The Pig and I

I did finally make it to the store. Not for what you'd think, though. Apparently summer is getting the best of me, and it's fruit all the way for me. HEB: $3.57 - half gallon kosher dills $1.38 - 2 cans stewed tomatoes $0.79 - 1 can tomato puree $1.00 - 3 cans tomato sauce $0.55 - 1 can generic Ro-tell tomatoes $2.59 - apricots $1.56 - sugar plums (yep, these really exist) $1.76 - nectarines $0.89 - can soup for tuna casserole (yes, I know. This is my one processed indulgence) $2.61 - grapes $2.24 - cherries $2.88 - plums, black $2.56 - green apples $1.77 - strawberries $3.98 - mandarin oranges, fresh $1.97 - blueberries $1.78 - crackers $1.98 - grape tomatoes $1.48 - celery $2.98 - fresh peas $1.78 - carrots $1.72 - spaghetti $1.00 - penne $4.99 - large watermelon total: $49.81 And I would just like to say, that is a lot of money to spend on mostly fruit. But well worth it.

Well, this is weird. I wrote this post somewhere in the 4-5 weeks ago range. How it got lost is beyond me. But here's the post I wrote on shopping a while back for you, even though it's old: Alright, so I haven't done a big shopping trip like I'd intended, but I did pick up a few incidentals. Here's what happened: Fiesta: $3.29 - orange juice total: $3.29 Kroger: $0.77 - tomatoes $0.59 - scallions $1.63 - peaches $1.36 - celery $0.88 - carrots $3.99 - oranges $1.99 - capers (how did I let myself run completely out?) $0.99 - 18 eggs $2.00 - lettuces (spring mix, basically, except I bought 5 mini heads to make my own mix for the $2) total: $14.20 HEB: $1.98 - creamer $0.88 - crystal's hot sauce $2.98 - hard salami total: $5.64 Phoenicia: $4.99 - 1 lb figs (fresh) $3.58 - feta, 1/2 pound $2.19 - labne total: $12.05 grand total: $35.18

Alright, I finished everything of importance on my shopping list. Woo hoo! Of course, I've started a new list (mostly containing lots of benadryl, since if I don't get the allergies under control soon it'll be steroid shot in the arm time, and that's just not fun for anybody), but now I feel like there's food in the house. You probably would've thought that I'd post more given this whole last week was spring break, but this is where we were all wrong. I thought I'd post more too. But then my white board got in the way. I've finished every piece of reading for two of my classes, plus gotten ahead in the homework for them both. I'm marginally (and by marginally, I mean one day) ahead in one of my other classes, and I'm exactly even in French, which is where I actually want to be in there. I'm still trying to get all my reading done for the class I'm marginally ahead in, but I just don't see myself getting through Purgatorio , Para...

Yep, this week was a big one. I didn't actually have time to get all the shopping done needed. There are just piles and piles of homework. There is no possible way for me to actually finish everything on my reading list for Spring Break, but that's okay. I'll just get as much done as I can, and that'll be the end of it. I only plan on leaving my house twice during spring break, so that'll help. If one of those times involves groceries, I think I can finish restocking the pantry. If not, such is life. Anyway, here's everything I bought. There is an abnormal amount of juice this week, because we had someone over for dinner who only drinks juice. And then we drank the rest, of course. There's also a lot in the way of dried fruits (including tomatoes) since I like to take those to school with nuts. How'd y'all do this week? Fiesta: $1.29 - fresh spinach $0.99 - two cans corn $1.00 - 1 pound frozen corn total:  $3.28 subtotal: $3.28 Phoenicia...

And look at this - I actually know what day it is! Saturday, the day of shopping reports. Not much was bought this time either. See, what happened is that I decided I needed to buy a new gun, mainly as a treat because this semester is about to be the death of me, and since Ross can't get time off work for our planned spring break (boo!), and so I took the monies I'd saved for vacation and put them toward a gun. I like to go to the range when I can, and although the semester has kept me too busy to do so lately, I'd like to get back out there again soon. So instead of setting aside some monies to restock the pantry, I paid for my gun, and thusly groceries will have to wait until I get paid next week. I told Ross today that we have no food in the house and he looked at me like I'm a crazy person (which I think at this point I may actually be. But in seriousness I'm out of anchovies and those are my stress food so there really isn't food in my mind) and so I believ...

