Let's Go Krogering

Now that Mr Daddy is back to work, I've had to change our schedule. Today was the first day I've went grocery shopping on a Sunday since before I had kids. Normally, weekends for me mean clean up and spending time relaxing in house... I hate crowds. I hate having to shop elbow to elbow with the masses of people who 9-5 it Monday through Friday. Monday is my normal grocery day. And Monday is also clearance day at the grocery.  Today is Sunday. And today, I shop.
I decided to leave Bug at home today, so I could just get in, out, and on my way. What should take an hour 45 total, tops, usually works out to about and hour and 15 minutes in Meijer, and an hour in Kroger with a 3 year old. I'm not complaining, but today I really just wanted to get shopping done instead of looky-loo'ing at everything. The time it takes to unload and load children, plus the 20 minutes we spend perusing the toy aisle, and the 15 it takes to get through the checkout, well, let's just say grocery day is a long day for me. And yes, I shop two stores. Price checking makes our grocery bill lower.
I spent a little more than usual this week, since we were literally out of everything. There were a couple boxes of spaghetti, a can of tomatoes, and some green beans left in the pantry, and condiments and a bag of raisins in the fridge. We still had a banana in the fruit bowl, and last nights leftovers for lunch today, but other than that, we were empty.
Surprisingly, Sunday afternoon wasn't too bad for shopping. Both stores netted me front row parking, and I only "ran into" a couple people. That may be due to the fact that I no longer shop the aisles. With our new lifestyle change, the food I buy now is on the outer edge of the store-produce, meats, cheeses, milk products. Aside from the spaghetti aisle (I don't have a pasta maker, but I'm sure if I did, I would be HOOKED on homemade pasta) and the pretzel aisle (with a three year old, you MUST have pretzels on hand at all times), and the baking goods aisle (flour, sugar, salt, etc), I have no use for the other aisles. Occasionally, I am forced to go down the canned goods aisle, and stock up on non perishables, but once I get canning learned, I won't even need that aisle.
So this weeks groceries, with 8 days of dinners, lunch food for Hubs, the big pack of TP, and plenty of chocolate, cost us... $85 at Meijer and $55 at Kroger. Not bad, considering we had nothing left to eat but the cardboard boxes the food came in, and I hadn't shopped in about 10 days.