Food Costs Money

No kidding, right?

And money lately has been something that we just don't have much of.

I try to shop sales for meat and dairy, cheap staples, and produce. Coupons are useful to a certain extent, for things like cold cereal, dairy, and other items when they are needed. I am no longer coupon shopping with idea of stockpiling. I need to focus on getting us through each pay period with a meal plan.

Right now I shop at various stores, depending on sales or what I need. I live in Chinatown, so I have a very large assortment of Asian groceries, as well as Wal-Mart, HEB, Food Town, Fiesta. I also try (key word, here) to go out to the community garden to pick veggies when I can. Unfortunately it's a bit of a drive for me, so not always easy to get out there. I plan to go this evening, though, so I will report back on that.

Today I have shopped at Food Town, the loss leader bringing me in was mainly boneless skinless breast tenders for $1.77. We eat a lot of boneless skinless breast around here.

One thing I would really love would be a small chest freezer that I could put in my bedroom closet. A sale on chicken like that is worth buying extra for the future, I think.

I also bought dried beans, in more varieties than usual. I am a fan of canned beans for convenience, but I am going to try using dried for chickpeas & black beans, as we go through a lot of those, and it is much less expensive to use dry. If I'm doing a meal plan ahead of time, then it should be easy to plan for cooking time on the dried beans.

I am hoping my blog writing gets into an easier flow, and that over time my blog will become more fun to read! :)