About five years ago some other moms from my daughters' Guide units were passing around a catalogue for a Christmas hamper saving program. You probably know what I'm talking about: you pick a hamper that has items you want, and then you make periodic payments determined by the company all year. The idea is they deliver the hamper to you just before the holidays, when you can use a little extra money to spend on gifts or entertaining.
It's a popular idea, and the company markets their plans by making claims that you'll save over the retail value of many items included in the hamper. Perhaps, but you'd probably do better if you put the same money in a savings account over the year and withdrew it at the holidays.
Or here's an idea: what if you spent the money on community supported agriculture, and put the rest aside to buy in quantity when items you frequently use go on sale? Why settle for a single hamper full of brand name non-perishables you probably wouldn't otherwise buy, when you could have weekly baskets of farm fresh organic produce every week? And whatever non-perishable items you want (flour, sugar, spices, levening agents, etc.) you can buy in quantity when they go on special. These raw ingredients give you so many more options, and can be stretched a lot farther, than a parcel of store-bought crackers, cookies and pre-fab baking mixes.
The other moms thought I was odd when I said I didn't see any point to buying into the hamper plan, even after I told them I wouldn't normally buy most of the items included in the package. "Don't you buy peanut butter or mac and cheese?" they asked. Well no, at least not the big national brands. And even when I do, they certainly aren't central to my holiday menu planning!
I went back today and looked at the company's baskets for this year. Their top Christmas basket was valued at well over $1,000 over the year, and contained around 150 items. Looking through the list, it was mostly crackers, breakfast cereals, chocolate bars, baking mixes, and candy. I wouldn't use 90% of these products at Christmas. And the one item I absolutely would want was the turkey - just not the one that was in the package. They were offering the one whose name suggests it's pre-basted with butter - not naming any names here, but you know the one. I quite dislike those turkeys, and go out of my way not to buy them. So, essentially it was a useless hamper for my family. And considering the pricetag, an offence to my frugal sensibilities.
The same company offers summer hampers, some of which feature selections of meat intended for the barbecue. I figured I'd give them a look, since meat is generally not a prepared food. The package I looked at had a pricetag of $610 over the course of the year, and offered what I figure was around 50 pounds of meat. That works out to roughly $12/lb. Really? Wow! And this is saving money?
There were a few nice cuts of meat (steaks, boneless & skinless chicken breasts) on the list, but honestly most of the meats were prepared foods - hotdogs, packaged kebabs and burgers, etc. - with a few chicken drumsticks & beef stirfy strips thrown in. Most of these items are sold in my local grocery store for considerably less than the $12/lb. I can get the exact brand of kebabs, for example, for about $5/lb. And even the fancy hotdogs are only about $3-5 a package. Prefab burger patties and stirfry beef? Never buy them. In a frugal home, we pay less and prepare them ourselves.
The lesson to be learned here is not to get caught up thinking about how much you'll save over the usual retail price. Forget advertised prices, and just look at how much you'd usually spend. And it's obviously far from frugal to buy an item you wouldn't normally use, simply because you see a sale or have a coupon. You can often have an acceptable substitute for an even better price, without having to jump through whatever hoops the merchant has set before you.
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