NoLoBuMo - Week 2

Grocery Shopping!

I'm starting to realize how unbelievable it is that we have not only one, but TWO locally-owned grocery stores. The store I hit last night is a chain - a chain of seven stores in the nearby counties. And that fits my criteria as "local."

I haven't been to this store much lately, but I was under the impression that it was too expensive. Let's see what I actually found out, compared to the same items I bought at Wal-Mart:

• 0.57 more for a gallon of milk (and I was able to buy more locally - as in from North Dakota rather than Illinois. Choosing the more local option may be what I end up doing, as I haven't actually found local resources for things, though help on this would be much appreciated!)
• 0.42 more for ground beef (0.39 more than the local source I found last week)
• 0.23 more for waffles
• 0.29 less for apples
• 0.59 less for grapefruit
• 0.51 more for pasta sauce
• 0.15 more for tomato soup
• 0.27 more for baked beans
• 0.49 less for diapers, maybe? I'm not sure exactly on the cost per diaper comparison, but I was pleasantly surprised to find affordable diapers. Of course, I do have cloth diapers we could also use.

Overall, I spent 21 cents more to shop at the "expensive" store versus Wal-Mart. Overall, $2.57 cheaper than the "cheap" local store.

PLUS, really, truly, you cannot underestimate the customer satisfaction derived from the child-sized shopping card that kept my little one busy and happy for an entire hour. I was very impressed.

And, if anyone is interested, here is my dinner menu this week:

• Lasagna and lettuce salad (I usually make the kids corn noodles and cheese with sauce and cottage cheese for dipping)
• Macaroni and cheese and baked beans (again, corn noodles for the kids)
• Porcupine meatballs (recipe to come, if it turns out), green beans, bread
• Ring bologna, baked beans, cream corn
• Waffles and fruit salad
• Breakfast biscuits (probably just ham/egg sandwiches for the kids)

You may notice that we often have at least two meatless meals per week, and we often have two breakfast-for-dinner meals per week, which helps to keep costs down.