Just a quick glance at the specials at my local grocery stores tells me that I need to go to Central Market for my baking supplies:  flour, sugar and evaporated milk are on sale there this week.  The flour is an especially screaming deal – $2.49 for Bob’s Red Mill Pastry Flour (compare to the normal price of $5.69).  At prices like these, I am going to stock up for my Christmas baking too!

How do you find the deals?  Log in to Qponix MealBox, set your profile with your preferred stores in your zip code, click on specials, and then scroll through each store’s specials to see what is on sale.   In addition to the baking items, I can use Central Market sale items to round out my Thanksgiving deserts:  Haggen Daz Vanilla Bean ice Cream is on sale at 3 for $10.00, and Pete’s Coffee is $7.99 – that’s $4.00 off the regular price!

Stores will update their sale items weekly, so check Qponix again early next week to see which of your preferred stores has the best prices on Thanksgiving turkeys and produce.

Looking for a good apple pie recipe?  Try Eating Well’s Deep Dish Apple Pie!

Today I logged in and checked out the specials at my local Safeway.  (You can set your local store preference by clicking the profile button and choosing your preferred store).  Today, by checking “Specials” and then “Meat”,  I found that Safeway is running specials on stew beef and boneless chicken.   The Qponix MealBox tool then pointed me to a couple of delicious recipes from EatingWell, Hungarian Beef Goulash and Chicken Ratatouille, that call for the ingredients on sale at Safeway.  I added these recipes to my meal planner for Tuesday and Wednesday night, clicked add to list, and then Qponix MealBox generated a shopping list that lists all ingredients needed, in logical supermarket order, with notations when an item is on sale.

You can search for sale items by any category.  So if you are not a meat eater, go in and search “Specials”, then “Produce”.  You will find that Safeway has peppers on sale this week.  Click on “Peppers” and Qpoinx MealBox will show you recipes from EatingWell that call for peppers.  Basque Vegetable Rice looks yummy).  Click on the recipe, add it to your meal plan, then click shopping list and you’ll  get the shopping list with all specials noted.

What a great tool to save money and add variety to your meal plans!

In one or two evenings, I can make and can enough applesauce to last through the winter.   Naturally, when I am buying 10 lbs of apples for canned applesauce, I want to search for the lowest priced apples around.  With Qponix’s new widget, I can find the best-priced apples in my area with just a few keystrokes.  And Qponix’s widget is free!

First, you need to take a quick minute to register.  Then load on your preferred stores (in my case, my preferred stores are  Town and Country, Central Market, Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Haggen, and Safeway).  Next, click on the “specials” tab and click on “by category”.  Scroll down to produce and it will show you the stores that currently have apples on sale.  Turns out that I can save over $1.50 per pound (or $15.00 per batch of applesauce) if I shop at Haggen.

Not bad savings for 1 minute of searching!

We have good news. We just launched a revamped Qponix website to showcase the new multi-retailer version of our MealBox application. Visit us at www.qponix.com and be sure to check out our new how-to videos.

We are also continuing to roll out enhanced versions of MealBox for publishers and grocery retailers. We look forward to introducing you to these new sites soon.

In the meantime, you’ve gotta check out the new Qponix MealBox! (Oh yeah, the beta version is free.) We think you are going to love the fact that it lets you build your shopping list the way you want. You can come at that list from a number of different directions, all them useful.

Hyper-Local Weekly Specials
Get this: we now have the weekly specials from thousands of grocery stores in cities and towns in every state in the country. Find your favorite neighborhood store. Pick others in your area that you shop. We will show you what’s on sale that week. It’s amazing. Tip: go to the “by category” link under Specials and compare promotions for items at more than one store. You can see which of your local grocers has the best deals on things like chicken, asparagus, pasta, and beer.

You will see that we have made a start on connecting recipe ingredients and the weekly specials. However, not all of the mappings are in place. We couldn’t hold back any longer: we wanted to get the new version into people’s hands as soon as it was ready. But our mapping efforts are continuing. So, look for the connections between recipes and specials to increase week in and week out.

New Recipes
Need new ideas for tasty meals? The new Qponix MealBox gives you hundreds of recipes from EatingWell, a publisher that specializes in finding interesting recipes that also happen to be good for you. Of course, with Qponix any ingredient on sale at your local grocer is highlighted for you.

