First Week of January Grocery Haul

I did a big grocery shop this morning. Monday morning, schools are back in session, we just had a holiday -- I thought early today would be a great time to grocery shop. I was right. The produce section was pleasant. Aisles were barely populated. And the line for checkout was short.

It had been several weeks since I bought much in the way of produce. You could really title this post "Fruit and Vegetable Haul." I did buy a couple of other foods, but as you can see, this is mostly fruits and veggies.

From left to right, front to back, this is what I bought.

1/2 lb sliced pepperoni (for pizzas, enough for 3 large)

4 Granny Smith apples, 98 cents/lb

1/2 lb mushrooms, 3.98/lb (Canada)

4 d'anjou pears, 98 cents/lb

8 navel oranges. 98 cents/lb

2 large green bell peppers, 68 cents ea (Mexico)

2 dozen eggs, 1.97/doz

2 bottles ketchup, 1.18 ea (smaller bottles were less expensive/oz than larger bottle)

8 cans tuna, 78 cents ea (tuna cans are shrinking, these were 4 oz, but still less per oz than the 5 oz cans -- **Edit: 4 oz is drained weight)

box black tea, 1.93

Roma tomatoes, 92 cents/lb

8 Cosmic Crisp apples, 1.28/lb

bananas, 50 cents/lb (Ecuador)

2 lb bag mandarins, 2.98 (we're near the end of peak tangerine season/best quality in my area)

8 avocados, 56 cents/ea (Mexico)

2 lb block cheddar, 6.48

1 gallon milk, 3.39

2 bundles celery, 1.27 ea

2 heads green cabbage, 78 cents/lb

large bag breakfast sausage, 6.71

10 lb bag carrots, 6.98

2 lb bag frozen broccoli cuts, 2.55

2 one-lb bags frozen cauliflower, 1.28 ea

2 one-lb bags mixed vegetables, 1.28 ea

1 can frozen orange juice concentrate, 2.82

2 five-lb bags organic flour, 6.63 ea

small bulk bag almond flour, 4.78/lb

tiny bulk bag nutmeg, 9.59/lb (I refilled McCormick small canister and had some leftover. I spent 86 cents for 1.44 ounces. Comparable amount in container at Walmart -- $2.46.)

large bulk bag rotini pasta, 74 cents/lb

large bulk bag shell pasta, 74 cents/lb

large bulk bag peanut butter powder PBFit brand, 6.08/lb

large bulk bag raisins, 2.48/lb

pint fresh ground peanut butter, 2.18/lb

Total spent today -- $114.80

If you buy canned tuna at the grocery store, check the ounces and unit price. I was shocked to see "regular" cans now 4 ounces. I remember when a standard can was 7 ounces, then 5 ounces, and now 4 ounces. Just how small will the cans eventually get? Despite the shrinking can size, canned tuna is still a good buy for seafood, at now $3.12/lb for me at WinCo. **Edit -- 4 oz is drained weight. Still, not a great thing.

I don't know what your produce prices look like these days. By buying just the lower-priced fresh fruits and veggies and the marked down price on select, store-brand frozen veggies, I was able to keep my arm and my leg this grocery trip. 

As it is now January, and the Visa bill covering Christmas is now due, I worked hard to shop smart today. I checked unit prices on all packaged foods. I took a look at the end caps in the produce section to find the better deals. And I bought select pantry staples from bulk bins. 

I hadn't planned on buying pears for us this week. But when I saw the price was as low as the least expensive apples, I bought one for each of us. I also hadn't planned on buying green peppers. At 68 cents each, it was a no-brainer to add a couple to my cart. And on those avocados, at 56 cents each, I wound up buying twice the amount I had wanted. We all love avocados here. You may wonder if we'll eat the Granny Smith apples fresh or baked into something. My daughter has promised to make another batch of caramel sauce/dip for these apples. Tart apples and sweet dip sounds like a wonderful winter treat to me.

