The lull

This week has included a series of crazy events.... My husband made a variety of meals and even took photos of them, so I hope by the end of the day to have a series of new entries.

Yesterday, I finally did a quick grocery shopping trip. I went to Giant and I originally planned to get about $40 worth of groceries to get through the week, but decided to get a wider variety since it was going on my charge card.

I had a 14-hour day on Thursday attending a conference with colleagues in Philadelphia (The Pennsylvania Governor's Conference for Women) and one of our meeting points was next to a liquor store so I treated myself to two bottles of Barton & Guestier Vouvray at $11 a bottle. Last night my husband uncorked one of the nicely chilled Vouvrays and at my request added fresh raspberries.

For breakfast this morning, we're having some fresh raspberries and strawberries and toasted store-bought baguette with melted cheddar and vegetarian bacon.

Yesterday at the store, I spent $103.41. I bought a lot of foods that aren't in my typical repertoire, but I don't see my situation changing anytime soon. So I tried to find foods that were inexpensive, didn't violate the principles, provided nutrition and ease of preparation.

I bought:

• 3-46 ounce bottles of Juicy Juice in various flavors, $2.39 each (have to remember to stock up on concentrate the next time I'm at Aldi)
  
• Ajax dish soap, 16 ounces, 99 cents (I usually wait until I have coupons for Dawn because I'm allergic to most other dish soaps, but since most dishes go in the dishwasher... here's hoping.)
• Earthgrain 7-grain bread, $2.49 (yes, I bought bread)
• Nature's Promise mac-and-cheese, two boxes, $1.25 each (the natural/organic mac and cheese, after all, Kraft is 99 cents. Add a veggie and it almost is a real meal.)
• bananas, 2.2 lbs, $1.30
• seven lettuce blend (for the tortoise) on sale for $2
• Dole Asian Crunch salad, Dole Southwest salad, buy one get one free at $3.99 (and I add some stuff and make one package into dinner salads for all three of us)
• 5 lbs of russet potatoes, $2.99 (my husband makes these hugely-piled baked potatoes as dinner or lunch)
• raspberries, a pint, $2.99
• strawberries, a quart?, also $2.99
• 4.14 pounds of boneless chicken breasts, $12.38
• French baguette, $1.99
• Green Giant frozen vegetables: the cauliflower with cheese sauce, broccoli in cheese sauce and vegetable medley. On sale for $1.59 each, plus a $1 off coupon (for another trip) if you bought three. Add these to rice and it's a quick lunch. Add some protein source and it's a dinner.
• Morningstar Vegetarian Italian Sausage, $3.49
• Morningstar Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets, $3.49 (great to chop up and add to those Dole Salads)
• Amy's Pockets, $2.29 each, I bought two vegetable and two broccoli cheese. Grab and go lunch if needed.
• Health is Wealth Spinach munchies, $3.49, great hot snack or vegetable side
• Frozen squash, 99 cents (never bought it before, but I thought I could make squash with either maple syrup or brown sugar and butter)
• Frozen spinach, 89 cents
• A HUGE bag of frozen peas, $2.59
• frozen mixed vegetables (akin to the vegetable california medley from Aldi) $1.19
• Giant frozen steam-ready broccoli, carrots, snap peas and water chestnuts, $1.35 (great for a quick stir-fry even a Daddy can handle)
• 24 ounces of fish sticks, $3.49 (yeah, I cringe at this one, but my kid and spouse love them so occasionally I indulge them)
• Light and Lively cottage cheese, $3.49
• Coffeemate, one 16 ounce Parisian Almond Creme and one 32 ounce French Vanilla, $1.99 and $3.09
• 18 eggs, $1.59
• Nature's Promise Soymilk and chocolate soymilk, $2.39 each
• Giant 8-ounce cheese, buy one get one free, $1.95 per block (4 blocks = $4)
• Giant unsalted and regular butter, 1 lb each, $1.79 each
• 24 ounces of sour cream, $2.25