then I came across this 99 cent app in the app store and figured why reinvent the wheel. Hope some of you can benefit from it like I have.

Oh..and one other thing it does which I haven't explored yet is lets you put in the expiration date for stuff you do buy to help keep track of that. Since I'm sticking my stuff in mylar bags in buckets I guess those won't really matter..but for shelf items it might be useful.












Regards,
MK


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Welcome, MountainKing! :wave:

I don't have an ipad, but I do like what that app can do. Do you use it just when looking at circulars, or do you also take your ipad in the store with you? I could see that being really helpful. I try to take a little notebook with me to track info, but it's not very efficient since I have to then convert the information to something on my computer, and I rarely get around to that...


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Welcome, MountainKing! :wave:
> 
> I don't have an ipad, but I do like what that app can do. Do you use it just when looking at circulars, or do you also take your ipad in the store with you? I could see that being really helpful. I try to take a little notebook with me to track info, but it's not very efficient since I have to then convert the information to something on my computer, and I rarely get around to that...


I like the app also, but don't have an Ipad.

School supplies are on sale and I bought 3 little notebooks for .88 and a small calculator for .88. One of my little notebooks will become my price book for groceries. Having the calculator handy helps a lot.


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## MountainKing (Jul 26, 2012)

goshengirl said:


> I don't have an ipad, but I do like what that app can do. Do you use it just when looking at circulars, or do you also take your ipad in the store with you? I could see that being really helpful. I try to take a little notebook with me to track info, but it's not very efficient since I have to then convert the information to something on my computer, and I rarely get around to that...


Thanks for the Welcome.

Yes, I take my iPad to the store with me in case something catches my eye I can enter it into the database so that at least in the future I can see whether it is a good deal or not. So building the database will take some time..but each visit should yield more data. When I'm at home on the weekend sipping coffee and going through the circulars I can just pop the numbers in or modify the ones that are already in there and instantly see whether I need to add that sale item to my list.

The whole reason I started using the app was because I couldn't tell if buying foods from places like Honeyville Grains or Emergency Essentials was cost effective. The app has clearly showed me that the cost per unit is much, much cheaper if you buy the material and do it yourself. Of course, you have to add the cost of the bucket, the mylar bag, and the O2 absorber to the overall cost when calculating, but the savings by doing it yourself is fairly substantial. Plus, the act of doing it makes you feel good that you are doing it yourself.

This site has already helped me since I read a thread the other day that says you SHOULD NOT put O2 absorbers in granulated sugar storage. I didn't know that and already sealed up one 5 gallon pail with one in it. I guess it will turn hard as a rock. Won't make that mistake again.

If you don't have an iPad you might have a smart phone or something similar that might have an app for doing it. Or you could always do what I was thinking about and write a small Excel spreadsheet that will at least do the calculations for you automatically (all you'd have to do is enter the price and unit type).

The stores are making it a little easier on us these days by sometimes printing the price per ounce or something on the price on the shelf, but without something to write that down and compare to, I find myself not recognizing whether something is a good deal or not.

Good luck, and again, thanks for the welcome. I'm going to like it here. 

MK


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## MountainKing (Jul 26, 2012)

I do love shopping for prep items. Our grocery stores around here are called "Food Lion" and they have a great deal on their brands this week. 

85 cents for 1 lb. boxes of elbow mac - I nearly cleaned out the aisle. And picked up 16 lbs. of sugar for $6.00. Heading to Sams tomorrow to pick up a 50 lb. bag of popcorn ($21.98) and a 50 lb. bag of rice ($17.69) and maybe some pinto beans ($9.13 for 10 lbs.). I'm also interested in their bulk cheese since I'm going to try my hand at cheese waxing.


MK


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## oldasrocks (Jun 30, 2012)

Remember to freeze all the pasta, rice and flour for 30 days at 0 degrees prior to storage. That kills all the bug eggs.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

MountainKing said:


> Thanks for the Welcome.
> 
> Yes, I take my iPad to the store with me in case something catches my eye I can enter it into the database so that at least in the future I can see whether it is a good deal or not. So building the database will take some time..but each visit should yield more data. When I'm at home on the weekend sipping coffee and going through the circulars I can just pop the numbers in or modify the ones that are already in there and instantly see whether I need to add that sale item to my list.
> 
> ...


On the hard sugar.. that can be a good thing. You won't use it up as fast if you have to work to get it out. I use a dark brown sugar called Piloncillo(Piloncillo is an unrefined sugar that has been pressed into cones ) it is hard to scrape off the cone but the flavor is nice and unique and I find that since it is harder to use you don't use as much and still feel that you are getting enuf sweet. and it lasts much longer. I am going out on a limb here and thinking it would be the same as hard white sugar.. you would be more likely to use a bit less due to having to scrape if off in layers.


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## MountainKing (Jul 26, 2012)

Good point - working for food always makes one both use less and appreciate it more. <grin>

Had a great trip to Sams today. Picked up 100 lbs. of popcorn (now I have to remember if I bought the corn auger for my Country Living mill..I can't remember!) and 100 lbs. of rice.

I know prices vary across the country but I did update my iPad spreadsheet app thingy with these prices (all from Sams)

Popcorn 50 lbs. = $21.98 (price unchanged from 3 months ago)
Pinto Beans 10 lbs. = $9.13 (bought 30 pounds of that)
Rice 50 lbs. = $16.92 (white, long grain, down about 20 cents from 3 months ago)

Their sugar is still not competitive with grocery store sales. ($28.72 per 50 lbs.)

I was disappointed that their cheese selection was pretty sparse. Nothing more than 2 lbs. "Cabot" cheese blocks and ALL of them were extra sharp cheeses. I figure I need to buy mild since they will sharpen over time.

Also bought 3 pounds of cheese was online (can't find any locally). Through Amazon you have to spend over $25 to get free shipping so I had to buy 3 pounds.

Cheese Wax

Regards,
MK


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## MountainKing (Jul 26, 2012)

BTW - the reason I'm buying a good bit of stuff right now is that I had bought about 25 of the Emergency Essentials 4.25 gallon buckets (in retrospect, NOT a very good value). But I wanted smaller ones because I'm actually planning to store some of this stuff under our platform bed and the 4.25 gallon buckets are just the right height to place on the floor, the put the platform mattress support on top of them (topped by a TempurPedic mattress). Convenient since the space under our bed is unused and going to waste anyway.

MK


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

oldasrocks said:


> Remember to freeze all the pasta, rice and flour for 30 days at 0 degrees prior to storage. That kills all the bug eggs.


I guess I'm the odd ball; have never frozen any of my stored food--pasta, rice, flour, meal, or pancake mix?? Nada.
I did put in DE and a few bay leafs.
And used the oven method for lots of dry goods and I like that method because it is so easy for long term storage.


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