To the Store

Well, I never made it to ShopNSave on Thursday. Kevin was home sick with the flu, Alicia was trying to find ways to help with the storm damage in Union and I didn't want to be too far away from the phone, and Doug was in California. But really, the only thing we were out of was bananas.

Friday night we had breakfast for supper and I used up the eggs. Sunday we heard that the weather was going to get bad, so I decided to hit the grocery store quickly. It was kind of fun! I went in with just milk, bananas, sour cream, and eggs on my list. I know how tempted I can be in the store, so I just grabbed the little hand-held basket instead of a cart. I was pleased -- I just got what was on the list (although I have to admit that I looked closely at the meat to see if there were any great 'Manager Special' deals...gee, I wonder how our freezer got so full!!). So, for week one I spent about $9.

This Thursday is $10 coupon day, so I'll get the rest of the 'stock up' stuff I didn't get in January with the $50 I have left from then. But honestly, I haven't looked at that list and I can only think of one or two things that are on it. I may be able to get by without spending much of this week's money!

For all practical purposes, the girls are unaware that anything is different. They know what we are doing, but the only thing they are missing at the moment is a case of water (one of those things on my stock up list), which I'll get for them on Thursday. AND it won't hurt them to just refill their plastic bottles...

I am really liking the monthly menu planning process. While we don't necessarily eat what I had planned for that night, I just move things around on a weekly basis. I know what I have to defrost in advance, and meal prep is so much easier when I'm not staring at the pantry trying to figure out what sounds good.

Just an aside...my mom ordered the green plastic bags from TV that are supposed to keep your fruits and vegetables fresh longer...she gave me a few and we tested them out. They work really well -- bananas stay fresh for a week! The other day I noticed that the plastic bags in the produce department at ShopNSave are a green color now. I played scientist and tried one of those bags against the ones Mom bought. Believe it or not they worked JUST AS WELL! I'll have to test it against clear bags next.