C4
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 20, 2019
8 tips for saving money on groceries
By KATIE WORKMAN
Associated Press
I do not know of a sin-
gle person who doesn’t like
to save money. And the
supermarket is one of the
most important places to
be shopping-savvy.
The good news is there
are so many easy and effec-
tive ways to slash your gro-
cery budget.
Here are eight tips that
will bring that receipt total
down considerably.
1. Buy whole fruits
and vegetables. Pound for
pound, whenever you buy
anything that has been
peeled, cut up or prepped
in any way, you are paying
a premium. And not only
are you paying more for the
work that went into the pre-
pared food, you may lose
additional money on the
back end, since these items
are more perishable than
their whole counterparts.
Pre-diced onion might only
last for a handful of days
in the fridge, for example,
while whole onions will
last for weeks.
2. Don’t snub store
brands. House brand foods
used to feel like an infe-
rior version of name brand
items, but these days stores
have more formidable rela-
tionships with manufac-
turers, and often the house
brand of something might
be made by the same com-
pany as a reputable brand
name product. You will
have to taste some to fig-
ure out what you like. And
stores like Costco with
their Kirkland brand items,
or Trader Joe’s with their
eponymous line of grocer-
ies, are powerful examples
of how good store brand
products can be.
3. Put the freezer to
work. If pork chops are
on sale but you don’t plan
to make them this week,
consider buying them and
freezing them for later. Or
if your market or price club
has a great deal on bulk
chicken or ground beef,
take advantage of it, and
just divide up the package
into smaller freezer-proof
containers or bags. Label
everything and wrap it
well. Frozen shrimp also
AP Photo/Al Behrman
A worker stocks the fresh meat shelves at a Kroger Co. supermarket in Cincinnati. The supermarket is one of the most im-
portant places to be shopping-savvy. The good news is that there are so many easy and effective way to slash your grocery
budget.
AP File Photo
A shopper passes a shelf of crackers and other items at a Ralphs Fresh Fare supermarket in Los Angeles.
deserves a special shout-
out: Most shrimp that you
buy “fresh” was actually
frozen and defrosted any-
way, so stash a bag in the
freezer for quick weeknight
dinners. Frozen vegetables
and fruit are also great to
have on hand.
4. Look for the bargain
aisle. Many supermarkets
have a designated aisle
where they feature a selec-
tion of reduced-price items.
Often these items are sea-
sonal, and you might see
them discounted further
after a holiday (matzoh ball
mix is practically free right
after Passover, and candy
canes are a steal on Dec.
26).
5. Look for “While Sup-
plies Last” signage. In one
of the markets where I shop,
some of the sales signs on
the shelves have additional
language (in small print, so
get in close to check!) let-
ting shoppers know that
an item is in limited sup-
ply and intended to sell out.
Often these prices are dis-
counted heavily since the
store is trying to clear its
shelves for new products.
6. Stock up on on-sale
non-perishables. If you
have the storage space,
when you see that canned
broth or tomatoes or beans
or pasta is on sale, throw
a few extra into your cart.
I once bought 10 contain-
ers of mustard because the
price was so good (I hap-
pen to really love mustard).
7. Look for clearance
areas in the market. Day-
old pastries and bread (per-
fect for French toast or
stuffing!) might be tucked
into a small shelf near the
bakery. Corners of the store
may have shelves with col-
lections of miscellaneous
products that no longer
warrant space on the main
shelves. This might be
because they are close to
expiration, or there are just
a few left and they aren’t
being restocked. You could
also get some serious steals
on packages that got a little
dinged up, but the contents
are still fine. (Who cares
what the outside of the box
of cereal looks like?)
8. Look at the store cir-
cular before you go. Many
major markets have a web-
site that will show you the
items on sale that week. A
chance to think about this
in advance means that you
can meal-plan around the
pot roast that is on special,
or decide this is the week to
stock up on snacks for back
to school.
———
Katie Workman is the
author of “Dinner Solved”
and “The Mom 100 Cook-
book,” and creator of the-
mom100.com blog.
Gallery in central Mexico displays a trove of folk art
By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press
ATOTONILCO, Mexico
— It’s been said that if you’re
not an artist when you first
visit San Miguel de Allende,
you’ll certainly be one by
the time you leave. Simi-
larly, if you step into Mayer
Shacter’s Galeria Atotonilco
as a novice, you’ll walk out
an appreciator of fine Mexi-
can folk art.
Shacter, a former ceram-
ics artist from Berkeley,
California, who has lived in
Mexico since 2003, is much
more than a curator. He trav-
els to remote areas of Mexico
to meet the artists and learn
about their craft, and then he
brings their work back to his
gallery, where he imparts his
knowledge to his customers.
