Here they are. The two places that I love, and hate the most. Why do grocery stores make me feel this way? It's like a relationship, but with none of the benefits. Okay, I guess food is a benefit, and they never ask me to move over in bed.....but I digress.
I started thinking about shopping because, low and behold!, I went shopping yesterday. But if you are like me, you have 2 stores you have to shop at. For me, it is Ralph's and Trader Joes. This is one of the "hates". Why can't everything be at one store? Oh well.
Yesterday, it was my shopping at Trader Joe's day. I realized that besides picking only 2 stores to shop from, I am also a creature of habit with the things I buy. Here are items that typically get put in my cart:
Strawberries & blueberries (hate frozen!, love them on everything!)
Red onions (I make a yummy salad with them)
Hard boiled eggs (although today I had to buy uncooked egss since they were out of the pre-made ones. The nerve!)
Cucumbers
Baby broccoli ( I guess I am partial to babies!)
Spring Salad mix
Cherry tomatoes
Waffles
I hate that I can't be more adventurous. Well, today I was. Don't tell anyone, but I also bought "Romaine hearts" to use for salad greens. Crazy, I know! But I guess the real reason I am not that adventurous is because, who am I kidding, most of the time, I am not in the mood to try something new, and then it's "Crap, this stuff has mold on it already? Should have had it for breakfast/lunch/dinner".
May I add that when I can, I try to buy all these items organic. Why? Because one of my "hates" is shopping guilt. For one of my "wonderful" CSUN classes, I had to watch a documentary about the grocery industry. And boy, let me tell you, serious guilt trip! Inhumane treatment of chickens, genetically modified produce, overcharging for conveience, yada, yada, yada.
So, now my life is relegated to 2 stores. Ralphs for all the non-food items (garbarge bags, Ziplock bags, Crystal Light) and Trader Joe's for all my food. And while I do get excited sometimes about trying new things that I see ("Oooh, grilled chicken strips! That might be a quick and easy lunch!"), I still feel some guilt.
Because even though I can get pretty much most of the food organic at Trader Joe's, I know I really should be shopping at a Farmer's Market. Then I am really cutting out the middle man, getting food directly from the source, and not getting bananas from Chile. But I really like bananas in my smoothie, and they don't have them at a farmers market! Aaaaah! See my guilt?
To top it off, why do other people make me feel even more guilty when I see that they remembered to bring their paper Trader Joe's bag to get a raffle ticket for a $25 TJ gift card? Or even worse, they bring in their OWN reusable bags! Yuppies! (Wait, does that describe me?)
Anyways, let me know how your shopping experience goes and what you put in your cart. Then maybe I won't feel so much guilt, and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to try something before it gets moldy. Well, off to try my "Marinated Lentil Salad" with pre-cooked lentils I bought from Trader Joe's (wait, are they organic?...........)
oh how i hate grocery shopping!! it seems like i always need to go but never have the time to go. i always forget something, even if i make a list. sometimes (who an i kidding, MOST OF THE TIME) i fell a little embarrassed with all the pre-made, boxed, junk i find i have when i get to the checkout, and my lack a raw ingredients that will made into something wholesome. there just simply aren't enough hours in the day. once you start having kids throw costco into the mix, that's a huge pain!
ReplyDeleteSaw your post on FB, bookmarked your blog. I went to Trader Joes today. Ralphs is dead to me now that I live my super walmart.
ReplyDeleteI am a Costco and Ralph's girl. I hardly go to Trader Joe's. I'm not against it. I just don't make it there. And I HATE shopping with my kids, so I usually make Dan go or I'll go in the evenings. There are times, however, that I strap Clem on my chest and Lu and Jos sit in the cart at Costco. I LOVE Costco! Someday you will too . . . maybe. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteI love grocery shopping. Even with my kids. Am I strange or what? I think it's because I love food - buying it, looking at it, making it, whatever. And Trader Joe's is my favorite. I do enjoy Ralph's and occasionally Costco (more for the experience than for the "deals" b/c when you do the math, the deals aren't always that different). I kinda dislike Whole Foods b/c they are so expensive, and I really think that it's a crime that healthy food isn't affordable. It's just WRONG. And PS - One of my most favorite things in the world is taking my fam to the farmers market. Mmmmmm. I know... I'm weird.
ReplyDeleteoh yes shopping is so irritating. I have to make a ralphs list a trader joes list and costco list and usually to top all that a target list (now I have an option of Walmart now that I moved) I feel like I am constantly hating Costco usually because I spend so much there then loving it because the diapers are cheap but I had to buy 200 of them at once making them seem expensive. Anyway Shopping sucks and I am glad Beth enjoys it, maybe she can do mine too, lol...I think it sucks even worse once you have little ones to control while you are doing it, again maybe Beth can do all my shopping from here on out, lol (I am going to talk to her about that arrangement)
ReplyDeletei love grocery shopping. my three favs are trader joe's, ralphs and costco, in that order. I would love to add a farmer's market to that, but they are mostly on sundays...and with 2 churches, ugh, that's just makes for a really long day. i like the produce at TJ's best and they seem to mostly have food when it is season. because my kids are weird (one loves veggies and dislikes fruit and the other loves fruit and avoids veggies like the plague) we try to keep a variety of fresh produce so we they don't get bored with their respective delights. we get edamame, broccoli, carrots, peppers, mandarin oranges, apples, pears. i've been craving less common fruit like pineapple and mango. i don't like to buy precut either because i feel like it doesn't last as long. i love peaches there too. we always have gnocchi, tempura chicken and frozen fruit in the freezer. i buy most of my baking stuff at Ralphs. that's where the cheap processed stuff is. overall shopping with my kids is fine as long as they aren't tired or hungry, but lately i've been going while both of them are in school.
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