Food plan 092709

Here's another week -- 2 in a row -- where I don't have a plan.

This time though, I have an excuse.  My nephew was over all weekend and I didn't have time Sunday to do as I usually do: make the weekly plan and shop for it.  I know parents all over manage to complete this task even while keeping the kid(s) entertained and behaved, but since I don't exercise that muscle regularly, it would mean sticking Kane in the closet for 2 hours while I browsed recipes.  I can't fake "seeking" for that long! So kick me in the face and call me crazy, but I seriously prefer spending time with Kane and visiting with his DaddyO than figure out what I want to eat.  

All week long I did hopeful searches through Google, my limited number of cookbooks and Cooking Pleasures in order to find stuff to make on the fly and then going to multiple stores to get the goods. Maybe my blog should be called "Sometimes Cheap But Not Always Fast Renegade Cooking On The Fly" since that is how I seem to end up operating.

As you all now know, I post-date my posts. It's a shame, but I do. Looking back through my receipts, this is what I bought for this week and the number of stops I made each day:

9-27 (2 stops, the first at 7-11 for breakfast eggs and the second for CA roll fixin's on the way home)

• eggs: $2.99/dozen
• radish kimchi: $1.99
• seasoned kimchi: $3.99
• imitation crab meat: $2.99
• sushi white shrimp: $5.49
• cucumber: $0.79
• roasted seaweed: $1.49
• TOTAL: $19.73

9-28 (1 stop to get eggs.  Hey, my nephew was over and we ate almost all of them so needed more, for baking.  Ok, really it's because I feel naked without eggs in the fridge):

• eggs: $1.59/18
• flour: $2.69/5 lb
• linguine: 2 @ $0.99/lb
• elbow macaroni: $4.79/5 lb
• salt: $0.50/lb
• sugar: $1.99/4 lb
• TOTAL: $13.54

9-29 (2 stops, one to get chickens and the other to get worm bins and neato other stuff, like Peri Peri sauce I'd never seen before)

• Swiss cheese, sliced: $3/12 oz
• oats: $2.49/42 oz aka 2 lb 10 oz
• sourdough bread: $3.49
• whole chicken: @ $0.59/lb = $3.11
• whole chicken: @ $0.59/lb = $3.20
• whole chicken: @ $0.59/lb = $2.97
• whole chicken: @ $0.59/lb = $3.09
• Stove-Top, chicken flavor: $1
• La Victoria, red taco sauce, medium hot, 2 =$2
• Nando, peri-peri sauce, 4.7 oz: $1
• TOTAL: $25.35

10-3 (1 stop at Costco for stuff we manage to plow through)

• albacore tuna, $11.99/8 7-oz cans
• salsa: $5.89
• organic garlic, minced: $3.49
• tortillas, 8": $3.25
• chocolate chips: $8.99
• tortilla chips: $3.29
• TOTAL: $36.90

Grand Total: $95.52.

I wonder how much my bill for groceries would be if I didn't make 6 trips. And that grand total didn't include the cost of my time, fuel, etc. to get to each store each time.

What sucks even more is that I didn't bring lunch to work this entire week, so that's another $25-50, which I haven't been calculating into the grocery/food bill thus far, though I should have been.

Ultimately, I need to be better. Period.