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| $47.35 - $6.00 coupon = $41.35 @ Fresh & Easy + ... |
All you need do is step into a busy, clean, and well organized so-called ethnic market to get a sense of the very different attitudes certain other cultures have to food and cooking than we have here in the States. Lower prices on fresher meat and produce because of higher rates of turnover and generally higher rates of home cooking. And truthfully, it's not necessarily a more scientific- or health- based approach that drives the higher rates of home cooking. It's the numbers.
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| ...$67.66 @ the MexiMart = $109.01 TOTAL |
Even here in this predominantly military and working class town where the local economy should presumably be driven by a lot of lower income bracket families, it's almost painful to compare what it costs me to prepare a meal (the last time I averaged things out, it was an average of $1.33/serving) versus dining out (which is usually, at the very least $4 or $5 per serving - for crap FAST FOOD, mind you - and don't get me started on the quality of the food :| ).
But enough soapboxing for today.
PRODUCE: For green beans, blueberries, red cabbage, watermelon, bananas, oranges, white onions, jalapeños, ginger, red leaf lettuce, Roma and beefsteak tomatoes, chayote, garlic, cilantro, chiles de arbol, white squashes, habaneros, pomegranates, carrots, fresh garbanzos, limes, Persian cukes, green mangoes, avocados, and mint, I spent $34 or 30% of total.
MEAT: For tofu (I couldn't find a better place to categorize it), a package of honey ham, a package of turkey breast, a whole chicken, a whole catfish, a 5lb. pork shoulder, and some chicken livers, I paid $27 or 23% of total.
DAIRY: For a gallon of milk, 8 oz. of shredded mozzarella, 8 oz. of shredded Colby Jack, a large container of yogurt, and a tray of Oaxaca cheese, I paid $14 or 12% of total.
PANTRY: For peanut butter, corn starch, steel cut oats, a 10 lb. bag of Jasmine rice, Best Foods mayo (I have another brand which is also very good, but sometimes I get very specific cravings for Best Foods aka Hellman's), a package of nori, a bottle of Mezzetta pickled yellow chili peppers, and a packet of cumin, and a package of cavatappi pasta with which I plan to make Mads' mac n' cheese request (see pic), I paid $26 or 23% of total.
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| Mads' and my game of Hangman from the weekend... |
BREADS/CEREAL: For 4 croissants, I paid $1.50 or 1% of total.
INDULGENCES: For a tub of strawberry ice cream, a tub of vanilla ice cream, 8 chocolate chip cookies, 4 apple turnovers, 2 packages of those little yogurt drinks, and 1 box of chocolate cake mix, I spent $11 or 10% of total. Regarding the last two items, when the kids go shopping with me, I let them pick out $2 worth of food, whatever food it may be, which not only makes them highly thoughtful in their spending, but also generally keeps the extraneous grocery requests to a minimum.
As has been my M.O. of late, I really didn't have any particular dishes in mind while shopping, except for maybe the Vietnamese sweet and sour fish soup I ended up making with the catfish. I just went with what looked good.
And for good or bad, just about everything looks good these days. :P
shinae
P.S. Notwithstanding this post, I haven't shelved the idea of the low cost cooking classes. But given the current situation, I might just look into taking a more virtual approach.
P.P.S. As of this third shopping trip, I've spent $329.63 total, which leaves me with $70.37 for the last shopping week of this budget.
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