Lessons in the aisle

By Stanford A. Griffith

Usually, I love grocery shopping. In fact, I do it nearly every day. There’s something about going to the market, seeing what’s fresh, and then taking it home for dinner. If I get within 30 miles of a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods Market, I hear the Sirens’ call and have to go shopping.

My food passion is ingrained. I grew up with a very Southern family. Everything we did involved food in some way. We caught catfish, perch, and crappie for dinner, baked elaborate layer cakes for 20-plus-member family dinners, and snacked on all kinds of homemade treats during countless rounds of Spades. That tied food to my soul. Food is more than just something to eat for me; it’s a warm comfort wrapped in treasured memories.For the SNAP challenge, however, my trip wasn’t as pleasant. I couldn’t browse through the aisles, picking up whatever looked delicious to me. Instead, I had to start counting pennies as my $28 for the week was quickly gobbled up.I learned some lessons, though.

Food means more when you don’t have much to eat. I try my best not to waste much food, but I just don’t do well with leftovers. Because I’m oh-so-aware of how much this week’s food cost, I’m becoming a little obsessive with watching how much I eat and how careful I am to reseal every package and put it back in the fridge before it spoils. (Yes, I know food’s not going to go bad in seconds, but I bet I measured out two cups of milk and had the jug back in the cold in less than 30 seconds.) When funds and food are tight, I really watch it but am trying to calm down and realize it will be just barely enough. (I counted baby carrots the other night just to be sure!)

Name brands can be less expensive than store brands. Hy-Vee had both name brand and store brand items on sale. I expected, though, that I’d still need to buy the store brands. Surprisingly, however, the name brands were up to a $1 less! Of course, this applied only to those sale items, but it was a good find.

Breaking down the cost per week worked better than per day or per item. At first, I got trapped in the cost-per-item worry. That progressed to the cost-per-day worry. A larger recipe can be less expensive to make, but I’m single. So, it just wasn’t clicking for me. I stopped my shopping, found a deserted aisle, and called someone who could help me figure it out — my mom. She wisely pointed out that if a dish costs $6 to make but yields four portions, it’s only a $1.25 per meal. With that in mind, I was able to feel a little more empowered. That led me to look for semi-homemade ways of eating; i.e., some prepackaged meals plus a protein or other fresh ingredients. I still feel incredibly restricted, though.

Just because it’s high in sodium doesn’t mean it tastes like it has salt. I’ll admit that some of my choices weren’t the healthiest of options. To be honest, I was looking more at nickels than nutrition by that point. So, I picked up Hamburger Helper and Tuna Helper simply because it was pasta and seasoning all in one for 88 cents. (I did at least compare the nutrition of different flavors.) Neither could be considered a lower sodium option, yet the flavor of the Hamburger Helper honestly tasted like it had no salt at all, very flat. If I had the money, I could have made my own that tasted much better and was better for me, but it would have cost too much. I haven’t tried the Tuna Helper yet, but I’ll update this post when I have.

Dollar Tree (and Deals if you’re outside of Columbia) carries a lot of food. I probably should have shopped at ALDI to best conserve my money, but I picked Hy-Vee because I live within walking distance. I also live within walking distance of Dollar Tree. They carry a considerable amount of food.  I had already purchased most of my items at Hy-Vee, but I was able to still get some good deals, as noted below. They have frozen veggies, crackers, cake mixes, tuna, cheese, milk, pickles, lunch meats, tea, and a lot more for just a $1 each. Many of the items were the same brands I had already purchased for more money. (And their sweet pickles, I know from experience, are excellent.)Here’s my breakdown of what I bought:

Milk (1 quart of plain old cow juice) $2.49

Frozen Mixed Veggies (Dollar Tree) $2.00

Frozen Pizza $2.50

Hamburger Helper $0.88

Ground Sirloin (1 pound) $5.19

Tuna Helper $0.88

Canned Tuna (1 but I needed two for the Helper) $0.77

Shells and Cheese $1.89

Cheddar Cheese Block $2.50

Baby Carrots $1.89

Asparagus (1/2 pound) $1

Huge pork chop (1) $2.00

Coke (20 FL ounces and a required splurge) $1.25

Saltine Crackers (part of a box I had in my desk and ate when I forgot my lunch) $0.50

Tea (from the Dollar Tree) $1.00

Tone’s Seasoned Salt (Clearance rack) $0.25

White long-grain rice (A cup dry from Hy-Vee bulk foods) $0.82

TOTAL: $27.81 or $3.97 a day

So, was this my typical shopping experience? No, but by the time I got to the checkout counter, I was feeling a little better, just very limited.The problem now is that I’m getting tired of eating the same foods. There’s just a lack of variety. I made the Hamburger Helper last into four servings, and the frozen pizza two meals. I normally don’t do well with leftovers; so this is a change for me, change and a lot of lessons.

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