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| October Grocery Shopping Part 1 |
I went to get my flu vaccine, today, and I had my usual vaccine side effect (the urge to shop!) LOL! I walked around the pharmacy for a bit and didn't see anything I wanted to buy.
Then, I went next door to the dollar store! There were a couple of non-food items I wanted to buy from there (a broom. and a string mop) and I wanted to see what they had in terms of groceries, check their current prices (gone up from $0.9999 to $1.4999, which I am rounding up to $1.50!), and see how they compared to the grocery store prices. I haven't grocery shopped in three weeks (last time I picked up groceries was on September 26) and wanted some bread and fresh fruit, mostly.
I bought:
1 loaf bread = $1.50
4 cucumbers (the bag said 3 count, but, all the bags had 4 cucumbers in them!) = $1.50
Dates (8 oz. container) = $2.00
2 x 1 lb. containers strawberries @$.80 = $1.60
.94 lb. bananas @ $.49/lb. = $0.47
2.1 lb. green grapes @ $1.79/lb. = $3.78
1 pomegranate = $1.50
Total = $12.35
Plus the broom ($1.49), mop ($1.50) and sales tax on them ($.28) = $15.62
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| Receipt |
I wore my mask, of course, and the store wasn't very crowded and I felt comfortable enough, shopping there, today. I didn't walk up and down the non-grocery aisles as I didn't need anything else other than the mop and the broom. I took a quick look at their refrigerated and frozen food sections as I passed them and didn't see anything of interest and I walked down the packaged/canned foods, snacks and beverages, too, and didn't see anything I wanted. I think I can get the same or better bargains at the grocery store when they have a good sale.
But, the fresh fruits and the cucumbers were good bargains. 1 lb. strawberries at the grocery store cost $3.49 this week, with a coupon ($3.99 without a coupon); green grapes are $3.49/lb., bananas are $.69/lb., cucumbers are $.79 each, store brand bread is $1.79 and the brand I bought at the dollar store sells for $4.79, dates are $3.99 for 8 oz., but, they do have a sale this week on 1 lb. dates for $7.99, buy 1 get 1 free, so that would be $4/lb., which is comparable to my $2/8 oz. purchase of dates from the dollar store.
Cabbages at the dollar store were $1.99 each; cabbages at the grocery store are $.99/lb. I didn't weigh the cabbages that were available at the dollar store, but, they might have been a little over one pound. Cauliflower at the dollar store was also $1.99 each and at the grocery store, they are $1.99/lb.
I'm not sure if I am ready to go back to grocery shopping in person at the dollar store or the ethnic store where produce prices are equally well priced, on a regular basis, but, I think I got some good bargains, today.
On the way home, I stopped by at the library to pick up a book that was waiting for me:
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| New Library Book |
After I came home, I put away the groceries, made myself a sandwich for brunch, texted with my daughter who has been spending the last three days attending a conference in Las Vegas (she's returning to Berkeley, tonight), and took a short nap on the sofa! Afterwards, I ate some strawberries and had a cup of tea while I watched the news. So far, I am not feeling any other side effects from the flu shot!
I didn't want to take both a flu shot and the Covid booster together. I am planning to wait another couple of weeks and then take the Covid booster. That way, I'll be at peak immunity from the booster around Thanksgiving when I might or might not meet up with other people! Maybe I'll do another dollar store shopping trip at that time, too! LOL.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Health insurance to cover vaccinations and the availability of vaccines
- Bargain prices on produce at the dollar store
- Library services
- Safe drives to the pharmacy, library, and back
- My daughter had a safe flight back
Today's joyful activity will be video chatting with my daughter, later tonight, to find out about her trip (we usually don't video chat when she's at conferences when she's sharing a room with a colleague).
Plans for tomorrow include tending to the garden with M in the evening.
How was your Thursday? What are your plans for Friday?
Oh that book looks really interesting. Let us know what you think of it
ReplyDeleteWill do! :)
DeleteHope you enjoy your book. Some good deals at your dollar store. The flu vaccine won't be available for us until end of October & there's no date yet for the Covid one. I'll be like you, doing one at a time as I do have reactions & the urge to shop isn't one of them (lol).
