Sticker Shock at the Grocery Store

Hey Everyone!

I went grocery shopping at the store I transferred from about two months ago. I haven’t done much grocery shopping at work in the past two months as I have the time and energy to go elsewhere, where prices are a bit cheaper. I know the company I work for is way over priced. It’s nice on an occasion to get local meat and seafood where I work, but otherwise it’s really not worth it. Sticker shock really hit me today when I was there.

This is all I bought today. Granted there are some supplements and I also bought some scallops. I spent, with my discount – $107.18. Without my discount it would have been $153.10. As I am trying to live more frugally and simply, grocery shopping at work will mean buying less on a visit and shopping there way less frequently. Even Fred Meyer and Safeway that are a bit more expensive than say Winco, and some other places out there are still more reasonably priced than where I work. Where I work is up there more along the lines of Market of Choice, Zupans, and Whole Foods.

I honestly don’t know how people can go and do full on weekly grocery shops at where I work on a regular basis. Having that kind of disposable income must be nice, especially when many employees of the store are barely making ends meet, if at all. Many of my coworkers, I know are struggling to try to make ends meet. Blue slip items (damaged packaging but still good, about to expire or just past expired but still good, etc) are life savers.

I am still learning how to budget and be better at couponing and saving money at the grocery store. it’s hard with food intolerances and the food I can eat is more expensive to begin with and isn’t on sale as often.

The Lifestyle I feel called to lead is that of a simpler life, where I make more at home, and I am at home more. I know it doesn’t make as much sense and seems counter culture to what we know today. That being said being at home, and being more traditional is on my heart. Doing more homemaking, knitting and such has been on my heart to do for years. I am also one of those people who learns things the hard way.

Sorry for Disappearing

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I don’t think I have talked about here on this blog, because this blog has been on the back burner for the past couple of years, but I have been dealing with an autoimmune disease for the past few years. This past year has really been the year that it has been discovered. While I still don’t have definitive answers and I’m still in the “undifferentiated connective tissue disease” stage because there are markers for more than one autoimmune disease but not enough for one or the other really to get a clear diagnosis, I have been able to start a course of treatment and it is helping. For the past two plus years, having the energy to do more than survive hasn’t been there. I have finally started having a bit more energy the past month or so and have started doing things again. I also changed positions at work. Working freight is physically demanding, but where I am at is at least only 8 hour shifts starting late afternoon and going into the wee small hours of the night, so I am still going to bed at night and just sleeping in until late morning. That is at least a slight improvement over Price File where I would have to be at work anywhere between 5 and 7 am. My days off have also changed. So, even though it’s hard work and I am exhausted and more than past my limit by my weekend, when I am on my weekend, I am at least more functional than I have been for the past couple of years. I also have time during the day between when I get up and have to go to work to knit a bit and drink tea which helps me get going during the day and ready for work.

All that out of the way, I am not grocery shopping so much at work anymore. Even with my 30% discount, where I work is still more expensive than your average overpriced grocery store (Safeway, Alberson’s, Fred Meyer / Kroger), so going grocery shopping at Fred Meyer and Safeway feels like a bargain.

My schedule was weird this past week, so I am off today, which I am normally not. I went grocery shopping today to prepare for my work week. I went to Fred Meyer.

In total at Fred Meyer, I spent $150.39. Had I not picked up more of my favorite shampoo, conditioner and dry shampoo, I would have been closer to $100

After I got home, I made myself a pastrami on rye sandwich with mayonnaise, deli mustard and the kind of cheese I can eat. It was very good.

Now that I have come out of being in strictly survival mode a little bit, the desire to be more of a homemaker and live in the country or a small town anyway with enough property to at least have a garden is returning. When all I was able to do was eat, sleep, work and go to the doctor, it was hard and there were no dreams there, and even the desire to cook and bake were gone. Now, I am more like “oooooooh, I want to make this that and the other thing”. Now that I want to make more things, I will be posting and sharing more things again.

Sausage & Spinach Egg Bites

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This morning, I made sausage & spinach egg bites with seasoned tomatoes on top for breakfast.

