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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Yet Another Eating from the Pantry Report

It's so much fun to stock my pantry with wonderful food that I sometimes--okay, often--get overloaded. Why is it so much more fun to acquire than to eat? I do not have the answer.

I decided to do this after my children went back to school. Then I discovered that hundreds of bloggers are doing the same. So it seems to be some seasonal rhythm at work.

The only hitch in my plan is that I started today rather than yesterday. That's because our Sam's Club membership is expiring, so we went to Sam's on the way back from dropping Frugal Son off at the airport. We mostly stocked up on feta cheese, which is 1/3 the price of the grocery model. Somehow, we spent about $100.00 on food, which is why we don't really like warehouse clubs. We declined their offer of membership renewal for $10.00 off. I'm always disappointed by their prices--except on feta and parmesan cheese and smoked salmon.

So my goal is to spend around $25.00 a week on food for at least a month.

How's your pantry?

Last night's dinner: giant stuffed baked potatoes with a nice salad.

Boring to you probably, bliss to us.

5 comments:

Shelley said...

Mmmm. I love feta cheese and smoked salmon. Would it be cheating if you did something as a cooperative with your club card, i.e., let others share the membership and buy for distribution? They probably have something against that in the contract. I've never belonged to a store like that. Everything I've heard about them is that they mainly stock 'convenience' food, and I'm not interested. Your stuffed potatoes sound great to me.

In fact, I've saved myself a huge amount of money by just asking myself, "Exactly who am I trying to impress? Why do I need to impress them?" (It should be 'whom', shouldn't it, but I don't say 'whom' to myself.)

Sometimes, like at work, I would feel the need and would continue, but mostly not.

Frugal Scholar said...

@Shelley--I like sharing and all, but most people around here think it's weird--even politically suspect! I did have a sharing friend but she moved away several years ago. She was a fine frugal friend. Such are few and far between--hence the blog.

Duchesse said...

What were they stuffed with?

Our sons are about to leave the nest and I'll be interested to see what our a deux food will cost.

Funny about Money said...

One of the Sam's Club outlets here is closing! Apparently the chain is not doing so well in the Southwest, which is too bad.

The Costco frenzy that ensued after I bought the freezer kept my pantry stocked for...well, months! It's only just beginning to run low. Buying a lot of food upfront has really cut the month-to-month grocery bills, but it's probably a form of robbing Peter to pay Paul: one way or another, the money is going out of the house.

I like to stock the pantry & freezer with Costco's lifetime supplies of canned pink salmon, which serves nicely to feed me as well as to add some variety to the dog's diet. Canned tomatoes. Dried pasta. Costco's gigantic canister of crumbled feta cheese. Meat purchased on sale hither & thither. Costco fresh veggies blanched and frozen. Bags of flour and cornmeal stored in the freezer. The occasional case of Corona, which Costco sells at a significant discount over any other retailer in town.

Last night's dinner: Costco asparagus al dente, served over baby red romaine from the garden and topped with feta cheese and vinaigrette.

What were the potatoes stuffed with?

Frugal Scholar said...

@Duchesse==Since my children have been away, I've discovered that it's not so much that my expenses have gone down, but that I cook and buy too much food. I have to force myself to cook in smaller quantities. When my son comes home, I tell him what he needs to eat up!

@Funny==Wow! That sounds very elegant.

@Duchesse and Funny--Potatoes were inelegant, I'm afraid. Stuffed with butter, sour cream and cheddar. Topped with scallions. My favorite foods.