Last weekend’s birthday party was small and simple, but it still trashed my house. And it came just a week after we returned home from vacation. So it should have come as no surprise Monday morning when I started to make Annalyn’s lunch and realized we had no bread.
Really, we had very little real food at all. Monday was here. I had to go buy groceries.
In theory I love buying groceries. Or, perhaps more accurately, I loved buying groceries when my life was easy (aka, in college when I could go to the 24-hour Walmart in the middle of the night if I felt like it). These days, though, it’s a pain in the neck.
I’m not even talking about the actual task of paying for groceries. That part is not as difficult as it’s been in the past – a fact that I am immensely thankful for every time I visit the store. The hard part, to me, is the ridiculous number of steps required to buy groceries.
Gone are the days (if they even existed in the first place) when I could just jump in the car, run to the store, pick up a few things and come home. Oh no. A “good” grocery trip takes about 38 different steps.
1. Plan menu.
2. Check fridge and pantry to see what we already have.
3. Throw away expired or otherwise rotten food.
4. Think of starving children and promise to never let food expire or rot again.
5. Make grocery list.
6. Rewrite grocery list in order of the items’ location in the store.
7. Wonder if anyone else is so obsessive or if you’re weird.
8. Remember it’s better than backtracking and walking in confused circles.
9. Dig the grocery sale flyers out of the unopened mail pile.
10. Circle all the items you need.
11. Plan to take all flyers to Walmart for price matching.
12. Decide it’s not worth the hassle.
13. Take sale flyers to recycling bin.
14. Get your list, coupons your mom gave you and purse, and get in the car.
15. Get back out of the car to find canvas grocery bags in the house.
16. Try it again.
17. Go to the first store.
18. Move grocery items from shelf to cart to conveyor belt to bags to car.
19. Go to the second store and repeat.
20. Consult list to see what you’re still missing.
21. Debate with yourself about going to third store.
22. Decide you don’t really need those other items.
23. Think of four more items you needed from the first store.
24. Start a list for next week.
25. Drive to nearest ice cream merchant and get yourself a treat. You deserve it.
26. Go home.
27. Lug the lopsided, over-stuffed canvas bags into the house.
28. Drop the groceries on the table.
29. Open fridge and wonder why you didn’t organize it that morning.
30. Organize the fridge and freezer.
31. Put cold items in the freezer and fridge.
32. Open pantry and wonder why you didn’t organize it that morning.
33. Decide the rest of the groceries can wait.
34. Regret getting ice cream instead of pizza/nachos/massive amounts of chocolate.
35. Feel guilty about unpacked groceries and pull them out of the bags.
36. Fold bags and put in your don’t-forget-to-take-them spot.
37. Put away a few items.
38. Collapse on the couch and wish for grocery fairies to finish the job.
As you can see, the grocery fairies did not finish the job at my house. And actually, though I bought groceries – and took these photos – on Monday, I still have five items on my table. I might have to cook with them tonight just to clear off the table!
This process right here is why I don’t coupon, people. Buying groceries – store-brand and wholesale groceries that you can’t find coupons for anyway, not that I’m defensive about this – is exhausting. I just can’t imagine adding another set of steps, no matter how much money you promise it will save me.
How do you buy groceries? Do you plan ahead? Is it a simple process? Do you go every few days or [like my uber-organized parents do] once a month? Do you take your kids and make them help, or do you go when they’re in school or otherwise occupied like I do?
Help me out. What makes grocery shopping tolerable in your life? (And if nothing does and it drives you batty like it does me, please, commiserate with me in the comments!)
This post is part of 31 Days of Giving Up on Perfect. All month long, I’ll be writing about my fight against perfectionism and my quest to get on with life, already. For more 31 Days, visit The Nester.
This post is fantastic.
I prefer to go to the grocery with at least my youngest while my oldest is in school. I have six hours of kid-free time when their school schedules overlap (plus my youngest’s naptime) and I have too many other things I prefer to do with that time. Plus my kids like the grocery. I guess they take after their momma. :)
I *try* to go once a week or every 10 days and I do plan meals and keep an ongoing list of what I need at the grocery as we run out of things. There is a great iphone app called ShopShop and it allows for multiple shopping lists, which I just keep arranged in order of the store.
Hehe – I hear you on better things to do with your free time! And I’m going to look into that app!
I hate buyo groceries. I hate wal-mart and I get a little hostile about having to give them my money. I shop as infrequently as possible, preferably every 6 to 8 weeks. I meal plan 30 days at a time.
