No job, no car, no cash to buy food. I do have the food stamps though, on my EBT card. Normally a trip to the grocery store consists of what I can carry the eight blocks home, usually amounting to one of those handbaskets full and and maybe a little overflowing. I would do this trip a few times a week. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

Since I’ve been away the last three weekends and all last week I was trying to get lean on the groceries in my cupboard and fridge so that nothing would go to waste. I didn’t see the point in making grocery runs since I was going to be away for many days. Add to that another monthly deposit into my EBT account, and I have a whopping $373 on which to spend on groceries. It was time to spend $15 and rent the Zipcar for a couple of hours.

On today’s trip I was actually able to push a cart through the grocery store. I’m buying crazy stuff that I never would have dreamed of before: gallons of milk, 12-pack of paper towels, Odwalla chocolate protein shakes, three boxes of cereal, eight cans each of 28-ounce crushed and diced tomatoes, two magnums of Fresca & a 12-pack of Diet Dr Pepper, a five-pack of Mac & Cheese and over a gallon of laundry detergent.

Because of the humongous balance on my account I was buying things I normally wouldn’t, items that weren’t on sale (gasp!) or multiple items that were on sale and will be used stored and used eventually.

Purchase: $231.89
EBT Card Balance: $141.57
Club Card Savings: $76.17 (23% of purchase)