Grocery post! And I've got answers/responses to a couple of comments at the end, if you'd rather jump straight to that. Like I mentioned yesterday, it was small shopping week for me, probably because I had stocked up on some things the week before. On Wednesday, I got a half-gallon of organic milk + a single serving of plain yogurt (both for yogurt making), a single serving of plain Greek yogurt (to eat that afternoon), four organic Pink Lady apples, a tin of Mandarin oranges, and a bag of organic frozen strawberries. Winnie asked about grocery bills, and for this trip: Cost = $15.

On Friday, I did my long run in the morning, and I wanted to get a donut that afternoon. Somehow, I wound up getting two pink grapefruits, another bag of frozen strawberries, a half-gallon of almond milk (it's what I use with cereal -- I hadn't needed to buy any in a while, as I stocked up when it was on sale), two boxes of Kashi GoLean, broccoli, and that donut. Cost = $20.

And then, yesterday, I needed to get more ice cream. I grabbed a zucchini and a bag of organic carrots so I could make soup today. Cost = $7. So that's $42 for the week, which is pretty low. When I was looking at the Sunday ads in the paper, I noticed that Target was featuring 12-count boxes of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls at 2/$5. I was comparing that price to other items in the ad, none of which I can remember right now, but I do know that the apples I buy are roughly $1 each. Two and a half apples versus an entire box of snack cakes. Sigh. Despair.

Anyway! this post on the Down to Earth blog. That's what I used when I first started, and it's 100% possible to make your own yogurt with just a warm oven. If you can find a used Salton maker (or afford a new one), it's definitely worth it, though. I love mine, which is an older (1970s?) model with five individual cups.

And Anjay asked how I carry water when I run. I have two hand-held bottles, one of which is the Nathan Sprint. It carries only 10oz, I think, but it's easy to hold and my favorite if I'm not going very far. I also have a larger Nathan Quickdraw Plus, which holds 22oz. I like its zipper pouch, but that's about it. It's not ergonomic and is uncomfortable to hold, and the elastic of the holder stretches and bounces when the bottle is heavy with water. I also have a 70oz Camelbak backpack, which is what I would prefer to use on long runs, but it makes my shoulders hurt. I imagine that would eventually go away as I got used to it + stronger, but it's a deterrent at the moment.

Instead of tacking on my grocery photos to regular posts, I think I'll do one dedicated post a week. I feel like there's some larger purpose to this than just... navel gazing... or supermarket voyeurism, but I haven't figured it out quite yet. For now, let's have this weekly category be an open invitation to ask me questions about food, from shopping to cooking to eating. On one hand, I don't think the way I approach food is all that remarkable, but on the other, I can see how far I've come over the past five years in terms of cooking skills and broadened horizons. Past-me would have had some questions for present-me, I think.

Anyway, I went to Super Target on Wednesday and had a fairly large stock-up: frozen organic peaches and strawberries, Laughing Cow wedges, lemons, cauliflower, Cara Cara oranges (x3), plain greek yogurt (x3), shredded cheese, tinned green beans (x2), a tin of organic dice tomatoes, a banana, tiny milk (for tea), onions (one yellow, one red), a bag of Yukon Gold potatoes, sweet potatoes (x2), Minnesota-grown tomatoes (x2), egg whites, broccoli (x2 -- I hate that Target sells these plastic-wrapped ones), oraganic hearts of romaine, baby spinach, and Kashi GoLean (x2).

And then, today (Sunday), I went to Cub for some other stuff I'd run out of or couldn't get at Target: two boxes of cereal (to have with yogurt or in the evening), two bags of organic baby carrots, a bunch of broccoli, a box of Kemps Light Cookies and Cream ice cream, a box of peppermint tea, a small bottle of milk, a yuca root, pink grapefruits (x2), organic Pink Lady apples (x4), a sweet yellow onion (to make more onion rings!), and organic bananas (x2).

