The Agalah Conundrum

In the Old Country, it was a given that whenever you put one sock of a matched pair in the dryer, you would inevitably not get it back. You might lose it altogether; you might receive one sock of the original pair back but not the other, so end up with a mismatched pair; you might get two separate socks neither of which were in the original matched pair.

It was a sort of Murphy's Law of Sock Drying.

Israel seems to have a similar conundrum, or else I am similarly blessed, with the Agalah Conundrum.

Last week I needed chicken. Super Deal was having a sale: 5 packages of chicken for 70 NIS. Such a deal. I bought staples: chicken, wine, yogurts, milk, vegetables, coffee, beer (yes, in my husband's eyes, beer is a staple in the summer) a LOT of cheese, fruit and cereal, plus humus and tehina and sugar.

This plus some other odds and ends came to around 850 NIS.

Okay, that's not bad for a week's shopping for a family....but oddly familiar to the week before when I bought NO meat, half as much cheese, no energy bars for the lunch bunch, but did get applesauce and fruit cups for lunches, real fruit, lots of vegetables, no chips, no beer, no humus and no tehina. Still right around 850 NIS.

Oh, well.

But then I shopped again today. No meat, yes beer, very little cheese, no vegetables, but more cereal, fruit, yogurts, soft drinks, chips, but then no applesauce or fruit cup snacks, but yes, energy bars. Plus some odds and ends, like Kleenex and deodorant.

Again, a tad over 850 NIS.

I'm not complaining. I'm just puzzled. I am not doing anything consciously to reach this amount--I'm not talented enough with math to keep an accurate running total of the groceries, nor am I making an assessment based on how full the cart is, since every week if has been different.

So maybe I am simply blessed with agalah luck--my cart is full whenever I reach this shekel amount and dayenu! It's enough for the week!

It's just puzzling.....like wondering where all those socks went?