I went shopping today for my food for the coming week.It was different from any other time I have gone for a number of reasons.The first was that it took me a lot longer.I’m one of those in-and-out kinds of people,but I spent close to an hour comparing prices,sizes and options.I also noticed that I was self conscious while shopping.While I never looked in other’s carts,I found myself concerned that people were looking in mine.What they would have seen was a VERY boring collection of items,all from the generic brand.Coincidentally enough,75% of what I purchased was Roundy’s brand,and Roundy’s is a huge supporter of CKMU.I have two giant checks from grants hanging on the walls of my office.Finally,I actually noticed WIC stickers on the price labels of certain products,something I had never been aware of before.I wasn’t able to tell what made some things WIC approved,but it was cool to be aware of.
Without further ado,here is my shopping list:
Small jar of peanut butter
3 pkgs Ramen
4 cans of tuna
Large can of condensed tomato soup
Bag of rice
Loaf of white bread
Bag of noodles
Frozen juice
Grapes
Yogurt
Spaghetti Sauce
Oatmeal
Chicken Broth
Candy Bars
5 of the 14 items I bought were on sale and all were the cheapest price I could find for the given item.I did have a Saver’s Club card,but these are free of charge and open to all.One of the hardest things was avoiding the dairy.I am a huge cheese lover (a Wisconsin girl through and through) and there wasn’t any diary I could really afford.The only dairy I could afford was a package of processed cheese and I couldn’t bring myself to eat that.I’m a cheese snob it seems.
My grand total for this shopping trip was $15.69.That gives me $5.31 to use throughout the week in ways I am going to try.One thing I was proud of was the fact that I saved $4.95 through sales at the grocery store.That’s 24% of my total budget!I think it was a pretty successful trip.