Well, you'll be surprised by this. Although my pantry is getting dangerously low, I've not had time to really dedicate any of my attention to fixing it. Lately, it seems that we eat a LOT of risotto. Mainly because it's so easy to cook and it only takes about 40 minutes total. And I have night classes, 'n stuff. So all I got was rice. Because I think we're almost always out of medium grain. HEB: $2.56 - 5 pounds medium grain rice total: $2.56 How was your shopping? Are you dreading the billion dollar trip to the store like I am? Or are you mostly set and just getting incidentals?

Not a ton of spending this week, but a couple incidentals. Ross didn't know there was chicken in the freezer until I said, "hey, while you're at the store would you get chicken too? We're almost out." "Almost?!?" was his response. Evidently he didn't know that we had meat in the house, since I haven't cooked it in a month or more. I need to make a massive produce and rice trip, but I'll get to it when I have time to really stock the pantry again. So here's how it went. Kroger: $7.99 - 4 pounds chicken breast $3.78 - gallon milk (ew) $0.00 - butter (yay Kroger for free stuff) $3.48 - orange juice (have y'all ever tried campari and orange juice? So much love) $5.38 - 10 pounds bread flour total: $20.63

This week's shopping was all camping stuff, as I can tell. Okay, not all. But mostly. Plus more stuff for the bergamots (of which there are now 13 more; THANK YOU, LISA!!!!). So here's that. $2.26 - water $6.99 - sugar $2.29 - hot cocoa $5.00 - butter $3.48 - OJ $7.99 - almonds $3.40 - onions $7.39 - tahini $1.99 - eggs $1.00 - garlic $11.39 - flour (17 pounds) total: $53.18

Hardly any groceries were purchased this week. This is kind of a problem, since we're now officially out of bread flour, and all-purpose flour. Oops. Need to get that taken care of asap, since that means we have no flour except cake flour, Wondra flour, semolina flour and rye flour. So, we're not out of flour, but we are out of the normal types. Next week there will definitely need to be shopping. Anyway, here's the spending! Kroger: $1.48 - 1 pound strawberries total: $1.48

We barely bought anything this week, which is good. Although the cheese is mostly gone... I've realised I still have some stuff in my freezer that I'd like to get through at some point, so I've been focusing again on food storage this week. This is good, although since, as you know, I'm mainly down to base staples, there's mostly me making a lot of stuff I've made before and Ross eating it all. It's nice to have a garbage disposal built into a husband. Sometimes, when we have a lot of leftovers I just line them up on the counter and ask him to make sure they've all been eaten before the day is concluded. Invariably, they ARE all eaten. It's impressive. But, I digress. On to the spending. Fiesta: $2.09 - milk $0.25 - onion $3.25 - orange juice total: $5.59 Not a bad week at all. I'm considering, to sporadically replace the Sunday Storage posts, doing Sunday Stories. I don't think I'll do this weekly, since my work load with sch...

This was definitely a spendy week. I hadn't been to Phoenicia in a while, and as typically happens when I go after a long spell without, I bought a bunch of stuff that there was really no need for me to buy. Such as a little cheese extravaganza. I also didn't get the two spices I meant to while I was there, malbeb and mastic. I guess I'll get those another time. Phoenicia: $3.69 - Pickled cubeb peppers $2.00 - margoram $2.49 - fava beans $1.89 - dried apples $2.50 - dried mango $2.29 - semolina $2.69 - sundried tomatoes $2.75 - star anise $6.49 - labneh $4.20 - kasseri cheese (1/2 pound) $8.66 - bulgarian feta (1 3/4 pound) $1.21 - yali pears $2.19 - eggs subtotal: $43.05 Whole Foods: $1.72 - cardamom pods $4.99 - goat brei (this was awesome, btw) $3.64 - parrano subtotal: 10.35 HEB: $1.99 - beets w/ tops $0.98 - red bell peppers $0.83 - red onions $1.78 - mushrooms $4.98 - feta (yeah, I know; nearly 3 pounds of feta this week) $3.48 - spr...

