Day 20- Easy shopping

I'm excited. I imagined that preparing food from scratch would be cheaper in the end, but I didn't realize it would cut down the amount of product I buy and the amount of time I spend in the grocery store. I went grocery shopping today and finished in a record 33 minutes (it has taken me up to two hours before). Better yet, I had less, so I could bike it home instead of taking the bus.

I was able to fly past three entire aisles because they are nothing but crap- sodas, chips, even the cereal aisle is full of nothing but sugary junk (I've been buying uncooked muesli instead which is basically like eating a bowl of horse feed covered with milk but I still like it). Two aisles are dedicated to excessive cleaning supplies and beauty products and the frozen foods are all out of the question- nothing but packaging there. I was in and out so fast, I didn't even have a chance to drool over the Pepperidge Farm Sausalito cookies (god, those look good- I should bake some cookies tonight!)

What a girl will do to save $2 on the bus: homemade bike pannier! (this image should have heat waves rising from it as well since it was around 95 degrees)

I have two confessions: I bought fish that was packaged in styrofoam- and I feel bad about it- but it was on sale. I debated but the deli wraps things in thick paper anyway, so I figured it was worth saving a few bucks (and I was really, really tired and couldn't muster up the energy to talk to the deli-guy. Lame, I know). Also, I bought pre-packaged frozen fruits that I use for smoothies because I think it would cost me a fortune to buy a pound of berries and freeze them myself (but I haven't actually done the math on that one so I could easily be wrong- I'll compare next shopping trip). 

Everything else I bought was kosher to my plan. I chose whole carrots instead of a bag of baby carrots, and I brought my own produce bags. The total bill was $38.88, and although there are a few items I'll have to pick up still, I feel like I've got a lot to work with. I'm slowly building up my pantry, like a good Mother Hubbard... although her cupboard was bare so maybe that analogy doesn't work.

Free outdoor showing on the National Mall of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I enjoyed this free outdoor movie on the National Mall and borrowed two movies from the library that I've been meaning to see. I had to call Netflix because I didn't cancel it in time before I got billed again, but they refunded my money! 

Total spent so far: $320.44