Grocery Shopping: It's Not For Everyone

Dear Diary,

I have a LOVE - HATE relationship with grocery shopping.

I HATE coming up with the meal plans for the week. I HATE the entire process actually. What haven't we had in awhile? What is easy? What ingredient list isn't going to cost me a million dollars? What is something new? What is the most convenient to make on the days I have two toddlers to work around? This is the entire problem: Too many questions, too much time spent flipping through recipe books, and too much thought process...

Then there's the shopping. I HATE shopping for everything I need. And maybe it's not fair to say the actual shopping is the part that bothers me. I think I'd be okay if I was the only person in the store, but it's the other shoppers that tend to ruin my mood. When I go to the store on my big shopping day I take my list. A list that is organized by where I start in the store, to where I finish. I don't like to have to go back an aisle for something I forgot to grab. I go with a purpose, with limited time, and with one goal: get in and get out. I get frustrated when someone is standing in front of the one thing I need. I don't easily tolerate the person strolling ahead of me that is casually shopping through the cereal section. Grocery shopping isn't casual. You either like Frosted Flakes or you like Golden Grahams. There shouldn't be much of a debate. And I really cant stand the cold and frozen aisles. Someone is always in the door I need, the milk never has a good expiration date on it and there is always a small crowd gathered around the cheese. Come on people, grab your Shredded Mild Cheddar and lets go!

And if the store wasn't bad enough, I think I hate the aftermath the worst. I HATE putting all the groceries in the back of the car. I HATE that 90% of the time something falls over on the drive home. I HATE carrying all the bags inside and I really HATE putting it all away.

With all of this being said, I do LOVE when I have my weekly meal plan figured out. I LOVE not having to ask the question, "What am I going to make for dinner?" I LOVE when the shopping is done and everything is in its place in my kitchen, ready for me to use when the recipe calls for it. I LOVE when an old recipe is just as easy as it always has been and I LOVE even more when a new recipe becomes a "keeper."

You know what else I LOVE? My Price Chopper. I LOVE how organized it is and how clean it appears to be. I enjoy the fact that I know where everything is and that I notice if something changes. I LOVE that I am familiar with most all the checkers and that I have my favorites, whose lines I always try to get in. I LOVE when I see the cute Zac Efron look-a-like bagger, who is much too young for me but who I still like to think will slip me his number one of these days =) He is surely interested in a married, pregnant, older woman right? Haha

If you couldn't tell, today was one of those shopping days. My hate relationship got cut in half though when my husband was nice enough to come with me. He got to push the cart with our "grabby hands" child while I roamed from aisle to aisle, weaving in and out of traffic at a rapid pace. I didn't have to put the groceries in the car, nor did I have to carry them all inside, which made putting them all away in the kitchen a bit more tolerable than normal.

Another grocery week down and about a billion more to go. I'll let this feeling of satisfaction linger as long as it can because come the end of the week, I'll be starting all over again.

Sincerely Yours,