This post is coming out a little earlier than usual, not because of anything we did today. But, because, after my 5k yesterday morning, we had a miraculously empty bucket of time. Miraculous, I tell you! We chose to use that time to get grocery shopping well over and done with.

Here’s our loot.

Which is an amazingly small pile for how much it cost. We deviated from our normal store-market route, and it cost me. I decided to employ a coupon for the slightly farter away, slightly more expensive local Hippy Yuppy Market. Rather, I only think it is slightly more expensive. In reality, which I always seem to forget after not having been there for a while, it is significantly more expensive for most things. Significantly, I tell you!

My $5 off $50 or more coupon did not make much of a dent, because we were farther north of $50 than I intended.

Here’s the break down.

Hippy Yuppy Market: $69. Nuts. Nuts are what killed us. We needed a medley of raw nuts, both for ourselves and for the dogs as part of their amended mostly homemade diet. Just over a pound of raw cashews, and a smaller amount of sunflower seeds broke the bank. We also picked up local cheese ($4 a pound MORE expensive than at Local Market, I discovered later), eggs, (actually $1 cheaper than everywhere else), chips, fennel, leeks, mushrooms, asparagus, strawberries, apples, oranges, burdock root, and a single grapefruit. In my defense, their produce selection is always lovely, as local as possible, and the best option short of a Farmer’s Market visit. Again, some of those veggies are for the dogs. I am still working on a strategy for separating those expenses.

Local Market: $29. In which I realize just how completely I was fleeced at Hippy Yuppy Market. More Nuts, sesame seeds, almonds, brazil, organic chicken thighs (not in styrofoam, thankyouverymuch), shrimp, tortillas, and tortilla chips. I apologize, Local Market, for doubting you. I hence forth swear my allegiance. I will accept your slightly inferior produce (and supplement with the Farmers Market).

Weekly Total: $98. Again, with the miracles, we managed to keep our spending under $100. The stockpile of nuts will last us longer than a week. I think our budget will survive.

Being the first trip of the month, a little additional math is required. Our static expenses of

Cow (in the freezer) + Pig (also in the freezer) + CSA (delivery twice a month) = $213. That plus our $98 for this week = $311 and May has officially begun.

Once again, we are skipping our stock up trip and are operating on a week by week basis. This has been serving us well for the last two months (April and March). This may still be counter-intuitive to me, but it’s working and it’s better than $750. Much better, I tell you!