The Real Shopping Cart 19/12/24
Image description: sliced pork chops over spinach, radishes, crushed seeds and nuts and dressing on a blue plate.
HIGHLIGHTED MEAL
Apricot-mustard pork chops
INGREDIENTS
boneless pork chops
baby spinach
radishes
Campbells no-salted added chicken broth
clementine
Dashi miso paste
Smuckers double fruit apricot spread
Extra virgin olive oil
Tre Stelle lactose free feta cheese
whole grain mustard
homemade salad topping mix:
(chopped almonds, hazel nuts, pistachios, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds
white wine vinegar
COST
$9.08 for two people, $4.54 for one serving.
BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL
6.1
DISCUSSION
Charles has found a way for me to have a little bit of jam when called for in a recipe. When a recipe asks for two tablespoons, we only use one, and we find jam with as low a sugar content as possible. The apricot spread fits the criteria. Dashi and broth are great flavour enhancers. We use them in soups, stews and sauces. Lots of recipes call for a salad topping. The store-bought varieties are quite expensive and many contain dried fruit, which amps up my blood sugar levels. Many also contain pepitas, a type of seed with a very hard shell that I cannot have because it can cause bowel obstructions. We make our own, choose the types of nuts and seeds I can have if we crush the hell out of them in our food processor. We never used to eat much pork, but we have found it to be a cheap and delicious source of protein. Like with all our meat, we buy it on sale and in club pack sizes, freezing it into two-portion servings and putting it in the fridge the night before to thaw. Due to Charles’ lactose intolerance, we try to buy lactose free cheeses, which can sometimes be hard to find and pricey. We love the Tre Stelle lactose free feta. Charles found an 850-gram container of it at Real Canadian Super Store for $2.35 per 100 grams. Prior to that we’d been buying it at Walmart for $3.49 per 100 grams, so this is quite a savings. It lasts for a long time in the fridge. We use it on salads and in omelets. The meal is lovely and we have it often.
This Week’s Cart
Stores considered this week were Metro.ca, Walmart, Massine’s, Isabella Loblaws, Kowloon and Farm Boy, which are within walking distance, and the Real Canadian Superstore, Metro Rideau and Food Basics, which are accessible to us by public transit.
If we could get the cheapest price at all the stores, the total amount would be $149.22.
By combining delivery from Walmart and the Real Canadian Superstore, plus a few strolls to local stores, Charles has obtained a price of $156.19 for this week’s shopping list, only five percent higher than the cheapest price if we could shop all the stores.
In this week’s chart each store on its own will cost a shopper anywhere from twelve to forty-two percent more or an extra $62.63. Any store that provided less than twenty-nine of the thirty-five items we were looking for was disqualified.
I wish you nutritious, delicious and affordable meals, lingering conversations with loved ones, joy and whimsy.
If you like what I do, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or sharing this post with friends, or buying me a coffee.
Thanks to subscribers and coffee buyers!