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary-Lou, it'll be interesting to see what the author has to say about curry. The dollar store did have some good deals. I hope you won't feel too many side effects from the vaccinations when you do get them.
DeleteI had a lot of problems getting my shots approved (insurance said they were covered, but the computer didn't agree), but have finally gotten my flu shot and COVID shot. It's always good to get those done before the holidays. Glad you were able to get yours started.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sorry you had problems getting your shots approved, June, but, glad you were able to get that all sorted and got both shots. Yes, I'm not planning to go anywhere over the holidays, but, still getting my vaccines, just in case! :)
DeleteI need to get my flu and covid shots . Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Anne. Always good to have as much protection as possible. :)
DeleteLove it.
ReplyDeletewww.rsrue.blogspot.com
Thank you, Regine. Hope all is well with you. :)
DeleteI had a feeling that flu shot would involve some shopping! :D
ReplyDeleteYou have a good haul there, you are a savvy shopper!
I checked to see if our local libraries had the curry book but neither of them have it. I hope you enjoy it.
Ha, ha, you know me well, Bushlady! Thank you, I'm pleased with my purchases. Now, I need to make sure I eat all those cucumbers before they spoil!
DeleteI'm sorry your libraries didn't have the book. I'll do a review of the book when I'm done reading it.
You got some good value at the dollar store. The shopping side effect of the shot worked out well for you! Our dollar store does not sell any fresh produce or refrigerated/ frozen foods, only canned and packaged. The book looks very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Celie. This chain of dollar stores is the only one that I know of to have fresh produce. There is another chain that used to have frozen food, but, I haven't been to one of those since before the first shelter in place order went into effect. It's not near the pharmacy I go to for my vaccines. :)
DeleteI haven't read the book, yet, but, I look forward to reading it this weekend.
Nice finds. The veg are certainly a good deal. Hope you don't get side effects from the vaccine! Have a good weekend !
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sharon; I was happy with the produce prices. No other side effects, so far - just a slight soreness in the arm at the injection site. Hope you have a good weekend, too. :)
DeleteThose are some good deals - and I'm so glad that you had a chance to look for them. The broom and mop seem incredibly good prices compared to here. Sometimes it's really joyous to find the good deals. I hope that your daughter has a good trip.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lyssa. Mops and brooms tend to be higher priced at most places selling such items. A regular household broom (store brand) is $10.99 at the grocery store where I pick up my groceries and their cheapest mop (brand name) is $18.99; they are a little cheaper at a discount store that I also order from, but, even so, not as cheap as at the dollar store. Of course, people will argue about the quality and so forth, but, I'm still using the brooms and mops I bought before the pandemic (I keep one set for the kitchen and one set for the bathroom where Dancer's litter box is) and if I can use these new ones for a year or so, then, I'll be happy. Brooms and mops are things I like to replace every couple of years or so.
DeleteMy daughter had a good trip, thank you. The conference was informative, she said, and she got to do a few touristy things, as well. :)
I'm so glad you had your normal vaccine side-effects which propelled you on to seek out those wonderful deals at your Dollar Store!
ReplyDeleteThose prices are fabulous. What a great price on those strawberries! Even the bananas are cheaper than my Aldi's where they are .52 a pound. I'm also glad you got a fresh loaf of bread as I know you don't like to freeze it.
You got a nice amount of food for a great price.
Good job getting your flu shot. We have gotten all our vaccines for the fall. We got the Covid booster along with the RSV vaccine at the end of September and we got the flu shot the first week of October.
LOL, yes, the very predictable shopping side effect! :D I had not done any grocery shopping since Sept. 26 and I was out of bread and only had some apples for fresh fruit (and they were not that fresh having been in the fridge for a couple of months!) I was thrilled with the price on the strawberries!
DeleteWell done getting all your fall vaccines. I need to schedule my Covid booster, next.