Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Why I shop at only one store, shopping list and 2 week menu

Tuesday is my weekly shopping day, as it is the day when the store nearest me has a big sale on produce. Wednesday our nearby store has a sale on chickens, but as the majority of our diet is produce and not poultry or meat, it pays for me to do my weekly shopping on Tuesday versus Wednesday.

I do all my shopping practically at one store. I don't bargain hunt. I don't go shopping from store to store, seeing which store is cheapest for produce and getting it there, which is cheapest for dairy products and getting that there, which store is cheapest for chicken and going there... As a stay at home mother with no car, going from store to store looking for the cheapest prices for each item would be counter-productive. It would take lots of time and multiple trips. For each of those trips, I would either need to pay a babysitter to watch my kids, or pay for two bus fares each way for each of those trips. All those bus fares add up.

So instead, I searched around to see which store is cheapest in the things that I need and when it is most convenient to shop there to make the most of sales. For me, that is Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday I go shopping for the whole week. I menu plan in the store and buy accordingly.

Here is what I bought today at the grocery. I challenged myself to buy enough food for two weeks of meals, paid for a delivery of my groceries to my door, and still only paid 50 dollars for all the food. (As a comparison, because I realize different things cost different amounts in different places and countries, I usually spend 55-60 dollars per week on groceries. My friend, without much money and a family approximately the same size spends 100 per week to feed her family of 2 adults and one toddler.) I had a little bit of chicken in my freezer from when I bought it on sale, so I didn't need to buy any today.

In my cart today:
2 heads romaine lettuce
11 lbs of potatoes
3 lbs of beets
3 lb kohlrabi
1 medium head cabbage
4 lb fennel
4 grapefruits
3 lb apples
3 lbs avocado
6 lbs carrots
1 head cauliflower
3 lbs eggplant
5 corns on the cob
3 lbs cucumbers
1 giant turnip
3 lbs green peppers
4 liters of milk
7 oz yellow cheese (can't think of the name of its American equivalent)
5 oz Bulgarian cheese
1 yoghurt (for making more homemade yoghurt)
2 lb whole wheat flour
1 can mushrooms
3 cans of tuna
1 can baby corn
2 cans tomato paste
2 lb pearl barley
1 lb buckwheat groats
1 bottle canola oil

The menu plan for the next two weeks:
Tuesday- Green mock mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes and cauliflower, milk, spirulina and spices)
Wednesday- Ukranian hot borscht (with beets, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, kidney beans, etc)
Thursday- Big salad with Bulgarian cheese, chickpeas, and avocado
Friday-Veggie soup with dumplings, tuna knish, kohlrabi carrot coleslaw, roasted pepper salad, eggplant pate, cucumber salad, Moroccan fennel salad, hilbeh (Yemenite fenugreek dip) sweet and sour beets, kasha varnishkas (eastern european dish with buckwheat and noodles), sweet and spicy chicken, cauliflower with hyssop
Saturday- Leftovers from Friday
Sunday- Tuna stuffed baked potatoes and roasted red pepper salad
Monday- TVP chunk and vegetable stir fry with rice
Tuesday- homemade noodles with cheese sauce and salad
Wednesday- Succotash (dish made with beans, corn, carrots, onions, perhaps chicken breast) and rice
Thursday- Sourdough bread, crudies, and lacto-fermented chumus
Friday- Mushroom barley soup, roasted pepper salad, sweet and sour beets, cucumber salad, eggplant pate, hilbeh, lemon herbed turkey wings,
Saturday- Friday leftovers and stew
Sunday- bean burritos in homemade tortillas
Monday- rice and homemade boston baked beans with salads

Lunches are usually leftovers from the previous night's supper. If there is none left, I make the food intended for supper earlier and serve it at lunch and then again at supper.

Breakfast will be any one of the following:
Milk shakes, pancakes, fresh bread, toast, oatmeal, fruit, cream of wheat, etc...

I don't plan on going food shopping for the next two weeks. However, my husband works right near the grocery, and if he hears of an amazing sale of a non perishable, he will stock up on that.

What's the least you've ever spent on groceries for your family for a week?

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