I honestly need to be a little bit more careful when I go grocery shopping. The past few times I’ve gone I’ve ended up buying so much food. You’d think I was preparing for some big approaching natural disaster. OK, so maybe that’s an exaggeration. If I think about it, the last time I went grocery shopping was right after Thanksgiving. Still, was there really any reason me to fill up two of those black PC bags and a green bin? Really.
Perhaps it’s because I’m still in that phase where I’m stocking up on basics. For example, there would be no reason for me to buy olive oil every time I go out, right? That was $5.99. Meat is pretty expensive, too. Luckily one tray of meat tends to last for a few days. I bought bacon and separated it into 3-strip packages prior to freezing it. I don’t eat that daily, so it’ll last for around 3 weeks. Have you tried to buy boxed fish lately? I got a box of High Liner fish fillets, and that cost me $11.49. That’s ridiculous! I think I recall that being cheaper in previous years. Or perhaps I’m thinking of the really oily fish cuts–those tend to be cheaper. Even if they’re cheaper, it doesn’t mean I want them. A few weeks ago I bought a box of English-style haddock fillets. I’m sure that was cheaper than this box. Thing is, holy crap, that fish was ridiculously oily. I had to blot the pieces prior to eating them. Even after that, I just didn’t feel great eating them. In that case, the extra cost is worth it.
I wonder how much this new healthy streak is affecting what I’m getting. Remember how I was talking about buying a lot of fresh fruit before? I got carried away this time as well. Maybe it’s for the best. Some of the fruit I bought last week went bad and I had to bin it. I told myself that next time I get fruit I better work hard to eat it all before it goes to waste. Well, with that much in the fridge, I better make sure to get in the recommended servings of fruits and veggies or else it’ll be like I’m just tossing cash to the wind. Part of the solution is knowing what spoils quickly, and to plan to eat all that as soon as possible.
So, OK. All things considered, I guess I don’t have that much useless stuff on the list. Everything is stashed properly and should hold long enough for me to get to it. It’s part of the price of independence, isn’t it?
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2 comments
Erin says:
Tue. October 27, 2009 at 6:16 pm (UTC -5 )
Trying to find the right balance of food buying for living on my own has been a huge learning curve for me. Food isn’t cheap, and things aren’t packed for single person meals!
Jay says:
Sun. November 1, 2009 at 8:28 pm (UTC -5 )
I’ve had to adjust the way I cook just to make things work. I don’t think it’s great to have to turn on the oven every night just to bake stuff. So, I’ve had to learn to bake/cook in bulk. It’s not so bad when you’ve got a good storage system. My fridge is full of containers of this and that.