First Trip to the Grocery Store
I shopped today for the first time since the experiment began.
I thought cooking everything from scratch would only be a more emphatic version of the way we already cook. I was wrong. I was amazed at how little I could buy by the rules of our experiment. I passed entire aisles where nothing was a one-ingredient food.
I had not realized how much cooking the grocery store does for its customers. The crackers and bread and mustard and pasta… even the chicken broth is not just broth, but broth and salt and herbs and msg.
I learned that Kroger brand brown sugar is (presumably, beet) sugar plus cane molasses, while Domino’s brown sugar is exclusively cane sugar. I learned that the cheaper tomato pastes fit the rules, but the expensive ones do not.
The hardest part was passing by the coconut milk and the soy sauce. One of my favorite comfort foods is pineapple curry, a dish that would be a travesty without coconut milk. But canned coconut milk is not just coconut milk, so we will be doing without. Goodbye, sweet milky goodness. Warm some other belly on a cold night.
I did buy sour cream without realizing it broke the rules. I was shopping with the kids and they demanded attention as I was reading that particular label, and it made it into the cart without due consideration.
But the shock of the trip was the bill: $68. Even allowing for ingredients I inevitably forgot (I always forget something), that is a solid $40 cheaper than our usual weekly grocery bill.
That’s a lot of Cheez-its and beer.
The photos on this post are licensed through Flickr’s Creative Commons. The grocery cart wheels are a photo by Robert S. Donovan, and the coconut is by SingChan.
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So will the qty of food you bought today for a lesser price feed you for about the same amount of time?
P.S. What else is in sour cream?
It could feed us for the same amount of time, but the simple restrictions of time mean it will feed us LESS, which I guess is the point. Just being on this for TWO DAYS has made it very clear just how much mindless snacking I do – often without even enjoying it. Is there any human alive who actually says, “Oh, this bag of Combos is delicious”?
I’m slowly incorporating the slow food movement into our busy hectic family of four, because I know for a fact it tastes better! I didn’t arrive in the United States until I was 11 years old. And now that I’m starting to incorporate into cooking what I remember from my childhood, food just tastes so much better. And you already know, it is so much healthier and cheaper. The trick is to find time for it all. Bread I still buy, but I wish I can buy it from a local bakery that bakes on-site (not one that gets it shipped from their main manufacturing bakery).
I was going to be *really* impressed if you took the time to get on the ground and photograph the cart wheels. :) I’m a little afraid to go shopping by the rules. Actually, a lot afraid. I can’t imagine feeding toddlers this way. I know I should be. I know it’s what’s best for them. I just can’t imagine it.
Lindsay, I don’t think this is a “should” issue. We are trying it to see if it really is better, but we haven’t come to any conclusions yet.
While I see what you’re saying, I’m pretty confident that I need to lean more this way than that way. By “this way”, I mean eating healthy, home-cooked meals on a very regular basis. By “that way”, I mean the we-eat-at-McDonald’s-at-least-four-times-a-week way.
We are in a very, very bad habit right now. I was on strict bedrest (only out of the bed twice a day for less than five minutes at a time) for three and a half months with my son’s pregnancy. During that time, we started to depend on fast food a lot. When meals weren’t brought in by friends or family, meals were supplied by McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Papa John’s.
The habit is shockingly hard to break. The ease of fast food is an addictive substance, I’m sure. Now I’m simply trying to gain the courage to de-tox!
:)
Another quick question: You’re in the Midwest like me. Fresh produce (at least a good variety) will not be available soon. How are you going to handle fruits during the winter? Will you purchase canned fruits in water? Or will you stick to the staples (bananas, apples, grapes, etc…)?
This is fascinating. Can’t wait to see how it pans out.
This is fascinating, Veronica! I’ve been kind of burned out lately, and using more and more quick and easy stuff, so I’m hoping you will inspire me to come back to the fold. :-) Do you have a time set on your experiment? Also, is plain yogurt against the rules? We often use that instead of sour cream. (For next time, I mean.)
Got here through slouchy and I am fascinated to see how this goes. It has already inspired me to do more of my own cooking…or maybe not as I eat this left over pizza we bought last night. But, I am interested, if just short of time.
It’s funny because there are a lot of foods I cannot eat for various reasons. Many processed foods fall into this category. If I’m out and about and being good (not eating food that causes problems for me) there is often nothing I can eat. Almost no convenience markets have food that I can eat and no fast food restaurants have food I can eat. So I can see how this would be a diet plan.
I wonder about one food category: Dairy. Do you have to make the cheese yourself? What about yogurt?
I’m not 100% sure of the rules you are following. You have to make everything yourself from a single ingredient or you will buy things that others make if they only have a single ingredient? E.g., will you buy cooked beans (organic beans have only two ingredients–beans and salt) or cooked tomatoes?
It seems like that would be too difficult…can you make your own flour? (You actually can make oat flour in the blender, if that counts. I believe flour can be made from oats or from brown rice in a blender.)
Interesting about the brown sugar!
Just curious! I look forward to reading this. It is an interesting way to challenge yourself to start cooking again.
Quick tip: Daisy Sour Cream has only one ingredient! :) Heavy Cream. :) I checked tonight, because I was really curious what the additional ingredient(s) could be. :)
If you happen to find an actual coconut in your mid-western grocery store, you can make coconut milk for your curry if you want it that badly! Crack it with a hammer and drain the coconut water (this is NOT the milk), if you can. If the coconut smells wierd or is any color other than white, inside, toss it!
Stick it in the freezer overnight. Take it out in the morning and when it is mostly thawed, it should be easy to remove the meat from the shell.
Cut the meat into chunks and put the chunks in the blender with a cup of hot water (and any coconut water you may have caught and refrigerated). Whiz the living daylights out of it until the coconut is like shreds. Put a tea towel in a colander, over a bowl. Pour the contents of the blender into the towel. Take up the towel with the coconut inside and squeeze all the coconut milk out of it into the bowl. I suggest getting the help of you big strong husband to get the most out of your coconut.
What you now have is a nice cup or so of pure coconut milk for your curry. If you want more, whiz the shreds in the blender again with a cup more hot water. This second batch will but much thinner, but still coconut milk. Refrigerate and use within 24 hours.