Ms. Marple Goes Grocery Shopping

Produce that has been washed and ready for storage

Oh, I do love grocery shopping day; maybe because I love food, maybe because it is my only day off the farm every week; it's like a field trip in elementary school. 

Have you ever noticed how people grocery shop?  There are so many different ways.  Couponing, using sales ads to base a menu on, bulk purchases, discount stores, cheap food, healthy food, quick food after work.  So many ways.  I think all strategies must adjust throughout different seasons of the year and different seasons of life.

This too is something that I am trying to pin down for our family. 

Looking back, I cannot believe how much food I wasted when I worked outside of the home; some was bought with good intentions of keeping us healthy, some was bought for a specific menu or dinner that didn't happen because of being too tired or nobody was "in the mood" for it.  Also,  I cannot believe how much money I wasted on fast food, both at restaurants and at the grocery stores.
I still have days where I am tired come supper time, but NOW it is my job and so I must persevere and it works out just fine, grumbly-mumbly or not. Oh, but there are days I crave a stupidly expensive meal of my favorite chicken sandwich with that awesome lemonade or those poppy-seed rolls with cinnamon butter followed by way too much calabash chicken or that gourmet hamburger and endless fries-yum!  But do I really want to spend a week's budget on a meal? Let alone the calories and preservatives and other stuff that really makes feel bad about an hour later anyway? (honestly, sometimes...)

I am progressing, learning what shopping and menu planning works best for me and mine.  I started out cooking too much and having tons of leftovers that we ate for multiple days and multiple lunches.  I think I am now catching on to just having enough for lunches, finally, still a few boo-boos here and there.

Right now, my grocery shopping is mostly this: 
Every other Wednesday I put in a Sam's order for Pick 'n Pull, or whatever they call it now, where I put in the order online and hubby goes Thursday after work, grabs the cart they pulled all of our items in, pays, and brings them home for me to process.  (Milk in the freezer, wash produce, divide bulk items like cheese and flour, etc.)
Friday or Saturday is our shopping day with the list.  The usual suspects are Aldi's, Publix and the Dollar Tree.  Sometimes Ingles or Wal-mart.  Lowes and Home Depot often make the cut too.  I have to say since we have quit eating highly processed foods out of boxes, Bi-Lo has fallen off the radar as it seems most of the loss leaders and good priced items are just that.  

This week we stopped at Lowe's to get a file to sharpen the axe, as well as a new well pump pressure switch (that'll be another story!) and some marker tape to start our pasture across from the pond.  We then went to the Dollar Tree to get some canisters and containers to store my Sam's Club bread flour in.  We proceeded to Aldi's where I got some really great deals.  Mushrooms (8 oz.) for $.79, grape tomatoes (1 pint) $.69, avocados $.49, baby carrots (16 oz) $.49, celery $.79, and of course the normally good prices for things like pretzel sticks for lunches, organic spinach, cheese, etc.  We then went to Publix, where I find good deals on BOGOs (buy one get one free). My cart was filled with lots of pairs of items.  I bought Ritz crackers BOGO.  This is not a normal purchase, but I am going to make peanut butter crackers for lunches, as well as have them out for any sporting events that are taking place so it was a fun splurge, pickles and prepared hummus.  Overall I was very happy with my purchases. 

I should admit to you that I didn't just buy one of the produce deals at Aldi's.  I bought 5 packages of mushrooms, 6 avocados ( I wanted 10 but people were eyeing me), 3 bags of carrots, 2 bags of celery, 3 pints of tomatoes.  Wait, did I just talk about wasting food? I only got one head of lettuce...No, I had a plan.  My plan for this huge produce haul??  Again, the Super Bowl will use up carrots, maters, a few mushrooms, and celery, but I am in the process of dehydrating the mushrooms for later use in sauces and soups, and when there only crumbs, for veggie broths.  Once the avocados ripen, I will mash and mix with a little lemon juice and freeze for yummy guacamole and additions to tuna salads, on hamburgers or face cream-face cream, not ice cream, although I have seen recipes for vegan pudding using it. Hmmm?  The celery has been cut up and bagged for lunches and other recipes as needed for the next week or two.  I saved all of the leaves and other parts (minus the root) to throw in a veggie broth or chicken soup or even juice or smoothie. 

Dehydrating mushrooms

To me, planning how to use all the food before it goes bad and ends up as chicken food, dog food or compost is something between a game and serious research that I am writing a thesis on, thus the title of this post; Agatha Christie's Miss Marple is a detective of sorts, and the compilation book is long (over 4000 pages, I believe) as is this blog very lengthy.  I apologize.  Told you I loved grocery shopping!