For much of my life grocery shopping has actually been quite a favorite pastime of mine. When I was a kid my mom would often send my older sister and me to the local market with a list and a blank check to shop for our family of roughly a dozen people. I sometimes made a game out of it and tried to sneak random items into the basket without my sister noticing--a coconut, kiwi fruit, cans of Fresca. My sister and I would sometimes get silly and giggle all the way through the store. We had a lot fun at good old Days Thriftway. I enjoyed it so much I created a word for it, "Grocering." Grocering is not merely the act of shopping for food, it is a fun leisurely afternoon spent in the supermarket.
Needless to say, I have not been grocering in a very long time. With the rising cost of food and a monthly income that is, shall we say "on hiatus", trips to the grocery store more closely resemble a panic attack than a joyous outing. I stand in the aisles, calculator in hand, for what feels like hours (especially when I have kids in tow!) and I try to calculate cost per ounce, compare sale prices at one store verses another, determine food storage needs and try not to go insane when I can't find apples any cheaper than $1.69 a pound (it's September for crying out loud, apples are in season!)
One big name store in particular honestly puts me in a bad mood every time I go there, which isn't very often. But this week they had a great sale on cereal and granola bars so I stopped in. I thought I'd pick up a few other items while I was there. That was a bad idea. I kid you not, the people in charge of pricing in that place are stark raving mad! They have this nasty little practice of inflating the "regular price" on things so later they can put them "on sale" and plaster their cute little yellow "savings" signs all over the place without actually saving anybody any money. Yesterday I saw generic brand cream cheese on "sale" for $1.99. Who do they think they are kidding with that?! That's more than the regular price at the store down the road. Or how about the chicken breasts "specially priced at just $3.99 a pound". What in the world?!
Sometimes I'm afraid that I may never go "grocering" again. Or perhaps my most recent shopping trips are just missing one crucial element from the the grocery store adventures of my youth. . . I wasn't paying the bill.
8 comments:
You are so right Sarah, my dear, while we have been here in NY I am flabbergasted at what they can charge for a frozen pizza or a box of cereal- $7.00 for some cheerios is a little crazy- then again it works out since I am not paying for all of our groceries- thank heavens! If we had to live here on our budget we would be fishing in the Hudson with our shoelaces and living in a box "down by the river".
Sarah---I love it! You definitely
have your mother's writing gene! Can you imagine Grandma Olsen shopping today?...somehow she would make something delicious out of nothing. Keep up the good work. Maybe some day you'll get to go "grocering" again.
Love ya!
Thank you for writing about Grocering! It is a concept that should be preserved for posterity, especially since it has become a rare luxury.
I will never forget my first true "grocery shopping" experience (as opposed to shopping with someone else's money). I was a newly wed and had that same “panic attack” experience with my calculator in an aisle at Food 4 Less, trying to figure out what to put back on the shelf so I wouldn't over-spend my weekly self-allotted food allowance. My husband couldn’t figure out why a trip that should have taken me 30 minutes took me an hour and a half.
I hope you find joy in grocering again. If you don't, your children will when you send them to Days with a blank check and they bring home kiwis.
We have 4 of those big stores with the cute yellow "sale" faces in close proximity to our home. I noticed that all the stores do not have the same price for the same item, for example, Milk is $3.89 down the street, but 3 miles over it is $4.18 because there is no competition. I was wondering if they will price match their own stores. I haven't been "grocering" in a long time myself.
Back when I had kids ages 4, 2, and newborn, grocery shopping late at night was a luxury--one of the few times I was ALONE.
The price thing drives me so crazy, that I've resorted to the Grocery Game. They do all the thinking and math for me, tell me which stores have the best prices, and off I go with my trusty coupons. I've actually enjoyed shopping again when I come home with so much more food for less--andn some freebies thrown into the mix.
I know the store you're talking about - starts with an Al... You should subscribe to Pinching your Pennies. You can look up shopping lists for all the major stores where they rank the deals.
It is funny how my grocery shopping goes in phases...just like you described. Today I am in the shop the ad so I can add something to my food storage mode. It actually is becoming kind of entertaining for me.
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