Sticker Shock at the Grocery Store

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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.

Grocery Shopping Breakdown

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What a busy morning. It is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving here in the States. Which means Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow, and people are out doing last minute shopping for the holiday.

I did go out and run errands, but that is normal for me on Tuesday’s. I picked up a few items for our Thanksgiving dinner but most of what I picked up was either stocking up, because they are things I will use eventually and they are a Unilever brand so I was working towards maxing out the 10,000 points when you spend $30 thing on the Fetch app. There were 3 of these available for any store and then an additional 2 for safeway and you could combine the safeway one with the any store one. I had completed one last week at Fred Meyer. So I just needed about $60 of Unilever products to get 40,000 points. To me that’s a good deal, because I was able to buy products I will use, and then redeem the points for Starbucks gift cards.

I made a total of 5 stops this morning. 2 different safeway stores, a gas station, Fred Meyer, and New Seasons Market.

Safeway #1: $94.03
Safeway #2: $24.08
Shell Gas Station: $49.81 (10.831 Gallons at $4.599 a gallon – and that is the cheapest I have seen for a decent quality of gas)
Fred Meyer: $51.71
New Seasons Market: $68.09

So today I spent, not including gas: $237.91, Including gas: $287.72

My total for this week is higher than a normal week, as far as grocery shopping goes. I did stock up a bit on certain things that I will use over time, I bought a few things for the holiday meal including ground sausage, and I also picked up another bottle of multivitamins that will last me four months.

With Thanksgiving being the day after tomorrow, so many people were out and about at the stores this morning. I am not a huge people person, I prefer my space and being out in the country whenever possible. I had tried to get out early enough in the day to avoid most of the crowds. Though things were picking up by the time I had gone to new seasons, which was my last stop of the day. I was glad to be done and out of there before it got even busier, as I was just done and ready to be home.

Home Canned Pears

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Last week my mom and I canned pears.

We had gone out to Sauvie Island the week before and picked up about 33 pounds of Bartlett pears. We had to let them sit for a week to ripen up.

I had made jam over the summer, though this was the first fruit and bigger project my mom and I undertook in the new house.

We got 17 quarts out of the 33 pounds of pears.

Home canned anything is a lot of work, but 100% worth it. Home canned tastes better and is better quality.

When I do things like Canning, even though it’s tiring, I always feel more productive at the end of the day, than I do going to work.

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.

Eating Local Food

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What a tough couple weeks it has been. That being said, starting a new job is always hard. If it becomes clear it is not a good fit, it makes it even harder.

I am trying to keep myself healthy, while I am running myself ragged. I am definitely taking my probiotics every day and some elderberry gummies.

Yesterday, I made Sockeye Salmon, with green beans and corn for dinner and blueberry crumble for dessert. It was so good.

The blueberry crumble recipe from the Salmon Sisters cookbook has definitely become a favorite for my family.

I definitely love food that comes from this part of the country, and definitely want to eat more local food, and reap the benefits from the nutrients in food.

First Strawberries of the Summer

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What a week this past week has been.

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I stopped by one of the farm stands I know of and picked up some fresh strawberries.

I love Oregon Strawberries, and I love homemade strawberry jam.

Since I am not in a place to be able to grow my own strawberries, it is totally worth buying local berries from a local farm.

Working 2 jobs is definitely tiring, but I am definitely hoping the end game is worth it, and that things work out at my second job, which is the better paying of the two. I am not about chasing after the money, I am just trying to get some debt paid off and put myself in a better financial position.

I am definitely glad I got at least once batch of Strawberry jam made this year. I am also amazed at how much raspberry jam we have gone through in the past couple years. About 3 summers ago I seriously got at least 8 or 9 batches and several last years, and we have gone through most of it.

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.

Learning to be Content with Less

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Today has been one of those days where I got some work done, but also spent some time knitting and while watching the Great British Baking Show.

The next few days I am definitely going to be having to dive in and get as much done as possible.

I definitely forgot how much stuff I have been accumulating over the years. That being said, the sorting has been been tough, especially knowing I have more to go through. I have been making progress though. Also knowing where I am at with filling up my storage unit vs what I have left, is still a bit stressful. I am going to be a bit stressed about it, until I get through all my boxes have been gone through and put into my storage unit.

This evening for dinner, between my mom and I, we had made fried ham and potatoes with green beans and asparagus. It was really good.

It was definitely an easy dinner that was super filling. I am all about dinners that are easy, filling and that tastes good. You could make fried potatoes with pretty much any leftover meat you have from a previous meal. In our case we had ham, you could also use sausage, other cuts of pork, bacon, chicken, or beef, and it would be good.

Some days I feel like I should be getting more done, it can be hard to see the day to day accomplishments when you are just starting out, and in the thick of it. I am reminding myself that everything I do get done is going in the right direction. Moving is hard work, especially when you have lived in a place for a while.

This whole process is definitely teaching me how little I really do need. I am not rich by any means, but I have been realizing how blessed I really am. Learning to be content with less is definitely something I am still learning.