You all will be a bit surprised by this, but all that time I wasn't posting I was thinking about y'all enough to save my receipts. So this post is going to be a bit of a long one, since there're simply too many receipts for me to combine them (and they won't be in chronological order). I'm not even really sure how we did on spending, though I suppose we're about to find out. Kroger (12/14/11): $1.84 - 2 pounds spaghetti noodles $10.92 - 5 pound bone in ham $1.64 - flour $15.08 - 4 pound chuck roast (for chili) $0.99 - pepper $6.79 - sugar (I want to say this was a 20 pound bag) $5.93 - 9 cans canned tomatoes $4.00 - cheeses $4.69 - oatmeal $1.24 - tomatillos $0.26 - jalepenos $0.66 - poblanos $0.57 - anaheims $1.36 - wax peppers $0.80 - banana peppers $0.07 - habeneros $0.07 - serranos $1.99 - macadamia nuts $2.50 - butter $1.79 - soy sauce $1.15 - tomatoes, canned $2.17 - fresh tomatoes $3.83 - cherries $2.50 - salsa subtotal: $72.8...

Well, as you know I didn't do the Saturday spending, because pretty much the only food I've been buying has been for the wedding. But I did save the receipts so y'all could see what was purchased. Normally I separate everything out by store, but I'm feeling lazy and have a lot of other stuff to do to get ready for Thanksgiving, so I'm just combining them into one long list. $8.69 - chickpeas $18.00 - pita (108 loaves that I didn't have time to make) $13.08 - 17 pounds onions $8.99 - 10 pounds basamati rice $5.29 - 8 ounces shelled pistachios $4.99 - 1 pound raw almonds $6.59 - 1 pound shelled walnuts $6.89 - 10-can arabic pickles $8.49 - 4 pounds nabulsi olives $4.58 - 2 28-ounce cans tomato puree $27.16 - 8 kilos dolma (yeah, I was too busy to make these) $17.99 - 2 kilos kalamata olives $3.99 - ras el hanout $4.78 - fillo dough (2 pounds) $6.87 - 1 1/2 pounds peeled whole garlic $17.98 - 2 kilos tzatziki (this was more efficient than me makin...

This week we only spent $3.29, for bread flour. Otherwise, pretty quiet week in terms of groceries. However, I did spend some on the wedding food. I'm still trying to figure out where I put the receipt for what I've gotten so far, but you guys know how I am with finding things I've lost. (sorry for this one being late too)

Alright, so you're getting two weeks worth of shopping today, instead of just one. Though I've still spent far too much on food the last two weeks as well. After Thanksgiving is done (I'm doing my own catering for the wedding and also have some stuff to cook for the holiday, so my food costs will be up until after that's all said and done), I believe I'll be setting a $100/month grocery budget. If I need to scale it up a touch (or down), then I will, but for now I'd like to go w/ $100/month and see how we do. So that's settled now. Fiesta: $0.66 - tomatoes $1.09 - acorn squash $0.96 - snow peas $1.69 - mushrooms subtotal: $4.40 Walmart: $2.41 - onions (3.25 lbs) $2.48 - eggs $5.16 - 2 pounds butter (this is for the wedding baklava, as there'll be two trays of it) $3.26 - ham $1.48 - salad mix (yes, I know) $2.18 - spinach $2.32 - shredded cheese $3.97 - potatoes $0.92 - tortillas (yes, I know) $2.92 - chili powder $2.08 - cocktail ...

