Always Buy These 15 Things at Walmart When You Live Alone (A Mexican Mother's List, All Under $5)

#LivingAlone #WalmartHaul #MexicanMom My mother lived alone for eleven years in a house built for nine, and she never once bought the small package. Fifteen things from Walmart, every one under five dollars this week, bought the way a mother buys and divided the way a woman alone divides: what each one costs, what it does in a house with one plate on the table, and the honest word on the label. The last one is not food, and it is the reason my phone rings at nine every night. 📖 Number twelve is page 72 of The Old Mexican Way: freezing is the gentlest preservation there is, so one pound of beans on Sunday becomes ten bowls and nine flat bags, and the stove is never on for just one: https://oldmexicanway.com None of this is your fault. Nobody taught you that the package sized for one person was the one sized for the store. The 15: 15. El fideo, about 57 cents (sopa de fideo for one in twelve minutes) 14. Knorr caldo de pollo cubes, about $1.08 (the sick day in the cupboard; half a cube if you watch the salt) 13. Corn tortillas, 30 for about $1.98 (two stacks in the freezer, one in the drawer) 12. Pinto beans, 4 lb about $3.82 (one pound on Sunday, ten bowls, nine flat bags, two weeks) 11. Rice, 5 lb about $3 (one pot, four suppers, on the eye shelf) 10. The can of fish: tuna about 96 cents, sardines in tomato about $2.44 (the protein that waits) 9. Evaporated milk, about $1.25 (never the gallon for one) 8. Chile de árbol, about $2.12 (so the four suppers do not taste the same) 7. Maseca, 4 lb about $3.98 (four tortillas at a time; in a jar with a lid) 6. Bolillos, 6 for about $1.97 (four in the freezer the day they come home) 5. A flashlight, about $1.97 (by the bed, batteries beside it, not in it) 4. Zote, about $1.62 (six jobs; never on the skin, never on the dog) 3. Baking soda, about 97 cents (one dollar replaced a shelf) 2. The chest rub, Equate, about $3 (comfort, not medicine; the cough that stays is the doctor) 1. Canela, about $3.48: té de canela on Thursday with the comadre, and the nine o'clock call About $31 for all fifteen ($33 with the sardines too), and most of it is on the shelf for a month. HONEST WORD: prices are Walmart this week, store brand where the store brand is the same thing, rounded, and your store differs. Nothing here is medicine: the chest rub is comfort, the baking soda is a once, the Zote never goes on skin, and a cough that stays is the doctor. If the doctor has you on the pressure, half a cube, tuna in water, rinse the sardines. CHAPTERS 0:00 Fifteen things, a mother's list, divided for one 1:24 The honest word: never buy small, buy right and divide 1:57 15 · el fideo 2:35 14 · el consomé (the sick day in the cupboard) 3:19 13 · las tortillas (two stacks in the freezer) 3:56 One book for the whole house 4:12 12 · the pound of beans (ten bowls, nine flat bags) 5:03 11 · el arroz (one pot, four suppers, the eye shelf) 5:45 10 · the can of fish 6:43 9 · la leche evaporada (never the gallon) 7:31 8 · el chile de árbol (so the four suppers do not taste the same) 8:13 Halfway: the three I walk past, and the refrigerator that hides the waste 9:01 7 · la Maseca (four tortillas at a time) 9:46 6 · los bolillos (four in the freezer) 10:28 5 · la linterna (batteries beside it, not in it) 11:12 4 · el Zote (six jobs, never on the skin) 11:57 3 · el bicarbonato (one dollar replaced a shelf) 12:47 2 · el Vaporú (comfort, not medicine) 13:43 1 · la canela, the Thursday, and the nine o'clock call 14:49 The fifteen, about thirty one dollars, and the rules 15:45 Más vale sola que mal acompañada 16:08 Who profits from your living alone 16:46 One thing this week: the pound of beans, and the call Tell me which of the fifteen is already in your house, the one you still buy small, and if you live alone, who calls at nine. Tell me your county too. I read every one. #FrugalLiving #CookingForOne #Under5Dollars