money management

A few days ago, I decided to head to the supermarket to pick up some groceries, namely some fruit, vegetables and beverages to drink when I wasn’t sipping on cold water because Barbados is hot all year long. I was a bit disturbed by what I continued to notice. I knew things were expensive before, but I was quite frustrated when I started to calculate and reason out how I could get the most healthy selection within my budget.

Keep in mind that all prices mentioned are in Barbados dollars (BD$2= US$1).

When I first got to the produce section, I searched for some of my regular purchases and realized being unemployed, and wanting to eat adequate servings of fruit and vegetables left one with a difficult choice. I picked up a bag of 10 oranges for $10.99, a small bag of 5 tiny Gala apples for $3.50, half of a cantaloupe for $4.39 and a bag of onions ($1.85) out of necessity. To be honest, I hadn’t quite written a list because I had not yet decided what I wanted to cook for the week, as sometimes I’d choose my fruit and veg based on the price and what stood out to me. However, that was a terrible idea, as nothing stood out and there were no specials at that time. I did remember to buy some canned tomatoes ($5.50 for 2) for a sauce I planned to make, given it would have a longer shelf-life than fresh tomatoes, which I don’t remember finding.