Recession? $178.73 for Groceries

In the month of April, "only" 20,000 jobs were eliminated nation-wide.  Does this mean we're less likely to face a recession?  I do not know.  Those employed by the State of California are biting their nails waiting for the presentation of the budget (hopefully) later this month with the 10% across-the-board cuts.

I wonder how California's layoffs will affect the rest of the country.

All I know is that I spent $178.73 on groceries that are supposed to last for two weeks.  The clerk at FoodMaxx circled $47.82 on my receipt to show me my amount of savings, so presumably I would have paid $226.55 on groceries.  The kids aren't here this weekend so the meat and rice and noodles and other staples will probably last us through the end of the month.  

Here are some of the things I bought and their prices:

$4.29 for cream cheese

$3.97 for mayo

$4.49 for unbleached flour

(If I wanted to be very exact with this, I'd go through the cabinets and type in the ounces on everything, but I'm not going to).

Mostly, I wanted to stock up.  Running out of ketchup is nothing short of catastrophic for children, and they don't care about inflation or gas prices.  I bought egg noodles and the largest package of spaghetti even though we already had noodles for a combined $4.41.  I bought both white and brown rice and barley for $7.97.  I bought dry lentils and black beans as well as Olav's favorite Bush's baked beans for a combined total of $7.36.

I got a few luxury items like dish soap and toilet paper and corn on the cob.  We always spend a lot on produce.  Not counting the $40 we splurged on the Chico Farmer's Market, I put down $20.64 on produce.

Recession (or not) be damned, we're going to eat in style, at least for 2-4 weeks.  I have some creative meals to produce.  So stay tuned . . . .