February grocery shopping

It has been one of those months again where I don't seem to be able to find ten minutes to myself to drop in here. Busy doesn't even begin to cover the last two weeks. I've attended a baby shower, finally worked a full week, attended the big Home and Garden show, visited the newest casino in town (and came home $42 richer, lol),  worked my twice a month cleaning gig twice, and spent a couple of snow days cleaning and running around.  I've also been to the E-check station for my mandatory every other year check on my vehicle and gotten my new license plate stickers. And had a very nice dinner out with my sweetie on Valentine's Day.
I have also managed to get my grocery shopping for the month completed. Two separate trips this time, one to BJs after the baby shower and one to Aldi on my last snow day.
My trip to BJ's was $241.55. I spent $32.92 on household items (magic erasers, laundry detergent, and Comet cleanser), another $15 on cat food, and the remainder of  $193.63 on groceries. I came home with a whole boneless pork loin, a corned beef, a case of yogurt, a turkey breast, 3 lbs. of lemons, a container of organic spring greens, a bag of red bell peppers, a bag of broccoli slaw, 3 lbs. brown sugar, 5 lbs. sweet potatoes, 5 lbs. of sweet onions, 3 lbs. granny smith apples, a bottle of organic mango juice, a 2 pck. of ruby red grapefruit juice, 2 lbs. of strawberries, a box of clementines, one container marinated mini fresh mozzarella balls, one package fresh basil, a large container of grape tomatoes, two English cucumbers, one package of fresh cheese ravioli,
and a two pack of coffee creamer.
I used the snow day we had after President's Day to finish up at Aldi. I spent $119.52 all on food. A lot of snack foods and some frozen things for youngest son to make himself a quick 'second lunch' when he arrives home from school. He was complaining that dinner is so late now that he really needs something to eat mid afternoon. He was with me so he chose the items.  I came home with 6 'slim jim' snacks for the kids, 2 packages of frozen cheese manicotti, 2 packs of cheddar brats, a box of taquitos, 2 boxes of frozen pocket sandwiches, 1/2 gallon of cookie dough ice cream, 1/2 gallon vanilla bean ice cream, 4 boxes of Yakisoba noodle bowls, 1 box spaghetti, 1 jar cinnamon applesauce, 1 bottle C boost organic juice, 2 bottles ruby red grapefruit juice (my teen son LOVES this stuff), 1 bottle organic apple juice, 1 bottle 100% cranberry juice, 1 bottle 100% cherry juice, 10lbs russet potatoes, 1 hunk of sundried tomato-basil cheese, 1 pint lowfat cottage cheese, 2 hunks NY white cheddar, 1 bag string cheese, 1 package potato gnocchi, 1 bottle basil olive oil, 2 packages organic bacon, 1/2 gallon organic 2% milk (new item giving it a try), 1 bag spinach, 1 bag cheese puffs, 1 bag nacho chips, 1 pack chocolate pudding cups, 1 can whipped topping, 2 boxes
rice a roni, 1 bag shredded cheddar, 1 bunch celery, 1 box cinnamon graham crackers, 1 box 'cream of wheat'cereal, 1 bag penguin cheese crackers, 1 box regular graham crackers, 1 box ritz style crackers, 1 box mini peanut butter stuffed crackers, 1 box mini cheese stuffed crackers, 2 bags of kettle chips, 1 bag baby carrots, 1 bag beef jerky (an adult son request), and a dozen eggs.
Youngest son suggested a meal that was off our menu plans but for which we had purchased all the ingredients so we ended up our day with Pasta Carbonara Florentine, a salad, and watched a taped episode of Sherlock.

Let's talk groceries...

I have been increasingly intrigued by the idea of CSAs(community supported agriculture) while reading about another blogger's adventures along these lines.I have seriously been considering this option for myself and just coincidentally I recently had two spontaneous conversations about CSA 's available in my area with two different people at work. I definately wanted an opinion from someone who'd done this here and it was pretty funny/odd that both of these women brought up the topic. What they had to say made me think.  Both of them had chosen to do a CSA last season and both had two very different opinions, although both had also come to the same conclusion. Co-worker 1 was basically happy with her program, although she had a few minor complaints about pickup times and locations. She did think the foods available were varied and quality was consistent and she liked the 'artisan' items that were included.  She did say however that she wasn't going to choose this option this year because of the difficulties involved in picking up the items and the price increase for the coming season. Co-worker 2 hated the whole thing. From the pickup issues to the items offered. She also said she'd not try this again because she did not feel she was getting good value for her money.
I did some research myself and took a look at the limited number of CSAs with pickup locations/times (I was surprised that so many of them only had 'during work hours' times) that were not inconvenient to me. I found all of them to be more money than I am willing to spend. We have so many local seasonal farmer's markets (as well as two excellent year round ones) with lots of fruit farms within driving distance that do pick-your-own or who sell their own products on sight in this area that I think I will pass on this option. I am not willing to dedicate what amounts to $65 a week for 22 weeks, paid in full upfront, from my food budget. Having taken a year end look at what I averaged on groceries last year (just over $400 a month, or $100 a week) this is more than half my weekly expenses.
So now I am turning my interests towards looking at what I can grow in my back garden and which local seasonal markets I am interested in patronizing this year. Adult son has promised to make me two more raised bed boxes and fill them with dirt as a birthday present again this year. I am good with that and am currently browsing seed catalogs deciding what to grow.