Changing the Way I Shop

I was forced to start running last week.

I'm not sure I was ready but I did it. As much as I hate running, I also love running that much too.

It makes no sense but it's true. I think it's because I feel like I'm getting somewhere and I can track how far I've gone.

Last Tuesday I went to get on the elliptical. My elliptical is cheap. You don't plug it in, it has batteries to control it. When the batteries go dead it is very hard to use it. As you guessed, on Tuesday the batteries went dead. The kids were watching TV and we only have one TV, so 30 Day Shred was not an option. My last option was to set up the treadmill in the garage. I did and now my running has started.

Aren't you glad I told you all that :)

Anyway, to continue with things to expect when changing the way you eat.

#3- I expected to change the way I cooked and expected to change what I eat but what I didn't expect is how hard it would be to change the way I shop.

I've been doing the grocery shopping in our house for 13 1/2 years. I always checked the sale paper before I went to the grocery store and made my list from what was in that paper. That is how I decided what our family was going to eat. By Price. 

The first week I went into Aldi I couldn't believe how difficult it was. That is when I realized not only was I retraining my brain with what I'm putting into my mouth, not only am I having to find all new recipes to cook, but I need to retrain my brain when it comes to my shopping. 

No longer can I buy according to price but I need to buy according to what is good for us. It was hard for me to go from buying the $1 bag of chips or pretzels to buying the $6 bag of pistachios. 

For the most part I have finally gotten past price but don't worry, this frugal girl still looks for the best deal. I have a whole list of the stores I shop at and who has the best deals. I've started shopping at Meijer because they seem to have healthier options at the best price. They also have good sales on produce. I still check sale papers but I only need to look at a couple of the pages. Meat and Produce. I also just found that there are two places in Meijer with raw almonds and the cheaper bag is in the baking aisle. Score!

I make more trips to the grocery store but they also are shorter trips. When you are buying produce, meat, and nuts only, you get to skip most of the grocery store. 

The top stores on my list are Meijer, Aldi, Jewel, and Produce Depot. If you have a membership to Costco, they also have healthier options than Sam's Club. If you don't, do what I do and head there with someone who does. I've also been trying GFS since you can buy in bulk without a membership. They don't have a ton but there are a few things that I found there that our family likes.