“Am I allowed to say that looks heavy?” my physical therapist asks me as I walk into my appointment, pushing my collapsable metal shopping wagon, filled with my recent grocery shop.
“Yes, I know, but I don’t have a car, and I can’t shop online and get prices anywhere near this good.” Which is why I had that heavy wagon with me. She understood, even though she probably didn’t approve, since I was coming to get her help with my chronic back pain, and pushing a heavy wagon isn’t exactly helpful to that.
Lately grocery prices, especially produce prices, have been preposterous everywhere I am shopping. Even the usual cheap/discount grocery stores.
However, there has been one place that I have been consistently been able to find decently priced groceries- right near my physical therapists’ office. I’ll call this the “Yes!” store (since its name in our local language is similar). So I planned on going there before my session, and this time came prepared with my wagon, so I wouldn’t injure myself too much carrying everything in my arms and on my back (not to mention risking ripped bags spilling everywhere).
Yes, this isn’t good for my body, but until I have the ability to rent a car to bring with me grocery shopping and other places, I don’t really have so much of a choice whether or not to carry heavy things, because I am unable to order everything online unless I’m willing to pay exorbitant prices, which I am not. So heavy shopping it is. But my wagon does make things easier, at least.
I don’t have a picture of my shop this time because my kids were so excited to see the stuff when I came home with it that they attacked the cart, but since it was such a great shop I couldn’t just leave it out and not post it.
Unlike previous shops at the Yes! store, this time I pretty much only bought produce. Not all the produce was on sale, but even the ones that weren’t on sale were still a much better price than what is being sold in any of the “cheap” local stores.
The produce that was on sale at 11 cents a pound was:
- Potatoes
- Cucumbers
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Cabbage
Because of the incredible sale on these items, there was a limit of how much you could buy at that price, only 6.6 lbs, but I came in beneath that amount because I was limited in how much I could carry.
I bought 8.5 lb of potatoes,because they came in sacks so I couldn’t get the exact amount, but only got the first 6.6 lb on sale, paying a still decent price of 37 cents a pound for the rest. Total for my potatoes was $1.70. Not bad at all.
Cucumbers, unfortunately, don’t usually get finished before spoiling in my house, so despite the sale, I made sure not to buy too many, so I only bought 3 lb for “grand total” of 35 cents.
I bought 2 packages of carrots, 5.1 lbs, because those are one thing that never spoils in my house because they are a staple and last a long while, for only 59 cents.
I bought 4.7 lbs of tomatoes for only 55 cents!
I bought 1 head of cabbage which was 4.8 lbs, which meant I couldn’t get another head at that same price, because it would put me over the 6.6 lb mark. For my 4.8 lb head of cabbage I paid a grand total of 56 cents!
The rest of the produce, even though not officially on sale still had so much better prices than locally.
Mango, which is a huge treat for my family, was only 77 cents a pound, when it is approximately twice that in my local store. I bought 8.1 lb for only $6.22.
Watermelon is something that I have barely bought this summer, because it is heavy, so even when it is being sold for a “cheap” price like 50 cents a pound, weighing in at 15-20 lbs on average for a smaller one, they end up being around ten dollars for just one fruit. So I only have purchased it when I saw it as cheaply as possible. This store was selling a watermelon for 25 cents a pound, which made me decide to buy one, even though it meant lugging it home. This watermelon weighed in at 17.2 lb, which made it total $6.70.
Cantaloupe is in season, which means I expect it to be dirt cheap, but it hasn’t been. Locally I’ve been seeing it for no less than 65 cents a pound. So seeing it being sold for 25 cents a pound, I bought a 7 lb one for $1.77.
Zucchini is something I like to have on hand in my house because I use it for so many recipes, and I haven’t been seeing it for less than 90 cents a pound, so when I saw it for 50 cents a pound I bought 2.5 lbs for a total of $1.26.
Onions are a staple in my house and I also expect them to be cheap, but I’ve been seeing it for 50-60 cents a pound lately, which I loathe because I will buy onions no matter the price. This store was selling onions for 25 cents a pound, so I bought 6.4 lbs for $1.57.
Last but not least, the one non produce item I got was pasta. They were selling 5 packages of pasta for $2.54, and 51 cents a package is literally the cheapest I’ve seen pasta in years, so I bought 5 packages.
Total for my shop? $23.81!
For that much stuff, that is a steal! Of course, it was worth it for me to bring them back in my wagon, despite being heavy.
Have you gotten any great deals lately?
