Food, glorious food

The boyfriend and I hit the grocery store today and somehow managed to spend a whopping $161.58 on food. Do you ever have those weeks? It doesn't seem like you're putting a lot of extra stuff in the cart, but then you get a new scrubber to wash dishes and a box of clementines and the huge econo bag of no name frozen berries (I'm going through a breakfast smoothie faze. Healthy - yes. Cheap - no. However, no more expensive than all that crazy cereal that people buy. That stuff is pricey!), and suddenly you've doubled your weekly allowance for groceries.

That's right. Normally we spend closer to $80 a week on food. Plus a bit more when you add in the extra bunch of bananas or whatever else we need to supplement throughout the week. I would consider that to be a very respectable food budget, except I know that one of my oldest friends can feed her family of four on about $40 a week. I just don't seem to have that gene!

Plus, we do shop at expensive supermarkets. Wait! Hear me out!! I love the idea of shopping at No Frills. I really do! But we are currently without transportation and there isn't a budget supermarket anywhere near us. Plus we are a little addicted to these awesome frozen chicken curry dumplings, which are both economical ($3.49 for not only dinner, but also two extra lunches for me.) and pretty damned healthy. And we've only ever found them at the big fancy Loblaws. So even if we did have a car, would it really be economical to drive around from grocery store to grocery store, getting different stuff at different places? What about the environment!?

And frankly, we just love the Loblaws. It's so bright and well laid-out. Not to mention the awesome President's Choice products. All good stuff! But are we shopping as if we're richer than we are?

Thankfully I scored on Craigslist again today! Sold a watch for $40. Yippee!! I stopped in at Joe Fresh on my way to get groceries, thinking that I might treat myself with the found money. But you know, I saw some okay things, but I couldn't bring myself to buy anything. It's a good thing, too, because after such an expensive shop, I need the extra cash in my wallet.

(I did buy the boyfriend two t-shirts, but he paid me back. It's fun to dress him up. Like my own life-sized Ken doll...but more anatomically correct!)

A big thank you today to a lovely friend who not only provided me with the third season of Veronica Mars on dvd (Cue the angels singing.), but also treated me to a fancy latte at a funky, independent coffee shop. She said it was to celebrate being in the four digits. I'm always amazed at the kindness that comes my way. Merci beaucoup.

So the boyfriend and I have spent our Saturday night with VMars (3 episodes thus far), baking about 8 dozen cookies. When bad things happen, you bring food. We're prepping for the next few days. Sadly, chocolate chunks cannot fill the unbelievable void left when you lose someone.

Total debt: $9900 plus some more.
Spent today: $91.04 (I bought some wine, too.)