Analyzing our grocery outing today and man, gluten free foods are pricey!
K3 is getting low on staple foods, ie… cereal, bread and prepared snacks. So, a trip to the market was in order. I have two options, 1- head to Whole Foods (my first choice) which is a 45 minute drive each way or 2- head to the natural food section at the local grocery which is only 25 minutes round trip. Since I was low on time before the bus arrived with K1 and K2, I opted for choice 2.
How it all breaks down… a stop at the local coffee shop on the way out of town for 2 child size soy milk cocoas and one giant sized blended tasty for Mum. Add $8.00 with tip.
Driving the truck for our 20 mile round trip run to the grocery, using about two gallons of gas. Add $8.00.
Forgetting that my reusuable shopping bags are in the Prius which Oregon Dad drove to work today. Add $4 for more bags.
$20.00 spent before getting any groceries! Eeeeeek.
Oh, yes and just a quick rant about children’s medicine. I do not like dyes and artificial flavorings and all children’s medicine is loaded with it! Anyone care to discuss why I should give my ADHD inclined child medicine full of red dye which is shown to affect behavior? I made K3 learn to swallow pills at age 5 to avoid all that gunk! However, Little Critter is only 3 and hasn’t mastered that art just yet (plus dosing is trickier with a kid that young!) She has been running a fever and is showing signs that she too has an ear infection. I ALWAYS wait at least 3 days before heading to the Doctor… however we do rely on Ibuprofen for the pain in the meantime. The grocery didn’t carry dye free Ibuprofen suspension… in this case I would have sprung for the $2.00 price difference to get the Motrin brand suspension, but alas, there wasn’t a dye free variety available there either. I ended up with the bubblegum flavor generic for $3.59.
Back at home, I put away the groceries and prepared boxes for our craft projects. We will be making cereal box (and any other box) wallets (see http://www.replayground.com). The kids are excited. Stay posted.
Today’s Green Tip- Change your lightbulbs to compact fluorescents. This will shave up to 66% off your lighting related energy costs and if you catch a great deal like I did (.99 each at Lowes) It won’t cost much to get started. Just please, oh please, don’t buy them at Wal-mart.
Meant to discuss the pill thing on this post- oh well, you know what I’m sayin’
I switched to CF’s last month and am anxious to see the price difference. I purchased them at Target- and wish I would have checked Lowe’s- it’s right across the street from Target! I bought 2 lamps at Target that same day- found out Lowe’s have the same thing $10 cheaper. Too lazy to pack it all up and return it!
How do the Envirokids bars taste? ok?
The EnviroKidz bars are quite tasty… kind of like a rice krispy treat. The kids LOVE Chocolate, with Peanut Butter being a second choice and refuse to eat the berry ones.
Another favorite is the Cocoa Loca bars by Enjoy Life… Chocolate of course. All the kids want to eat them!