10th Level of Hell

Dante missed a level of hell: Rainbow Foods on a Saturday afternoon. It was packed, bobbing and weaving was needed to find everything I needed. Weirdly enough I really enjoyed my time at the grocery store, what can I say I find grocery shopping sinfully delightful.

You would think a grocery list this long would have landed me in the 11th level of hell: financial hell.

But the other night I started reading some financial blogs, which started this budgeting frenzy.  I decided I really need to whole-heartily commit to low impact spending habits.  Since Rent and groceries are my main purchases, and rent is static that leaves me to budget in my groceries.
The Inspiring Financial Blogs:
The Simple Dollar
Money Pincher
Paying Myself
Fabulously Broke

What did I do to make sure I stayed out of financial hell during this trip to Rainbow?

Before I went to the store I checked gluttony, lust, and greed at the door and made a simple grocery list of necessities. O.k. and a couple delights too...I don't think I need to live a life of complete treachery.

While I was at the store I resisted all the expensive packaged food labels spouting heresy about the healthfulness of their products and stuck to my ideals.

I also kept a running list of all the prices I was racking up (rounding prices up instead of down) to make sure I didn't blow my budget.  This turned out to be the best idea ever, definitely doing this every time I go to the grocery store from now on!


So what did I end up with?

Two reusable grocery bags overflowing with $55 worth of whole foods and a couple treats.

Praying for a peek inside those bags? Lucky me I get to play God for a bit and grant your prayers...

The Veggies

(The veggies and fruit are in a pasta strainer because I have become obsessed with washing my fruit after seeing the amount of dirt my mom washed off a bag of apples awhile back.  From now on as soon as I get home from the grocery store I am washing everything so I won't be lazy later on and be eating pesticides and fertilizer!)
2 cucumbers

Avocado

5 Roma Tomatoes

3 Parsnips

Bunch of Celery

Bunch of Romaine Lettuce

Massive Bunch of Broccoli

Red Bell Pepper

2 lbs Carrots

The Fruit

(At the store I didn't notice all the fruit I got was yellow, orange, or red.  Oops missed out on some variety there!)

6 Bananas

1 Grapefruit

6 Gala Apples

2 Lemons

Miscellaneous

Dried Garbanzo and Northern White Beans

Dozen Eggs

2 Onions

Almond Breeze

Salsa

Hummus

Splurges

French Vanilla Yogurt

Mozzarella Cheese

Honey Mustard Dressing

Pecans

Creamy Wheat

All Natural Ketchup

Ooh All Natural Ketchup.  You are the answer to my prayers.  No high fructose corn syrup!  Now my lazy self can enjoy ketchup without feeling like I'm committing a sin.

Of course I dug into this ketchup as soon as I got home.  On a Quiche Breakfast Muffin from the refridgerator of course!

Ahh what a relief to finally have my refrigerators produce bin overflowing with whole foods again.  Instead of having to scrounge through my cupboards to find bulk bin foods and sinful packaged foods to somehow make a dinner.  I only had to go to the 10th level of hell and back to make my kitchen into heaven again!

Do you budget your spending on necessary things like groceries?