Child’s school lunch for under $1, meal for four under $5?
They call them The Road Scholars – two young people who are the ambassadors of the Save-A-Lot grocery stores Fuel Your Family Road Trip.
Representatives Bob Ringer and Abby Tinberg, along with spokeswoman Chon Tomlin, are on a nearly month-long tour to try to connect with tens of thousands of consumers through the end of August.
“We want to educate families and parents on how to provide healthy nutritious meals at affordable prices,” said Tinberg, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota.
Their southeast tour of many states was kicked off here in Southwest Florida, last week at Fort Myers Beach.
Their second stop was North Fort Myers, to talk about how people can save money shopping in this economy, and promote that at the local Hancock Bridge Parkway Save-A-Lot store.
Store manager Chris Jarvis said their simple message of just two ways to save – a child’s school lunch for under $1, and a meal for four for under $5 – is important. It is an excellent idea in this economy.
Assistant Manager April Gibson agreed. “I would agree on a regular basis – as a mother, an employee, that you can save.”
The under $1 child’s school lunch strategy is simple, representatives said. The average school lunch is $2.30; but they offered ideas for less than a $1 can include healthy but kid-friendly options including fresh fruit and veggies (an annual savings of $200 per child).
“What we’ve done is take a look at items kids already like and create opportunities where parents can duplicate those for less than a dollar,” said Tomlin. “One example would be small cuts of lunch meat and cheese with crackers – similar to a popular prepackaged lunch item. What we do is also throw in a handful of grapes and a couple of strawberries, along with our Splash Out Juice pouch, our store brand. That totals 99 cents.”
They also offered recipe ideas such as feeding a family of four dinner for less than $5, and breakfast ideas for less than a buck.
On the dinner under $5 for a family of four, Tomlin gave the recipe. “You marinate chicken in either an Italian dressing or a salsa, and then thread the chicken on a kabob and you can grill that. Serve it over a bed of rice, and serve with a dessert of fresh berries or fruit.”
Besides spreading the word on economy-minded recipes, the Road Scholars delivered a $5,000 check to the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida right after leaving North Fort Myers.
Harry Chapin Food Bank Development Director Fred Richards said, “We’re extremely appreciative of the very generous donation by Save-A-Lot of $5,000. With our ability to turn every $1 into $6 of food value, that’s $5,000 turned into $30,000, or 18,000 pounds of food to our neighbors in need.”
In all, Save-A-Lot will be donating $25,000 to food banks along the Fuel Your Family tour.
Marketed as a discount grocery store, Save-A-Lot, a SUPERVALUE (NYSE: SVU) company, is one of the nation s leading discount grocery chains, operating nearly 1,200 stores in 39 states from Maine to California.
But most are independently owned, said Tomlin.
“The North Fort Myers store is owned by local Jerry’s Foods. The local store is actually a local retailer.
“People think of us as a corporate chain, but actually about 75 percent (of our stores) are owned by independent retailers or licensees. They take a personal interest in being part of their local communities.”
The tour will end in Chicago on Aug. 28. The local store is located at 4150 Hancock Bridge Parkway.
To learn more, go to save-a-lot.com