Obviously, this doesn't represent the food that I eat in a week -- some stuff will last me much longer than that, while others (produce, mostly) will get used up in a matter of days. So, if you have any questions that you want to see answered next week, ask away! Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me -- anna.torborg AT gmail.com.

Organic strawberries were under $5, so I decided to splurge and get fresh instead of frozen. I can't wait for breakfast. My grocery stop was just for strawberries and ice cream today, and I actually stuck to only those items. I picked up two new Edy's varieties, which are both TRIOs of flavors inside. I only got them so I could sample and report back to you. I'm not at all excited.

-- My mom made raisin rolls using this interesting method. She sent one home with me, and after I took the photo, I sliced off about a third of it for later and ate the bigger piece with a cup of tea. And when I finished, I drummed my fingers on the table for about ten seconds and then ate the piece I had set aside. I'm not even a 'bread person' (especially not white bread), but this was awesome. I like how my mom included a little plastic cup of honey cream cheese, like she's running a real bakery. So the bread was my afternoon snack (which is something I always have), but an hour after dinnertime, I still wasn't hungry. I ate some baby carrots to keep up appearances; that way, nobody could say that all I'd had in the PM was white bread and ice cream.

-- The co-op had bison bones cut for smaller dogs, so I tried not to look too hard and got some for Henny. She's in love. Dogs get the greatest crazy eyes when they're given something meaty like that. Much in the same way that house cats are known for hunting tuna fishes in the wild, I'm pretty sure that bison are the natural prey of chihuahuas.

-- I went to the co-op today, since I had a gift certificate. So some of this is stuff I would have eventually bought, but probably not until I needed it (ie, not now). Part two of my grocery documenting: fake turkey slices, bulk pinto beans, silken tofu, bison bones (for the dog, bleurg), brown rice syrup, Quorn 'turkey' burgers, organic Pink Lady apples (x5), Clif and Luna bars, eggs, local honey, yogurt (x5), and blue corn chips. The chips are made locally and my favorite; I prefer the yellow ones, but they were out. I also got tortillas, but they somehow escaped from the camera.

-- Leftovers! Henny and I went over on Saturday and had Chinese food with my mom (my dad was at the cabin with their dogs), and I got the leftover 'Homestyle Beancurd'. I reheated some of it with additional broccoli, but I wasn't 100% impressed with how it held up. The veggie roll was perfect, though, after twelve or fifteen minutes in the toaster oven.

-- I went to the library on Friday, which is a place where they let you take books for free, as long as you promise to bring them back. I wanted to look at books about basements and decks, because even though the internet is chock-a-block with such information, sometimes you just need it in front of you, in print. This Black & Decker book about attics and basements is a-one, as far as I'm concerned. As soon as I started reading it, everything just made sense. I should make an updated list of 'Things I Would Do If I Had the Money'; finishing off the basement would be near the top of the list.

-- I go to the supermarket a lot. A big part of my diet is made up of fresh produce, so it seems like I run out of apples or broccoli or bananas every couple of days. I'm thinking I might have a short-lived series of photos documenting what I buy. For the past several months, I've been a bit stricter when it comes to buying organic produce; I try to make it a priority with lettuces, strawberries (= buying them frozen right now), apples, and bananas. There are some 'junkie' or highly processed items that I like, such as the wrapper cheese and No Sugar Added tinned peaches.

Anyway, this is what I came home with from Cub yesterday: kale, organic hearts of romaine, stevia, cheese(like) slices, skim milk (for tea), organic chickpeas, tinned peaches, plain Greek yogurt (x2), one organic Ambrosia apple (I eat a lot of apples, but Cub didn't have organic Honeycrisps or Pink Ladies yesterday, so I didn't stock up), two flavored seltzers, pasta, and two boxes of Kashi GoLean (which I go through really fast).

I also got a block of Kemps Light Cookies 'n' Cream ice cream and organic strawberries, but I forgot to take them out of the freezer for the photo. Ice cream is another item (like the produce) that I find myself constantly running out of. Weird, that.