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Siobhan “Shemama” Lowe shows off her purchase and long grocery store receipt.

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Floyd County woman stretches her food shopping dollars

by Wanda Combs
Editor

With four children, Siobhan “Shemama” Lowe of Floyd has always tried to find a way to stretch her food dollars. Last week she again outdid herself with a successful shopping trip to the grocery store.
She didn’t do it by using coupons – although she has tried them in the past. She instead took advantage of multiple buys of food products, five being the magic number. When a cashier at Slaughters’ Supermarket rang up her total, it was $142, but the bags of groceries filled her van, and she had saved $59.
In these economic times especially, Lowe said she wants to make everyone aware there are ways to save on groceries. “I want the young families starting out to know they have the power in their choice of what they consume.”
She calls herself an eternal optimist. “I will wear that tiara gladly.” A longtime shopper at the local grocery store, Lowe has always bought the store specials. “I’ve depended on it with a low monthly income. That is what enabled us to have a decent quality of life.” With her savings on groceries, she said she always had money left over for extra school supplies or when someone wanted a pair of flip flops on a whim.
Lowe said she likes to do her grocery shopping, locally, on the first week of the month – “that’s when sales happen.” She also does not buy high end items, such as packaged cookies. She buys the flour, sugar and other ingredients to make her own.
The 5 for $5 deals are “such a benefit because even the national coupons cannot give you a deal with the total savings,” she remarked. Those deals are always on staples, and that helps since the prices on those have been going up, she added.
A nurse, Lowe also has volunteered in the community. She has served with New River Community Action as a member of the executive board and the RSVP Board. She attends Zion Lutheran Church and helps with the Oak Grove Pavilion summer events. She is also the MC at FloydFest’s garden grove in July.
She has four children: Sofia Matuk, a 2008 Floyd County High School graduate, who works at Blue Ridge Restaurant; Serena, a Roanoke College senior majoring in math; Sadie, a junior at FCHS; and Sean, a FCHS and Virginia Western Community College graduate, who is now touring with his band Heevahava.
Even though many families are struggling with their budgets and rising expenses, Lowe said she believes “if each one in our little walk, just takes a minute to see success, alternatives, and solutions” and shares that information with others, there is hope.
She has found something that works for her at the grocery store. “At the end of the receipt,” she said, “there’s the happy ending.”