I spent $31.42 on groceries today, my best laid savings strategies foiled by bait and switch advertising. $4.88 for 3-pound bags of honeycrisp apples. Sounds like a steal, only they don't have any of those, so I left with 3 pounds of granny smith for $4.99.
A pound of dried chickpeas for $1.99. Nope, had to buy cans instead and spent $2.07 for less food than the dried bag would have gotten me. No red lentils to be found, had to settle for brown. A pound of conventional carrots was supposed to cost $0.99, but they only had 2 pound bags, or I could pay more for a pound of organic (I bought more conventional carrots, which you will see below was probably a wise decision). No generic grits, had to buy the brand name.
The costliest switch: the deal on potatoes that looked online like I could get 5 pounds for 2 dollars required me to "buy one get one" of either the same potatoes or a 3 pound bag of onions.... so I took the onions and have way more than I need for the week (it was the cheapest way to get the potatoes and onions I do need, because the next smallest bag of potatoes was two pounds for $3.49, and I need 3 pounds, so this way I got my 3 pounds, plus 2 more pounds I can turn into potato pancakes or home fries or hash browns, plus the onions, for $3.99)
A pound of dried chickpeas for $1.99. Nope, had to buy cans instead and spent $2.07 for less food than the dried bag would have gotten me. No red lentils to be found, had to settle for brown. A pound of conventional carrots was supposed to cost $0.99, but they only had 2 pound bags, or I could pay more for a pound of organic (I bought more conventional carrots, which you will see below was probably a wise decision). No generic grits, had to buy the brand name. The costliest switch: the deal on potatoes that looked online like I could get 5 pounds for 2 dollars required me to "buy one get one" of either the same potatoes or a 3 pound bag of onions.... so I took the onions and have way more than I need for the week (it was the cheapest way to get the potatoes and onions I do need, because the next smallest bag of potatoes was two pounds for $3.49, and I need 3 pounds, so this way I got my 3 pounds, plus 2 more pounds I can turn into potato pancakes or home fries or hash browns, plus the onions, for $3.99)
But the bait and switch that got me mad enough to complain was related to fresh greens. Collards were advertised at $1.29 a bunch. There were none. There was a sign for kale at $0.99 a pound so I thought that would be an ok substitute, but they had no bunches of kale either. They only had pre-packaged, pre-chopped kale "on sale" at 2-16oz bags for $5, or $2.50 a pound. (!) In the end I bought 2 10-oz boxes frozen for 1.19 each.
After all this I could not afford to buy the frozen fruit I was going to have with my grits in the morning, or any milk with which to make the grits, which would have at least given me one serving of dairy a day. I still have $1.58 but that isn't enough even for raisins to put in the grits. Maybe I will buy a single serving of lactose free yogurt, since I am getting 0 dairy this week. More nutritional analysis to come soon....
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