Friday, June 19, 2009

Friday Food #12

Yesterday afternoon, the girls and I came home from a week in NYC (more on that trip later). On the way home from the airport, we stopped at our local grocery store to pick up a couple items so that we wouldn’t be eating frozen peas with barbecue sauce for dinner-- a little bit of fresh produce to tide us over until Saturday when we’ll stock up at the farmer’s market, some zit cream for the family reunion of pimples that is partying on my face, and some soymilk. When we made our way over to the milk section, my jaw literally dropped.

128 ounce Harris Teeter Milk - $1.97

I cannot remember the last time I have seen a gallon of milk less than $2.00 and more often than not it has been over $3.00. For a second, it made me a little sad that we don’t do dairy anymore (*see below if you’re interested in why we gave it up). But then I went over to grab my soymilk and saw that it was no longer $3.99 for a quart, but $2.47! I have no idea why the prices have suddenly dropped but I am NOT complaining!

This got me thinking—because this is what we use for our cereal (and in baking or smoothies) almost every day, even if they raise the price, we’re probably still going to buy it. There are lots of things that I will only buy when they are on sale, but soymilk is not one of them. I generally base what fruits and vegetables we’ll be eating on what is a good deal that particular week. I stock up on non-perishable and frozen items when they are on sale. But if we’re out of milk, I’m gonna buy it whether it’s on sale or not.

What are some things that you ONLY buy when they are on sale? If milk went up to $10 per gallon, would you still buy it? What are your splurges?

*About a month or so ago, we decided to take Kendall off of dairy to see if it helped her outdoor allergies—it was an amazing difference. She no longer needs to take the two daily medications that her allergist prescribed! But because of that, I decided that our whole family would give it up so that she didn’t feel like her alternative wasn’t as good as what the rest of us were using.

10 comments:

Megs said...

Milk is a must in our house hold. Blake is a milk and water kid. We got ours at Costco for $3.55 for 2. What a steal. I Love it. I would probably still have to buy milk even if prices went up. I usually only buy ice cream when it is on sale. I know we splurge on some things, but I can't think of them right now.

Erin said...

so that $1.97 milk? i got it for $0.47!! for reals.
0.75 coupon doubled so $1.50 off! pretty sweet. i am not much of a couponer but i think i might be now.

Marliese said...

Nice...I hope the declining milk price trend happens here in NYC. There's not much that we splurge on...I am a "wait for the sale" kind of person. But sometimes I am forced to buy produce regular price. We eat lots of apples, and it kills me when they are close to $2 per pound...but atleast it's a healthy splurge.

Kathy@DandelionsandDustBunnies said...

I bought milk for $1.58 at Wal-mart. I haven't spent more than $2.00 a gallon for over a year. I would still probably buy it if it went up to $3.00 a gallon though. I live for milk - the real stuff no soy - yuck.

merathon said...

wow, erin-- 47 cents definitely takes the cake. i don't think i've ever seen coupons for store brand milk!

molly kay said...

We are milk guzzlers in our house- about 3 gallons a week (I consider that guzzling for a fam of 4). I woul ddefinitely still buy it if it was really expensive. I cannot function w/o cereal and milk!Splurges when they are on sale for us are Turkey Hill ice cream and things like gatorade (my hubby and boys LOVE it) and specialty waters like skinny water and SoBe water 9I love those)!Everythng else I buy if it's on sale or not because we consume it on a daily basis. I also saw that Harris Teeter ad in the paper and freaked out- I pay $3.89. The nearest Harris Teeter though was too far. Bummer.

Mirien said...

I get milk for 1.50 so I buy 5 gallons a week. Back when it was more expensive, I just bought less. I like soymilk, and so do my kids, but that is one thing I only will buy if it's on sale--like two for the price of one, or something.

emilyaaa said...

meredith--have you heard anything about estrogen in soy? or something like that? My kids doc and my sister have both said something about soy being high in estrogen...or that it turns to estrogen? i dunno. it doesn't make sense to me, and i know absolutely nothing about it, but thought you might, o wise one!!

The Dahle Family said...

Yeah, Mer, you dietician. Do some serious research and give us your soy phytoestrogen findings in a Friday Food, k? I use powdered milk all the time, but we only really use it for cereal and cooking. I'd love to switch to soy, but it costs more and we're starving students. Or would be if I didn't know how to be such a cheapskate! I have looked into a soy milk maker, but I was a bit dubious about the taste, and Aaron was very dubious.

Jenn Knight said...

Mer-
Loved reading your blog... I'm so behind. I haven't read blogs in forever. Couple things about the soy milk-

Have you ever tried the organic soy milk at Costco? It costs $1 a quart, which is way cheaper than any of the others I've seen at regular stores. Plus, it tastes great.

I-like others- was really worried about the estrogen, so I am currently exploring raw milk. I have a friend here who only buys raw milk from a farm about 2 hours away. She sold me a gallon of hers when she went out of town. It took us 2 weeks to go through it, and we experienced none of the side effects we usually experienced with milk. My ped had a fit when I told her b/c raw milk is not pasteurized. Kurt also didn't like it. SO, I have not continued to get it... BUT, I noticed that they just started selling non-homogenized local milk that was pasteurized at Shaw's, so I bought it last week. It was delicious. It's UBER expensive, but it may be worth it if we don't have the regular milk effects.

anyway, just thought I'd add my milk saga in here. Sorry it's so long! :)