Grocery Shopping Trip - oh boy

Today I took the boys with me to the store to get the groceries needed for this pay period's menu. I had my list (which will appear in the next post) and was ready to go. One of my tricks is to order the list the way the store is organized. Most of the stores that I shop in have produce, meat, pantry items, frozen food, dairy, and bread. So, that is how I do it. You can organize your list the way your store is and it helps when you have children in tow. I had several pantry items for the menu so my list wasn't as long as it may be for other folks. I will also list my pantry items in the next post so anyone else using this menu can add the pantry items to the grocery list if they don't have them in their personal stockpile.

I explained what I was doing to the guy at the check-out counter and he was impressed. I was impressed that my bill totalled $201.85. I hope that I can feed the brood for just over $100 per week. That would be remarkable. I guess now is as good a time as any to mention my "bargain" shopping. I love BJ's Wholesale, Aldi, and other discount, big box places. I cannot go to these stores for every shopping trip, though. Aldi doesn't carry grits (an important staple in our house) and BJ's doesn't have everything on my list in the sizes that I need. Both of my children are fighting head colds and I couldn't bring myself to go all over town to do my bargain shopping today. In the future, I may do that. Sometimes, though, I will get it all at one store (a grocery store) and call it a day. I may also try shopping online and having it delivered. I have done this in the past and loved it. Today, I shopped at Food Lion and they didn't have basil or bean sprouts. So, I will use dried basil or skip it altogether in my recipes for the next two weeks and I substituted the bean sprouts for the chicken fried rice with some broccoli slaw mix. It will give the nice fresh crunch that the bean sprouts would have brought to the dish. Otherwise, I did okay with my list. The cart was absolutely overflowing and now we are ALL STOCKED UP!

In addition to the menu, my son turns 4 on Thursday and I had to pick up supplies to make cupcakes for his class and will have to go back to the store to pick up a birthday cake from the bakery but I am not counting that as a shopping trip...my project, my rules :)