Costco Shopping this Week

I think I am making up for being under budget the first part of the month. And my kids are growing and eating more, sheesh. The grocery budget has been the same for nearly 2 years (since we began paleo), except that instead of ages 3 and 1, the kids are now 5 and 3 = and eating more than ever. A pound of meat used to be enough meat for one dinner for the 4 of us (with sides, sauces, veggies, salad, whatever else, etc.) But it is hardly cutting it anymore. We've cut back a lot on milk. My oldest child hasn't been drinking much of it at all, which I am fine with, but then I have to buy other food to replace those calories. Our milk (raw, from the farm) has been my convenient way to fill them up :) Until now. Now I have to chop or cook more :)

At the end of this week, I went to Trader Joe's (Thursday), Price Chopper (just a quick run in for a roast on sale), Costco (Friday), and Aldi (Saturday). I may head to Hy-Vee on Tuesday before the specials change on Wednesday. This week is not the norm. I usually try to stick to 2 stores. Let's just say there were several completely bare shelves in the fridge before I shopped!

Two little older ladies in Costco were munching on spaghetti samples as my daughter and I rolled by. One peered into my basket and remarked to her friend, "Now there's a healthy cart!" And then to me, "Good job, honey." It was pretty cute. I said thank you.

I know this is not a perfect shopping by any means, but here are my Costco items, from my most expensive grocery shopping trip this week. Cheese? Dairy? Yes. Sigh. They should last awhile. I am trying to cut down on nuts for cost reasons, and I tend to put one or the other in lunches.

Costco $77