Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Called Out

The lovely and talented NME has called me out to discuss my grocery shopping habits. Because I am in the midst of a blogging brain block due to the INSANE AMOUNT OF WORK I HAVE TO DO and the SHORT TIME I HAVE TO DO IT IN and the AMOUNT OF OTHER THINGS I HAVE GOING ON THAT LIMIT MY TIME, I thought I would just latch on to this topic and make her happy. Hey, who am I am to ask?

Actually, this is a great topic. Grocery shopping is such a necessary, yet sort of P.I.T.A., thing to do. Clearly, I like food. However, I am living an interesting little life here because I live at home with my parents, and my dad is a Grocery Shopping Artist. He looks at the ads and clips the coupons and goes to at least one grocery store every day. His current favorite is our Wal-Mart SuperCenter, but he also enjoy Wegman's (how can you not?), a local market called Valley Farm Market (sounds like a farmer's market, but it is more like a regular grocery store), and Giant (although less so, now that the SuperCenter opened). Also, once in a while, a trip to Redner's is necessary. Therefore, the majority of my groceries (by which I mean my parents' groceries, which they are kind enough to let me eat) are purchased by my dad. Sorry.

However, I still go to the grocery store way too often. That's because once in a while I like to go and wander around and see what I can use to supplement the family grocery purchases. When this happens, I buy some off-beat, not-normally-purchased-by-this-family items. Often, I hit the Nature's Marketplace at Wegman's, where I like to buy items such as Amy's Organic Burritos, organic granola, and better-for-me snacks. Sometimes, I go to the SuperCenter and buy every kind of 100-calorie-pack snack foods I can find, along with things I don't expect my dad to provide, like Goldfish cracker snack bags, Pringle's, and "fancy" bottled water in the 1 L bottles (Fiji, Evian, and the like). When my financial picture is bleak, I try to avoid the grocery store. But if I have a little extra money and can't get to a shoe store? I can feel it burning a hole right in my pocket, and off to Wegman's (or The Wegger, which is what we like to call it in my family) I go to spend, spend, spend!

As for favorites in our house (not necessarily purchased by me), we do the frozen lunches thing, usually Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers. We eat a lot of corn on the cob for as long as we can. We eat a lot of chicken and the occasional steak. We like to create our own Mexican food nights on occasion. We have pasta once in a while, often with frozen turkey meatballs. And we do the rotisserie chicken thing as well, as those things are YUMMY (and available in several different "flavors")! We keep melon, berries, carrots, and lettuce in the house at all times. We like our frozen peas. And we eat a lot of yogurt. We also keep some lite English muffins around and have a loaf of lite bread at all times.

We also but baguette for the dog (we mean it when we say we spoil our pets), as well as her own doggie ice cream. She also gets Greenies, DentaBones, and Better than Ears on occasion. The cats get a specific type of treat that they enjoy (Aquari-yums), as well as a specific (and expensive) type of mouse toy that are the only mice they have ever showed an interest in.

So I am sure that this has not been helpful, but I hope it's been fun. When I do become a grocery shopper on my own someday, I will totally be a list-maker because that is who I am. Now, a list-follower? Perhaps not so much...

4 comments:

NME said...

I want your Dad to come and shop for us.

I LOVE Fiji water but have been drinking America's Choice generic. So sad. Is it wierd to have a water preference?

Frozen peas? I thought the only people who ate them were children enduring torture. I used to stuff my mouth full of them and then go to the bathroom and spit them in the toilet.

What is in doggie ice cream?

hazel said...

we totally get 100 calorie packs, how could I forget those gems! I bring them to work.

and we get the doggie (and kitty) ice cream too! frosty paws (and claws), right? maggie loves that stuff. she picks the container up and trots off to eat it in the corner so she can lick it against the walls.

I wish we had a wegman's. it sounds divine.

Susan said...

I always try to make a list when I go but it never seems to work!

MC said...

My favorite water is Dannon...so no, it isn't weird to have a water preference. However, I like the big Evian and Fiji bottles...