Eat Smarter Grocery Secrets from an Insider- Carol Ann

In this episode of The Mommy Pod, we sit down with author and grocery insider Carol Ann, who was raised in a family-owned corner market and learned early that great meals begin with how you shop.

From a mob like entity who tried to shut down her family business to decoding labels to saving money, reducing waste, and actually feeding your family healthier foods—this episode is packed with real-life tips every mom needs.

She is the author of award-winning cookbook, Secret Recipes from the Corner Market, 
and Amazon international best-selling Grocery Shopping Secrets, a guide that leverages her industry-insider knowledge to help families combat rising costs, decreasing quality, and shrinking package size. 

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed in the grocery store or unsure how to make better food choices without breaking the bank… this episode is for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Welcome back to the Mommy Pod. In this episode, we sit down with author and grocery insider Carol Ann, who was raised in a family-owned corner market and learned early that great meals begin with how you shop. From decoding labels to saving money, reducing waste, and actually feeding your family healthier foods. This episode is packed with real life tips every mom needs. Every parent needs. If you've ever felt overwhelmed in a grocery store or unsure about how to make better food choices without breaking the bank, this episode is for you. Welcome back to the Mommy Pod and Carol Ann, welcome to the Mommy Pod. You are an author of Secret Recipes from the Corner Market and the International Best Selling Grocery Shopping Secrets. And you're here to help us rethink about how to feed our families. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Well, thank you. It's great to be with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yes, thank you. Your story is so unique. Growing up in a family grocery store, I think that is so cool. My grandpa lives in the country in North Carolina, and I've always thought that that would be cool if we could grow produce on his farm and then have a little store and sell it. So you did that. Your family did that. Can you introduce yourself to our pod and share how that experience shaped your understanding of food and health?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Well, I did. I grew up in a little corner grocery store. It was so small that carts could only go in one direction. So if you forgot a can of beans, you couldn't turn around and go back for it. My dad uh was very picky about produce. He loved produce and he taught me how to select produce, much like other kids learned the alphabet. After my parents died, I inherited co-ownership in the grocery stores, and my family moved from Denver to Fort Collins to help run them. I spent the majority of my life owning and operating supermarkets in Delhi's. When we closed, we had six. We owned nine pharmacies and we had a bakery production facility which was picked in-store bakery of the year by the retail bakers of America in 1991. We opened a big new store on the corner of Drake and Worthington in Fort Collins, Colorado. Two months after we opened it, the city closed the road in front of us. We started losing$200,000 a week. The road was closed for six months. The day the road opened, our supplier tried to take us over. They came in and said, give us a million dollars or give us your keys today. We didn't comply, but we went to federal court and won because they had regal violations. But it created a downward spiral. When they tried to take us over, they had goons at the front door, goons at the back door. They had someone that sat in my husband's office. They bugged our phones. They bugged our office. It was, I don't know if you saw the movie The Firm with Tom Cruise, but it was like living your own personal version of uh that movie.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

It sounds like the mob.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yeah, it was, it was, it was like the mob. Yes. It was really aggressive. Um, one of my favorite jobs when we had the stores was to create recipes for our ad. So if we had pork chops on sale, I would do a pork chop recipe to give our customers creative ways to use what was on sale. And as I got better at it, I would try to combine multiple items from the ad in that recipe. Uh, I thought after the stores closed, that the story of mom and pop fighting the big corporations would make a great book. Uh, so I started writing a memoir, which I will finish this year, but it's called Busted But Not Broken. So we ended up having to take chapter, we took chapter 11, which is reorganization, in February of 2001, and we had our plan approved in August, and then Super Walmart opened, and our creditors forced us into bankruptcy. So our bankruptcy made the front page of our paper 11 out of 14 days, which was pretty humiliating because everybody we knew and everybody we didn't know knew what had happened. So I started writing my memoir and taking writing classes, and I drove my husband absolutely crazy. He said, You have all these wonderful recipes, why don't you put them together in a cookbook? So I did, I created Secret Recipes from the Corner Market, which also has the recipes from our deli, which were our customers' favorites. Um, to set myself apart, I included grocery insider wisdom on how to select and store perishables. Um, my cookbook won three national awards and was selected in the top 10 favorite cookbooks by the Denver Post Food Staff. Uh, I believe I'm the only award-winning cookbook author that used to own grocery stores. Ina Garten owned delis, but I owned grocery stores. So I was pretty leery of social media, and I decided decided as I wanted to get my memoir out that I needed to do social media. So I worked with a young man named Bobby Crewe who writes horror and he likes snakes, so we have nothing in common. But Bobby asked me to do a blog about how to save money at the grocery store. So I pulled, I did that blog, and that was in 2022, which was the worst year for food inflation. Food inflation went up almost 10% in 2022. The grocery industry attributes that to the Ukraine war. Uh, Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe, and when uh Putin invaded uh Ukraine, uh wheat prices soared 34% per metric ton. So I did my blog and I spent a year uh expanding my grocery shopping information uh to create grocery shopping secrets to help people be more savvy shoppers. Um, it's won uh 10 awards and was an international bestseller when I did my Amazon campaign in the US, uh, France, and Australia.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

