In May, I ordered the basic package, the Fajita pack, and the Latin veggie pack to do my own research on whether AFM is a good deal or not. I’m going to say not really.
The basic package was barely a deal at $30 and included the following items:
| 32 oz | Shelf Stable Milk | $ 2.19 |
| 8 oz | Roll Mix | $ 0.88 |
| 7.5 oz | Mac/Cheese | $ 0.84 |
| 15 oz | Pears | $ 1.46 |
| 15 oz | Applesauce | $ 1.14 |
| 5 oz | Tuna | $ 0.92 |
| 12 | Eggs | $ 0.98 |
| 32 oz | Chicken w/Stuffing Side Dish | |
| 28 oz | Salisbury Steak | $ 2.50 |
| 1 lb | Corn Dogs (6 ct) | $ 2.19 |
| 32 oz | Crinkle Cut Fries | $ 2.88 |
| 1 lb | Sweet Corn | $ 1.25 |
| 1 | Sweet Potato Pie | $ 5.29 |
| 12 oz | Ham | $ 2.32 |
| 2.5 lbs | Chopped Beef Steaks (5 ct) | $ 8.73 |
| 5 lb | Chicken Leg Qtrs | $ 4.95 |
| 1 lb | Boneless Pork Chops (4 ct) | $ 2.99 |
| TOTAL | $ 41.50 |
This total was based on NORMAL prices at Meijer’s in TC as of 6/29/09. If, however, you shopped around you could get it down lower than that. I know that you can often get a Sweet Potato or Pumpkin Pie at the Sara Lee outlet for $1.99. I know, too, that if you shopped at Sav-A-Lot, combined a sale with a coupon, and/or kept your eye open for meat that was reduced for quick sale, you could EASILY lower this by $10-15 and get food you would normally eat.
I also bought the Fajita package ($21). It included:
| 10 pk | Tortilla 8″ (2) | $ 3.98 |
| 1 lb | onions/peppers | $ 1.79 |
| 2 lbs | Steak Fajita Meat | $ 8.58 |
| 2 lbs | Chicken Fajita Meat | $ 1.98 |
| TOTAL | $ 16.33 |
Not a deal at ALL!! The chicken meat, I based off of getting a really good sale and using leftovers because it was hard to find pre-packaged fajita or stir-fry chicken. The steak could easily be lowered by getting a bigger, cheaper cut and slicing it yourself. It’s obviously cheaper to make your own than to buy theirs.
Last came the Latin Fruit & Veggie Box ($22). It included:
| 6 roma tomatoes | $ 2.24 | |
| 4 hass avacados | $ 6.67 | |
| 1 head cabbage | $ 1.23 | |
| 2 lb | Red Potatoes | $ 2.19 |
| 2 lbs | key limes | $ 3.00 |
| 1 lb | jalapeno peppers | $ 1.99 |
| 1 lb | carrots | $ 0.80 |
| garlic (5ct) | $ 2.00 | |
| 2 lb | white onion | $ 1.99 |
| 2 chayote squash | $ 1.29 | |
| 4 calabacita squash | $ 1.94 | |
| celery | $ 1.67 | |
| seedless personal watermelon | $ 3.49 | |
| TOTAL | $ 30.48 |
Not a deal at all. I know that the I know some of this was on sale this month so it could be even less if you bought on sale, in season and/or at the Sav-A-Lot. Plus, you get it all at once and it needs to be used ASAP. And the quality was ABYSMAL. I’ll go into that in my food quality post. Suffice it to say, it was NOT worth $20.
Stay tuned for my final post next week about the quality of the food and my thoughts on the program in general