Tuesday is typically my yoga day, but illness continues its march through the house. My cough is worse than yesterday, but nothing compared to the Bug's, who coughed himself into vomiting last night and ran a fever that allowed for almost no sleep. He and I both stayed home today, drinking smoothies, juice and water and sleeping a lot of the day. His fever has been down most of the day, so I'm hoping he can go back to school tomorrow.
So no yoga for me, but we did get out to vote and then I went off to the grocery store. Money is tight this month since we've paid a ton of money for Thanksgiving plane tickets, so I put myself on a budget, just like old times. Back before my husband got his current job, we had basically no money and I shopped on a budget of $150 a month for everything we needed, including most of our non-grocery items. Since we moved here, that budget has gone way up, and since I started this diet, it has skyrocketed. Healthy food is really expensive! On my last shopping trip I spent 200 dollars for a cartful of groceries, really way way too much. So for this trip, I set myself a budget of $50 and kept track in my head as I went along. When the count reached $50, I had to stop. Whatever I got, we'll eat on for this week.
It's nice to know I haven't lost my knack for mental math, I managed to get out of the store at just under $49 on the receipt. It is not nice to realize how much less distance $50 goes when you're trying to eat well. Back in the day, I looked at the prices only, not the labels. Ramen noodles and white bread cost a lot less than whole grain noodles and bread, and a tube of low-fat ground turkey costs as much as four packs of hot dogs. Back in the day, I would only shop in the produce section at all when we had a WIC check to spend, tonight I spent more than 12 dollars before I even left the produce section. And that was even after I put back the grapes I wanted because I couldn't justify spending more than four dollars on a bag of grapes!
Some things I was able to economize on. I bought dried beans instead of my usual cans, and I'll be trying to cook those up in the crockpot this week. A half-gallon of milk should be enough for us, the guys have it with cereal in the morning and Bug gets it at school, we don't need more. I found a cheaper brand of diced tomatoes to try out. And even though the turkey is crazy expensive, I know I can cook it up with the textured vegetable protein I have at home to make it go twice as far. The way we eat it, in casseroles and tacos and goulash-style meals, we won't even notice.
Some things I bought, we probably could've done without. I bought a pack of imitation crab meat that was $2.50, somewhat against my better judgement. It could've gone further somewhere else (I did not manage to buy any cheese this week at all!), but it's my favorite workout snack, and if I don't get the protein, I graze on anything in sight. So it's sort of a toss-up. And my favorite creamy soup was on sale, also for about $2.50. Which is not cheap, for soup, but when I mix it with rice, it can be lunch for me for up to four days. And rice is always cheap and easy! There were also the four store-brand Lunchables that are dinner for Bug and I on karate-yoga days. A better, more organized Mom would figure out how to get a real meal on those days, but I am not that mom! At least they are only a dollar each.
Even if I don't shop to a tight budget like this every week, I think it was a valuable exercise. I looked at the prices of things I buy in a way I haven't done in a long time. I've been shopping without regard to price lately, and then been shocked every time at the register. That has to stop. Even with eating healthy, I need to take responsibility for how much I spend on groceries or our budget is never going to stabilize. Coming up this week: how do I cook and stretch and serve the food I bought tonight?
No comments:
Post a Comment