I’m becoming increasingly aware now of the rising cost of food. There’s just no way to get around it anymore. My most recent shopping trip to Aldi (I try to go every 7 to 10 days) resulted in a receipt of $151.32. WTF did I buy? And to top it off, I returned to Aldi the very next day because I forgot to buy eggs and then noticed some of the food items they didn’t have the day before, Aldi now had, so I spent an additional $23.18 just to stock up with my usual supplies. I normally go to 3 stores when I food shop. My number one choice is Aldi to get the basics. I then go to Shop Rite but only buy their loss leaders for the week. I then go to a produce-gourmet type establishment, Adams, to get good quality deli meats, cheeses and local produce. The latter is very, very expensive but the quality, I estimated, is worth it because the fruit and produce from either Aldi or Shop Rite doesn’t last very long (I oftentimes find myself tossing it in the garbage).

Nonetheless, as per my billing cycle, which ends on the 19th of every month (as per my charge card) I have spent $619.66 so far, which is a far cry from the $450 I try to spend each month on groceries only. And I still have 9 more days to go in this billing cycle! I bought very little for our upcoming Easter meal as I already had a 20 pound turkey in my freezer left over from Thanksgiving. Normally, we serve leg of lamb on Easter but at a cost of $45 to $50 for said lamb, this will be the first year we are going without.

Needless to say, my shopping for the month of April has come to an end. If we run out of something, too bad! Get used to it. I’m not going to go broke over food!

In addition to the portion controls I have now put into place for our meals, I’ve been also reducing ingredients as another means of curtailing the rising food prices. For example, when I make pizza dough from scratch, my recipe calls for 3 cups of flour and a full packet of yeast. I’ve cut that back to 2 cups of flour and a half-packet of yeast. The crust is a bit thinner, which some people may like, but the dough rises just the same as if I had used a full packet. I’m topping off my pizza with little bits and pieces of leftovers, such as a half sliced real, ripe tomato or as in this instance, little dollops of ricotta cheese:

I got a good deal on country-styled pork ribs last week @$1.79 a pound. I made them BBQ flavored and they were quite good and meaty:

I also stretched a whole boneless chicken breast by cutting it into chunks, marinating it and serving it over a pita as a souvlaki, topped with tzatziki sauce and a side of cous cous:

To keep up with our Friday fish nights, I pan fried some frozen/thawed cod fillets and served it on a hamburger bun, topped with home made tarter sauce:

Lastly, growing up in Brooklyn NY, my parents swore that anything baked by Entenmann’s was the best thing on earth. Mr. Entenmann just recently died and in his honor the local grocery store here, Shop Rite, was selling two-fers. For only $4, I could buy two Entenmann’s pound cakes. Normally, these pound cakes cost $5.75 each, thus the reason why I haven’t had these delights since my childhood, at least 40 years ago! Many of the other Entenmann’s cakes are priced upwards of $7.00 each! Anyway, I couldn’t pass up the super low price of $2 for each pound cake (you had to buy two to get the low price). Hubby got a marble pound cake, I got the butter one. Needless to say, the pound cakes didn’t disappoint. The pound cakes brought back many, many happy memories. Thank you Mr. Charles Entenmann. You done good! Dead at 92 years old, click here. May you Rest In Peace.

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