I don't know if you can relate . . .

I went grocery shopping this morning. It's the end of the month, I'm about out of cash for groceries until the first. This morning's shopping was at WinCo, where they only accept cash, debit, and checks. I don't carry a checkbook with me, and I don't have a debit card. So I have to bring cash to shop there. I brought all of the cash I had in the envelope at home. 

I also needed to stop and get gas with some of that money. I could charge gas, but I would be paying a higher price per gallon if using credit. So I bought $20 in gas on the way to WinCo.

I had counted how much cash I had on hand before leaving home. But I wasn't making a strong enough mental note on the amount, just that I had enough to buy a week's worth of groceries for us and get $20 in gas.

Once in the store, and seeing some of the prices on foods, I was motivated to add up the cost of what was in my cart and count the cash in my purse several times. I knew it would be a squeaker. I even used my calculator and the in-store scales to calculate how much my bulk items would cost. I swapped out some cheaper brands here and there. But I also bought a couple of more expensive versions of items on my list, because I felt the quality would be better. With those particular items, quality was a value for us. I didn't get the breakfast sausage that my husband requested, and I didn't stock-up on the applesauce that was on sale. I knew the final total would be tight, based on the amount of money I thought I had in my purse.

As I placed foods onto the conveyer belt at the checkout, I purposely left a few items to the very end. These were the things I felt we could most live without. My plan was as the cashier rang items up, and I could see the subtotal along the way, I would cut-off the purchases when I thought we'd exceeded the amount of cash I had with me.

I felt a sigh of relief when I could see that the total was below the amount of cash in my purse. As I pulled out the bills to count out to the cashier, I realized that there was a $20 bill stuck to another $20. I actually had $20 more than I had thought!

I paid for my groceries and met up with my husband in the car. At that point, I related to him everything that had transpired with the cash in my purse and the cost of the groceries, and that I had skipped his breakfast sausage. I asked if he would still like that sausage. At first he said not to bother. But then I told him I would use that $20 to take advantage of the sale on applesauce and canned tuna, and go back into the store anyway. Of course, at that point he was thrilled to get his sausage and said "yes."

So, I unloaded my paid-for groceries and pushed the cart back into the store. I was able to buy 2 more cans of tuna, 4 more jars of applesauce, my husband's preferred pork breakfast sausage, and as a bonus, a bag of my preferred turkey breakfast sausage.

Even though I had that extra $20 in my purse the whole time, it felt like I'd been blessed with $20 extra worth of foods for my family for the week. 

I'll have more grocery money in just a few days, but I won't get back to WinCo for another 2 weeks. By that time, the sale on applesauce and tuna may be over, and I might have missed my opportunity to stock up on those items.

I don't know if any of you grocery shop on a strict budget, either imposed by your planning or by shopping only with cash. But judging by some of the comments from you, here, at least some of you will relate to my sigh of relief when it turned out I had more cash on hand than I had thought and could purchase everything and more on my list.

Weeds and Why I Eat Them

We've all heard stories from the Great Depression and how many folks resorted to eating weeds like dandelions in salads and sautéed. Eating "weeds" goes back a lot longer than the 1930s, however. In Medieval Europe, dandelions and other wild greens were used for medicinal and culinary consumption. Both traditional Chinese and native Americans used dandelions in herbal medicine.

three watercress plants pulled up from
the cracks in a walkway around the garden

What is a weed? One definition is a weed is anything that pops up where you didn't plant it. By that definition, my watercress is most definitely a weed. It pops up every year in early spring in the cracks of the walkway surrounding the gardens. In many regions, watercress is viewed as a weed, and an invasive weed at that.

I started my watercress with some rooted watercress from the produce section at the grocery store many years ago. I had made watercress and butter tea sandwiches and simply had more watercress than I needed. But it's now a wild plant and seeds itself where it pleases.

homemade blackberry vinegar -- wild blackberries
infused in white vinegar in the fridge for 3 months

Edible weeds have a reputation for being sharp or bitter in flavor, most likely why most Westerners don't eat them. However, edible weeds are often higher in nutrients than their cultivated cousins. In fact, In England during World War 2, folks were encouraged to grow watercress from seeds in a dish on their windowsills, as a major source of vitamin C. In addition to vitamin C, watercress and other edible weeds are very high in antioxidants, beta carotene, vitamin K, and many minerals.

tonight's watercress salad with 1 tangerine peeled and chopped,
a single serving of dried cranberries, and a tablespoon of "bacon" bits

So, while I have a fridge and freezer full of vegetables that I could choose to go with dinner tonight, I'm opting for my wild watercress. It will do my body a heap of good. Watercress has a sharp taste, so I prefer it raw in a salad, and dressed with a sweet vinaigrette, made with a fruity vinegar like this homemade blackberry vinegar, along with with sugar, salt, pepper and oil, or an orange juice vinaigrette, made with a small amount of orange juice, vinegar, honey, oil, salt and pepper.

Weeds also can be more tough than a green like lettuce, so when I make a salad with weeds, I slice it chiffonade-style, leaves stacked and sliced into narrow ribbons.

Besides the nutritional benefits, eating weeds is quite frugal. It's just important to only eat weeds that you know have not been sprayed with anything toxic.

Have you tried eating weeds? What were your impressions?