I am trying to eat better this year, for my health.

I picked up the ingredients I needed at work since I work at a grocery store.

I didn’t really use a recipe. I only looked up what temperature I should set the oven to and how long to cook them.

I used:

• 1 dozen vital farms the blues eggs (any eggs will work)
• 1/4 almond breeze almond coconut milk (you can use regular milk or other dairy free milk)
• 1 tsp Jacobson cherrywood smoked sea salt
• 1 lb ground mild pork sausage cooked
• Dried sweet basil to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 – 2 cups spinach
• 10 cherry tomatoes diced

I cooked the sausage up in a skillet on the stove while the oven was preheating to 350° Fahrenheit. I also put spinach in the bottom of the muffin tin cups while the sausage was cooking. I mixed up the eggs with the milk (or milk alternative) and added some seasonings – salt, pepper, paprika, dried sweet basil leaves. I also started chopping up the tomatoes and put them in a separate bowl with some salt and dried sweet basil. I would have liked to have used fresh basil, but we were put at work.

When the sausage was done cooking, I drained off the Grease and put the sausage in the muffin tin cups on top of the spinach. I then poured the beaten eggs and milk mixture in over the sausage and spinach and then put it in the preheated oven. I baked them for about 25 or so minutes.

You can put cheese in them if you want, and can have cheese. Since I have to stay away from dairy, I opted to not use dairy free cheese since I have found that the texture of the eggs change when I use it, and I don’t care for it. The diced tomatoes that were set aside are for the top of the egg bites.

I had a raisin English muffin and a bowl of fruit to go with my egg bites.

St Patrick’s Week

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Today was my second solo day at work. Last week was my first. Today went so much better than last week.

Today, I did my weekly grocery shopping after work. I picked a few things I needed to get to contribute for family dinner tomorrow, as well as what I needed for the week, as well as a few things that just sounded good.

This grocery haul cost $78.79, and would have been around $128 without my discount.

I did but a piece of goats cheese and a piece of sheep’s cheese and see how my body handles them since I can’t have cows milk. The wine and chocolate were for surviving my first month at my new store (I have been doing my job for a month and a half but only been at my current store for a month), and because they sounded good.

I am trying to not spend much during the week, but also not spend my whole budget for the week on the weekend, so i can pick up something during the week if I need to.

New Job

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I started at my new store this past week. I am still getting used to being back on days and not having to work on freight.

I did some grocery shopping after work on Friday, and spent $131.17 for this:

There are a couple things I left at work to use at work. The meal replacement shake powder and the Probiotics were what racked it up so high.

I still have a little room in my budget for picking a few other things during the week if I need them.

Trying to eat healthy is not cheap, and now that I am back to working days after a year and a half of working nights, I really need to work on losing weight and getting healthier.

New Job Finds

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I started my new job two weeks ago. I work at a upscale grocery store now.

It is super interesting to see the different products we carry, as well as the variety of dairy free options my store carries.

I have found quite a few interesting things. Which prompted the “what I find at work” series on instagram.

The duck eggs are regularly $10.99 a dozen at my store, so definitely not something I will be purchasing much of in the future, as they are definitely not in the budget at that price. I was able to get them for reasonably cheap since I get a discount at my store and I had a $5.00 off reward coupon. I have heard that they are good in baking though.

The dairy free “cream cheese” has quickly become a favorite of mine with bagels. While I love it, it is rather expensive, even with my discount. Especially with fall and winter coming, I definitely see Scottish Oatmeal with dried fruit and chopped nuts on the breakfast menu going forward.

The dairy free version of the creamsicles, were actually a good price, they were only $2.99 a box. That I could afford for a treat in the heat we are having.

After punching the numbers and creating a budget. i am definitely going to be working towards paying off debt, saving money, trying to live simply, and working towards getting out of the city. Anyone who knows me could tell you I would rather be living simple life, somewhere far far far away from the city on a tight budget than have plenty of money and be living in the city. So for me, trying to get out if debt and not have to be reliant on my family as means of support is a huge thing for me.