In the freezer aisle, my plan had been to buy more petite peas and frozen spinach (if they had any). No frozen spinach, and the peas were no longer marked down to $1.28/package. So I wandered down that aisle to see what was marked down. Cauliflower and mixed veggies were. I added the broccoli cuts for variety. And -- the frozen broccoli cuts were less expensive than the fresh broccoli this week.

How long will all of this last us? 

The fresh produce will last two to three weeks, with carrots, cabbage, celery, and oranges lasting the longest for us. I'll keep the bulk of the avocados and tomatoes in the fridge until a few days before we want them. This will prolong the time we have variety in our fresh produce. I'll want bananas again late next week. Walmart's price on bananas is close to WinCo's, and Walmart is right around the corner from us. 

The pantry items will last one to three months (nutmeg even longer). We eat one large pizza per week, so the pepperoni will last 3 weeks. The bag of breakfast sausage will last about 3 weeks. The milk and eggs will last 1 1/2 to 2 weeks and will be the driving items prompting another grocery trip.

Our fruit bowl has looked pathetic for the last couple of weeks.
It finally looks respectable again.

Most of the fresh produce was USA. The peppers and avocados were produced in Mexico. And the bananas were from Ecuador. I don't know about the tomatoes. I forgot to check the bin and they don't have stickers. My guess they would be Mexico or possibly Florida. And the mushrooms are from Canada.

I thought these were all good to great prices for fresh produce in January, the month when I don't expect to find any deals. Of course, some of the fall produce deals are now gone. I didn't even see fresh cranberries and sweet potatoes this shopping trip. And celery was up from 97 cents/bundle to $1.27/bundle. 

Has your area had any good deals on produce since Christmas? How do my produce prices compare to your area? Are you seeing a lot of imported fruits and vegetables, or just a handful, as I did today?

A few of my favorite things . . .

I received several very nice gifts from family members this Christmas. I thought I'd share and tell one of them today.

My husband gave me a rechargeable handheld automatic scrubber set. And you may not have guessed it, but I specifically asked for this. Could I clean without a tool like this? I most certainly could. But this tool makes the work easy enough that I can "scrub" for more than an hour without needing breaks.

I put it to good use last weekend and did a thorough job on the tub and separate shower. It cleaned off soap scum, water and hair product residue, and basic oil-based dirt. The tub is acrylic and has a pebbled bottom. The bottom surface has been difficult to get thoroughly clean without using heavy chemicals. 

The pluses

The scrubber with a brush followed by scrubbing pad took care of that. The separate shower is tile and glass with an acrylic textured floor. The scrubber brush and scouring pad cleaned up the glass, and the scrubbing brush alone cleaned grout and the textured floor. The tool came with a crack and crevice brush which worked well in the corners. I even had time on the charge to do good detail work on the shower exterior. This is the cleanest all-in-one-go that the shower has looked since it was new. In the past, I've been able to scrub with brushes and pads for an hour or two on one specific area (like glass walls and doors), and then would work on another area the next week. I prefer having it all clean at one time.

I'm able to use less toxic cleaning solutions, like Mrs. Meyers, or even watered down vinegar. As I cleaned last weekend, I periodically rinsed surfaces with a spray bottle of just water. And I really used very little cleaning solution in total. 

It stores compactly and doesn't take up much space.

And, it will be useful in the kitchen for cleaning the stove top and scouring the bottoms of pots and pans.

The drawbacks

The charge lasts a little over an hour of continuous run time and takes a few hours to recharge. We all know that rechargeable batteries in appliances lose the ability to hold maximum power over time. The tool was inexpensive enough that I don't think it would be worthwhile to replace the battery when it no longer holds enough power for a cleaning session. But I could use it plugged in. Also, it requires a charging block, the kind that converts standard electrical outlets into USB charging ports. We have a couple of those around the house, so I simply used one of those.

Gifts that make my work easier or more pleasant are always welcomed by me. This was a great one.

Do you use powered equipment for cleaning surfaces? What's been your opinion?