Gotta Retrain Myself

We've had a wholesale club membership that My Sweet Babboo gets through work at a reduced rate  for, oh, maybe three years now that we've rarely used;  I was intimidated by the whole 'must have a membership card' thing, and the parking lot was always crowded, the merchandise presentation confusing, and it is not in a convenient location.

But after my last few trips to the local grocery store, I've come to the conclusion that I MUST reign in our grocery expenses somehow.  Making use of the wholesale membership is probably the most logical first step.

So today, I steeled my nerve, loaded up my poly grocery bags and headed up the Parkway to the wholesale club after I left work.

Can I just say that a first-time (for all intents and purposes, anyway) visit to a wholesale club in the days leading up to the Stupid Bowl, when there are samples of junk food available on every aisle, probably shouldn't be made while one is fasting?? That was not such a smart move on my part.

But my jaw dropped at the actual prices.  I came home only with things I actually will use, and I think I will sit down and do some price comparisons.

But there were some that I knew by heart.  Milk is 3.29/gallon at our grocery store; it was 1.99 at the club.  My preferred brand of Greek yogurt sells 3 for $4 at the store; I got a 12-pack (of my favorite flavors) for 11.59.  5 pounds of  club-brand deluxe sliced american cheese for $10.35 vs. about $4/lb for the store brand up the road. 

And so on.

There were a couple of things I wanted to get but just didn't find in my allotted time...like cottage cheese and kitty litter...but over all I realized that I need to make the wholesale club work for us.  Just buying milk there would more than save us the cost of the membership every year.

But this is not something to do off the top of my head.  So this means I'm going to have to (gulp) start planning my shopping and making my meal plans based on what I have, not buying what I happen to plan to eat because it sounds good that day. 

I used to do that.  Or at least sort of.  Time to dust off the ol' menu lists...after the fast. ;-)