That's incredible. Wow, what a life and what a career with your books and what a great husband to suggest you do something with your recipes.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

He said my recipes made him the man uh he is today.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Oh well, I think that's like the highest compliment for a wife, right? That is so wonderful. I'm so sorry to hear about how the company got overtaken by like corporations like Walmart and like the street being closed off because of construction. Like that's just so unfortunate and so something that a lot of small business owners can relate to that have gone through um yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know what to say. It's just so terrible.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Well, it it was terrible. Um but it's something happened we have challenges in life, and when um my husband gave me a little plaque that was a saying of um Churchill, Winston Churchill, when you think you're going through hell, remember just keep going. And that's what we have to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

That's that's something I'm going to write down because I feel like I'm going through my own little version right now, and so just keep going because life ebbs and flows, it'll get better.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Yeah, it there are ups and downs, harder times, and you have a mommy podcast, and my hardest experience as a mom was when my youngest was six months old. I was in a really bad car accident and couldn't sit up by myself for six weeks.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

So I had three kids, uh, seven, five, and six months, and that was another time. You just have to take it one day at a time.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

That sounds like it's so incredibly difficult. Um, can you share what that experience was was like and what it taught you?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Um my aunt came to see me one day and she said, when you get through this, she'll look back and wonder how you got through it. Uh we were lucky because my husband made a mistake on our car insurance, and he he he doubled what our car insurance should have been. The person who caused our accident didn't have any insurance, so we had to use our own. So we were lucky enough to have help in the house. Uh so we had uh Liz who came from seven in the morning till three in the afternoon, and then Eleanor came from three to seven. So uh I learned one thing at a time, one day at a time, and they told me I'd never walk again, but I am walking today, so don't ever let anybody tell you you can't do something.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Amen. Well, thank you for sharing that. What a blessing. I'm so glad that you are walking today and that you're here to share your story with us. What advice would you give to any moms who feel or dads, because we have single parents that listen. So what advice would you give to anyone that feels overwhelmed, or whether it's food or life or finances or everything all at once?

