How to Save Cheese on Your Groceries

Having a large family has its advantages... There's usually a brother or sister around to keep the little one entertained in the afternoon. I always have an extra set of hands, when unloading the dishwasher. If the assigned "trash taker outer" isn't available, I always have a spare. When I need stuff brought in, I always have an able bodied "kid" (17 & 20) at my disposal. Yeah, it's pretty nice... until I see my grocery bill.

Feeding my small army has the potential to get rather costly and since starving them is frowned upon, I have developed a few "cheats" along the way to save a few dollars here and there. No, I am NOT a couponer. Yes, I do use coupons, on occasion.

In my experience, I save more money by shopping at non-chain stores and buying certain foods in bulk, especially meat, which can get really expensive, really fast. Planning your weekly menu around sales is also a great way to save money.

I am a huge fan of weekly menu planning... I don't always get around to it, but I'm a huge fan. I find planning can save a ton of time & money in the long run, if you spend those extra few minutes before you go shopping.

I usually write out five recipes, including a main dish with some kind of protein, a side dish or two and that's it. Then I write my grocery list accordingly, with only the items I need.  It really is easy and the headache it saves you is worth the time it takes to actually sit down and write it out. 

Also, don't be afraid to think outside the box. Look around for alternative places to shop; ask friends where they shop, you'll be surprised what great gems are out there just waiting to be found. From small Mom and Pop grocery stores to the local Farmer's market or even a service like Zaycon Fresh.

Zaycon Fresh is an awesome service that brings you farm fresh, never frozen, all natural, no hormone added chicken and other meats and farm fresh milk and produce products. All Zaycon chicken is straight from the farm to you. The chicken is delivered in its original wholesale packaging. Each unit (case) contains 4, 10lb bags of boneless skinless chicken breasts with a total weight of 40lbs.

The chicken breasts are large, but they are 100% natural. There are no added hormones, additives or artificial ingredients. They are large because they have not been trimmed up like you would see in the grocery stores. A double-lobed pair of chicken breast can weigh over 1lb a piece and the box the chicken comes in is about the size of an apple box.

It is recommended that you prep and freeze the chicken as soon as you get it home, but if you can't get to it right away, make sure you have one empty shelf in your fridge.

So, this is probably going to cost me a small fortune, right?! There's got to be a catch?! It's probably really expensive and you probably have to stand in line for hours, right?! WRONG! NO catch. NO outrageous prices and NO standing in line for hours. As a matter of fact, on my last pickup, I was the only person in line and didn't even have to wait at all.

The chicken from Zaycon is actually less than most stores' sale price, it is only$1.69 a lb. No typo, $1.69 a lb and they will even load it into your trunk for you. How is this possible?  Zaycon is able to bring you these amazing prices because they have cut out the middle man, the grocery store, which is a huge amount of the price markup we see on our food products and they pass the savings on to you.

Ordering from Zaycon is super easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Simply create an account, find the location nearest you, choose what you want and order. That's it. Easy peasy!

Zaycon currently has pickup locations all over the Southeast and if there aren't any near you, you can contact them and if there's enough interest, they'll create a drop off just for you. Fancy, huh?!

Zaycon has recently partnered with "Chicken Soup for the Soul", to bring you even more products, such as pasta sauces, broths, bbq sauce and their awesome meal builders. I recently had the opportunity to check out some of these new offerings and I was very happy with them all. I turned one bottle of sauce and two pounds of chicken into three amazing meals.

Crock pot bbq chicken couldn't be any easier... unless someone else made it for you. Put the chicken in a crock pot, add some water and a few seasonings (or you could use broth). Let it go for about 5 or 6 hours, on low. When it shreds easily with a fork, drain all the juice off. Return the chicken back to the crock pot, add a bottle of your favorite bbq sauce and let it warm through for about 30 minutes or so.

This basic bbq can make several meals... bbq potatoes, bbq sandwiches, bbq chicken pizza, bbq chicken tacos and more. If you don't mind eating bbq chicken all week, you could theoretically have all your cooking done in one day. Let that sink in. A week's worth of cooking done in one day, with a crock pot and Zaycon chicken.  It is possible and if you hurry, you can probably find a Zaycon pick up location near you.