Stocking Up

Friday the 13th maybe have been unlucky for other people, but for us it was pay day, and you know what that means: I can go buy groceries! Hooray! For the week preceding, I had been scraping meals together out of the few things I had left. There were lots of eggs-- poached, preferably. There was toast, with a scrape of butter. There was zucchini since I had, in my wisdom a few weeks before, purchased about a dozen. There was cereal. Dry, since I was out of milk, but tasty nonetheless. My freezer was empty save a bag of ice and some sad looking strawberries. The fridge contained only hummus of an indeterminate age, some long forgotten romaine, and a collection of salad dressings. I had eaten the last of my pasta. All my handy stir fry dinners had long since been devoured. In short, I was consuming nutrients. I only half count that as really eating.

I go to the grocery store about once a month, and stock up, as if for a siege. Since I try very hard not to go out to eat, I have to buy enough staples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next several weeks. In addition to eating cheaply, I also try to make sure my diet is relatively healthy. (Relatively because a life without the occasional treat is a life not worth living.) It's hard to do that on a budget, but with the help of a few great cooking websites and Trader Joe's, I manage to do alright.

Here are the things I always stock up on:

Rice, because it's long lasting and a good base for my bento box lunches

Pasta, because it makes for nice dinners, which then make delightful leftover lunches

Chicken. I buy boneless, skinless breasts, filet them myself at home, then put them in individual bags in the freezer. That means I always have some kind of easy protein on hand, and I never have to worry about any of it going bad. They sell chicken prepackaged this way and it's $10 more a pound! Ridiculous!

Oatmeal. It's my favorite breakfast. When I'm being good, I buy in bulk and make it at home on the stovetop, but I like to keep some of the instant kind around so I can throw it in my purse and eat it at work on a rushed morning.

Omega Trek Mix from Trader Joe's- It's a bit pricey, but it's one of my favorite afternoon snacks--healthy and tasty. They come by the pound or in handy individual packets of a stow-in-the-purse nature.

Potatoes. Long lasting, delicious, versatile, and totally cheap. Everyone should eat potatoes. Preferably with lots of butter.

Milk. I know not everyone likes milk, but I drink it by the gallon. I buy a gallon and, if I drink it sparingly, can still finish well within the expiration date.

Breaded frozen fish and frozen chicken patties. These are great for a hurried morning. I just pop them in the toaster oven while I shower and by the time I'm done, they are ready to toss into my bento. And at just a couple dollars for enough patties to last me weeks of lunches, I'd say it's a pretty good deal, too.

Here are my splurges:

A bottle of cabernet sauvignon. It was a mid-range price. I figure I don't drink wine often so it may as well be good. I intend it to last over the course of a few meals.

A pot of hydrangeas. Here's my logic: I love having flowers in the house. Cut flowers cost as much as the pot. If I can keep the potted plant alive, my flowers will last way longer and therefore be far more cost efficient. That, of course, depends on my keeping the flowers alive...

A box of French truffles. Sorry guys, I'm not perfect.

I also got a bunch of fresh vegetables and one of those giant bags of Clementines. Since I bring my lunch to work every day, I like to make sure that I am eating some fruits and vegetables, not just carbs and meat. This is also in keeping the philosophy of bentos, which I will go into further in a later post. If you're curious in the meantime, check out http://justbento.com/handbook/bento-basics

With all my delicious food stowed tidily in the kitchen, I feel I could weather a storm or an earthquake, or even the four weeks before I can go grocery shopping again.