Adventures in grocery shopping

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Originally Posted by Rogar

Looks like Girl Scout cookies will be going for $5 a box. It seems like they have been cheaper, but that's still a good value.

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I would agree with you in that in the days when I bought Girl Scout cookies, I always thought they were a decent value but I remember the mom of our little Girl Scout who sold them said “no these really aren’t all that great of value.” I guess I thought they were decent value because I never bought cookies in the store. These are the only commercial cookies I ever purchased.

But now I buy them occasionally, the higher end commercial cookies made with real butter, and those are not cheap.

As a former Girl Guide leader and Camp Advisor, I believed that people bought them to support the kids and they were quite edible. Unfortunately, as is true with so many volunteer organizations costs have risen enormously to the point that the kids' programs are disappearing. Lack fo volunteers has accelerated the loss.

My favorites are trefoils and thin mints. I always thought quite a bit of the cost went to support Girl Scout activities and organization and stayed local.

The best ones are Samoas, far and away. But they aren't great cookies, great cookies are either homemade cookies (but then one ends up with 30 cookies - and it's not particularly cheap getting all the ingredients - so that's not often), or from somewhere that makes similar quality cookies where you can buy a single (maybe big) cookie. But that single cookie might run you $3. Oh well, cookies are a sometime thing, not enough to worry about the budget of cookies.

I have made made my own mint girl scout cookies that were pretty good. Don’t have the recipe with me but remember using Ritz type crackers and covering with quality chocolate. One time I just melted a good mint chocolate bar. Not much effort with decent results IMO.

Thin Mints are the ONLY GS cookies I'll eat.

I don't do most of our grocery shopping, but yesterday I ventured out as DH was busy. OMG, I was shocked at the prices. Good Thins crackers--$4.79/box. Nope, not doing it. I needed some crunchy snacks though so kept looking. I made a decision that I am not going to be buying anything except what is on sale in the grocery aisle. If I don't like that, I will just go without or make my own substitute. I refuse to pay almost $5 for a box of crackers which purports to contain 4 servings but in reality at my house is probably 2.

Did buy some pita chips that were on sale, a bag for 2.49. It will last longer than the Good Thins would have.

Kay, would popcorn work as a cheap crunchy snack?

I went grocery shopping today and spent 138 which will last 3-4 weeks. Obviously I will still need to pick up perishables. Winco is even significantly cheaper than Walmart and better quality.

Kay, I so relate to your surprise at the price of crackers. I try to spend $1/100 gm (just under 1/4lb) for cheese as a rule of thumb. When 100gm of the crackers were priced more than the cheese, I protested and declined to buy and making my own. Some oil, salt and flour priced higher than a quality protein! That is nuts!

I agree that the price of crackers is ridiculous. Not buying them or anything else over-priced like that. Many of the better ones come from Canada and they just aren't on the shelf anymore I guess because of the trucker standoff going on there. DH and I usually shop together and here lately, we have been having to hit several stores to find certain things. Now I read that produce is starting to go way up too.

I just had an order of mostly almond and pecan crackers (and lots of cheese) delivered by Amazon Fresh. They were around 3$ a box. Not for the first time, I thought about making them myself. Can't be that hard...

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Originally Posted by Tradd

Kay, would popcorn work as a cheap crunchy snack?

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Yeah, I do have a popper & a bag of popcorrn. I just kinda forget about that. I usually have cheese and fruit with my crackers. My lunch sometimes.

Crackers are easy to make. The only trick for me is to get them thin enough. The dough is typically flour, salt, fat and water, similar to pie crust but with less fat. Roll, cut and bake.

If I could get it, I would pay almost anything for Wyke cheese from England. But saltines which were 69 cents a box recently were fine to hold that cheese. Guess it is all a choice.

I've been enjoying Italian sesame breadsticks as a crunchy snack lately. The ones I've been buying are Alessi brand for $1.69 at Market Basket, 4.4 oz.

Here is the recipe I use for homemade Wheat Thins. I got it from a friend, but don't know where she got it from. My adjustment is a reduction of the sugar. I don't think they need much at all.

