All in A Day: Grocery Shopping

My computer cord has a malfunction, so this week I haven’t been on the computer much at all. We have also been in revival this week (second week!) and I just haven’t had time to blog. I’ve had a few things rolling in my mind, so maybe I won’t lose them until I get a free minute to jot them down to you.

I did want to keep my word to participate in the All in A Day Series, but I’m afraid my post for today will not be as excited as others’. Grocery shopping, for me, is bi monthly. It is a time I really look forward to, because most of the time, my mom will keep my youngest kids for the day. I can relax and enjoy the day to myself (which is rare!). If they want to come, I let them, of course. Many times it will just be me and my oldest and we have a really nice time, just the two of us.

I, first of all, like to check out my favorite store, Dirt Cheap—especially if I have a little piano teaching money that I’ve put back—and see if there are any extra special bargains (like, 90% off) on decor items for my home. Usually, I will stay in there for an hour or so (last trip I got the boys a very nice Target blue wooden toybox, reg. $99 for $12) depending on how many children I have with me. The next stop will be the library. We love, love to go to the library. Our library has a nice children’s center complete with Dorothy the Fish, Veggie Tales puppets, computers, and even a puppet stage! I always have books on loan to pick up—books that I’ve been recommended by Amazon based on my interests (usually on farming, mothering, health issues, etc), that I’ve had the library to ‘order’ for me. I get the children anywhere from 10 to 15 books to take home until the next trip. The library is a blessing to us!

We may or may not pick up something from a restaurant to eat. If it is just me, I may pick up some healthy snack from the health food store that I usually stop at to get my Veganaise or my organic grits. If I have the kids with me, we will usually go to our favorite Mexican restaurant or if my son gets his way, Chinese. :)

My grocery store is Wal-Mart. We have other smaller scaled grocery stores, but Wal-Mart is the only one in town that carries a half-way decent selection of organics and whole foods. I usually order our beauty products from Vitacost (sorry no link, just google it….) or the health food store. That leaves me with only having to purchase our groceries, tissue paper, dog/cat food, etc.,, from there.

I usually have a $130 budget ($260 per month for a family of 6) to spend at Wal-mart and it can be challenging at times. I have found ways to cut our prices by making our own bread, not buying any processed foods, not buying juice (I buy a bag of organic lemons and make us ‘Honey-Lemon Water’, as my kids call it), and steering clear of any thing we can do without (things like popsicles, even organic juices and prepackaged mac & cheese).

My mom and dad supply us year-round (with the exception of about 4 months per year) with fresh, delicious goat milk and both my FIL and my dad have bee farms, so we get fresh, delicious honey from them. They both have chickens so we get fresh, delicious eggs from them as well. I am SO thankful for this blessing! All of those items are very expensive, especially if you get them fresh, organic, cage-free, etc., so I am so blessed in that area! That takes quite a load off of us, expense wise.

We also garden in the spring/summer and put up tomatoes, peas, corn, okra, and jams and jellies. I hope to delve into that more this year until I’m no longer a novice! :) We have deer meat and pork in our freezer as well. Fresh meat that hasn’t been tainted with hormones is a blessing! My parents grind their own deer meat into deer ‘burger’ so I have fresh hamburger meat a few months out of the year.

Just typing this out makes me realize just how blessed I am!

From a different perspective, my kids are pretty good if taken on our grocery shopping excursions. Sometimes my husband will come along with us and we will go to a larger city, about 50 miles away and make an evening of it. My kids take this as a real treat, because we usually take them to Pet-Co or Books-A-Million. Occasionally, we will take them to Chic-Fil-A to play and we enjoy some time ‘alone’ while we watch through the glass, the kids play.

That’s it for the grocery shopping. My biggest challenges with it is that we pretty much can’t get our school work done on those days and also the house pretty much has to stay ‘as is’ until the night. That is not cool for me, because I really dislike bringing groceries in to an already messy kitchen. :/

Feel free to link up through the comments. I’m going to try this linky thing, but if it doesn’t work and you want to share your grocery experience, feel free to type in your link in the comments!

I’m so excited to have a few new followers! Welcome! I will be by to visit you soon!

God bless your hearts! Here are the others who are participating:
Carrie @ Our Full House http://www.ourfullhouse.com/

Elizabeth @ Yes They http://yes-theyre-all-ours.blogspot.com/ 're All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of http://www.kathymomofmany.blogspot.com/

Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage http://www.homemakerscottage.org/

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama http://1happybusymama.blogspot.com/

Renee @ Bakers Dozen http://bakersdozen.typepad.com/