All Kinds of "Bread" and Feeding Six for the Price of 3

My brain is like sandwich meat: all wrapped up in bread today. I am talking about bread here--literally and figuratively.

Let's start with bread the food and then get to the other bread.

Okay, so you can buy bread anywhere these days, right? You can get it at Safeway, Giant, Shoppers, Whole Foods, Wal-Mart, or even go all fancy and stop and get a tasty treat like fresh-baked bread at Panera. Yum. I can smell it baking now...The point is we have so many choices.

Well, I have shopped around for bread and found out taste matters, but price matters too. Here is my report: the best bread for the money is at Target.

I am not talking about the fancy, healthy bread with 9 grams of protein and whole grains (that would probably Arnold's bread, use coupons and check your ads for sales--like at Safeway). I am not talking about fresh bread (Panera or Safeway bakery).

I am talking about sandwich bread. You can get a loaf of sandwich bread at Target for 97 cents! If you want it enriched with vitamins it is $1.09. And boy, it is de-lic-ious! My family adores it. I just bought 2 loaves this week and froze one. We are almost done with the first loaf. You can't beat it. The babies love it. They just jacked like half my breakfast which was 2 slices of Target toast with some Smart Balance spread.

BTW, Giant is a close second. If I am pressed for time, which I am sometimes (okay, often), I will subject my family to the 1.00 dollar bread at Giant. It is located at the bottom of the bread shelf; just be sure and check the dates. Otherwise, you may grab one that expires too soon. I try to get one that is good at least a week.

Well, now on to the other bread. The dough. The money honey. I am having "buyers regret" or "shoppers blues." You know the feeling you get after you have gone out and spent money on clothes or other things you couldn't afford? Maybe a trip to TJMaxx to splurge on shoes? Or maybe it was a dress or shirt you just had to have? Then you woke up the next day and saw the charge on your online bank listing and you felt a gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach....

Well, that is how I feel. Only I didn't go on a spending spree yesterday for me. I only made two "extra" trips to the grocery store: Giant and Bloom. Yes, I got good deals dear readers. Yes, I had to get my husband's prescription filled and I even picked free (YES FREE) shrimp (for the second day in a row mind you) and 1/2 price gluten-free cereal that will last one week or more for my eldest son. Did we need the items? Yes.

But, they were unplanned trips. IE not in the budget. We are so tight living on one income. And so, I am worried about the bread. The dough. The money, that was spent. It amounts to about 1/2 of our grocery money for the next two weeks.

Sooo....do I freak out? Do I pray? Do I cancel tonight's plans? Plans? What plans you ask?

Well, I cook for 6 people three times a day. We used to go out all the time. (We also used to go out on real dates without the kids, but that is a whole different story...). The kids miss going out. They hear about their friends going out to eat; they hear about the neighbors going out to eat. So, tonight, since my husband has a 6 p.m. appointment to get to, and my son needs to be picked up at school at 5 p.m., and the babies have their second nap until like 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. and I can't watch everyone and pick everyone up and cook....I am planning a cheap meal out.

We are going to pick up my consignment store check at 4:40 p.m. and then go to Chick-fil-A in Gainesville, VA. Tonight at Chick-fil-A they are having a great deal. For each adult who buys a meal, you get one kids meal free. So, we are going to buy two adult meals, get two kids meals free, and buy 1 kids meal for the "babies" to split (they don't finish a whole meal anyways). Plus, there will be a puppet show there for entertainment ("Veggie Tales"). And, you can put your names in a drawing for prizes and stuff. It is hard to pass this up. I have promised the kids. And how often can you feed six people for the price of 3? Not often. Do I have the heart to crush my kids' hopes by canceling our one trip out as a family? Not really.

Well, this is when prayer comes part of my recessionary tale. I can pray that some of my items do sell this month before rent is due. I can pray my husband's Christmas bonus will come before then end of the month. (The bonus we all now half-jokingly refer to as the "Easter bonus" as it is more aligned with that holiday now. Grrrrr....). And I can see how many bills I can juggle or put off until next month. Or I can see how many food items I can stretch and ration to make things just "work."

So, off to Chick-fil-A we go...

Until we meet again. My recessionary tale will continue tomorrow.