Instead of going grocery-shopping when you pass a store, pass up
the store until you figure out what you really want–and how to get
it on your budget. Here’s a personal example from today. I’d been having a
vegetable lasagna and turkey at alternate dinners and supper. (More on that
turkey on the Recipes Page.) I was thinking of taking out a can of peaches from my
emergency storage, but realized that fruit wasn’t “It.” I’ve been drinking
canned pineapple juice at many breakfasts ($2.99 for five servings), enjoying a
couple of tangerines or an apple left over from my pre-holidays Food Bank
delivery (December 20, 2017–has to last until the next delivery after vacation,
on January 10, 2018—note well, this post was written months ago and posted on
the WordPress site!) Furthermore, I was having occasional snacks of Bonne Maman
jam (just a teaspoon or two–Bonne Maman is reasonably-priced and does not
include high-fructose corn syrup, which I avoid ingesting. It satisfies a
craving for sweets.)–I didn’t really want fruit…. But
that line of thought clued me in that I wanted produce. I started to plan
putting corn into the cornbread that I’d be baking once my current zucchini/pineapple/coconut
quick bread is gone, but something out of a can or the freezer didn’t hack it. I
wanted fresh, and I wanted greens.
After
all, today (when posted on WordPress) is only a week past the Winter Solstice, and fresh greens are hard
to find at a reasonable price. I went to the produce mart, and was delighted to
find that sunny California (well, except for our tragic wild fires) has
produced romaine lettuce at a decent price ($2.99 for three hearts of
romaine–the bunched romaine worked out to a similar price, oddly enough) to
provide at least six large salads. In a less sunny corner of the world, you
might need to purchase winter greens like turnip, mustard, or collards, but you
get the idea of how to narrow down your choices. Find your “hankering” first.
Hand over that cold cash second.
(C)
Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.
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