Mindful shoppers with waste-not mentality, that’s Vijay and me. We pretty much depend on grains, dals, vegetables and fruits for our nutritional needs, with an occasional splurge here and there. We try to maintain a tight budget and do not like to overspend. Inji Pennu’s event has prompted me to share my grocery bill with you all. I don’t know how useful you would find this bill display, but here it is:
My grocery bill for this week ~ for Inji’s Grocery Bill Event
I shop at DK Market, Renton these days for my grocery needs. The prices are low, the produce is fresh and wax free. And, we can get both Asian and Western variety vegetables and fruits. To the $ 23 above, add another $ 7 for milk, Garlic Naan and pita bread from Trader Joe’s for a total of $30. This is for two adults (with an occasional guest/friend dropping in) for one to two weeks. I may spend another ten dollars this week at Pike Place for fresh, plump peas and other seasonal vegetables and fruits.
Harvest Share: if you are a Seattle based hobby farmer or backyard grower, blessed with bountiful harvest of vegetables and berries this season, and looking for mindful consumers to share, please contact me at mailmahanandi@gmail.com for veggie-fruit exchange.
ten cents for a lime? that means ten limes for one dollar. What a deal!
Comment by Ramani — May 10, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
that looks like my grocery bill 🙂
Comment by Anonymous — May 11, 2008 @ 1:07 am
Indira, that Veggie-Fruit exchange is a great idea. My neighbor shares his Gongura leaves and egg plants and I share my bitter gourds with him. Deal right?
Comment by indosungod — May 11, 2008 @ 6:42 am
I live in Scotland in the UK and most of the items you list would cost me much more, a lime for example would be around 18 pence which with an exchange rate of around two dollars to the pound makes our food much more expensive. Petrol (Gas) for my car was around £1.20 a litre today, which makes it around $10 for a US gallon
For everyday fruit and vegetables we subscribe to a CSA
http://www.earthshare.co.uk
and for around $12 a week we get a great box. Every place should have a CSA!
Exchange rates are not always a good indicator of costs, the average gross UK salary is around £23-24,000 per annum
Chools
Comment by Chools — May 11, 2008 @ 8:10 am
We have a grocery store named “Valley produce” and they have really good and fair priced vegetables. I sometimes even get “Dosakaya” and ” Gongura leaves” from this store. Its one of the favorite places of all Indians here in my area 🙂 You go on weekends and you might think that you are in one of the vegetable markets in good old Mumbai 🙂
Comment by Anjali Damerla — May 11, 2008 @ 8:42 am
Hi Indira,
Your grocery looks much like mine. I expect my Indian store groceries to be higher when I shop Indian. Thanks for sharing.
Comment by Sapna — May 11, 2008 @ 8:57 am
Wow Indira! Groceries there are very cheap! All those items are so expensive in our city – especially the limes – we get 3 for $2!
Comment by Madhavi — May 11, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Wow, this makes me nostalgic. With two kids under 10, our bill has not seen these amounts in years. It is easily 5 times that just for produce and then add in the milk, lunches etc and it is comfortably in 3 digits each week. Plus hubby and I after becoming vegetarian have gotten lazy about portion control and can easily polish off 2 lbs of veges for 1 meal.
Comment by Rainee — May 11, 2008 @ 10:23 am
I am in AWE of both you and Inju. I consider myself pretty frugal, buy in bulk, and I cook most everything from scratch, but my weekly grocery bill is $35 for ONE person. I eat meat/fish rarely – maybe once every 2 weeks – and when I do it climbs up to $40 or more. I have made it a goal for myself to menu plan more in June, and to hold to my weekly budget. When I menu plan it stays low, when I impulse buy it can easily exceed my target budget. Lastly, I agree with everyone else – that’s an awesome price for limes!
Anjali: The farmers markets here in northern CA often have gongura leaves and drumstick leaves in summer. I can’t wait!
Comment by Diane — May 11, 2008 @ 10:37 am
Indira,
wow 10 limes for a $1.oo!!! This is a really good place to buy. Prices are much more here 🙁 Lime has gone up to 3 for a Dollar
Comment by sandeepa — May 11, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
Prices are very low in seattle. Same kind of purchase would cost more than $30 here in northern CA.
Comment by vicki — May 11, 2008 @ 8:30 pm
How many two-person meals would this serve?
Comment by Carey — May 12, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Wow !!! Indira! This place is awesome. Since you have stamped it “wax-free” will definitely try it out this weekend.
Comment by Mythli — May 12, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
Wow, all the prices are so low. Okra in Dallas is never below 2.49 per pound. I paid 1.49 per pound for Daikon last week. Same kind of purchase would have cost much much more here.
Comment by Gowri — May 14, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
Interesting, may be once I am back home, I shall display my weekly grocery bill too….it will interesting for people from other parts of the country / world to compare!
Comment by Nandita — May 15, 2008 @ 3:30 am
Your beautiful photos and recipes have helped nudge me closer to being a vegetarian. Out of curiosity just now, I pulled out the grocery receipts for the last 5 weeks, and I am amazed at how much money we are saving!
Comment by Hilary — May 15, 2008 @ 10:48 pm