Big Money

The biggest difference between Utah and California (besides the weather - which is WONDERFUL here!) is the food prices. $4.50 for a gallon of milk 8-o 

Now, feeding a toddler and one very very large man, you go through a LOT of milk. And groceries in general. When we went on our first shopping trip, prepared to stock our fridge and cupboards with food so we don't starve while waiting for our HHGs to arrive, I was fully prepared to spend an inordinate amount of money on groceries. Luckily, our paycheck came a day early, since the first is a holiday, so we had money to spend. 

I arrived at the grocery store, list in hand, ready to take a big bite out of our fresh paycheck.

Then all the money-smart grocery shopping skills came flooding back to me! I shopped the sales, price checked each item with similiar items, and bought 10 of something non-perishable or freezable so I could save some bucks in the long run. It was amazing! I spent SO much less than I thought I would, and we got lots of yummy food. I haven't had to shop like that for years (not since we shopped at Maceys). Shopping at WalMart is always super cheap, because you always have the WalMart brand to bring down your bill. Unfortunately, at a regular grocery store, even the store brands are often pretty expensive. Anyway, so I managed to save almost as much as I spent, and we have a well stocked pantry (for now). Oh yeah, as for milk, I was able to get milk for about $2.50 a gallon, which is just slightly more expensive than Utah. 

It's kind of weird, shopping for stuff I don't particularily need at the moment, but buying it because it's on sale, and eventually I WILL need it, so I might as well get it at the sale price. Like oatmeal, and frozen mac and cheese (since we're living off frozen food these days), and eggs, etc.

So food prices haven't gone up that much for us... I just have to keep reading the sale papers! Yay sales.