$6.49 for a gallon of milk?

Hit Trader Joe's with the kids on Sunday. Not their favorite grocery store (they love Bashas, where they can go into a locked, glassed in cage and play with other children while pretending that they are not in the grocery store) but they still like it because they get little carts that they can drive around the store like madmen running into displays and other shoppers. If anyone were ever to doubt their paternity, all you would have to do is watch them with a shopping cart to know without a doubt that Joe is their father.
Anyway... did my thing at Trader Joe's while attempting to remain calm and apologizing to the other shoppers for the behavior of my children. The only thing going in my favor is that they are both pretty cute and can flash good smiles. My recent grocery goal (besides just simply grocery shopping on a regular basis) is to only spend $100 a week. Yep, $100 for 28 breakfasts, 19 lunches (kids every day, Joe some days, Carrie only on the weekends. Hey.. once I pack everybody else's lunch I'm tired!), and probably 20 dinners (figuring we eat out about twice a week). This used to be a fairly simple chore. Add in my head (while still chasing children with shopping carts), prioritize purchases, stock up when it's on sale, and put back the expensive thing at the end because you know you've gone over budget. Used to be I'd even have a few extra dollars left over at the end for a Sunday newspaper, a Time magazine, or (usually) some trashy Hollywood rag. Those days are over my friends....

Gallon of 1% organic milk (I worry about those hormones) $6.49
(Please note that Colin could drink a gallon of milk EVERYDAY if I would let him. As it is, we drink 2 to 2 1/2 gallons of milk a week)
Salmon patties- 4- $8
(note we don' t really need 4 as Colin would rather starve than allow salmon to cross his lips, but that is how they come)
Box of MightyBytes- $4.79 (have you tried these little buggers?)

Time magazine wrote an article about this a few weeks ago... http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1635836,00.html

This made me think about what I ate growing up compared to what I feed my children and what I eat now. The mainstays of our diets are fresh fruits, fresh vegetables (remember the canned ones we ate as kids?!), lean protein and whole grains. I wonder how much it would cost me to feed my family the things I ate as a kid... white bread, canned veggies, ground beef, etc. Would I still be 'bitching' about the cost of food at the grocery store? Probably. But the perspective is this.... will I change what I feed my kids because costs are rising? No. And how lucky am I that I have the ability to make that decision. I don't have to choose between food and rent or food and medicine. I can just decide that my budget of $100 is going to have to increase- for awhile. Either that or we're going to have to drastically reduce the amount of food that we consume. Who's going to tell Colin?