Homemade Wheat Thins

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt plus extra for topping
1/4 teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup water you might need to add a little more
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
2. Add the flour, sugar, salt and paprika to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the bowl. Using a pastry blender, mix the butter into the dry ingredients thoroughly. Combine the water and vanilla in a small measuring cup or bowl. Add to the butter/flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms. If the dough is still dry, add a little more water.
3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the others covered with a towel so they don't dry out. Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll the dough into a large rectangle. Lift the dough and turn it as you roll to ensure it's not sticking. You want to roll the dough as thin as possible, try to make sure it's 1/16-inch thick at most. If you want all of your crackers to be perfect, trim the edges of the dough so you have a rectangle with even sides. Use a pizza cutter to cut the rectangle into squares about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide.
4. Transfer the dough squares to the prepared baking sheets. You can place them close together because they will not spread. Sprinkle the squares lightly with salt. Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining 3 pieces of dough. Save all of your scraps under the towel to keep the dough from drying out; reroll them all at once to create a final batch of crackers.
5. Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, about 5-10 minutes. Check the crackers at 5 minutes, and if some of the thinner ones are browning too quickly, remove them from the oven. The crackers can burn quickly so you want to keep a close eye on them. Remove crackers from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Store the crackers in an airtight container.

Vanilla??? That's interesting. I've made several cracker recipes. My favorite is a whole wheat dill cracker. But I've never seen a savory cracker recipe with vanilla.

Wheat Thins are very sweet and close to a cookie. Probably the reason for the vanilla. I dont buy them anymore since I cannot stop eating them.

On our grocery outing today, we couldn't find any " clean" corn tortillas (no gums or other additives) so...DH bought a bag of masa harina and will try making some. I might try the cracker recipe too. When it comes down to it, all these rising prices might make us all a bit more resourceful.

The only benefit of the processed crackers is that don't go stale as quickly due to preservatives, I assume.

I usually get the Safeway bakery bagels. Today they were out and a sign on the display case apologized that supply issues meant that they didn’t have any.

Cannot find fat free cottage cheese even at the store that usually carries it.

No whole wheat English muffins, either.

I am trying again to get a container of small wine Because I only want a glass about every 10 days.

I want decent quality, something that is drinkable. But I doubt that I’ll be successful. Last week I bought a box wine because the wine experts say you can keep it for up to a month. Well I got at home and that’s not gonna help me because it has three bottles worth of wine in this box. I don’t want three bottles worth, I want to have a glass of wine every 10 days or so. And while that box wine was not awful but it was just not worth the calories.

I can’t really trust my taste buds right now because I’m having sinus drip and I can’t tell wine that’s good or what exactly, so I decided I really just need to go to a restaurant every 10 days and have a glass of wine. It’s pretty simple. Go to one of the many nice wine bars around the city.

Today I bought small box wines, two different brands. But I’m not optimistic they’ll be any good. I’ve also ordered online a few bottles of Merlot and Cabernet, single serves, so we’ll see how those are.

Iris- I do't know if you are a Trader Joe's shopper but they have the cottage cheese and ww English muffins. Don't know about boxed wine though.

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

Iris- I do't know if you are a Trader Joe's shopper but they have the cottage cheese and ww English muffins. Don't know about boxed wine though.

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do you think they have a fat free cottage cheese regularly? Trader Joe’s are so far away it’s quite a trek to get out there to one of them.

IL, in today's world, no one can predict what product will be on a shelf on a particular day. For wine, I would suggest checking Total Wine. The closest to you might be Brentwood. In Indy, they have a huge selection of wines and might have those smaller sizes. You might try calling them regarding sizes.

Our two Trader Jos are only 76 blocks north of us but that is still a hike so we only go about every 2-3 months to stock up the freezer. Amazing cauliflower rice mixes.

IL, I buy the little single serve wines when I want to drink, and one bottle will be two servings. There are a lot of decent brands now.

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Originally Posted by Tybee

IL, I buy the little single serve wines when I want to drink, and one bottle will be two servings. There are a lot of decent brands now.

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I was just going to suggest this as well. You can get a 4-pack of little bottles, sort of like a 6-pack of beer.

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

Iris- I do't know if you are a Trader Joe's shopper but they have the cottage cheese and ww English muffins. Don't know about boxed wine though.

