Feeling a little anxious about my SNAP Challenge, which begins on Thursday, November 18, I had to go grocery shopping today. Dietetic interns from the
First stop was at Aldi on
where, once I figured out how to access a shopping cart, I bought most of my groceries for the SNAP week, including:
Raisin Bran (20 oz.) – $1.79
Chicken Broth (32 oz.) – .99
Skim Milk (gallon) – $2.19
Macaroni & Cheese (7.25 oz.) – .29 (best bargain, but one of my least favorite foods)
Whole Wheat Pasta (12oz.) – .89
Ground
Three Yogurt Cups (6 oz. each) – $1.11 for three
Bananas (six) – .96
Margarine (16 oz.) – .59
Oat Bran Bread (loaf) – $1.19
Carrots (32 oz.) – .99 (best value/best nutrition…let’s see what I think of carrots after a week)
Imitation Cheese (16 slices) – .99 (this one scares me)
Black Beans (15.5 oz.) – .59
Tomato Soup (10.75 oz.) – .49 (I hope I can mix it with milk and not water)
Vegetable Soup (10.5 oz.) – .49 (you don’t pay extra for the additional sodium)
Total Spent at Aldi: $15.85
From there, it was off to the Dollar Tree where I could find only two items on the week’s menu:
Spaghetti Sauce (26.5 oz.) – $1.00
Total Spent at Dollar Tree: $2.00
Missing chicken drumsticks, eggs, and a few other items resulted in a trip to a third store, Cub Foods, where I made my last purchases:
Cub Brand Canned Pears (15 oz.) – .99
Cub Brand Brown Rice (16 oz.) – .95
Medium Eggs (dozen) – 1.49
Gold’n Plump Chicken Drumsticks (six pieces) – $3.29 (This was a splurge. The Cub Brand drumsticks, usually nine for $2.97, were sold out. This surprise resulted in a significant decrease in my one extravagance for the week…coffee.)
McGarvey Coffee (two 2.5 oz. sample bags) – $2.38
Total Spent at Cub Foods: $9.10
GRAND TOTAL SPENT: $26.95
That leaves me with an additional .70 to spend on food during my SNAP Challenge week. I’m already fantasizing about another box or macaroni and cheese. And I really dislike macaroni and cheese!