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Um, I've been through some really hard things, and I think when you're feeling overwhelmed, you need to slow down and listen. Listen to your heart.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Thank you. Slow down and listen to your heart. That's very good. Let's get back on to food, shall we? Yes. All right. So uh let's get into what every parent wants to know. How do we start actually eating healthier without overcomplicating things?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Well, I th I think the most important thing when you go to the grocery store is uh to be really picky about what you're what you're purchasing, whether it's produce, beef, fish, chicken, whatever. Um the FDA believes that the average family can save$1,500 to$2,000 a year by reducing waste. And uh for example, my husband went to the grocery store and he came home with a potato and it had a big brown brown spot on it. And when I cut into it and peeled it, I lost half of it because it had a worm. So you want, you want, my book is full of all kinds of tips on how to get the very best to select the freshest. Um, I believe every day your supermarket will sell some produce that can be classified as garbage. So what we need to do is learn to distinguish the good, the bad, and the ugly. Have you ever been in the grocery store and seen a tomato or a pepper that's got mold on it? And you think, does a produce clerk think I'm blind that I would buy this? So, for example, cauliflower. One thing I had gone to the grocery store to get cauliflower, and every head had little brown spots on it. So when cauliflower starts to deteriorate, it will get brown spots on it. I said to the produce clerk, don't you have any cauliflower that doesn't have brown spots on it? She said, No, this is all we have. It just came off the truck. So that's what we have to buy. But my wheat got discombubbled and I didn't make my cauliflower for five days. So by the time I was cooking it, the brown had gotten all the way down into the interior and I lost all of my cauliflower. My book also has uh lots of tips on how to store things, how to freeze things. Uh I have tips on how to freeze everything. For example, uh, parents usually buy a lot of milk. Uh, if you're going on vacation and you have a gallon of milk, you don't have to let it sit in your fridge and spoil or or pour it down the drain. You can freeze it. You put it in ice cube trays, and once it's hard, you transfer it to a freezer bag. Now, when milk thaws, it's going to be grainy and slushy. So you can't put it in your over your cereal or in your coffee, but you can use it in smoothies or for macaroni and cheese or for cooking or baking.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Wow, I never thought of that because it is all I have tried to pour frozen milk on my cereal and it's all chunky. But that's good to know that you can use it in other things. Thank you. I've got to get this book. When we walk into a grocery store, what are the first three things that we should be paying attention to if we want to make better choices? So you mentioned produce. What is something else? I've always heard that you should stay on the outsides.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yes, well, one thing I like to share is something you probably don't think about, but we thought about every day is grocery stores do from time to time have trouble with their refrigeration or with in the deli with their heating units. I don't know if you've been in the grocery store and heard, but usually at the top of the hour they will say it's time to check temperatures. So if you're in the deli and you're wanting to buy a rotisserie chicken and it's not hot, you should pass because the temperatures haven't been right. So also in the freezer section, or if you're buying uh dairy and it's not cold, you should pass. One thing I think that would save people a lot of money is there's a lot of misconceptions about sell by dates. So for uh the sell by date is the date your supermarket must remove the product from the shelf, but it will still be good for a few days, sometimes weeks past that sell by date. So eggs will be good for three to five weeks past the sell by date. Now, how do you know if an egg is good? You give it the float test, you put it in a bowl of water, and if it floats, it's not good to eat. Uh, milk is good three to seven days past the sell by date. And how do we know if it's good? We give it a good sniff, and if it doesn't smell good, we should pass. Canned goods are gonna be good for two to five years past their sell by date. And how do we know if a canned good is bad? If it's bulging, it's not good anymore, or if you open it and there's discoloration, then it shouldn't be eaten. Uh ground beef is going to be good one to two days past its sell-by date. So if it's slimy or if it's started to turn gray, then we know we shouldn't eat it. So my book has all kinds of tips uh like that. And I know as parents, sometimes if our children really like something, we try to buy it in bulk. But sometimes I think we uh think by just buying the biggest package, it's going to be the cheapest. But uh, my daughter feeds three teenage boys, and so she buys a lot of Nature Valley sweet and salty granola bars. So I priced those out just to give you an idea of how you should pay attention to unit price. Costco sells a 48-count box for$17.49, which is 36 cents per bar. Sam sells a 36-count box for$11.28 or 31 cents a bar. Now I shop at a Kroger store and they have a 12-count box for$5.49 or$45 per bar. So sometimes we think going to Costco is going to be the cheapest, and they've got a 48-count box, so we think, oh, it's got$48, it's going to be cheaper. But Sam's 36-count box is really cheaper.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Wow. That's very good to look at. Thank you. A lot of us think healthy means expensive. From your experience, is that true? And how can parents eat healthy on a budget?

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Uh well, produce has not gone up as much as meat, poultry, and fish. So I think we need to eat more fruits and vegetables. It's going to be the most economical, and it's going to make your doctor happy.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Great advice.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Eating fruits and vegetables, you want to avoid the prepackaged, pre-washed fruits and vegetables. There's a lot of expense that goes into washing them, cutting them, and then you have the package. So I would say to eat healthy and reduce your costs, avoid the pre-packaged. I priced broccoli and it was$1.49 a pound. Where it when it was pre-packaged, it was in a 32-ounce uh package for$4.99. So that was almost 50 cents more per pound. I but I know sometimes as parents we like the convenience of having it done for us, but that will allow you to eat healthier at it at a reduced price.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Yeah. You talk about becoming an informed shopper. What does that look like? I feel like you've kind of broken it down a lot with looking at our food, looking at our produce, making sure that we is there anything else that we need to know, like where things come from?

