Saving a few bucks at the grocery store

Times are tight for a lot of folks these days. We all look for ways to save some money, tighten our belts, right? Groceries are a good place to save a few bucks, if you are willing to sacrifice….

When I met Mama (my Wife Carol), we were both working at a local discount store. Neither of us had much. Consumed by our love for one another, we figured that as long as we could be together, everything else would work out. Our union as a family included two daughters from the very start, and we added two more shortly thereafter. Our young family of six did our best to be happy, survive, make do. We did what we could to cut corners. Furniture was all “yard sale specials” or family “hand me down”. The kids got a lot of family “gently used” clothes, to be sure, and if they got new stuff, it was the K Mart kind, not the designer stuff. Still, money was exceptionally tight.
When you are young and broke, especially when you don’t have anything of value you can sell or pawn to get money, groceries were, and are, a great place to stretch your budget. When I was a kid, my Mom saved money by serving chicken pot pies and chicken a-la-king a lot. I would rather starve to death than eat that stuff now. As an adult, Mama and I saved money by making a lot of spaghetti. If we were really broke, it didn’t even have meat in it. One week, we literally counted our pennies for food money. Mama and I had “splurged” on name brand spaghetti sauce. I was so proud of myself, I was beaming. No money left in my pocket, but a spaghetti feast tonight with the “good stuff”!! As I walked out of the store, the bottom fell out of the grocery sack, and the precious spaghetti sauce splattered all over the sidewalk. I was creatfallen. Darn near cried right there. What would the kids eat now? From high to low in 2 seconds.
I can’t explain why that sticks in my memory, but it does. These days, I still love spaghetti with cheap sauce, and all the cheap stuff we used to buy. My kids are full grown, and they won’t eat that crap on a bet. I am the same way with the stuff my Mom used to make. We made it through , though, and that is the most important thing.