Interview Update

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I wanted to update you all real quick on my interview today. It went well, my interviewer just wanted to confer with his assistant manager, who was off today. I should hear back on Tuesday.

I interviewed for a freight lead position at a local grocery store, that carries more of the food alternatives, like dairy free and gluten free options as well as local brands and produce.

While it is still retail and freight, I am hoping I get it, and it would be a good fit for my life right now.

My long term goals are to still be a stay at home homeschooling wife and mother and living on a homestead, in this season of my life, I still need to work. If I can get this job, and continue to eat well, I definitely feel like this will help me be in a better place for the life I am working towards.

I am definitely ready to quit the seasonal job I started recently, as I really don’t feel safe working there with what is expected of me, and the toll it is already taking on my body. I am not willing to risk injury to myself or put unnecessary strain on my body just to be chasing after money.

I just wanted to update you all on how my interview went, before I headed put to work.

Life keeps changing

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It’s been a while since my last post.

I have been working on packing up my room at my parents house and moving stuff into my storage unit.

I have also been applying for jobs, as part of Unemployment, since My hours were dramatically cut after the holidays were over. Yesterday was my first interview since I interviewed for my current job over two and a half years ago. I did get the job, so I will be working two jobs for the near future. For my new job, I will be needing to make lunches. I will also be getting more hours and pay at my new job, so I will be able to go do proper grocery shopping for break snacks and lunches. I will definitely be having to budget as well.

While I don’t want to go into too many details about my new job, but I hope it will help me get closer to paying down debt and closer to homesteading.

First Goodwill Run and French Patisserie

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This morning, I took a few more boxes to my storage unit and came back and got the two boxes I had already had of things I was not keeping and took them to Goodwill. I know I will be making a few more trips there before this is all over.

Once I got done with going to Goodwill, I decided to go up to NE Portland, and go to the French Bakery on NE Alberta. I used to work a few blocks away from it, many years ago, but hadn’t ever gone. I had also walked a block or so down and went to Barista and got some coffee to go with my Macarons.

While my storage unit hasn’t been filling up as fast as I thought it would, it is fitting more than I originally thought, it is filling up pretty quick. I am back to being a bit more concerned about fitting everything in that I do want to keep, and knowing how much I have left to fit in there with what space is left, is on my mind. I am definitely at the point where I am looking at things and really thinking about if it is something I will need and / or actually use when ai get a place of my own again. At this point it has to serve a purpose with where I see my life going for me to keep it. I am also at the point, where I am like “absolutely no more yarn”, I seriously need to knit up what I have. I am definitely getting stingier with what I am hanging on to. I have definitely learned about having too much stuff.

Packing and going through stuff I have had at least 19 years if not longer has been eye opening, it has also been teaching me about who I am, and what I want for my life going forward. I know as far as clothes go, I go for what is easy and comfortable, and there are certain items that I gravitate towards. So, I have been trying to not keep around clothes that I don’t wear, and free up closet and drawer space. I am so ready to have my own coat closet again, and be able to get my coats and jackets out of my bedroom closet.

I know I have mentioned before that a lot of what I am keeping is kitchen stuff. Being able to cook and bake are definitely important to me. I have also been building up a “Hope Chest” since I was a teenager, for when I actually had a home of my own, as well as things I have accumulated during college, for the two different apartments I had, that I know what things I wished I had. For me, I can do without or with a lot less to get going in other areas, but being to cook at the level I am used to cooking, from the get go, is important to me.

Easter Sunday

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I haven’t done much packing the past couple days, since I actually went to work.

I have also received three of the Mary Berry cookbooks and homemaking book.

Today, I took the day off to spend Easter with my family. Easter and Christmas are the two most important Holidays for my family, and in my faith.

I will get back to sorting, packing and moving this week. I am definitely ready to get this part of the process done.

At some point I need to find my cookware from college, and see what I have in the way of bakeware, and see what I could use to add to it. I am not so concerned about having a matching set, I just want to be able to make good food.

This next week, I will be back to working on packing and moving. I am definitely feeling a bit calmer about how things are going, even though moving is always stressful.