Grocery Shopping

This happens to be a cake that was at our Easter dinner last year, but I thought I'd post it for today's topic. Now moving on to today's pressing topic....grocery shopping. I grocery shop different than anyone I know. I go to the meat market, farm market, a discount store Marc's or Aldi's I rotate these two stores each payday, and Walmart if anything else is needed. I have reached the point that everything I froze from the garden this summer is gone (mental note bigger garden next year). My children's appetites are bigger now than ever before. My kids refuse to buy the school hot lunch everyday, but Brandon is wanting to start buying the hot breakfast they serve at school or Mom can whip him up one before school. They do prefer a homemade meal over fast food, but if it is not provided exactly when they want it they will start to devour my kitchen. Brian's run is currently at a dorm for overnight stay instead of a hotel so he packs a huge huge lunch type cooler for the road. All this being said it has led to a bigger grocery bill. I have tried and tried to cut the corners I can. Brandon refusing to eat red meat still has made some meals impossible pasta is also off his picky eaters list and always has been. Brandon lives off of vegetables so I can't cut back at the farm market. I have been able to buy enough meat for the month under $100 by buying half cuts of pork. Watching sales and buying some items in bulk has helped a lot in the over all grocery crunch. A gallon of milk is over $3, and as I've noticed this weekend a dozen eggs is almost $2 (organic $3). We grocery shop as an entire family, and teach the kids some buying tricks and how to deter some from impulse buying (I hope this may one day help them, but who ever knows). Brian and Maddie always carry the groceries in, and Bub and me put all the groceries away. As Maddie carried some bags in yesterday she dropped the eggs....I cried....Bub threw up....and Brian told me to 'get it together' (a phrase Wendy uses all the time). I apologized to the family, and tried to analyze myself. Sometimes when you try so hard something as simple as a broken egg carton, spilled milk, or the mayo being left out over night will send a person to the edge. Sometimes a good deep breath is enough to be able to pull yourself together. Pooh has been giving me this advice for some time, but only recently have I actually been using it.