All in a day - Shopping

Well this is a bit late, but it is also the first time this week I have had time to think.

Shopping in a large family for us has changed as the kids have aged, which is a good thing by the time their appetites have grown to the point that the kids and the food will not fit in the van at the same time I have children old enough to babysit.

When the oldest 5 were all under 9 we used to all go shopping together, and it worked because I had one rule and was not afraid to enforce it. If  any child did not behave with store manners then mommy would give the cart to the nearest store employee apoilze that I was not able to finish shopping at this time and we went home. The offending child then had to explain to daddy why we were having rice and beans for dinner and not the chicken that mom said was for dinner. This only happened about once a year and also we only lived 5 min from the stores.

Then we moved and we are now 45 min from alot of the stores and leaving and going home is no longer a option, but they have also grown so the food and the kids do not fit in the van at the same time. So shopping day happens two different ways now, during the school year I either shop alone while they are in school or I shop with a friend. During the summer and school breaks I use shopping day as a chance to spend some time with the older kids one or two at a time, sometimes I will take them all but not offen. On the very rare times I will have my husband do the shopping on his way home from work, but it is not something he really enjoys doing.

We shop every two weeks and buy in bulk, if meat reaches my price point then we buy what is needed for the next month or more. Like boneless chicken breast when they reach 1.49 lb for a 40 lb case we buy them, ground beef when it reaches 1.69 lb or less, roast I aim for 1.99 or under.

We buy potatoes in the 50lb bag, bananas buy the case when on sale, rice by the 25lb bag, and so on. Since we shop every two weeks if there is a new cashier at Aldi's I will at times get asked for my tax except form as they think I am buying for a group home. I guess seeing two carts filled with 14 gallons of milk, 14 loafs of bread, and more gives that impression.

I have a large pantry that I keep stocked, buying alot of things when on sale. Like this week peanut butter is 99 cents so we spent 20 dollars on peanut butter.  We shop at Aldi's, Maine's ( a restaurant supply store), Wegmans, Sam's Club, Weis and Price Chopper ( for their loss leaders), and Pine Ridge ( a local bulk food store), and Frog Pond ( a local farm stand ), CVS and Rite Aid. We do not shop each of these stores each time we shop some are 1x a month, some are every 2 months.

Here are some older pictures of a shopping day.

And the trunk was also filled.

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