Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Its harder now to make a dab do....

Finally today, I got to go "once a month shopping"! Whew!

Last month I never went and I ended up spending about as much or a little more, by just picking up this and that and winging it, and it didn't last as long. I kept running out of stuff and was scraping the bottom of the freezer by the time I was able to get around to shopping time again.

But now- oh what joy to walk into the pantry, or open up the freezer, or peer into the fridge and see so many choices! Ah! What a blessing!

When I had just 2 or 3 children, I could whip up a dab of this or that and make do. But with this big of a crew now, there is no making a ''dab do''. Their bellies are too big and there's too many of them!

But when my pantry shelves are lined and I know there's toilet paper ;-), I'm happy as a lark! No need to panic, I can kick back and know- I don't have to run to the store for supper! ...A kid gets hungry- no problem, I can whip up a snack in minutes or tell them to grab an apple until I get the meal cooked and ready.

Now that I'm in the habit of this form of shopping, I have found it very hard to do it any other way. For example, dh said 'why don't you just go get enough to tide us over', the other day. I stood there bewildered. I didn't know how I could do that and not blow my budget because I'm used to buying from different stores, according to prices, and I'm used to buying quantities. Sounds crazy, but its true.

There's also another benefit, which applies to this shopping trip. That is, if the weather turns bad and traveling becomes a problem- there's food here! Part of not waiting any longer to get my shopping done was because our state is under a winter storm watch towards the end of the week and I would lots rather be out building a snowman than standing in the kitchen saying "what on earth am I going to cook?"!

And yes, I must confess, and I guess you've noticed, that I DO get somewhat euphoric with all of this food in the house. But you should see how the rest of them get when I bring it all in!......:-)

6 comments:

Joy said...

I love being able to go to the grocery store as well, always thought I was crazy to feel that way..glad to know I am not the only one!
Were there any good deals this time? I am trying to incorporate more whole foods here at our house, while trying to eat out of the pantry for a month(crazy I know). Where do you get your boxes of apples?
I so hope we get snow don't you guys! I wish we could get 2 feet of it! Well hope you are well so glad you got to go shopping! Can't wait to see what you "whip" up with your new groceries!
Joy

Donna said...

I usually buy apples from Leo's. He almost always has extra in the cooler! I've also bought a huge bag of carrots and a box of cukes from him before. They are so good to work with you.

I would LOVE 2 feet- as long as we don't lose power. I already told the kids, if we lose power, you won't be able to play in it because there will be no way to get warm!

Joy said...

We have a wood stove, but I don't want anyone to be out of power either..but I would love to at least have enough for sledding! Woo hoo that would be fun
Joy

Donna said...

Yeppers!
I hope it snows as much as the power lines will take! :-)

I got jonagold apples for $32 at Leo's.

Tonight, every store in town was out of basic loaf bread, and those running ground beef on sale were completely sold out!

I love to go to town before a snow-lol. My oldest ds said, if they'd call for a snow storm once a week, the economy would be just fine- -kids! ;-)

Lisa said...

It's a great feeling to have your pantry well-stocked. While we didn't get maybe even an inch of snow, out in the woods, we are stuck. We've been out here because the roads are so bad, but with a woodstove and lots of food and water we are all set.
thanks for your post:)

Donna said...

Lisa,
Sorry to hear you're stuck- but grateful that you have food and a woodstove!

We have about 2 inches or so here... the roads look glassy,
so we'll just stay put too ;-)