What started out as a summer project with my kids (who were here with me during the week when the line was less congested) to not only show them the value of recycling, but to teach them that they shouldn't be too proud to do something honest and decent, anything honest and decent, if need be, to earn money, if need be, has become a casualty of my good fortune - the luxury of deciding that 20 minutes of my time is better served writing this blog post than getting $2.50 back from the recycling center for a month's worth of recycling.
As I write this, I am kicking myself for not leaving my recyclables with one or more of the people who have decided, for any number of reasons, that it is good and/or necessary to stand in that line and get that refund, but I know there's a lady who combs through the neighborhood recyclables early on Friday mornings before the trash truck comes round. And I think I'll save them for her.
Why not let Waste Management take them if they're all just going to get recycled in the end? Because I'm pretty sure the bigwigs over at Waste Management make shitloads of money with all their government contracts and such and don't have to even think about waking up at the buttcrack of dawn to dig through other peoples' trash to scrounge up a few dollars.
On a separate note, the Man took the day off from work today and had the pleasure of watching me do the kitchen towel salad spinner thing on the spinach that ended up in our omelettes today, which really is a very small and efficient motion that looks more like the Hooker Purse Twirl than anything else. When I walked back into the house, he said "So THAT'S what it looks like. When I read that post, I thought it looked more like THIS." <wildly cranking his entire arm so it looks like a giant ferris wheel in very fast motion>
It made me laugh to the point of tears to think that I might have inspired anyone to walk outside in plain view of their neighbors and do that, all the while getting water splashed on their faces.
Remember folks: it's all in the wrist. Just like a hooker twirling her purse.
And on to the take...
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| $35.74 spent at Fresh & Easy... |
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| $40.30 spent at Earthgrown. |
As I said before, it's an unusual couple of weeks around here between helping my parents to move and attending weddings two weekends in a row. So between having the kids hang out with their grandparents two Friday nights in a row, and then eating dinner at weddings two nights out of two weeks, we've spent a little less on and of our groceries than we normally would.
This week, between Fresh & Easy and Earthgrown, I spent $79.08 as follows.
PRODUCE: For avocados, cantaloupe, broccoli, green cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, Fuji apples, collard greens, cilantro, Bartlett pears, Crimini mushrooms, cucumbers, red leaf lettuce, jalapenos, green onions, Roma tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, garlic, white onions and mung bean sprouts, I spent $27, about 34% of the total.
MEAT: For a pound of salmon, a pack of chicken drumsticks, and a pound of bacon, I spent $14.00, about 18% of the total.
DAIRY: For a gallon of milk, a pound of unsalted butter, a small block of cream cheese, a small block of mild cheddar, 18 large eggs, and a 32 oz. container of yogurt, I spent $18.00, about 22% of the total.
PANTRY: For a large can of whole tomatoes, a pack of yakisoba (yahkkeesohbah) noodles, half a pound of brown sugar, a packet of curry powder, 3 whole nutmegs, a pack of granulated onion, and 4 packages of Sapporo Ichiban ramen, I spent $9.00, about 12% of total.
GRAINS: For a 6 pack of plain bagels on clearance, I spent $0.70, about 1% of total.
INDULGENCES: For 1 brownie mix, a box of Fresh & Easy Oreo-type cookies, and a bottle of cheap, CHEAP rose (rohZAY), I spent $6.00, abut 8% of total.
MISC: For a bottle of Suave men's body wash (which is less than half than the bottle of AXE that we would normally buy, and, as it turns out, quite effective, so we'll probably stick with it) and a box of gallon freezer bags, I spent $5.00, about 6% of total.
What I've got in mind so far...
- a Tandoori chicken dinner using those drumsticks along with an aloo gobi using this week's cauliflower and a couple of the white rose potatoes left from last week
- Gala apple and cheddar cheese snacks
- a pan-seared salmon with homemade tartar sauce and a cucumber, tomato and red onion salad of some sort
- a pernil (pehrNEEL), which is just Spanish for pork roast, using that bone-in, skin on picnic shoulder I bought last week, marinated in some citrus garlic concoction (I still have a lot of citrus left over from the past couple of weeks), along with some collard greens and, if they're ripe enough by then, also the platanos (PLAHtahnohss) or plaintains I bought last week
- If I buy fish sauce and shrimp at the Vietnamese market in OC as planned, then I'll probably use some of that shrimp, some rice noodles bought months ago, some cilantro, sprouts, green onion and egg to make pahd thai as well. That grocery trip will probably cost us an extra $10.00, bringing this week's grocery total to just under $90.00, but I'm not sure that I will. I may just end up making a chicken pad thai. We'll see.
Back later with the meals,
shinae
It's so fun reading about your shopping day! I always sneak a look at what others are buying at the grocery store in the check out line;-). is that a giant freezer that you take the pic on?
ReplyDeleteYup! That's our chest freezer, where we store all of our homebrew and also where I do most of my mise and picture taking. :)
ReplyDelete