Eat Like a Rabbit is home from a fabulous field trip to study food across the Atlantic. The experience was incredible, and I invite you to stay tuned to the entire story of the trip with specific reviews of restaurants. Unfortunately, we are suffering from jet lag and are trying to get back into the swing of things both at home and at work. ELAR prides itself on sharing pictures of food and other experiences and therefore will delay in posting stories about the trip until the photos and/or videos have been edited. Please forgive the delay.

Meanwhile, I thought it a great idea to share details from my shopping spree to the grocery store today. Although I wasn't hungry when I made the trek to Costco and Publix, I was in desperate need of some of my own cooking and a refill for my fridge, freezer, and cabinets. And I made a list of every item I could possibly need or want. We had a reasonable variety of vegetarian foods in France, but I did miss burritos, pasta, and good colorful salads. So, below is a list of everything I purchased at the grocery stores today.

Costco

• $5.99 Naan Tandoori Flatbread (6 slices)
• $4.49 Rosemary Artisan Bread (2 loaves)
• $4.49 Whole Grain Artisan Bread (2 loaves)
• $2.59 Eggland's Best (18 eggs)
• $1.32 Bananas (3 lbs.)
• $4.99 Roma Tomatoes (2 lbs.)
• $8.49 Dates (Fresh, 2 lbs.)
• $5.49 Sweet Onions (5 lbs.)
• $5.99 Hommus 32 oz. (Noticed the package had been redesigned leaving what appears to be no security seal around the lid as before. *Frown*)
• $6.49 Fresh squeezed Orange Juice (1 gallon)
• $2.55 1% Milk (1 gallon)
• $3.59 White Corn Tortilla Strips
• $56.47 Grand Total

Publix

• $2.40 Birdseye Baby Broccoli Florets (x2)
• $1.80 Birdseye French Cut Green Beans (x2)
• $1.19 Birdseye Yellow and Green Beans with Carrots
• $1.59 Birdseye Asparagus
• $1.44 Birdseye Asian vegetable bowl with cashews
• $1.44 Birdseye Spring Vegetables in Citrus bowl
• $1.05 Bush's Cannellini Beans
• $4.52 Taco Bell Refried Beans (x4)
• $5.58 Publix Peanut Butter (x2)
• $2.50 Fresh Baby Spinach box
• $2.50 Fresh Romaine box
• $1.29 Bag of 6 garlic heads
• $2.19 Kikoman Soy Sauce
• $5.00 Strawberries (3 lbs.)
• $34.45 Grand Total

I got everything on my list except cereal (which we can easily survive another week-plus with what we have) and potatoes (which I have decided are cheapest at Aldi, but didn't have the energy to make a third stop). I had expected to spend between $100-$150 on groceries this week just because I knew how empty my kitchen was and because I wanted the groceries to last me until next Thursday. This being Monday, I was basically buying two weeks worth of groceries. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the sale at Publix. The strawberries were on sale and cheaper--and better looking--than even Costco. The lettuce was on sale, and I plan to take it out of its box and re-bag it in air-tight bags to make it last. Stay tuned for results of that experiment and of my doing the same thing to the spinach. Sadly the refried beans went up $0.14 a can, which I think is ridiculous (but Publix is the only place around where I know I can get the beans) but the peanut butter went down $0.20 from what I remembered making the budget in my head even out and I was less frustrated about the price. I didn't even know the soy sauce had a discount of $0.30, but I did know the Birdseye Vegetables were 50% off, which explains why I stocked up on so many. I intend to take the microwaveable vegetable bowls to work for lunch. Look for a post about the results of my $1.44 lunch (preferably after all the posts about the trip to Paris). So, the highlight of the day was to see that by shopping the Publix sale, I saved $21.14. And I was just trying to fill the voids in the kitchen! I was pleasantly surprised to find that at most I would have spent $112.06, but with the sales I spent slightly under my budget by paying out only $90.92. Considering I haven't been to the grocery store for about three weeks and don't expect to go for another week and a half, I am not disappointed with my investment at all.