Quick Lists
Start to type an item – say, “vanilla ice cream” – on our new shopping list; after the first few key strokes (by the time you get to “vani”), our system starts giving you a slew of pre-configured options from which to choose. It makes it easy to build ad hoc lists quickly. And we always flag anything that is on sale in the set of options. Want to add a recipe directly to your shopping list? Just click the new “add to list” link at top of every recipe.

Money-Saving Meal Planning
Qponix Members know this: developing a weekly meal plan, creating a shopping list, and sticking to it at the grocery store – THAT is how you save big bucks on your grocery bills and feed your family good meals. Qponix MealBox has all the same convenient meal planning features you have to come to expect from us, including the option to automatically add the recipes in your plan to your shopping list.

New Coupons
We are wiring up the connections to get you batches of weekly coupons. These will nicely compliment our hyper-local week specials. Look for those in the coming weeks. We will keep you posted.

You will note a big feedback link on the new Qponix website. We want to hear what you think about the new Qponix MealBox as it joins the Meijer MealBox and the GoodEating Meal Planner from the Chicago Tribune. We want to know what you like and what you hate – and we would love to hear your George Jetson ideas about how to make online shopping lists more useful and even more valuable. We are building the ultimate shopping list so we plan to keep making it better.

We are going to be talking about your feedback and announcing new developments in our blog, on YouTube, and on Twitter:

http://www.qponix.com
http://www.youtube.com/qponix1
http://www.twitter.com/qponix

Thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you over at the new Qponix.com!

The Qponix Team

First of all, we’re thrilled to announce that MealBox can now be used with all your favorite retailers! Nationwide – USA only, for now, sorry! When you sign up (for free!) you’ll be asked for your zip code, and we’ll then show you grocery chains that are advertising deals in your area. Pick your “preferred store” and any others you’d like to view, update your profile, then visit the “Specials” tab. There you’ll be able to browse deals by grocery chain or by category, and view details of each offer and links to recipes. This is a great list-building strategy: Find a great sale item (proteins, produce, etc.), then find a recipe based on that ingredient and add it to your meal plan!

We are connecting recipe ingredients and weekly specials nationwide. We wanted to get the new version into people’s hands as soon as it was ready. So, look for the connections between recipes and specials to increase week in and week out.

We’ve tried to assemble a compelling collection of information and tools to help you build your Ultimate Shopping List. Whether you’re shopping for deals, trying to get organized, or simply looking for great new recipes, we’ve got you covered – on the web or on your smartphone. So you can build “Your List. Your Way.” Don’t forget that you can put the MealBox wherever you like: on your iGoogle page, on your Blog, even on your desktop. Just click the “Get Widget” link at the bottom of the app.

And there’s much more to come! We’re very close to announcing several new partnerships that will permit you to use MealBox on even more great publisher and retailer sites. AND we have some amazing new functionality that will really enhance your planning and shopping experience. So please stay tuned, and we thank you for your support!

As a side vegetable, we enjoy it cooked two ways. Swiss Chard is delicious at its most simple: steamed, tossed with a pat of butter, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and some ground sea salt. For a variation, sometimes I saute it in butter over high heat with a clove of minced garlic.

Don’t be alarmed at the size and awkwardness of the leaves. To prepare for cooking, trim off the end of each stem, then wash under running water and spin dry in a lettuce spinner. Using a large cutting board and butcher knife, cut the leaves and stems into 2 inch pieces. Toss the chard into a steamer or saute pan, and cook just until wilted, about 3 minutes over high heat.

Swiss Chard is also a remarkably easy plant to grow. The plants are frost-hardy, so you can plant seeds as early as 4 weeks before the last spring frost date. There is no need to thin Swiss chard, as it handles crowding well. In 4-6 weeks, you can start harvesting leaves. Here’s a picture of my Swiss chard bed – it feeds my family of 5 for the whole growing season.

You will love the look of Swiss chard in your garden. The varietal I grow, Bright Lights, has stems in rich red, purples, oranges and yellows. My friend Nancy plants it in her flower gardens as a striking border.

You can also make wonderful quiches, frittatas and gratins with Swiss chard. Substitute it in any recipe calling for spinach.