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We do have Aldi’s here in the city and one fairly close by, so I’m going to stop there. According to the Internet they do carry fat free cottage cheese regularly. Whether or not they have any at the moment is questionable.

when we first moved to this neighborhood decades ago there was an Aldi‘s right inside our neighborhood! We didn’t shop there though because our regular shopping day was Sunday and they were always closed on that day, we never developed an Aldi‘s habit, but I can see that otherwise we would like that store.

[QUOTE=happystuff;401953]I was just going to suggest this as well. You can get a 4-pack of little bottles, sort of like a 6-pack of beer.[/QUOTE
Yes, my grocery store carries Sutters but that is tasteless drek. Sorry!

yes sweetna a higher quality wine store than the one I go to might have hire end single or double serves in stock, I don’t know. Or more I think I’m just gonna have to go to a high-end wine bar or restaurant and pay $10 for a glass which I’m happy to do.

Now we will have supply chain issues due to border blockages to and from Canada.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

I think I’m just gonna have to go to a high-end wine bar or restaurant and pay $10 for a glass which I’m happy to do.

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I hate paying $10 for a glass of wine when I know I can get a huge bottle of the same wine for less! Example: Went to a restaurant several years back with a friend and got a nice Pinot Grigio for about $9 a glass. Asked the brand and it ended up being available on sale for $7.99 (big! bottle) at my liquor store! Could have had 5+ glasses for less than the price of the one.

I went to Aldi‘s and they had no fat free cottage cheese. So I’m done chasing it, it’s back to no eating cottage cheese because even the low-fat stuff is too high in calories.


It’s not like it freezes well so if I ever do find some again, it’s not like I can buy two containers and freeze bits of one. Although I don’t know maybe I should try freezing it?


But since I was in an Aldis and have not been in one in 25 years, I did check out their prices and yes they are low. So I bought a couple things and that’s fine. I didn’t see any English muffins at all, but maybe they were in the frozen food section? They were not in the bread section. I stayed out of the center isles.

Went grocery shopping yesterday. Got a 20lb bag of rice for 6.99, so am well-stocked in rice! LOL. I was able to find my dry cat food, but the canned cat food shelves were very, very limited in stock. Salesperson was putting out a few cans, when I commented on the availability. She said "It's been this way for months and appears it will continue for a while." Never said why. Interesting little exchange at the time.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

I went to Aldi‘s and they had no fat free cottage cheese. So I’m done chasing it, it’s back to no eating cottage cheese because even the low-fat stuff is too high in calories.


It’s not like it freezes well so if I ever do find some again, it’s not like I can buy two containers and freeze bits of one. Although I don’t know maybe I should try freezing it?


But since I was in an Aldis and have not been in one in 25 years, I did check out their prices and yes they are low. So I bought a couple things and that’s fine. I didn’t see any English muffins at all, but maybe they were in the frozen food section? They were not in the bread section. I stayed out of the center isles.

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I doubt Aldi has English muffins in the freezer aisle. They’re good for basic stuff and some interesting other items, like the German stuff at the holidays.

We went grocery shopping at Market Basket yesterday and found a few things that had been absent from the shelves in recent months: small cans of tomato juice, small cans of pineapple juice, and Meow Mix seafood cups. There is no longer a mask mandate in effect, but a lot more people were wearing masks than not. I would say about 80% were wearing masks.

I shop at the HyVee here and I uses their online shopping service called "Aisles." They shop with 95% accuracy -- screw ups are rare. They will text if about substituting an item they are out of. They will send one ad to you via text each time, usually about adding a dozen cookies to your order. Easy to decline.

I order the night before, then I go first thing in the morning so no other customers are parked near me. I do the curbside pick up. They clerk who brings tour groceries wears a mask. I also wear a mask and open all my windows.

It is a good set up.

RR you reminded me to email Market Basket that the state lifted its mask advisory so why are they still forcing their employees to wear masks.

Yesterday was the first time I have noticed a price increase on the basics I usually buy. Not horrible but noticeable.

I refused to pay $2.79 for a dozen eggs. I can flex my diet as much as I need to in order to avoid those sorts of prices.