100 DOLLARS A WEEK - PROLOGUE III

One day away from the beginning of my monthlong food budget diary blogapalooza, I think I should share some demographic information to put things into perspective.

I live in Oceanside, in coastal North San Diego County. To the north of us is that place where I used to live that some people like to call *The OC*. South of us are posher coastal communities like Del Mar (known for its racetrack among other things) and Encinitas, which is a hippie-chic beachtown that reminds me somewhat of Laguna Beach. Encinitas is the kind of town that has a Whole Foods, if that gives you a better idea. If there's an ethnic enclave here, it's probably Mexican. Marines and their families do not an ethnic enclave make, but as Camp Pendleton is directly north of us, we do have a military contingent here as well.

What I did with one of those ribeyes and a bunch of
that veg I was talking about yesterday...

What that means is that, notwithstanding the fact that our city is on the water, and there are some wealthy people who own homes directly overlooking it, this is a primarily middle/ working class neighborhood. If that doesn't suit boozhie folk too well, it serves us pretty well by driving down the food costs because our community simply will not sustain a high price point for groceries.

While there is a Trader Joe's in the city directly south of us, I've rarely had a need to shop there because we're fortunate to live in a spot where we are literally no more than a 5 minute drive from a locally owned and operated health conscious grocery, two Meximarts, a Fresh & Easy which has become my favorite convenience store, and a big box chain called Ralph's (or Kroger depending on where you are). Of all my options, I shop the big box the least.

A perennial low-cost, healthy favorite around here...

If I could blink and make one thing appear in this neighborhood, it would be a solid Asian market like 99 Ranch (and there is one about 40 minutes south of us), but while it's nice to have the selection of fresh seafood and some of the specialty produce you can find there, I've mostly been able to make do by shopping the Asian aisle of the groceries available to me for the Asian condiments I need. Every once in a while, when I find myself back up in OC, I make a run to Shun Fat or H-Mart to stock up on things like fish sauce, rice paper, vermicelli, pho noodles, gochoojahng, and dwenjahng. But Cost Plus (or World Market as you might know it) has a surprisingly decent selection of ethnic pantry items when you're in a pinch.

Vietnamese Street Tacos made with this braised pork recipe -
makes a little pig go a loooong way.

To give you a baseline reference, here's what I pay regularly for a few staples:

- whole chicken:  $1.50 per pound

- gallon of milk:  $3.50

- a dozen AA large eggs:  $2.00

- a loaf of Italian bread:  $2.00

- carrots and onions: about $0.75 per pound

- gas:  $4.00 a gallon - gimme a frickin break... (It's a good thing we got rid of the gasmunching 6 cylinder coupe and now share a 10 year old veedub)

And another thing before I heat up my leftover soup for lunch (I've been up since 5) - while I love me some good coffee (I especially like Lavazza and any decent tropical climate coffee), I drink cheap crap like Folgers and Yuban in the every day (which costs me about $10/month), and I have to be in a bad caffeine withdrawal sort of way to pay $2.00 for a cup of drip anywhere anymore.

Off to eat and contemplate some more whether I'm going to start dyeing my hair when these grays are visible from five feet away...

shinae

P.S. The Man has just advised me that I use the word *notwithstanding* a lot. It is a character defect acquired from years of reviewing contracts and corresponding daily with lawyerly types. I'll try to do better next time. In the meantime, I am deeply apologetic.