We had to stock up today. Normally I keep a good stock of food through the
winter but much of my larder was getting bare. We've had pretty good
weather so far this winter. And my finances were very strained. Just paid
over $500 to the plumber again! Kitchen sink again! The bill included some
enzymes that I must put down all drains in the house for 5 days in a row,
next month. Then after that, monthly in the kitchen sink or as needed if
the drain is slow. Odd thing is the drain was fine last night and this
morning all stopped up. But not under the sink. In the wall! But I
digress...

Our weather forecast is such that it is possible for the snow to start
tomorrow and continue for a solid week if not more. Could be mixed with
rain some days but with temps dropping below freezing after dark, it might
not bode well. It is possible that we could be snowed in here for a week or
more. So I decided that I must stock up!

I do have a cupboard full of pasta and some rice. I have personally been
eating rice these past few days due to a bad stomach. I thought maybe it
was my gastroparesis acting up. Not sure. So I thought it would be wise to
buy a small bag of cheap white rice just in case. I am going to make an
effort to eat more pasta in the next few weeks. Angela found all of these
new brands/shapes/flavors of gluten free stuff and I bought all she wanted
even though I had plenty of our regular Tinkyada stuff already here. We
just haven't been eating much pasta lately because she has been trying to
lower the amount of carbs she eats. But some of it needs to be eaten before
it goes bad.

Today I spent $70 at one store and another $224 at another store. But this
did include magazines, cat treats and a few things for my mom. I was still
rather shocked at the price because I bought so little meat. I did get 8
small cans of Albacore tuna. I would prefer not to buy Albacore but due to
Angela's allergies that is the only kind she can eat. The stuff with broth
in it contains peas in the broth. And she is allergic. I finally broke
down and bought some Veganaise the other day. We really shouldn't have it
because it does contain soy protein but the only other mayo that doesn't
contain eggs does contain pea protein. It's always something. I guess it
won't hurt to have it once in a while since I don't put a lot of mayo in my
tuna salad. And I have been wanting to eat tuna salad.

I also bought 2 small cans of chicken. I didn't really need more canned
chicken but I did have a coupon and that is one thing that is nice to have
when snowed in. Although I know some here would disagree with me. I like
to have it for emergencies.

I did buy a small package of cubed ham for Angela and a small turkey breast.
I did buy twice as much cheese as I normally would. I have a recipe for
pancakes that uses cottage cheese, egg whites and whole oats. 1/2 cup of
each. I want to make these for Angela. So I had to buy some of that egg
white product.

I did buy some margarine that I don't need quite yet but I did have a coupon
for it. I also had a coupon for some cups of fruit in juice and sugar free
pudding. These are things that we don't always keep in the house. I
generally only buy them if they are on sale for cheap and/or I have a
coupon. I did pick up a few impulse items that sounded like they might be
good to eat if we were snowed in. Things I don't normally buy And a few
toiletries.

I did buy more produce than I normally would because produce is something I
can easily get as needed. If I am not snowed in! It's possible that I
bought too many tomatoes but they had a good sized bag of them for $1.98 and
that price is just unheard of.

The most expensive thing I had on my receipt was diet soda. I did buy more
of that than I would normally buy in a week.

But... It just seems like we didn't really get a lot for our money.

I am thinking back to when we used to shop at the commissary in CA or NY.
We would go there every two weeks and leave with 2 carts heaped full. This
would include a lot of meat and cheese, a couple dozen eggs, paper goods,
cleaning supplies, prepared foods, ice cream and whatever my husband decided
to put in the cart. Often junk food and beer. And whatever produce I could
get that looked good. I didn't always buy my produce there because they
didn't always have what I wanted or it might not be so fresh.

I guess I just went into sticker shock because most of the time when we shop
at Winco I pay around $114. That will be enough food for the week and a few
extra things like canned goods that will keep for a while. But today we
spent more than $100 over that and we didn't seem to have that much more
than we usually do.

So when you have a threat of a hurricane, snow storm or something else that
might trap you in your house for a week... How much more do you buy? And
do you buy things you don't normally buy? My dad always told me to keep
cans of chili, stew, peanut butter and crackers and then nobody would
starve. I quit buying the stew because nobody here really likes canned
stew. Especially not Angela. She won't eat chili any more (she used to eat
it) and can't have peanut butter or crackers. And I would prefer not to eat
peanut butter and crackers. I like peanut butter but would much rather eat
it with apple slices or celery. I've never been a big cracker fan. But I
do have Vienna sausages that Angela will eat. And plenty of canned veggies.
So she won't starve.

Somebody tell me it won't snow! I really dislike snow!