Amy Dixon – thanks for the recommendation on “Modern Refugee”
Today we finally made the trip to the Amish discount grocery store. Some of the things were nearly the same as the regular grocery store, especially in the bulk section, but I still got some good buys there.
The real finds were 22 pounds of assorted beans for $13.20 (These were actually sold as soup mixes, which included the seasoning and recipes, but I’m ignoring those because they all have MSG in them. Buying beans in bags at the grocery store or even in bulk would be at least twice as expensive). We also found close -to-expiration avocado mayo for $1 per 24 oz. jar, pint jars of really nice salsa’s (including organic) for $1 apiece, and cans of serrano peppers (11 oz, 25 cents) and cactus pads (good for diabetes, thins your blood, 28 oz, 50 cents a piece). There were also some big boxes full of over-the-counter meds and vitamins. We got Cold-Eaze for $1 and some Alka-Seltzer flu and cold for $1.
We were very pleased. I also went to the regular grocery store and got some staples we need for the month like nut butters and few other things. We are hoping that the only things we need to run to the store for after tomorrow is marked-down produce (we still have to find out when the different stores do this). Tomorrow I will visit a local “healthy” store and an ethnic store for a few more items – and then we will try to say “that’s it” for the month (except for the produce here and there).
So far we have spent $269 for the month, for 3 adults, 2 of them with special food requirements. We hope to keep it down to $350 for the month.
Today, I also cleaned out the freezer and reorganized it, throwing out stuff that was no longer any good, and also started a batch of fruit scrap vinegar from frozen apple pieces I found in the freezer (recipe here: https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/make-fruit-vinegar/).