Thank goodness: no shopping list. I don’t need an extra large cart, I don’t need help loading the bags into my car trunk; I only need a couple of things. So first I’ll head to the dairy aisle for eggs and milk.
What is that product near the milk: kefir? Kefir, I read on the label: a yogurt-like drink. Hmm; never tried it, but it sounds refreshing and tasty while being good for me, too. There’s not much in the cart so this would be a good time to try some. And into the cart goes a quart of strawberry flavored kefir.
Onward to the bread aisle. I’m saving so much time by knowing exactly where this supermarket keeps all its supplies. I grab my favorite seven grain sliced bread before noticing the packets of pita. That’s a great idea: pita sandwiches for lunch . And I can get some hummus and fresh tomatoes for the filling. That sounds like a perfect, light, meal. I fling a package of pita into the cart and mosey over to the fresh produce aisle to pick up a large, ripe, red tomato or two. Oh, these look interesting: yellow tomatoes. Low acid. Hmm; I’ll try some yellow tomatoes; wouldn’t they look pretty in a salad mixed in with the red ones?
What is this: a star fruit. Wonder what it tastes like. When it’s sliced each piece looks like a star. How lovely: the children will be thrilled. Feeling virtuous and adventurous, I move forward only to practically bump smack into a small table of samples. The woman behind the table is preparing a new product: pre-cooked French Onion soup. All I have to do, she assures me, is to boil the packet of soup in a pot of water for 5 minutes, place a portion into individual soup bowls and serve. “To be authentic,” she suggests, “you could grate some gruyere cheese on top, and have a wonderful home made soup in 5 minutes, with no measuring cups, or cutting boards to clean, no sharp knives to hand wash.” Sounds devine!
I wandered along, aisle to aisle, unencumbered by a list of necessary items, free to try new goods for the future. My cart was almost empty, so as I strolled I had the option to toss in cans, jars and frozen goods to try. When did I notice that my cart was no longer empty?
My short jaunt through the supermarket with no confining shopping list to restrict my purchases cost me the incredible amount of $216.94. And seventeen grocery bags to load into the car trunk and carry into the house. Never again will I go traipsing through that wallet burning, budget destroying store without knowing why I’m there, with my shopping list to keep me on the straight and narrow!
MorristownMemos 
Comments on: "JUST A COUPLE OF ITEMS…" (50)
Been there, done that. . . just saying
$200??? !!!
My household is my son, my cat and me, and once, only once that I can remember, I spent over $200. I was ASTONISHED, that all those things – and only food for a week and a bit, that it cost so much. Hope it’s not that costly regularly – I’d be sorry for you!
I dare say that must have been quite an experience. First lugging those seventeen bags into the car and then taking them into the house. For me the next challenge would have been to remember what I was storing where though I suppose you have a much better memory 🙂
As you think back to that shopping experience what would you ascribe that buying and spending spree to ?
Shakti
I would ascribe the spree to the feeling of freedom in the store, with no list to follow. The illusion that a couple of new items would not have mattered too much. But I got a bit carried away.
So funny. And yet, I am green with envy as you came out with 17 bags for only $216.94? WOW!!!
Well, maybe a slight exaggeration…
While I pretty much stick to my shopping list, you end up with a lot of nice surprises.
I usually do too. But when I don’t the result can be pretty catastrophic.
This is why WW does the shopping. I can’t get out of the store without a gazillion things I don’t need and won’t eventually eat. Last week it was the fancy tomatoes and a cheese that made me sick. Sigh!
And the funny thing is that after all that shopping and spending there still is nothing in the house to eat!
While I create most everything from scratch and/or my backyard garden, I still make it a point to never shop while hungry! I surely do know your experience, though. 😉
That is such a great rule; everything looks more appetizing when that stomach is growling.
So often I go for one thing and come home with everything except the thing I went for.
That is so frustrating. I’ve done that as well.
We do the same thing, Ronnie. We’ll go to the store for one item and end up with a cart that looks a lot like yours did — and sometimes we’ll even go home without the item we needed in the first place.
Don’t you find that after all the carnage to your budget you can’t put a meal together with all you bought!
I am curious, how did the kefir taste? This is so me! My problem is that I grab a smaller cart with intentions of a couple of things, to find that I have filled that small cart to the brim and should have grabbed a big one! 🙂
The kefir was delicious. But I was concerned by all the sugar it contains, and how high its caloric count is.
Wonderfully insane. The only way that I can myself doing this is not to take a trolley, just a basket. On the other hand, I have learnt to pack an inordinate amount of groceries into a very small basket:)
This is exactly what happens to me. It never fails. If I grab a cart, I wind up getting only a few things. If I grab a basket, I wind up packing it to the brim while lugging it around the store.
So YOU’RE the woman I saw trying to carry that overstuffed basket through the aisles…
Doesn’t this happen every time you go to the store, Ronnie? And it happens even when I HAVE a list, and it’s not limited to the grocery store!!!
You sound like a storekeeper’s dream.
Yeah, they start smiling when they see me pull into the parking lot !
I do the same thing…. especially in Cosco. I think it’s called impulse buying. Ah well! Great post!
Costco is the worst for impulse buying, because you know from experience that if you don’t grab it when you see it, next time you’re back the item will no longer be available.
Your cautionary tale hit home. This is why my husband usually does the grocery shopping. I do tend to go overboard as well.
It’s even worse when he goes shopping. Suddenly the house is brimming over with junk food of all kinds.
Arrrgh. I’ve been in a familiar situations several times. I find myself saying “Hey, this looks good.” Then, I give it one more look and add it to the cart. Once, and unfortunately too, I ended up regretting a sauce package which I bought all in the name of “trying it out.”
But how would you know you didn’t like the sauce unless you tried it first?
Well, you are right. I guess am still kicking myself because I left my usual for an entirely different brand.
Don’t kick too hard: it’s a minor infraction, and soon you’ll be back to your favorite. AND you’ll appreciate it even more.
This post helped me a lot, today. Thanks, Ronnie.
Really? Did it keep you from being spontaneously wasteful in the supermarket?
I just came back from the supermarket, so I would say …. Yes!!!
Good for you! Well done.
oops!! (laugh!) .. c
Was that a conspiratorial laugh?
absolutely, laughing with you darling!! i went shopping the other day .. got the check out, looked wide eyed at the girl and said, Oh No, i forgot the flour, that is what i came for!! she laughed and said we get a lot of that! its in aisle 9, you’ve got time she said as she ran all the other items across her scanner! sigh.. I ran to aisle 9, somewhat chastised! c
Is that what is called customer relations?
Now I understand why milk, romaine and tomatoes always cost over $200! Gaye
Aha: you are exactly right! Especially if you add a loaf of bread.
My wife and I often shop together and she gets very annoyed when I’ll say, “That’s not on the list.”
Lately I’ve noticed she’s going to the store without me much more often…
Too controlling, Andrew?
Never RESIST experimentation, it is the ESSENCE of a lively LIFE.
You HAD to have been in WHOLE FOODS, how was the French Onion Soup?
The onion soup was delicious; not overly salty. It was the perfect snack to serve my son when he flew in from California late last Monday night.
Ronnie this sounds so familiar… Linda hates to have to send me to the shops for something small, as I will return with packets full and normally without what she sent me for… I will stroll and buy without much thought apart from “Ohhhh that looks good enough to eat”
Have you heard the old adage, “Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry?” On the other hand I believe another old adage, “What does being hungry have to do with eating?”
Always a problem. Go in for a few things, come out with a mountain. Enjoy.
It’s an adventure I can relate to.