My guess is we will be doing this particular lesson once or twice a week. I’m sure they will soon begin to see the difference in how far over we go at Acme vs. Whole Foods vs. Trader Joe’s.

But we started with Acme.

They knew our goal was to stay as close to sixty dollars as possible, and get the ingredients for three easy, relatively healthy, weekday dinners — and probably a few extra items (we were out of eggs, Tucker needed plastic wrap for the plum pudding he made yesterday).

It was the first time out, so I let them just share the calculator. Next time, I plan to have one use the calculator, and the other be adding and rounding up in their head. We will switch off.

They certainly felt the pressure the closer we got to sixty dollars!

And there, is Claudia’s grand total (having had to estimate the prices of eggs, which we couldn’t find a price for, and apples, which we did not weigh). (Put some lotion on those hands, kid.)

The actual receipt came to a little over $65, so we must have underestimated our eggs and apple prices. But that’s ok. We have three dinners: roasted chicken and broccoli, kielbasa and sauerkraut for the Crock Pot, and pork chops — in addition to mayonnaise, half-and-half, and some other extras. This, plus what’s already at home, should keep us out of a supermarket for the next few days! (But I bet it won’t.)