[Alex Chadwick:] Now a Valentine's story about an elderly couple, Sandy and Ed Meskys. Ed's a retired physics professor. Sandy works part time at her town library in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. Four years ago, Ed's retirement savings, beyond Social Security, ran out. So now they budget $200 a month for groceries and get a box of food from the government every few weeks. The Meskys struggle to get by, but they do it together. Dan Gorenstein of New Hampshire Public Radio went with them on a grocery-shopping trip.
[Mr. Ed Meskys:] Cottage cheese, Brown sugar and cos-cos and couscous, or however.
[Dan Gorenstein Reporting:] Sandy and Ed spend hours shopping on Thursday afternoons.
[Mr. Ed Meskys:] We go to five, six, seven, eight stores we can consider going to. We don't stop at every store every time.
[Gorenstein:] Looking for bargains is one reason why it takes such a long time, the other is that Ed is blind. Ed's seeing-eye dog, Judge, is old, so sometimes the dog stays in the car and Sandy takes her husband around.
[Mr. Ed Meskys:] I've been known to have him on my arm and walk him into a concrete post because I forgot he was there. He's been known to forget that I'm his wife and say, Left! Left! Sometimes he gets, I don't know, maybe nervous that he's going to loose me. And he'll grab too hard on the arm. Where he holds has upon occasion has gotten bruised. Sometimes I really wish he could see.
[Gorenstein:] But they're a team. Ed does the price per pound calculations in his head. Sandy remembers where to find better deals, and they leave 39 cent loaves of bread on the shelf, knowing they can get ones for 33 cents. Sandy calls it squeezing money until it squeaks.
[Mr. Ed Meskys:] Four ninety-nine for... Two pounds. Yeah. And how much was the price? Four nine nine. So this is a dollar or less. No, less. But I think we can still do better. Okay. I would love to go into a store and say, Hey, let's have a roast tonight, and not have to worry about, let's see, if I do it as a pot roast I can have it as cold beef and then I can take some of it and grind it up with the gravy and we can have it over potatoes. It gets old really fast. But we can roll with it. Or we can go, Oh, life is so hard. Oh, I'm not enjoying this at all. Well, can you enjoy what you can enjoy?
[Gorenstein:] Though shopping can be difficult, it can also be intimate. Here they joke and on occasion indulge each other.
[Mr. Ed Meskys:] They've got what looks like a really nice crusty five-grain bread for a dollar. Yeah, but it's a dollar sixty. I don't mind crusty, but it's crusty I think a little further in than we want. Squeeze here. Well, the middle is always loose. I'd be tempted by this anyhow. You say so-so.
[Gorenstein:] Even though this is the third store of the day, they still haven't found couscous. Then Sandy sees the bulk section. Bingo!
[Mr. Ed Meskys:] Here we go, a dollar seventy-nine a pound? Okay. That's, that's it. Get a plastic bag and fill it up.
[Gorenstein:] Satisfied, they head for the checkout.
[Mr. Ed Meskys:] You know, we were working together to beat the system. And it feels good to cooperate, to work together, to achieve something together.
[Gorenstein:] For NPR News, I'm Dan Gorenstein in Concord, New Hampshire.