What’s up everyone? I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend! I was back home in Greensburg with my family eating an insane amount of meat related items (so many ribs, so many steaks. I was in a carnivore’s paradise. REAL TALK!) I wanted to keep you updated on some of my recent shopping adventures. I recently got paid so I had to go back to do so much needed grocery shopping. While I had intended not to spend the amount of money this time around, I apparently made a bit of a foodie foul this week shopping. At first, I was extremely aggravated and quite angry about what happened, but instead of typing up a really crass blog post about the experience, I’m just going to treat this shopping spree as a financial learning experience. In all honestly, I DID find some interesting things, but the expense and store hopping in between just was not worth it.
Without further adieu, here’s the mistake I made this weekend. I went out shopping with my mother to McGinnis Sisters in Monroeville. Located just off the PA Turnpike, heading east out of Pittsburgh, this cute little mom-and-pop shop is known for it’s specialty food items. While I was excited to go food shopping last Saturday, I soon found out that this store lacked a lot of organic produce. In fact, I had to read almost every known label on the produce in this store to find anything remotely local or organic. Most of the produce I did find that was organic was…well…not that budget friendly. Before I get into that, I want to talk about the things I DID like about this shop.
First of all, McGinnis Sisters has an amazing cheese and meat section. This store is not particularly big, but you will find awesome raw cheese and specialty meats (I’m talking whole quail, venison, and other bizarre finds). Check out the photos below of some of the meat and cheese items I found.
The other thing I genuinely liked about this store is that they have a plethora of specialty teas, infused dark chocolates, and some really bizarre sauces that are fit for the serious food snob. Check out those items below!
Getting back to the spending portion of this trip, I regret to inform you all that I went slightly over my food spending budget this week, and I am NOT a happy camper about this. I want to mention that I still had some items left my first intial food purchase about a month ago (read about that here). Those items are a few bottles of Beyond Organic’s Amasi, a pound of Beyond Organic Raw Cheddar Cheese, a few apples and oranges, and some of that awesome dark chocolate from Market District. I did go grocery shopping a week ago at a local Giant Eagle and a farmers market (read about that trip here) in the South side. I spent a total of $63.50. At McGinnis Sisters, with the over priced produce and specialty meats I bought, I spent a total of $86.01. Ouch! We are now at a total spending of $149.51. I then had to make a purchase at a local Giant Eagle (again) to get more produce. I had to spend an additional $65.87. MEH! We are now at a spending of $215.38. Not to mention my much needed Amasi purchase (I WILL NOT go through Amasi withdrawl again. It’s bad man! BAD!) as well as the SueroViv I needed from Beyond Organic (this stuff is better than Gatorade. Perfect for re-balancing electrolytes when you work out in the heat like me. I will review this product for you all soon!). That cost me $92.00. ACK! We are now at $307.38. This was actually more than I spent at Market District as well as Beyond Organic a month ago, which was a spending of $292.52. to be honest, I am hoping all this food will last me a about 3 to 4 weeks, but I am concerned that it may not this time around. I am not too happy about this. Not at all. I went nearly $15.00 over what I normally spend. That may not seem like much, but considering the money I had to spend on gas to drive to other stores to get what I needed, I lost that extra $15 I could have used for something else food or fitness related. BOO HISS SNARL! NOT COOL!
I am sure we have all made some mistakes when it comes to shopping, so instead of blaming McGinnis Sisters for my problems, I am taking this as a learning experience. I like the store’s specialty cheeses and meats, and I also liked their bizarre chocolates and sauces. As for the produce, yunz best take a look somewhere else. You can get better deals on produce at your local farmers markets, Market District, or Trader Joe’s. And that’s real talk, ya heard?
That’s it for me today! Be on the look out for my reviews on SueroViv, an interesting beverage from Beyond Organic. I am warming back up to this stuff, so we will see if the flavors I purchased actually agree with my palate this time around. Until next time, remember to eat smart (and budget accordingly,) train hard, and enjoy your life!
Love Always,
Janelle
