Beyond blinky lights: A bicycle lane you bring with you
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The original article is here: http://frugalliving.about.com/od/foodsavings/tp/Slash_Grocery_Bill.htm
Struggling with a too-big grocery bill? Here are simple ways to slash it down to size:
1. Only Buy On Sale
Start a stockpile, and only buy items when they are on sale.
2. Plan Your Menu Around the Sales
Enjoy cheap meals throughout the week by planning your menu around the weekly sales flyers.
3. Be Willing to Substitute
Have a recipe that calls for an ingredient that you don't have? Then, see if you can substitute it for an ingredient that you do have. It'll save you money at the store and space in your pantry.
4. Buy Ingredients Instead of Prepared Meals
Frozen dinners and boxed mixes may be convenient, but they're also more costly. Get in the habit of buying the ingredients that you need to prepare the foods that you eat, and watch your grocery dollars go further.
5. Shop Seasonally
Foods are cheapest when they're in season, so learn when all of your favorite foods are in season, and buy them then.
6. Switch to Generic
Make the leap from name brand to generic brand, and you'll shave an easy 25% or more off of your grocery bill. Some generics worth trying: cereal, spices and baking supplies.
7. Buy Reduced Price Items
Want a true bargain basement price? Then, scour every aisle of the store for reduced priced groceries. Ultra ripe produce, scratch and dent items, closeouts, food at or near its use-by-date – it's all reason for a reduced price sticker.
Not sure you'll be able to use something before its use-by date? Then, toss it in the freezer, and you won't have to.
8. Shop at Drug Stores
Grocery stores aren't the only place to look for grocery bargains. Get in the habit of checking the drug store ads for deals on cereal, oatmeal, raisins, spices, baking supplies, soda, paper goods and more.
9. Cherry Pick
Stores tend to sell a few items below cost each week to entice customers to shop. Learn to spot these bargains, and snatch them up – even if it means going to more than one store.
For help spotting the bargains:
10. Stack Discounts
A sale is nice. A sale combined with a coupon and a rebate? Well, that's even better. Look for any and every opportunity to stack discounts, and slash that grocery bill right down to size.
11. Shop Locally
Local produce stands, farmer's markets and u-pick farms can be a great source for low-cost, high-quality produce.
"We need to get rid of business suits, and make sure every facility has showers so that people doing big business feel clean and comfy after they commute to work on their bikes. It should be cool to do big business in casual clothes that can be stuffed into a backpack. And put a laundry room in the office too."
Read all about his "rant" here: http://www.velonews.com/article/78930/circles-wasting-energy-in-an-energy-challenged-world
I, too, have come to realize commuting by bike is something so much bigger and better than just feeding my inner hamster.
Streetsblog » Ciclovía: A Moving Experience in Bogotá, Colombia
This is INCREDIBLE. It is safe, it looks like so much fun, it involves getting outside, and it's social networking in classic style. Watch it and want it!
Men's Health article: The 10 Best Foods You Aren't Eating.
I'm adding this to my 3-Tier list of foods. I always do like variety, and especially a reason to eat new and different good-for-me-and-you foods!
As part of the "Destination Centuries" article on Active.com, these twelve tips are quite useful:
No matter how high-tech your bike, how well you've trained and how stocked your seat bag is with tools, inner tubes and CO2 cartridges, any century can become a death march if you bonk, get chafed so bad you bleed or have your hands go numb. Here are a dozen insider mega-miler tips for game day that'll keep you lovin' life at Mile 92:
- Lube up: Riding all day can rub you the wrong way, so don't be shy. Before you start, slather on Vaseline or new sports lubes like Sportslick where the sun don't shine, then carry more along for touch-ups.
- Eat like a pig: The bonk comes quickly if you don't replenish the calories you're burning -- nearly 1,000 an hour with hard riding. Keep granola, peanuts, energy bars or fruit where you can reach it quickly: in a handlebar bag.
- Drown your sorrows: Dehydration will ruin your day. Old rule: one water bottle an hour. New rule: hydration backpack. On a hot, hilly day, you'll drink the equivalent of two bottles an hour, at least. Be sure to make half of those fluids electrolyte-replacement energy drinks, like Gatorade.
- Get a standing ovation: Your nether regions will cheer if you stand up off the saddle once in a while -- straightening out crotch kinks and re-establishing blood flow down under.
- Use an aero bar: They're not just for triathletes. You'll go two to four miles per hour faster and avoid numb hands with an aero bar. The aero position helps cut headwinds down to size and takes pressure off the hands and shoulders. (And it's a good place to keep a map.)
- Vested interest: Long downhills can chill a soaked torso, even on a sunny, global warming-certified day. So zip on a windfront vest when you reach the summit. Some ultra-light vests wad up into tiny balls that slip into a pocket until needed.
- Add visor: As the ozone thins, long rides will increasingly leave you sunburned to a crisp. Old roadies think visors are geeky and strictly for mountain biking, but look at their skin -- all blotchy and sun-cracked. Good skin is made in the shade.
- Candid camera: A long ride will show you flowers you've never smelled before, people you'll never see again -- and sometimes a drunk driver who'll try to make you a hood ornament. Carry a camera to capture all three for your photo album -- and your insurance agent.
- Take a map: Everyone spaces out and misses a cut-off sometimes. You know that map they give you at the start of the ride? Don't chuck it and count on blindly following the herd. Fold it up and tuck it in your pant leg; or, better yet, clip it to your handlebars. It'll keep you more involved in the ride and reduce anxiety levels.
- Bring money, honey: At the end of a long day, when your bike is falling apart, you crave a Twinkie. But you're miles from a checkpoint and find yourself at a remote store that doesn't accept a credit card. Better have a nice, crisp Andy Jackson ready. Nothing's sadder than a sweaty, wasted guy in tight shorts begging.
- Give it a (quick) rest: Take frequent, short breaks off the bike. This isn't a race -- it's a tour, and you paid for it. So milk every second of it. Have a feeding frenzy at the rest stops. Kick back with your feet up to drain the lactic acid out of your legs. Re-fill your water bottles and hydration pack. Stretch, drain your bladder and stretch your hamstrings and quads. But do all this in 10 minutes or less to keep your momentum going and reduce the risk of getting stiff.
- Catch a draft: Century riders, especially newbies, are notorious for going it alone, toughing it out to the bitter end, willing the last few miles into solitary agony. Well, screw that. Just draft off everyone in sight. Find someone who rides at a near-sustainable pace (avoid long pace lines that can often result in crashes), hop on his wheel and never let go. If the pace is too much (or you feel uncomfortable), drop off and catch another bike train. Who knows, you might even make a new friend that day.
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