His is now regarded as
one of the finest collections
of Mexican folk art any-
where. On TripAdvisor, the
gallery, which opened in
2006 in a 600-square-foot
section of his home and now
consumes 6,000 square feet,
is currently the top-rated
“thing to do” in San Miguel
de Allende, which is a short
15-minute drive away.
Shacter’s passion for
his gallery is immedi-
ately obvious. His collec-
tion, which ranges from tex-
tiles and woven baskets to
antique ironwork and papier
maché masks, is broad, and
“a reflection of my many
interests.”
“I have a personal rela-
tionship with these people. I
love helping them preserve
these cultural traditions,” he
said.
For example, about 15
years ago, he met some arti-
sans from Nayarit, who
make Huichol yarn and bead
art, after they rear-ended his
Emil Varona/Kim Curtis photos via AP
Gallery owner Mayer Shacter holds a hand-embroidered
Guatemalan garment at Galeria Atotonilco near San Miguel
de Allende, Mexico.
car. Shacter said the police
threatened to confiscate
the family’s pickup truck
because it was uninsured.
“We got their information
and agreed to pay for our
own repairs. They agreed
to give us some yarn paint-
ings,” he said, adding that
they’ve been doing business
ever since.
The Huichol are an indig-
enous people who mostly live
in the mountainous areas of
northwestern Mexico. They
press brightly colored yarn
onto boards coated with a
thin layer of special beeswax
from Campeche and tree
resin. The “paintings” began
as ceremonial religious art,
and often include represen-
tations of deer, corn, pey-
ote and other symbols from
Huichol mythology.
Shacter says the artists’
quality of life and sustain-
ability are paramount to
him. He rarely buys work on
consignment.
“With one or two excep-
tions, everything in the gal-
lery, we purchase outright,”
he said. “When we leave a
person’s house, they have
money in hand or money in
their bank account.”
Another highlight of
his collection is the lac-
quered gourds from Temala-
catzingo, Guerrero. Lacquer-
ing is one of Mexico’s oldest
crafts.
During the pre-Hispanic
period, oil from chia seeds
was mixed with powdered
minerals or plant-based dyes
to create protective coatings
and decorative designs. The
gourds can grow on trees or
vines and are dried before
using. Those with bottle-like
A collection of Wounaan woven baskets from Colombia.
shapes are cut so the top can
be used as a lid.
The layers of lacquer
must be applied separately,
dried and then burnished.
Several small pieces can be
done in a single day, while a
larger decorative piece may
take two or three months.
Because Shacter has
developed relationships with
some of the best artists in
Mexico, his gallery is packed
with treasures.
Among his current favor-
ites is the pottery from Ton-
alá in Jalisco. He’s partic-
ularly proud of the work by
Geronimo Ramos, one of
the few artists who still cre-
ates petatillo pottery, which
is identified by its light, yel-
low background filled with
crosshatching that looks like
a woven palm mat or petate.
The tighter the crosshatch-
ing, the finer the piece. The
style requires a certain type
of clay to produce a smooth
painting surface. On top of
the crosshatching, the artist
usually paints in black, green
and cream, and one of the
most common images por-
trayed is the nagual, a myth-
ical half-human, half-ani-
mal creature. Then, the piece
must go through two sepa-
rate firings to get its high-
gloss sheen.
Shacter and his wife,
writer Susan Page, who
started the San Miguel Writ-
ers’ Conference and Literary
Festival in 2005, were drawn
to this part of central Mex-
ico in part because of the arts
community.
San Miguel de Allende
was inhabited by rich arts
patrons from its start in the
1500s. And in the 1600s, sil-
ver was discovered nearby,
making the town an import-
ant trade thoroughfare.
By the mid-1800s, it hit its
stride, and many of its man-
sions, palaces and churches
were built during this time.
But San Miguel gained its
contemporary reputation as
an arts center after Ameri-
can artist and writer Stirling
Dickinson arrived in 1937. He
and Felipe Cossio del Pomar,
a Peruvian painter and polit-
ical activist, established the
town’s first art school, which
still exists today. In the years
after World War II, veterans
flocked to the school and oth-
ers when they realized they
could stretch their G.I. Bill
money further south of the
border.
The city’s architecture,
cobblestone streets and rich,
saturated colors make it an
artist’s — and collector’s
— dream. Some believe it’s
built on a bedrock of rose
quartz, which channels pos-
itive energy and attracts cre-
ative types. Whatever the
reason, they continue to flock
to San Miguel de Allende —
and Shacter’s gallery.