Although i don't usually hit more than 1 grocery store a week (too much gas spent on driving), there are 4 grocery stores i frequent: Stop & Shop, which used to be my "main" store, Trader Joe's (it's the furthest out of the way, but great food items), Shop Rite (good prices, but also a bit out of the way) and Expect Discounts, a discount supermarket with a large Latino customer base.

Stop & Shop was my primary source partly becus, at 3 miles away, it's the closest. There's also one just a 1/2 mile from my office.

But with grocery prices ever rising, I'm forced to reexamine the prices of everything. About a month ago i started another price book, really just a list, organized by category (dairy, canned veggies, fresh produce, frozen, grains, beverages, etc.) of prices of those items i most regularly buy at all 4 stores.

(In December, i'll be going in on my mother's Costco membership, splitting the $50 membership cost with her, so that'll be yet a 6th store to have to track prices at, but she says there are bargains to be had, and i know that in years past, the savings on a single box of kitty litter alone (40lb box) paid for that annual membership fee.)

So as of late my I shifted allegiance more so to Expect rather than Stop & Shop. Fresh produce, for instance, was ALWAYS cheaper, yet becus not all the bins are refrigerated, a lot of the produce is over-ripe, so you have to be careful. I felt pretty confident Expect had the best prices.

Shop Rite, I knew, also had good prices, but becus it's sort of out of the way, requiring me to plan ahead and bring those refreezable gel paks during the summer, i only did my grocery shopping there a handful of times.

When my mom came over for lunch yesterday, she dropped off the Shop Rite circular, which i pored through. Actually, i already get their circular emailed to me, but becus it comes out on SUNDAYS, by which time i want to have my running around errands done with, i don't often look at it. (Stop & Shop, on the other hand, sends out their circular on Thursdays, and that's when their sales run, from Thursday to Thursday, so it allows me to plan my shopping ahead of the weekend.)

Well i was quite surprised to see that in some cases, Shop Rite prices beat Expect's. Take ketchup. I happened to have just bought ketchup at Xpect, a 1 lb, 8 oz bottle for $1.18. I thought it was higher than before but ASSUMED that since everything was going up, it wasn't out of keeping with anything else. Well, Shop Rite's price was .99 for a much larger qty, 2 lb, 4 oz bottle. Imagine that!

I would not be at all surprised if stores like Expect jack up prices sneakily on certain everyday items and hope it won't be noticed becus they are already the cost leaders on more major stuff.

I thought i was getting a "deal" at Xpect when i found 2 lb boxes of pasta at .80 a pound, but Shop Rite had the usual 1 lb. boxes on sale at .74 a pound.

Not everything at Shop Rite was cheaper. I bought a 2 lb. bag of pre-cooked frozen shrimp at Stop & Shop for $6.99, while the same item cost $9.99 at Shop Rite.

Until food prices stabilize (and that won't happen til oil prices do), keeping an accurate price book will continue to be a challenge.

But it's gotten to the point where with most food items, i won't buy them until they go on sale. Like, i really prefer Pepperidge Farm dark German wheat bread, and when it's offered at one-third off, i stock up and buy 4 loaves, freezing or at least refrigerating those i'm not using. When i run out, i refuse to purchase at the normally much higher prices, so i do without. I've been craving dark German wheat bread but haven't seen it on sale lately. Well, Arnold bread is on sale at Shop Rite for $1.99 so i may get a stand-in loaf there.

I do the same thing with Lean Cuisine entrees. They're handy and easy to bring to the office for lunches, but their normal price is too high, so i wait til they go on sale at $2.50 each. When they don't go on sale, i DON'T eat Lean Cuisine, period.

My spinal tap of 2 weeks ago came back completely normal. It actually irked me that i went through so much pain for nothing. I guess it's good becus it indicates the Lyme bacteria hasn't entered into my central nervous system. But i'm still worried becus my headaches continue, but maybe not daily. I did go a full week with no headaches, i believe that was just after the spinal tap. The doc saw that as a hopeful sign and said let's wait 2 weeks and call me back after that.

I don't know what the "next step" would be if i'm still having headaches so i'm really hoping they abate on their own. I am following an herbal protocol (cat's claw, Japanese knotweed and andrographis) based on a book on curing lyme herbally. I figure it can't hurt and maybe can help. I was even able to contact the author to make sure his protocol was safe for someone with MS, since all 3 herbs are immune boosters (as well as anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory) and with MS, the immune system is already working in overdrive. I am into the 2nd week of a 5 week ramp-up in dosage, and then you're supposed to continue for at least another month, preferably 8 to 12 mths total! I doubt i'll do it that long but let's see if there are any improvements.

I carpooled last week 3 days with my neighbor and it worked out well. I was tickled as could be to see my gas guage had moved only slightly due to the decreased driving. Next week he's on vacation, and the week after that i'm out for 3 days, but as he said, any amount we can carpool together is a "bonus." I just don't think i want to continue it after Sept. 1 when my summer hours end, becus it'll mean i'll have an extra half hour to kill in the a.m. AND at day's end. I can deal with an extra half hour (when he drives, i use that extra half hour to walk closer to him, for exercise) but to add a full hour to my own day just seems like something i dont' want to do. But who knows, if prices keep rising i may be forced to think creatively of how to use that time enjoyable and effectively.