Adventures in grocery shopping

[jp1]

Your friend is absolutely right. Diabetes--and metabolic syndrome* in general--is taken far too lightly, maybe because you don't see the damage it's done until you're in the thick of it, and it's totally or nearly irreversible. (Continuous glucose monitors are an excellent tool to demonstrate how your body metabolizes different foods, though they can be spendy.)

Since I've known most of my life that I am at high risk for diabetes I once asked my eye doc about the damage from diabetes. She was one of those awesome medical professionals that lives to help people be healthy and was always happy to take time to talk about my concerns. Her response was "JP, it's tragic. You can see the damage in the eye well before it damages their vision but by that point the damage is pretty much inevitable." And then went on to describe what actually happens in detail. I assume that essentially the same thing happens in people's toes, feet, etc. I have supposedly "good" health insurance so hopefully if/when it gets to that point they will pay for a continuous glucose monitor and the sensors that have to be replaced every few weeks. If not I'd likely pay out of pocket because I'd rather not end up like my grandmother. (At least not in that way. She was a wonderful woman who I'd be proud to emulate in plenty of other ways.)

And we shared a birthday, 74 years apart, so her 80th birthday party was, in my mind, my 6th birthday party! I think I've shared this here before but this was the picture of us that ran with the story in her local newspaper about the event. That birthday cake caused a shouting match between my mom and her oldest brother after mom told him "If an 80 year old woman wants a piece of cake for her birthday I'm damn well going to give it to her." Sadly grandma passed away from a heart attack three months later.

sixth birthday.jpg

[Tradd]

JP, great memory!

[jp1]

JP, great memory!

I have o ly a couple other memories of her. One, that she would always give my sister and I a big Hershey bar as soon as we arrived, not one of those stupid ‘fun size’ bars (which I learned as an adult drove mom crazy because then we weren’t hungry at dinner time and wouldn’t eat our real food, to which grandma apparently said ‘ but it makes them so happy!’ And two, a story I heard much later, that she drove herself to her oldest daughter’s wedding on the other side of Kansas in the early 40’s. Grandpa refused to go because my aunt was marrying a Catholic boy (my family was Lutheran) and grandma told him ‘I will be there for my daughter’s wedding’

[happystuff]

What a great picture and wonderful memories, jp. Thanks for sharing!

[happystuff]

Just came back from the grocery store and have to say it went pretty well. Several - actually good - sales! Got two family packs of chicken legs, two packages of strawberries, lettuce, broccoli crowns, tomatoes, spinach, two bottles of ketchup, several packages of swiss and provolone cheese as well as some deli ham... and I can't remember what else. Final bill was $42!!! Hasn't been that low for one trip to the store in a while.

[jp1]

Can anyone explain to me why the relatively small bottle of Heinz 57 sauce is $7.49? Is it just that there is literally no other product out there that competes against it? Yes there are other steak sauces but I assume that many people are like SO and really really prefer Heinz 57 over the others. (Or maybe other people really really prefer the others and they are also just as expensive. I haven't checked since we won't be buying them.) And also I guess it's likely that people who can afford steak at all will also be willing to pay whatever the cost is for their favorite steak sauce.

[Alan]

I eat steak pretty often and it's pretty pricey. Several years ago I discovered Aldi's Burman's Steak Sauce which I was surprised to find I enjoyed more than my previous fav A1. I now buy it several bottles at a time, I think at about $1.29 per.

Why are the name brands much more expensive? I can't say, but now that I know there's other brands just as good or better, they'll not get my business again.

[jp1]

Thank you. I will have to look for something that SO might like as well. He doesn’t use a lot on his steak but it just seems absurd to spend so much for such a small bottle.

[jp1]

Dinner tonight was a big slab of sea bass that SO got at the farmers market. OMG. I found a recipe that said to pan it for a few minutes on each side with lemon after flipped and microwave some butter with oregano and garlic to dump on it at the end. Cooked it to 120 and it was FANTASTIC. we will definitely be doing this again!

[rosarugosa]

When we eat steak, we just like the taste of the steak and don't put any sauce on it.