Dear All (Dear Luvd_Lioness in particular, since you always post here!), I did half of my monthly shopping at Cala/Ralphs/Kroger today (& at Rite-AId), & plan to go to Whole Foods tomorrow.  As of today, out of $199.31 initial balance, I have $141.06 remaining.

I only saved TEN CENTS on store sales, BUT I did better than usual on coupons, saving $12.10.

I bought 2 boxes of taco shells @ 99cents, a major savings from their usual price.  I bought eggs, Morningstar Farms soy sausage, lasagna noodles, whole wheat flour, MAPLE SYRUP (I have so much in Food Stamps that I decided to give in & treat myself), Tasters Choice coffee, 4 - 4 packs of individuAl servings of fruit (2 mandarin oranges & 2 cherry fruit salad), a jar of peaches, a can of corn, 2 jars of salsa, 3 shelf-stable jugs of grapefruit & 2 of natural apple juice, & a 6-pack of cherry diet soda.

At Rite-AId, I spent $2.58 on B1G1 cans of tuna (4 cans). It was aft er this that my $14 1.06 is left.

Until tomorrow, Yours in Him, Deb

Dear All, I went to Whole Foods & Rite-Aid today.  At Whole Foods (without coupons), I got 4 shelf-stable quarts of soymilk, 4 shelf-stable 12-oz packages of soft tofu, the same of extra-firm, 5 packages of pasta @ just 69 cents (a GREAT price here in San Francisco) -- I got 3 rainbow fusili & 2 linguine.  I also got soy parmesan "cheeze," 2 large lemons, dried basil, & a sourdough baguette (the last was a special treat; I could make sourdough starter, but would rather be lazy & pay someone else to do it -- Boo! to me).  For all of that, I spent $32.52.  That left $108.54 in my Food Stamps account.

I then went to Rite-Aid, & got 4 canisters of Sunsweet apricots @ $1.99, for a total of $7.96.  That leaves $100.58 in my Food Stamps account.

Yours in Him, Deb

Ran to Walmart to get things but kept striking out on everything except when it came to the food...

• Fruity Cheerios $1.88 (smaller box but it's a treat)
• 2 Gala apples for 58 cents
  
• 2 Old Orchard frozen Cranberry juice for $1.24 each
  
• Tropical fruit mix (dried) $4.98.... a staple!
• and a bag of 4 bananas 51 cents

Boy!  Luvd_Lioness, That ws a great price on the bananas!  Almost always, they sell for 79cents or higher here -- about 3x/year, Cala/Ralphs/Kroger puts them at the price of 33cents/lb.  I have now learned (from Michelle Brianschef) to let the extras get ripe, & then freeze them until needed.  (The peel turns out an unpleasant shade of black, but the insides are great for baking!)

I do hope that you can get by with only the $5 left until the 13th.  How much do you receive monthly in Food Stamps?  Yours in Him, Deb

Deborahmichelle:

How much do you receive monthly in Food Stamps? 

Same amount as you... $162/mo. I am now making up a list of things that I will need.  

Dear Luvd_Lioness, Do you hAve aNy space available where you live, that you could store extra food in?  That way, you could take better advantage of sales, it seems to me.  I know that food storage helps me a lot.  What do you think?  Or, wouldn't this make it any better for you?  Yours in Him, Deb

Deb,

I do buy extra that I freeze. My 5 cu ft freezer has become a BIG help! I know in May sometime that one store is going to have a huge meat sale again, so I am going to save up some food stamp money to buy extra. Right now it's lack of ambition and creativity (since I have limits) on what to do with the food I have. I limit my pantry selection so I can keep things fresh. I know this summer I will be finding ways to buy fresh produce at farmer's market and freezing that. 

Good for you, Luvd_Lioness!  Yours in HIm, Deb

Dear All, Every 8th week like clockwork, Rite-Aid puts on sale 15 packets of instant oatmeal (Mom's Best brand)for $1.99.  I buy 4 packages then, which lasts me 2 months.  So it was today.  I spent $7.96 on the oatmeal, & have left in Food Stamps $92.62.  Yours in Him, Deb 

PS  The one piece of housekeeping that I am avoiding but that I MUST start doing for myself is to cook regular oatmeal on teh stove, with raisins.  It tastes better, & it hsa more fiber.  I always used to let the AM aides cook it.  (I haven't had morning aides in nearly a year, so far as I can remember.)  My excuse is just that the residual mess is such a hassle to get out of the sink stopper.  Now that I've told you my secret wrong-doing, I am more motivated to cook the oatmeal from scratch, except on days when I have a morning appt (not enough time).

Yours in Him, Deb

Dear All, I went to CaLa/Ralphs/Kroger today, & saved $9.50 in club card dollars on teh purchase of hte following:

Thomas whole wheat bagels

Breyers Double Churned (1/2 the fat) ice cream

ice cream cones -- Luvd_Lioness has the great idea of filling a cone & not eating any more than that -- pure genius!

3 Granny Smith apples

2 packages of Light Life tofu large "hot dogs"

The cashier forgot to include my coupons in teh total, so $13.13 was taken out of my Food Stamps balance, leaving $79.49 in my Food Stamps EBT account.  Then I got in cash $4.38 for my coupons.  So my total outlay was actually $8.55 for a LOT of food! (The cashier himself realized that he had forgotten to subtract the coupons; it was nice of him, since I would not have seen it until I reviewed the CRT - which I always do befreo leaving a store.

Yours in Him, Deb