Last week's shopping

Total for the week - $191, including school lunch stuff and some extra stuff we canned and froze


Two things I'm proud of this week that help offset the ghastly amount we spent on prepared food like quiche - the grapes and the tomatoes.  The grapes I found at a roadside stand a few doors down from Fitch's Farm Market, and the guy was selling two-pound bags for a dollar a piece.  Whoa - you can't even beat that at the grocery store for stuff that was shipped halfway across the world!  And the tomatoes came from Miss Dorothy, the retired lady who has a farm stand along a busy road near our neighborhood.  Her prices on produce are a little high, but it's really convenient, and she reminds me of my grandmother, so we try to throw some business her way.  She's got VERY reasonable prices on what she considers "seconds," fruit and veggies that aren't up to her very high standards.  We bought two of those two-quart produce boxes heaped full of somewhat cracked and spotted tomatoes for $5, and I spent all day Sunday canning them for this winter.  I need to get some extra jars so I can do that again before she runs out of squishy-but-cheap fruit!



CSA Contents (approximate value $25):
4 pounds heirloom roma tomatoes
2 balls frozen pizza dough
1 sweet Walla Walla white onion
1 green pepper
1 pint of baby bell peppers
1 pint of mixed grape tomatoes
1 pound of Berkshire pork sausage
1 yellow doll watermelon

Farmers' Market purchases (total - about $36):
Onions, $3
local dried kidney beans, $2.75
Giant bunch of basil, $5
Mac and cheese pub pie,$3
2 heads of garlic, $3
peaches, $5
ham steak, $5
ground beef, $4.50
seedless grapes, $5/quart

Trader Joe's purchases (total - $41):
organic milk, $3.69
organic fair trade cocoa, $4.99
organic raw almonds, $2.49
organic salted cashews, $5.99
organic mini cheese crackers, $2.49
organic flour tortilla, $1.99
organic tomato sauce, $1.39
organic string cheese, $4.99
organic shredded mozzarella (2pk) $7.98
conventional chocolate covered pretzels, $3.29

Heinen's purchases (total - $40):
conventional Nutella, $6.49
conventional pine nuts, $8.99 (gasp)
local sugar, $2.99
local Parmesan cheese, $3.29
local grass-fed milk, $3.59
organic string cheese, $4.29
store-made veggie sushi assortment, $5.99
plastic storage containers, $3.49
straws, $1.59

Additional purchases (total - $49):
2 quiches, $24
4 pounds seedless grapes, $2 (steal!)
3 quarts U-pick raspberries, $18.25
A whole mess of tomatoes, $5