Well, the shopping trip happened. I finally got to execute my superb grocery list. I walked into Kroger confident that I was going to come in around $50. I think it was in the produce section (the first section I go to) when I realized that I would be lucky not to blow my entire two week allowance in this one shopping trip. The list that I thought I had stripped to the core didn't look so stripped after all. I guess I never REALLY looked at prices before. I mean, I've compared prices, looked at sales ads, and usually always decide on the best deal for the buck even if it is more expensive than the smaller size. I think of myself as a decently thrifty shopper. All this changed in one visit to the seafood aisle.
There it was, the cooler full of shrimp in different sizes, shell-on, shell-off, cooked, raw, the talapia, in the different sized portions, and even crab legs. I was hunting for shrimp so I could use up the gumbo mix we have in out pantry. Well, shrimp quickly got marked off my list because it was 1/5 of my budget. Now, usually, I think, "Ugh, this is kinda pricey, but we like shrimp and the kids eat it, so I'm going to go ahead and grab it." Not today. I just marked it off the list.
This trip was so much harder than I thought. As I keyed in every item in my "grocery calculator" app on my phone, I realized that I passed the $50 mark before I even got to the dairy section. This was probably the most stressful shopping trip I've had in a while. There were small victories, like when the woman shaving the ham in the deli put it up on the scale and it was only .89lbs. instead of 1 lb. and I said nonchalantly, "that's fine" all the while thanking God that I didn't have to pay the whole $5 for that ham. I also realized that getting ham shaved makes it look like more and act like more than it is. Pretty awesome.
The nerves really started kicking in as we made our way up to the registers. I was just praying all the way through the store that God would make this food go further and that He would perform some miracle. Well, I was sure that I probably came pretty close to the $100 mark. I kept watching the screen and saw it continue to creep up and, at times, jump up. $81.65, $83.42, $90.13, there is the bacon, and kept getting closer and closer to $100. At the end, the cashier asked if I had my Kroger card. What? I hadn't entered my Kroger card yet??!!! There is still hope!! So I quickly entered my number, since I had lost my card years ago, and behold I saw the total go down very quickly. Why, it went down to less than $80. All this saving reminded me that I still had coupons! Yes! I pulled them out of my pocket and viola...$75! Ok, so I totally went over my hopeful $50 for this week, but I am happy that I got out of Kroger with $25 to spare for next week.
This week was a little more expensive because I had to buy 15 pounds of flour so I can make my own pizza crust, biscuits, and even some bread. My pinto beans will make a couple weeks worth of burritos and I can freeze those easily. I did buy some things to make ahead and freeze for weeks to come. I'm hopeful that, if nothing else, my deep freezer will get cleaned out. I will be using whatever I can find in there and hoping it gets us through.
I also came to the realization that we will not be eating the way we're used to eating. We are going meatless a couple times a week and we will be eating more eggs since our sweet chickens pop those out for free. This isn't a bad thing. It's not like we don't have the money to go out and buy something if we HAD TO have it. I just want to live on less.
I keep praying that God will make our food go further. He has always provided for us.
Xandra
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