Getting the Groceries

Part of the regular routine around here is buying groceries on the weekend. I go to one of two stores. When I am feeling that we need to cut back a bit on the money we spend I go to one, when I want really nice produce and sliced meat, I go to the other.

I am a list maker. I make lists for everything, but my grocery list is always laid out the same way. I have headings in the order that food is located around the store: produce, deli, bakery, meat, can/box, and frozen/dairy. I start making the list around Wednesday or Thursday and leave it out as I realize that we need certain things. When I find someone's list that they accidentally left in the cart, I always look at it, the nosey beggar that I am.

Saturday morning, list, coffee, and computer

A couple of years ago, President' Choice (a food company) introduced a points card. It isn't a credit card, but instead a way of earning points depending on how what you purchase that can then be redeemed toward buying more groceries. I get an email sent to me every Friday showing me what foods I could buy to earn extra points. I don't buy anything I don't need, but there is a tracking system that uses previous purchases to offer those same foods again in later weeks. Usually there is something that I would be buying anyway. When I earn 20,000 points, I can knock $20.00 off my grocery bill. Woo hoo!

I always ask my husband and kids if there is anything they need, or want me to pick up when I am grocery shopping. Most often, the answer is, "No, I can't think of anything." Then, inevitably later in the week, someone says, "Did you pick up any _________?" (Eye roll).

I am the meal maker in our home, so I usually have certain meals in mind for which I buy ingredients. Sometimes I am just inspired right there in the grocery isle due to something being on sale.

I should stop being surprised at how much money I spend on groceries. Right now there are only three of us at home. It is ridiculous how much groceries cost. With this I am including things like cleaning supplies, laundry soap, toilet paper, pet food, etc. I have no clue how a bigger family does it. And before someone suggests coupons, here in Canada we don't have the same coupon deals as they have in the States. I have watched just a couple of shows about "Extreme Couponers" who get a huge cart load of stuff for $3.26 or some other outrageous deal. But I also think, why do you want ten cans of fruit cocktail?

A lovely blogger from England gets her groceries delivered to her. I believe she orders them online. The convenience of this is understandable. I still don't think I would want that service, though. I want to see things, pick out my own box of strawberries, check the expiry date of the yogurt myself...

Because I am a working mom, and both of my kids currently are or have worked part time at the grocery store, I usually go shopping on a Saturday, when one of them is working a shift and when I have time. Everyone else has the same idea. It is packed. And lord help me if a holiday is coming up. They're all out there buying up everything like Armageddon is about to occur. (But then I'm there, too). I admit to having silent road rage (or isle rage) in grocery stores. MOVE YOUR CART OVER TO ONE SIDE!!!!  If you are going to ponder over that jar of olives, could you please pull over so other people can get on with their lives? This grocery store has several carts that are made out to look like cars, complete with little steering wheels in the front. Although these carts are a little bigger, I don't mind them because they keep little angels busy and happy, sitting in the front, "driving" while Mom or Dad does the shopping.

There has been a big movement here over the past several years to get rid of plastic bags. Almost everyone brings their own fabric bags in which to pack their groceries to take home. If you have forgotten your bags in your kitchen, or they are in the back of the other vehicle, then you have to pay for plastic bags. It's not much (cents per bag) but it still kind of bothers me. Ya, ya, I know environmentally they are a nightmare, but if I just spent $200.00 in your store, the least you could do is give me a few bags because I can hardly carry this stuff in my arms out to the car. (Don't jump all over me for polluting the earth, please. We reuse plastic bags here for all kinds of things).

Do you ever feel that others are silently judging you based on your groceries? Those times when I bought the three bags of chips because they were on sale and I like to stash them away for when we have friends over, and there was a special request for hot chocolate so I bought the giant size because it is cheaper per serving that way, and you eye my cart , I want to say, "There are vegetables in here, you just can't see them! I'm not planning on eating all the chips tonight!" 

There is also the secret that many women keep. When my daughter worked as a cashier through highschool she became an expert at spotting the secret and aiding and abetting women on a regular basis. What am I talking about? I am referring to the "eat it on your way home treat". C'mon, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. It's that chocolate bar that nonchalantly gets put on the conveyer belt that you are going to be snarfing and then hiding the wrapper in your purse before you get home. My daughter would spy the "treat" and as she was bagging up the groceries would say to the purchaser, "Do you want me to leave this out, so you can put it in your purse?" The woman would say, as if it was a novel idea, "Oh sure! Thanks!"

What about you? Are you a list maker, a once a week shopper, a secret hoarder of enough food that you're practically a "prepper"? Do you buy yourself a sneaky secret treat when grocery shopping? Do you shop alone, or does your significant other and a boatload of kids come with you? Do you remember your non-plastic, environmentally friendly shopping bags? Do you choke on the price of things? Chime in.