Cheesed Off

 Even though yesterday I complained about the price of cheese at Key Food, I might have to make huevos rancheros soon, so when I was at C-Town, I remembered to look. This nice block of Monterey Jack had a big $1.99 sticker on it, so I bought it. But look at my receipt! They charged me $2.59, 30% more!

I shouldn't be too mad though. I had just bought a pair of red shoes. Shoes are the one thing I'm not supposed to buy. Also, they carry Old Bay now for Ridgely. I asked them to via Tumblr.

Pop Sale

I had an exciting day today that required a trip to Manhattan. Afterward I decided to celebrate with some Diet Mug Root Beer* and the Key Food circular told me it was on sale 4 for $5.

Lo and behold, all the Pepsi 2 liters had tags on them that said if you buy 3 bottles, you get a dollar off! So I got 2 Diet Mug Root Beers and 1 Diet Pepsi for $2.75, or $0.92 each. That's a Pittsburgh price there.

I also got 2 cans of chick peas because I am going to try to eat beans until my clothes fit again. And a can of olives. I didn't care for the price of cheese, so no huevos rancheros for a while. All that for $6.33.

*Diet Mug Root Beer is the best kind. Dr. Brown's is good. And Diet Faygo might be as good as Diet Mug. Barq's and A&W are ok if you are in a desert. And no non-diet pop is good at all because it's too thick.

Playwright

The other day after I went to Trader Joe's, some guy asked me "are you a playwright?" out of the blue. Then if I was an artist. Then said "well, you're a good dresser."

Powerade

The sign at Associated said $0.99, but they charged me $1.19!

Olive Oil

I'm eagerly awaiting the grocery circulars for next week. I need to find out who is finally going to put a big can of extra virgin olive oil on sale for me. I'm out! I'm starving! I don't really care what brand, but it should be $15-16.

Key Food lets you see its circular a day early. They don't have it. I'd like an excuse to visit the Foodtown over on North 3rd and Bedford. I've never been there. (Their website is suspiciously like Key Food's, but I don't think they're related.)

I might have to buy a regular sized bottle from Trader Joe's to hold me over. I need a bunch of other things from there anyway.

Coffee and Inflation Measures

I bought my instant coffee today. I haven't had any since the end of December. I like Café Bustelo and I like paying $4.99 or $5.49, but places only had it for $6.39, so I quit drinking coffee. I had some at my parents' house over Christmas, but I never had any around here. I drank tea or pop instead.

About a month ago, there was a lot of talk about whether social security benefits (and tax brackets) should be changed. They're both tied to inflation, but the question was whether to change to a different way of measuring inflation. The current way is that if the price of my instant coffee goes up, inflation goes up. This is the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The other way to measure it is to take into account that when the price of coffee went up, I started drinking less of it and drank more tea. Since my expenditures didn't go up as much, this measure would show less inflation. It's called the Chained Consumer Price Index (C-CPI). Detractors of it like to exaggerate and say this method lets you substitute cat food for beef. (Changing to C-CPI is just a way to cut social security benefits and the longer you live, the more they're cut. And social security is basically the most solvent government program we have, so tell anyone who wants to cut benefits either directly or sneakily to go pound salt).

Anyway, back to groceries. I got some ham for the first time this year. Gideon gave me a ham for my birthday, so I couldn't buy more ham. I got some eggs so I can make quiches and omelettes to use up all my dumpling filling leftovers. I was surprised by how hard it was to find chick peas. I want to make hummus, but I need to buy olive oil first. And I got some red pepper flakes.