Dan At Northwoods Shopping Trip

Like Lisa, I also spent more time shopping than normal. It was kind of hard to pass by all the nice, expensive stuff I normally buy, but in a way, also liberating.

I did feel a little funny walking around with all the generic stuff in my basket. I mean, I don’t judge people on what they buy, but I did feel slightly self-conscious about people judging me.

Overall, I went with quick and easy things. I’m not one to do a lot of cooking and preparing. If I had to do this week in and week out, I know I would get tired of the lack of variety, but for this week I will be fine.

My grocery list:


The result of Dan's shopping trip
Nice to see those jars in tact!



- Half-gallon of 2% Milk – necessary for some recipes, also for cereal – $1.77
- Cereal (Cocoa Crunchies) – my breakfast and snacking material for the week – $3.39
- Ramen Noodles – in the bag – 2 x 0.19 – $0.38
- Ramen Noodle cup – $0.29
- Instant Mashed Potatoes – $2.49
- Can of gravy – on sale! – $0.99
- Pasta – there were cheaper options but I went with the whole wheat – on sale! – $1.25
- Pasta sauce – $1.37
- Wheat Bread – on sale! – $1
- Jelly – couldn’t afford the peanut butter to go with it – $2.88
- Baby spinach – for salad – a little more than I wanted to spend – $3.29

Total spent = $21.37
Leftover = $2.63

I wanted to leave a little bit of money for later in the week if I needed to buy something else. When I was unloading the bags out of my car, the handle on the bag with the two glass jars (of pasta sauce and jelly) broke and the life of my food for the week flashed before my eyes. Luckily, nothing was lost but it really put this in perspective. Had either jar broken, I would have been pretty screwed.