This week was good, in terms of spending. It appears that no longer will the days of needing nothing really apply to me, since we go through roughly 5 pounds of flour a week (okay, that's a lie. 5 pounds of bread flour; I bake other things that need all-purpose as well, but we don't go through that flour as quickly). As I only buy my bread flour in 5 pound increments, that means a new bag each week is needed. On the upside, since I've started saving a piece of each batch of dough to make the next one with (and can I just say how much I love seeing a bowl of dough sitting on the counter every day, waiting for me to bake it? I love it a lot), I no longer need yeast for our daily bread. This is fabulous, and I enjoy it intensely. Anyway, here's what was purchased this week: HEB: $2.97 - orange juice $3.59 - bread flour $2.18 - milk (ew) total: $8.74

So. I didn't go to the store. Thankfully. Next week I'll need to, since we're about out of milk and stuff of that nature (btw, it's still weird to me to see milk on the shopping list, when I'm not baking something that needs it). Not eggs though, since we got two dozen last time. I think I need to work out a monthly food budget, but honestly I've been so busy with school stuff (this PB business is a lot more work intensive than I anticipated, though I suppose that's bound to be the case when you've changed fields completely) that I haven't even really thought about what our grocery needs really are and how the budget should reflect that. What do y'all think? There're just two of us, with frequent guests some weeks. I think $100 should suffice. Anyone disagree? How do y'all handle your food budget concerns and planning?

I'd expected to have a light grocery week this week, but I forgot that we needed stuff for camping too. So we ended up getting a LOT of groceries this week. Again. It's starting to look like I'm going to need to put myself back on a standard grocery budget, since all this spending is a bit out of control. Here's what was purchased this week: Kroger: $2.59 - canola oil $1.99 - milk $3.19 - bread flour $1.74 - all purpose flour $2.69 - whole wheat flour $0.89 - cream of celery soup (for tuna casserole) $2.98 - 2 cans sweetened condensed milk $5.98 - 2 pounds butter $1.78 - graham crackers (for pie) $2.14 - cream cheese (must. have. lemon. buns) $2.99 - white chocolate chips (for cookies to make for people who have been very sweet to me lately) $2.19 - 4 ounces yeast $3.69 - local honey $2.79 - heavy cream $3.38 - soups for while sick $1.99 - shredded swiss $1.99 - shredded mozzarella $7.99 - salami (see? camping food) $7.99 - good cheese (more campin...

This was a huge grocery week for me. I knew I was needing to replace a couple staples, such as the chick peas, but I didn't think I was going to lose my mind halfway when I went to Phoenicia. I ought to've seen that coming, since I haven't set foot in that store in nearly two months. Plus, with Rosh Hashana needing to be purchased for, I really should not have been terribly surprised by the amount of food I bought this week. So here'll be the surprise for you too. :) Phoenicia: $5.69 - ground lamb $5.43 - lamb shank $2.49 - wasa rye crisps $1.50 - pita; 9 loaves (which is weird I bought this since I'd just made pita two days before and intended to make more the next day) $2.39 - apricot paste (kamruddin) $1.99 - arabic cucumber pickles $6.89 - olives $1.99 - dried basil $3.63 - gouda $4.57 - fresh dates $2.00 - dried marjoram $3.59 - crystallised ginger $3.29 - pickled grape leaves $3.59 - red lentils (2 lb) $3.59 - puy lentils (2 lb) $2.49 - chic...

This probably isn't going to surprise you all a ton, particularly given how much shopping I did last week. Have I ever, in the history of Saturday Spending, spent such a huge amount in one month, let alone one week, on groceries? I don't think I have, but perhaps y'all know better than I do. Anyway, I didn't even set foot in a grocery store this week. Next week I'm quite sure I will be spending some on food, since I'm nearly out of chick peas, and I very, very badly want to make kofta, garlic sauce, and perhaps some more pita. Well, hopefully this week, anyway. I'm a bit behind in my reading still for this semester (and today is GRE-taking day so that's about all that's on my mind), so it's possible I won't make it but still highly doubtful that I can ignore my cravings for another week. How was y'all's week in grocery land?