Hot Diggity Dog

Today I was invited to participate in a teleconference and twitter with Phil Lempert, which was sponsored by Hebrew National. Phil Lempert is known as the "Supermarket Guru".

Did you know that National Hot Dog Day is July 23rd? Well you do now!

This was my first teleconference as a blogger, so I had no clue on what I was doing. I had a notebook on the table, my Macbook, my cordless telephone, and Angry Husband nearby. Angry Husband is a big fan of Hebrew National Hot Dogs. They are the only kind that he will buy. He usually rolls his eyes when I'm talking about blogging, etc..but this time he actually somewhat participated.

I had TweetChat open to follow the discussions hashtag #HNLempert along with my cordless telephone to my ear. Phil Lempert was talking about summer, BBQ's, and cooking hot dogs. I wrote notes and tweeted along with the other participants.

It is interesting to hear about how other people cook their hot dogs. It vastly differs in different states. We are a mustard and ketchup household. We BBQ the hot dogs, toast the buns on the grill, and use these somewhat simple condiments. In other regions people use cheese, baked beans, onions, relish..as condiments and toppings. I would tell Angry Husband this along the way, and he would make a face.

Along with recipes and discussions about condiments for hot dogs, we received some great tips about budget friendly BBQ's!

*Plan a money-saving trip to the grocery store.

1. Make a list of everything you need before you leave for the grocery store.
2. When making your list, check your pantry, cupboards, fridge and freezer for what you already have.
3. Do you research. -Check out the store circulars and compare to see which products are on sale at which store.
4. Buying your meats at one store and your produce at another could save you big bucks.-Check your Sunday newspaper, magazines and online for coupons.
5. Surveys say that using coupons could save you 15-20% on your bill.
6. The average value of coupons today is $1.29.-Join your stores' frequent shopper card clubs for additional savings that can be combined with coupons.
7. Never go shopping when you are hungry.

*Best techniques for shopping once in the grocery store.

1. Don't follow the path that the grocery store lay out for you.-Stores try to steer customers to the produce department or bakery section first with their selective smells. They are designed with alluring deals on products you never thought about buying.
2. Start shopping in the middle aisles were all of the unemotional foods are (boxes, cans and jars of food). You can more easily avoid the store's marketing tactics there.-Once you've hit all of the aisles, the temptation of the produce and bakery won't be as strong.
3. Don't always trust that the promotions at the ends of the aisles are the best deal.-Take chips for example, a staple for your BBQ. I have seen huge displays of the large size at $3.99 a bag. But just around the corner on the regular shelf was a comparable brand, same ingredients, same nutritional and same size bag that were just $2.19.
4. Dairy case vs. cheese table.-Every BBQ must include cheeseburgers but cheese can be quite expensive. Keep in mind that cheese is sold in two different locations in the supermarket, in the dairy case and on the cheese table. An organic mild cheddar goes for $6.99 for 8 oz. on the cheese table, while the same-sized package of the store's private label brand, which is also growth-hormone free is just $3.29 a package.

Check out a great website, Simple and Delicious. It has great ideas for simple, quick, and budget friendly meals.

I'm trying to learn new ways to save money and to be a little more frugal. I'm going to start a series now with the all the tips I've been learning along with some things that the Angry Household is doing. It's going to be titled, "Angry Julie on a Budget". Stay tuned!

Photo from Hebrew National's site!