Saturday, January 14, 2012

A #Lowcarb Shopping Trip

Stop me if I've already told you this...but we get down to Saginaw every so often (at least once a month lately), and there is an Aldi's there. Well, 2 of them, but we drive right past one of them...anyway, as a rule their dairy, some of their frozen foods, and snack foods (for hubby and grandson), canned goods, coffee, spices are cheaper than I can get here in Houghton Lake. So I've started doing more shopping there and less here.

Yesterday I spent $50.06. Here is the breakdown:
(2) 1# butter @ $2.29 ea.
(2) 15 oz. ricotta @ $1.69 ea.
(1) qt. Mayonaisse @ 2.19
(1) 1# ground premium sausage @ $2.69
(4) qt. Half'n'half @ $1.79 ea.
(1) 11.3 oz can decaf coffee @ $2.79
(2) 16 oz. shredded cheese @ $2.99 ea
(1) 16 oz. sour cream @ $1.29
(2) cans chicken broth @ $0.59 ea.
(2) cans tomato sauce @ $0.29 ea.
(1) 16 slice American cheese @ $1.99
(1) 16 slice Swiss cheese @ $0.99
(4) frozen pizzas @ $1.99 ea.

The rest is the snack foods, such as oyster crackers and peanut butter/cheese cracker sandwiches that my grandson loves, and some "veggie chips" for my husband.

Then we went to GFS, as I needed some big bags of vegetables for a dish I needed to prepare for a large group after a memorial service today. I spent $14.00, used about $6.00 worth for the dish, and got extra for our own use.

Today I stopped in at Merchandise Mart and found Bob's Red Mill low carb bread mix for $1.99. Each package makes a 2# loaf, and will probably cost nearly $3 per loaf after adding in the cream, egg, etc., but it's better than buying "light" bread for $2.99 and not knowing what most of the ingredients are. (I don't know when I'll have enough $ for a netrition order to get more flours for making my own Lovely Loaf.) They also had a variety of "whole grain" chips for $0.25 per bag - big bags, not single servings - that will give me something to put in baggies in hubby's lunches at night. The other bargain was unsweetened organic coconut for $1.29; I bought 2 packages but it's such a great deal that I will probably go back tomorrow and get the rest. (We bought suet cakes for the feeder, a 2012 planner, and some other non-edible stuff as well.) Value of the food items about $13.60.

Total spent is around $72.00 for food this week; added to roughly $41 last week, and we're at $113 so far this month. Still need to buy meats...but no rush, we probably have enough to last another week or 2...

4 comments:

  1. Is half and half better than using heavy whipping cream? I notice you have that instead of HWC--can half and half be substituted in recipes as well as the HWC? I see that half and half is much cheaper! trying to figure out the best and cheapest way here too--thanks so much

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    1. Heavy whipping cream is less carby - MUCH less - so I use it in recipes when I have it...which is determined by if I could afford it that week :). We like half'n'half in our coffee better, so we always have a lot in the house. For a while we used heavy cream and diluted it with water (50/50), but (a) we drink a LOT of coffee so it was still expensive, and (b) we often pour coffee, get busy, and come back to a lukewarm cup...the fat in the cream congeals on top of the coffee, and is kind of gross to drink :/. So it's a choice to have more carbs to avoid that messy scenario. But I use heavy cream in recipes whenever possible - budget-wise, and taste-wise - for the increased fat and for the carb savings. In most cases I have found them to be interchangeable, although sometimes it is best to thin the HWC with water in some recipes calling for "milk". (And to further muddy the waters, when I find canned coconut milk on sale, I prefer to use that in many things as well.)

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    2. thanks so much for the info--truly appreciated--I continue to learn so much!!

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    3. You're welcome - and so do I :),

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