This past Saturday was a little crazy. We are moving in one week, so we were busy packing. But we got up early to head to the Farmer’s Market. There wasn’t much there – I think the cold scared the vendors away or something! But then we went to get bread, milk and lunch. I mentioned last week that I have been buying bread from a local woman (at the Farmer’s Market), well last week all the bread I bought was stale. I was very disappointed. So I won’t be buying from her anymore. There is another woman who sells all Whole Grain breads/rolls – she is pricier, and I still prefer white bread, plus she is usually picked over when we get there. Sometime I will try her rolls (they are nearly $1 a piece though).
I picked up:
- 8 tiny potatoes (what do you call them? they are about 1 bite each, I will use them for a crock pot roast) and 2 small onions – $.85
- 1 Gallon of Lamer’s Glass Bottled Milk (at Simon’s Cheese, a local cheese factory) – not organic this week, but we didn’t have time to run across town, so we just got local bottled milk
- Extra Fresh Cheddar Cheese Block – $4 (from Simon’s Cheese, made 15 minutes from our home)
- Cheese Ends/Pieces – $1.91 for a great selection of ‘ends and pieces’ leftover from the cheese factory – great for eating with crackers
- Half Cheese/Half Sausage Medium Pizza – $5.50 – we had it pre-ordered, made fresh while we wait, with local ingredients (Simon’s Cheese makes great pizzas!), so then we took it home and had it for lunch!
We are trying to go light on buying food, since we are moving and we’re tight on cash. I am trying to get creative on using what we have at home already! We made a tentative food schedule (it always changes doesn’t it?):
Monday: Was going to be Chuck Roast w/ potatoes, carrots, onions – but we changed our plans since we’re having people over – Tacos (which I will have to buy stuff for, but we feel the fellowship we get from the meal outweighs the expense)
Tuesday: Spaghetti – I get home late from school, so David can be making it when he gets home, an easy staple we have all the ingredients for already
Wednesday: Roast? Since we didn’t have it on Monday
Thursday: Enchilada Casseroles – use leftover taco ingredients, already have cheese and enchilada sauce
Friday: We move! Probably pick up something cheap for David and I – or just mac and cheese
Saturday: We move! I will be feeding people who help us…so Crock Pot BBQ sandwiches (or sloppy joes) for lunch, and maybe chips/pretzels (nothing fancy, so people can grab it as they’re hungry)…and for dinner I think we will pick up some pizza (depending on how much money we have it might be $5 Little Caesar’s or Simon’s Pizza)
eric said,
February 19, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
simon’s cheese’s pizza, please! i like little ceasar’s, but i want some WI food while i’m there!!!
My Adventures in (Green?) Cooking « That’s Swell said,
February 22, 2007 @ 9:16 am
[...] now I have been planning out our meals and cooking at home. Part of eating healthier means no going out to eat. When we do, it’s [...]
AnnMarie said,
March 27, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Probably a little late, but I’d go ahead and tell the lady that you thought the bread was stale the last time. I bet you dollars to donuts that she’ll make it up to you. I did this at the Oshkosh Farmer’s Market last summer–unintentionally! I’d bought a melon that was way overripe. The following week, I bought another and chatted while picking it out about how disappointed I’d been the previous week and the farmer gave me a new melon for free to make up for it! Most small business owners will go to reasonable lengths to make up for a disappointment. They’ll make more keeping your business for the long term while losing the cost of the day’s sale by giving it away.
Of course, easier said than done! But since you’ve bought a lot of bread from her she’ll probably recognize you and that makes things easier, I think.
On the other hand, a more frugal option would be to bake bread yourself. I only eat store-bought bread when on vacation and when my husband makes French Toast (he only likes potato bread and not homemade). Otherwise, I bake bread a few times a week in my bread machine. Yes, it’s expensive to get started, but it costs maybe 50 cents a loaf!