So this week I shopped at Shaw's. What I like about their receipt is that they tell you how much money you spent in each department. My total came to $73.75 (which invluded $0.56 of tax. On the roses I bought, I think). Anyway here's my breakdown:

PRODUCE - $28.53
FLORAL - $7.99
SERVICE DELI - $3.50
GROCERY - $18.70
DAIRY - $14.47

No meat, I already have enough at home. What does my "Grocery" consist of? Stewed tomatoes, curry powder (expensive!), wheat gluten, mango chutney (also expensive! but a recipe calls for it), and salad dressing. My dairy was lots of yogurt and a gallon of milk. "Service Deli" was one big thing of hummus.

I can't believe how awesomely healthy my grocery receipt looked!

Oh and I bought toothpaste and shampoo and stuff but I get all that stuff at Wal-Mart where its much cheaper. Only food I bought at Wal-Mart was salsa!

wow, curry powder and mango cutney costs around $1.99 in relatively large containers in my grocery store. The thing is, its not the priciest quality stuff, but it taste pretty good and its cheap :P

The curry powder was $4.50 and the chutney as $5.50. I couldn't BELIEVE how expensive it was. Everything is expensive around here, though. And they are both for the same recipe. This is why I HATE using cook books. It gets way too expensive. At lease the other two recipes I chose, I had most of the ingredients for already except for the veggies.

I get a weird sense of pride when I have a particularly healthy grocery list.

You could find a recipe to make mango chutney and use frozen mango, but that might not be any cheaper than just buying the chutney itself.

Is wheat gluten for making bread?

Oh - I sometimes make hummus, too. From either canned garbanzo beans or dried ones, tahini, etc. Very easy to make and turns out pretty delicious!

Yes, I make my own bread. No preservatives, dyes, HFCS, etc. I like all natural things Actually, I will use the whole thing of mango chutney because I am doubling the recipe. Thanks for the tip about the frozen stuff!

Man, I wish I could have such an inexpensive grocery bill. For three people, I spend anywhere from $110-150 a week on groceries! We don't even eat red meat or pork! That is boneless skinless chicken breasts, fish, fresh fruits and veggies and canned and frozen goods. I can't believe how expensive our food is and I don't see where we can really cut it down. I must say, though, that that figure also includes toiletries, toilet paper and things like that. But still...shouldn't be that much. I get our toiletries at Target or Walmart, too. You are right: much cheaper.

Well my Wal-Mart bill was $40. I usually spend about $130 a week for the 2 of us (plus 3 cats ).

Oh, I feel better now. I guess it's cheaper than the way we used to eat. I kept track of the grocery and restaurant bills for a year or so back in 2004 and in one month, we spent (per month) about $550 eating out and only about $150 in groceries! And I wonder how I got fat? Now, we spend around $100 or less eating out a month. So, it's still cheaper eating now and it's way healthier. I just wish it wasn't so expensive!

I find Shaws to be really expensive - same as Stop & Shop and Star Market - but their specials rock so I go in for those. Whole foods (the food not the store) are cheaper by far then processed.