Rant: The dollar store bag of rice that taught me a lesson

I ran into Mrs. Gunderson at the Piggly Wiggly six months ago, and she told me she feeds her family of five on $60 a week by combining $2 bags of rice with whatever vegetables are on clearance. She showed me her cart full of marked-down bell peppers and a single pork shoulder marked down to $4.50. Do you all have one person in your life who makes you rethink your whole grocery budget with just one conversation?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan2958d ago

$2 bags of rice" might be more like a 5-pound bag these days, a dollar store one is usually much smaller.

michael_bennett118d ago

Oh man, Mrs. Gunderson is a legend in my book. I tried the dollar store rice thing too, @evan295, and you're right, those bags are tiny like 2 pounds max. But I found that if you hit up the international aisle at a regular grocery store, you can get a 10 pound bag of jasmine rice for like $8. That plus a bag of frozen peas and a cheap cut of pork shoulder braised with some soy sauce and ginger, you're eating for days. Mrs. Gunderson's trick only works if you're willing to make the rice the main event and stretch everything else around it.