I know I’m not the only one who sometimes notices what is in other people’s shopping carts. Today, if anyone would have looked into my shopping cart, they would have probably been very confused, because my shop was far from a typical grocery shop. I haven’t shared one of my grocery shopping trips with you in a while, but decided why not today?

Today my husband had off work, and I had some errands I needed to run in town, and while I was there, decided to go grocery shopping, sans all the kids. Just me and my lonesome. The last time I did that was too long ago to even remember, so it was really enjoyable for me!

The reason for my shop being “weird” was because I make and sell gluten free bread mixes, and I had so many orders that people wanted me to fill already, but I couldn’t fill them without having all the necessarily ingredients.
Only the ingredients are heavy, and I wanted to be able to deliver the bread mixes when I do my regular shopping trip, so I decided that I needed to do two separate trips- one in a few days to get my usual things from the market, and another today to get the base ingredients for my bread mixes, as well as the big and the heavy things that I can’t carry home easily when my stroller is already loaded with my usual groceries, in addition to the things I wanted to buy from places that are that are harder to get to if I am shopping with 4 kids.
And so, my shopping trip today was weird, but nearly everything I bought was premeditated and purchased to be as frugal as possible.

So, my first stop on my trip today (ok, second stop, because first was clothing shopping because my other clothes fortunately are now too big on me!) was at the nut store. I intended to buy broken almonds, since I was all out of almonds, but the store that often sells broken almonds cheaply was all out. However, they sell cashews cheaply as well, so I bought 1.5 lbs at $7.53 per pound. (Ok, I know, that doesn’t sound cheap, but given that most other places around here sell them for over $10 per pound, I consider this cheap.

After that, I stopped at my favorite health food store that sells some things cheaply, and stocked up on green buckwheat to turn into flour for my bread mix- it’s only $1.29 per pound there, and when I was buying it in bulk I was paying $1.36 per pound, so its worth it for me to buy it there. I bought approximately 25 lbs of green buckwheat, which made the shopkeepers a little surprised but that just provided me with the opportunity to teach them about how amazing green buckwheat is as a wheat substitute.
I also bought some xanthan gum (not cheap at all- about $25 per pound) and some flax seeds to use as an egg replacement (2.2 lbs at $1.29/lb).
Last but not least I bought some spelt flour- 4.5 lbs at ~$2/lb because I wanted to experiment with my kids and see how they handle spelt flour products, to see if they only react to wheat specifically and not gluten. Because of my own gluten sensitivity, I won’t be making bread with the spelt myself, but will be directing my 8 year old, Lee, how to make it so I don’t have to worry about breathing in gluten flour, which I was told can cause a gluten reaction in sensitive individuals.

After that, I went to the scratch and dent store. I went there with the intention of buying grape juice since we drink it regularly but they were all out. That store is usually hit or miss, so I never know what I’ll find when I get there. Instead of buying grape juice, I bought 5 bottles of wine- one was $3.42, but if you bought 5, you only paid $2.85 per bottle.
I also bought 2 bottles of champagne type drinks, to have for our anniversary date (which we haven’t had yet, even though our anniversary already passed) for $4.28 each.
Then surprise surprise I saw this gluten free flour mix that I’d heard lots about, that can be subbed 1 for 1 in nearly every recipe, even recipes that generally don’t work with gluten free flour mixes, because they’re finicky. This flour mix is usually a fortune, but at the scratch and dent store it was selling for $2.85 per package (usually it is twice that) so I bought 5. While I can make my own flour mix, that also involves grinding the flour, making a mess, and xanthan gum which, as I already said, is a fortune, so I figured why not try this out if its cheap.
I also bought a package of gluten free couscous, for a special treat, but I forget exactly how much it cost.

Then I walked over to a store that is supposed to be cheap, but only is cheap for some things. I bought 25 lbs of short grain rice, for my bread mix, at $1.01 per lb, 12 bars of dark chocolate at 45 cents per bar (an amazing price!), a 3 pack of tuna in water for $4.25- again not cheap but I was out and I didn’t want to have to pay to travel to yet another store for something marginally cheaper.
I also bought a package of macadamia nuts for $25 for 1.5 lbs, which is an extreme fortune, I know, but I have read that that is good in reducing inflammation in the body because of its omega 3/omega 6 ratios, so I wanted to be able to have some, sparingly… I also bought almonds, for $8.58 per lb, which is cheaper than I can find them at the market, if I can’t get them broken like I try to get…

I really needed chicken, since we were nearly out at home, but everything was really expensive. The second cheapest chicken there was, chicken wings, were $1.94 per lb, and everything else was much more than that. The only thing cheaper than chicken wings were chicken necks for 50 cents a lb, so I stocked up and bought 20 lbs of that, and only one 2 lb package of chicken wings. I’ll be exploring and figuring out all sorts of interesting chicken neck recipes to share with you, hopefully, because of what I got.

I also bought 2 packages of gluten free bread to try- they sell it cheaply but wasn’t sure if it tasted good- it is only $1.40 per package when usually it is upward of $5.70 per package in most other stores.

Since the scratch and dent store didn’t have any grape juice, I bought a big bottle at this grocery store, and honestly, it wasn’t so much more expensive than the stuff at the scratch and dent store, for better quality, so that was nice.

I bought 2.2 lbs of gouda cheese for $4.53 per lb- usually the cheapest I find any cheese is $5.19 per lb for less good quality cheese, so finding gouda for that price was terrific. Its my quick protein for my kids when they don’t feel like eating eggs, so why not?

And last but not least, I bought a package of sweet potato chips for myself as a treat. I didn’t eat it, but I am saving it for a time that I really feel I need some treat. And then it will be waiting for me.

So, there it is. My shop. Insanely heavy. Probably about 120 lbs of weight, taken on my stroller and in my backpack. Quite a workout.

And those looking in my cart would see zero produce. But that’s what I’m picking up in a few days from the market. Next trip.

And now I’m zonked.


So, what have you been buying lately? Any great sales? Anything you stocked up on?