So I have this incredible weakness. It's called luxury. A friend of mine told me once that I'm a girl with a champagne lifestlye, kool-ade budget. hehe. Boy, was she right. I managed yesterday to head to the Giant Eagle Market District- which is the mothership of all Giant Eagles. I'm talking the produce/bread/meat section of the store is the size of a normal store, and the selection is wonderful. they have an entire cheese section and a candy store. Talk about my dream... Besides the fact that me and BF always forget that we should skip a meal before going (free samples run free in this place), we always forget that we always spend waaaaay too much here. But to continue my story...
Before we left the house, me and BF picked something out of my wonderful Jamie Oliver cookbok to make for dinner. Quesedillas. So we had to stop at the store. The Market District pulled me in, and I ended up leaving not only with the fixins for this tex mex dish, but 8oz of brie, fancy crackers (BF's incredibly wealthy grandparents have turned me on to this delicious snack... I am way too spoiled), 2 bars of lindt dark chocolate w/orange and one with pear. mmmmm.... The rest of the food I got was real grocery food, but I must say, this was a tasty snack that was well worth the extra $.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's really important to me to have that little bit of snooty luxury to offset the eating-ramen-because-I-have-no-money moments. I wasn't even planning on grocery shopping yesterday, but I'm glad I did because those quesedillas were really good! And BF liked them too! I'm loving this cooking at home bit, I'm finally cooking things that he will eat and request in the future! Speaking of which, we got another package of the zatarain's jambalaya mix as well because he liked it when I made it last week. woo! We picked another zatarain's mix. We'll see how it goes.
I knocked a couple off my list yesterday as far as xmas goes, but I didn't set foot in a store. Many of you know the pleasures of mypoints. Well, I participate as well, but national city has a very similar program going right now, and they're giving bonus points for specific stores. Target happens to be one of them. So I took care of my lil brother and either a professor or friend of mine. It's a sort of bath gel/lotion set thingy, and really it would work for either. So we'll see... 20 bonus points per dollar is good for me!
total spending yesterday included: $20 for my copy of WoW (thanks all who commented on MMO's... it made me smile), $16 on lunch, because it ended up being much pricier than I had thought, and didn't want to make BF pick up the total bill, even though he told me he'd buy me lunch. $31 on groceries, but BF is going to reimburse me for some of the food I bought. I dont mind putting the initial down on my card, I earn points that way! I calculated it out, and he owes me $12, so It'll be $20 total.
Overall, not too shabby. Today will be a no-spend day. I've got chili to make before my ground beef goes bad, and WoW to keep me busy before work. I'd have to say it was a good investment!
I guess you can call me Ms. Fancy Pants...
November 4th, 2006 at 04:00 pm
November 4th, 2006 at 04:19 pm 1162657181
Last time I was in whole foods they had brie that was free to sample. My taste test was.. um.. er .. thorough.. yeah that's the word. Delicous stuff
A tip on the Zatarians mixes - I saw them at Aldi
November 4th, 2006 at 04:24 pm 1162657485
November 4th, 2006 at 04:50 pm 1162659030
There is one by Robinson town centre, one on 30 in Forest hills, one on 30 at 48, and one in greensburg - and those are just the ones I know about. They have to have more too - though they might be hard to get to without a car.
Have you checked out the new Trader Joe's? It opened like a week or so ago. They are supposed to have good prices and neat stuff
November 4th, 2006 at 05:00 pm 1162659611
November 4th, 2006 at 05:08 pm 1162660118
November 4th, 2006 at 05:43 pm 1162662239
November 4th, 2006 at 05:58 pm 1162663108
Hehehe. I was like that too, but I'm learning that Koolade doesn't taste that bad.
November 4th, 2006 at 06:21 pm 1162664518
November 4th, 2006 at 06:46 pm 1162665965
champagne taste on a kool-aid budget
champagne taste on a maddog budget (heheh!)
kool-aid taste on a water budget (!)
sirloin taste on a ramen budget
November 4th, 2006 at 08:15 pm 1162671329
This was a popular bumper sticker, t-shirt, and sweatshirt motto back in my college days.
"CHAMPAGNE TASTE on a BEER BUDGET"
*Usually posted on a ratty pickup truck bumper*
November 4th, 2006 at 10:09 pm 1162678158
now if a ratty pickup truck bumper qualifies as champagne taste, then i am WAY past the league of champagne! *g* dare i ask in public: what's better than champagne?
November 4th, 2006 at 11:44 pm 1162683884
Hey, the Hubster was born at Greensburg!
November 5th, 2006 at 04:09 am 1162699761
I also seem to remember "Champagne Taste on a Beer Income"! I guess it is a generational thing. Gosh I am getting old!
tinapbeana, a good cognac is always much better than Champagne!
PJmama, home cooking can be a lot of fun and it allows you to be imaginative and creative. Have fun with it!
November 6th, 2006 at 03:03 pm 1162825392
November 6th, 2006 at 04:47 pm 1162831624