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Well, yes, if you're buying fish, your supermarket is required to tell you what country it comes from and whether it's farm raised or it's wild. Uh farmed raised fish is going to be cheaper. Uh uh, wild fish, it there's a problem with sustainability. My book is full of tips like if you're buying shrimp, do you buy it fresh from the case or do you buy it frozen? And shrimp is flash frozen when it's caught. Whereas, unless you live by the ocean, where you can go directly to the shrimp boat and get your shrimp, you're better off buying the frozen because once the they put the frozen shrimp into the case, it's been sitting there for a while. So you don't know how long it's been there.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Wow, good to know. Thank you. Have I shared about this?

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Go ahead. No, it's okay. I do want to share something too about the deli because when we had our stores, we had chefs in the deli that made everything from scratch. We do Have some things we brought in, but most everything was made from scratch. So if you're shopping in a deli and it says chef prepared, that food is only going to be good. It's it has a three-day shelf life. So it could have been sitting in the case for three days. So if you're buying something that's chef prepared, you want to eat it as pretty close to when you get home.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

What are the biggest mistakes that people make in grocery stores that cost them money?

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Um, I think the biggest mistake is not being picky about their produce. For example, I watched a lady grab nine tomatoes and she didn't even look to see if they were ripe. Uh, the um most important thing about tomato to determine quality is color. So the redder the tomato, the better quality it's going to be. And you can smell the stem end of a tomato, and if it smells like a tomato, it will be uh ripe. My book also has lots of tips. Like, for example, if you have an avocado, if you buy avocados to make guacamole for Super Bowl or game day and they're hard as a rock, I have tips that you can put an avocado in a paper bag with an apple to speed up the ripening process.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Wow, good to know. I would have needed that tip a lot. I I feel like I get ripe uh avocados all the time, and then when they finally get soft, I forget about them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

What are the best tips to reducing food waste at home?

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Um the best tips are to keep your pantry and your fridge organized, which is easier said than done. So, for example, if you need a can of tomatoes for a recipe and you have one tucked somewhere in the corners of your pantry, and you put it on, you know, you put it on your list and buy it when you really didn't need to. Uh, keeping your fridge organized and rotating your your food so that you're using it before it gets bad, I think are some of the most important things to do. That is easier said than done. When I make my shopping list, and if I if I need a can of tomatoes, I put it on the list and then I put a question mark. And then when I have all my lists made, I go back to my pantry and my fridge and I check to see if I do have those items already. I think that's the most important thing, which is easier said than done.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

That's very efficient though, because I will not do that and I will just assume that I don't have any more uh tomatoes, and I'll buy more, and then I'll get home and I'll put them at the pantry with the rest of the tomatoes that I already have. So make a list, look through your pantry, rotate your food. Good, good tips. With the prices rising and portions shrinking, how can moms stretch their grocery budget without sacrificing the quality?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Uh, that's really what my book is all about. It's learning. Uh, my book teaches what's important to look for for every item you buy in the grocery store. Uh, and I think when you buy things that aren't good, for example, if you get an onion and it has black on it, and you get it home and you slice it and it's no good, you've paid for that, but you can't use it. Or like the potato my husband bought, uh, we paid for a whole potato and we got a half of one. So I think it getting really learning about food and your food, uh your food will taste better when you're buying the best.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yes, I agree. Wow, this conversation has really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I can't, I'm like excited to go to the grocery store. I want to get your book and go to the grocery store and shop and and uh check off things, make sure I'm doing it correctly.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Do you have my grocery grocery shopping secrets book is also available as an ebook? Amazing. You can download it on your phone and then take me with you shopping.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Yes, that's great. That's what is needed. Can you tell us where we can find you, where our listeners can purchase your book? And I'm also gonna tag it in our show notes, but just in case.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Uh my secret recipes from the corner market is available at Amazon and on my website, Carolyncates.com. Uh, grocery shopping secrets is available on Amazon and also uh in any bookstore through Ingram and on my website.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Amazing. Thank you so much, Caroline, for sharing your wisdom with us today. And to anyone listening this week, I challenge you to go into the grocery store with intention, make one better choice, and give yourself grace in the process and also get Caroline's book so that you'll do it right. If this episode, if you love this episode, please share it with another parent who needs to hear it. And don't forget to follow the Mommy Pod for more real conversations like this. Thank you. Thank you, Carol.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Oh, well, thank you.