Archive for November 5, 2008

Grocery list for the week

November 5, 2008 at 4:17 am · Filed under Grocery List

What can you buy with $21? Not much

  • 1 doz eggs – $1.79
  • 15.5 oz. can chick peas – $0.69
  • 1 lb bag of carrots – $1.19
  • 1/2 onion – $0.50
  • 1 lb bag of frozen sweet corn – $1.00 on sale
  • 3 lb bag of 12 small empire apples – $3.99
  • 12 oz of peanut butter (an 18 oz. jar of peanut butter is $1.50) – $1.00
  • 15.5 oz jar of reduced sugar strawberry preserves (26 tbsp) – $2.50 on sale
  • 13.25 oz box of dry whole grain rotini pasta – $1.25
  • 1 26 oz. jar of pasta sauce – $2.50
  • 1/2 of 42 oz can of oatmeal ($2.50 on sale) – $1.25 for 7.5 cups
  • 1 loaf multigrain bread – $2.99 on sale
  • 1/4 of 32 oz bag of brown sugar ($1.39 on sale) – $0.35 for ~18 tbsp

Total: $21.00

A few notes

  • It’s 12 oz. of peanut butter because I have 16 little 0.75 oz tubs of peanut butter in my cupboard that was band breakfast leftovers.
  • It’s 1/2 an onion because I already had it in my fridge, and I didn’t want it to go to waste. I picked out a similarly sized onion at the grocery store and weighed it (2/3 pound at $1.49/lb) to guesstimate how much my half onion would cost.
  • I had a can of tuna on this list $1.29 but had to take it off when I realized it put me over. It’s sad when you can no longer afford tuna.
  • I agonized over my $2.50 jar of strawberry preserves. I could’ve bought a 32 oz. jar of grape jelly for $1.50 and only counted half of it, which would’ve been $0.75. And it would’ve let me keep the tuna. But the first ingredient in the grape jelly was grape juice. The second ingredient was high fructose corn syrup. And I don’t even like grape jelly.
  • I also agonized over buying the apples. Bananas were $0.64/lb, which was about half the cost of the apples by weight. But apples have a higher water content, so I thought they’d be more filling, and they’re less likely to go bad by the end of the week.
  • I couldn’t afford milk because I chose to buy fresh fruit. I’m still nervous about my decision to buy fresh fruit. Should I have bought a staple, like rice, instead?
  • I couldn’t afford meat, period.
  • While the Congressional Challenge allowed for spices and condiments, I chose to count my brown sugar. I will give myself a pass on salt and pepper for everyday, cinnamon for my oatmeal, and cumin and red pepper for the chickpeas and onion.
  • Hitting $21 exactly was a happy coincidence. Yay!

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