Day 89: Grocery Store Triple Whammy

Posted on | November 29, 2007 |

I ran the Grocery Store triathlon today — hit Kroger’s, Wild Oats, and Vitamin Cottage all on the same day. I’m exhausted and the grocery budget is worn thin. No, it’s busted. I went over this month’s grocery budget by $14.27. On the other hand, we’re almost $25.00 under on our Dining budget.

The grocery-budget killer was an email I received yesterday from The Daughter’s school. They apologized for the last minute notice (why do they do everything last minute?) but we parents are expected to deliver home-baked goods, all individually packaged, to the school by tomorrow afternoon. These baked goods will be sold this weekend as a fund-raiser. The Daughter’s class is responsible, it turns out, for baking breads like Banana, Zucchini, and Pumpkin and muffins. Nothing like a day and a half to bake up a bunch of bread — good thing I didn’t have anything else to do with my time, right?

I found a great pumpkin bread recipe on line and just happened to have three cans of pumpkin in the basement pantry. So The Son and I settled in to bake some Pumpkin Bread only to discover that we were low on flour and sugar and cinnamon and oil and — well, you get the picture. We had just enough flour and sugar for a double batch so we prepared our first two loaves while listening to classical Christmas Carols on Pandora. Then while the bread baked and filled the house with the most deliciously spiced aromas, we worked on some fractions review at the kitchen table. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Then The Husband took The Son to his game while I ventured out to gather some groceries and pick up The Daughter from practice. Not exactly a shattered bubble but I wouldn’t have minded not having to leave the warmth and comfort of the house at all today.

Wild Oats — $7.74
Six packages of house-brand flour tortillas (the only brand of pre-packaged tortillas I can eat — all the others use oils I’m allergic to — and virtually the only bread product I can eat).

Kroger — $96.19

2 5-lb. packages King Arthur organic all-purpose flour — $4.89/ea (saved $0.60/package)
5-lb. package of sugar — $2.00 (saved $0.99)
box of baking soda — $0.59
bottle of organic cinnamon — $5.19
Breyer’s french vanilla ice cream — $3.34 (saved $2.35)
Breyer’s Oreo Cookie ice cream — $3.33 (saved $2.36)
1/2 gallon Horizon chocolate milk — $2.99 (saved $0.50)
Amy’s organic frozen Cheese Enchilada dinner — $3.69 (saved $0.50)
4 boxes Amy’s organic frozen Cheese Pizza snacks — $2.89/ea (saved $0.70/ea)
Kashi 5-cheese frozen pizza — $5.99
Da Vinci extra virgin olive oil — $10.59
shelled and salted sunflower seeds — $1.79
Planter’s honey roasted peanuts — $3.99
Quaker’s granola bits — $2.51
radishes — $1.29
2 red peppers — $3.98
loose carrots — $0.82
cucumber — $1.29
red leaf lettuce — $1.79
6 zucchini — $5.79
5 bananas — $1.21
box of clementines — $5.99 (saved $1.00)
BYOB bag credit ($0.25)

Between the Kroger loyalty card and a few manufacturer’s coupons I saved $15.70 or 14% off the total bill.

I was so totally out of fresh veggies — I’d been jonesing for a good salad for a couple of days. The Amy’s snacks were on sale so I picked up a few more boxes — they’re a quick and easy snack for The Son before practice or a game. The bread recipes all call for about 1/2 cup of olive oil (boy, that can add up fast ) and, naturally, The Daughter needed sunflower seeds for on her salads and the peanuts as a snack — though I made her close the jar and put it away in the car, I’m just too allergic to them to have an open container in the small, confined space of the car.

I really wanted to just go home and so did The Daughter but I had a recipe I wanted to try for dinner and it required ricotta cheese. Kroger’s only had the big commercial brands with weird additives that make my food allergies go nuts so we had to take a detour and stop at Vitamin Cottage on the way home. I went in just for the ricotta but naturally picked up a few extra things on the way to check out. I figure we’ll have lasagna for dinner on Saturday so I bought supplies for that while I was there.

Vitamin Cottage — $39.66

Alta Dena sharp cheddar cheese — $5.29
2 boxes lasagna noodles — $2.25/ea
2 containers ricotta cheese — $5.39/ea
Muenster cheese — $4.29
salsa — $3.45
2 cans Muir no-salt-added tomato sauce — $1.55/ea
2 cans Muir tomato sauce — $1.55/ea
a Chico reusable shopping bag — $3.99

I made a Zucchini Ricotta Frittata for dinner. It was a fun experiment but it’s not a recipe that will go into the family cookbook. The Daughter loved it. The Husband drowned it in salsa and asked for seconds — but The Husband hates quiche and, not knowing what a frittata was, hadn’t realized how close it was to a quiche. I liked it well enough but honestly, my very least favorite form of eggs is an omelet and the texture and taste of the eggs was just too close to that of an omelet for my tastes. The Son just downright hated it but then he doesn’t care for zucchini (though he will eat zucchini bread). He ended up drowning his serving in ranch dressing, of all things. He did not ask for seconds.

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