First off, special thanks to Brady Carlson and New Hampshire Public Radio for the interview!

This week’s grocery shopping adventure took me to four different stores – Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Star Market, and Super 88 Market.

That sounds taxing, but spread out over the course of two days, it was convenient. In Boston, nothing is all that far from you.

The previous week was spent mostly at Whole Foods. Several people pointed out that the yield last week was a bit light – and that I could do a lot better quantity wise. Thank you everyone because this is how late last week looked:

Like I noted in the previous post, I was doing my research – taking all sorts of great suggestions from readers.

One of the suggestions was to try the Super 88 Market for cheap produce. Well – thank you! It was a jackpot. All sorts of Manager’s Specials. See the breakdown below:

Super 88 Market

• Sriracha – 28 oz. bottle – $3.99
• Brown Onion – 1 – $1.03
• Russet Potatoes – Manager’s Special – ~3lb. – $2.00
• Bananas – Manager’s Special – 3 lb. – $1.00
• Green Bell Pepper – 1.20 lb. – $0.99/lb.
• Tomatoes – Manager’s Special – 6 – $1.29 total
• Cabbage – 1.91 lb. – $0.69/lb.
• Red Cabbage – 1.59 lb. – $0.99/lb.
• Cucumber – 2 – $1/each

$15.39 total (43.9% of $35)

Trader Joe’s

• Bananas – 10 – $0.19/each
• Blueberries – 2lb. – $6.99
• White Eggs (not pictured) – Large – 1 dozen – $1.99

$10.88 total (31% of $35)

Whole Foods

• 365 (Whole Foods) – Creamy Peanut Butter – 36oz. jar – $5.49

$5.49 total (15.6% of $35)

Star Market

• Vermont Bread Company – Whole Wheat Bread – 1 loaf – $2.99

$2.99 total (8.5% of $35)

Grand Total: $34.75 (99.2% of $35 spent)

Dried Beans

Dried beans seemed expensive. I couldn’t find anything that did much better than cans – but I will keep looking. Given I still have some chickpeas, I skipped beans this week.

Bananas

Tons of bananas this week. One suggestion set me off – and I found less ripe bananas at Trader Joe’s, and over ripe bananas at a deep discount at Super 88 Market – 3 pounds for a $1. The upcoming Week 3 & 4 Recipes will focus on banana-based recipes. Well, and peanut butter too. Mmmm, peanut butter.

Preparation Time

My grandmother also made the point that I am honing in on things that require lighter preparation. And that is what works for me.

With the relatively high cost of dried pinto beans and the time it takes to prepare, making my own refried beans may not be for me.

I’m not sure I want to make my own bread either – albeit a great suggestion.

Even so, we are talking a diet that requires a lot more preparation time than Soylent. But not that much more than frozen pizzas. And not too much more time than ordering/picking up junk food every day/meal.

Owning a camping grill has been great – as I have been able to eat cooked meals on the run.

Overall Thoughts

I feel great about this shop. There are a couple improvements to be made – I can likely avoid going to at least one store as well. But a couple tweaks and I have something that shows as a strong example of what’s possible for $35.

I thought by Week 4 I would have almost nothing in the cupboard left over, I have a few items left. My goal this week is to consume those items – and to move to a Week 5 with no leftover items.

Week 5 will likely be the final week of the $35/Week experiment. I will be moving on to preparing for ANOTHER EXPERIMENT! Stay tuned to see what’s in store.

This weekend I will be hitting the Haymarket and Russo’s over in Watertown – both highly recommended. Again, thank you all for the suggestions and feel free to leave your thoughts!