Wow! 6-8 weeks?! You are a meal planning and grocery buying rock star!
I always leave the canvas bags in the boot of the car so I don’t have to remember them. And I’m not usually organised enough to do the list in order of items’ location in the shop, except for listing fruit and veg separately, I just kind of move methodically through the aisles. My shopping treat is usually a nice takeaway coffee; but this doesn’t help with the checkout panic attack!
My goal is to keep the bags in the car. It’s the getting them back into the car after bringing in groceries that trips me up!
*I make a list as I go, but I’m not religious about sticking to the list.
*I compare my list with the sales. I shop at two stores, mostly.
*I make the list again, by store.
*If I have coupons, (that’s a whole other process, IMO) I check the dates and take out the ones that are expired. If there are some expiring, I will probably put the item on my list. Put them all in my purse.
*Store one- I shop methodically, too, checking my list as I go. I almost never need to go back to an aisle I’ve been in already.
*I will either find a small place to stand aside, or in the line if it’s long, and flip through my coupons quickly, pull out the ones that I missed before, or ones that I picked up on a splurge. Because I only clip the ones I’ll use, it usually isn’t so bad.
*Store two- about the same as the other. Fewer coupons.
*Drive home, scare the kids away, and sit down for ten minutes or so. (homeschooler! I shop with the kids.)
*Put away the cold items.
*Leave the rest of the groceries on the floor, for the grocery fairy.
I stockpile items, which generally allows me to make the meal plan without organizing the shopping to fit. If I have chicken and ground beef, everything else is either stockpiled or planned, and when I want to cook it, I plan it in the next week.
Oh, how much do I love that you, too, have to take a few minutes before dealing with cold items and then hope for the grocery fairy!?!
Ideally, I go once a week. I plan meals for the week and make a list of ingredients needed for each meal. I cross out things I already have. I then add in other things needed like milk and snacks. Then I rewrite the list in grocery store order.
I only go to one store, although there are a few items I have to get at a different one. The money savings is not enough nor worth my time and gas to go to different stores. and I keep my bags in the back of the car, although there are times that they all get in the house but not back outside. So I go with what I have and not worry about it.
I don’t coupon. I used to, but only cut the coupons for things I use. Then, after making my list, I put an asterisk by the items I had coupons for. so I’d save a few dollars a week, but not too much. I quit doing that when I realized that I was keeping the coupon papers to sort through, but the coupons were expiring before I got to them.
Like I said, that was ideally. Which usually works. But this week, I’ve been to the store every day getting the few things needed for dinner. I’m hoping to go tomorrow to finish out the weekend. We’ll see.
Your ideal and reality sound a lot like mine. Without all the silly steps. :)
I go several times a month and the trips revolve around what I need with coupons and sales that are available. It almost always means shopping at several stores. It can be time consuming and lots of work, but with the help of my hubby and daughter it all works out :)
That’s great, Lori! I might joke about not couponing, but the truth is, I’m a little jealous of those who have it figured out!
I have a master list that remains printed out on the fridge. It contains all that I like to keep on hand. When I run out of something, I circle it. If I plan a new or unusual meal, I add those items. Then when I’m ready to go, I just grab that list (already in order of the aisles at the store – no you’re not the only one!).
I do two larger trips per month and fill in for more milk, bread, lettuce.
Sometimes I really try to stretch out the times I go to the store and make do with whatever we have left … inevitably this saves me money. I coupon some, but not obsessively and I rarely stock up way in advance because we just don’t have the space.
Actually paying for groceries is more challenging now than in previous years and that makes it a cringe-worthy experience to go to the grocery store.
I understand the cringing at the cost of groceries. I have been there many times and not too long ago! You’re smart to do two trips a month, though. Even though I know better, I still spend way more with more trips.
I keep a white board on the side of the fridge for my list, and it also has the days of the week on one side so I can plan meals there. I try to do that on Sundays when our ads are in the paper, then I shop Monday morning while my son is in preschool. I transfer my list to an app on my phone that automatically puts them in the order they come in my store. And, I keep my canvas bags on a hook right by the door to the garage so I don’t forget to take them with me. Of course, this is all “ideally”. Right now I’m early in a pregnancy and just the thought of food makes me nauseated, so I haven’t been meal planning for a few weeks! We’ve been scrounging for food or just eating cereal a lot lately. That is really hard for me to let go of!
I keep a running list on the side of the fridge, too. And there for a while, I was planning meals there. I need to get back to that! I hope you feel better and move on from cereal dinners soon!
:) Love this post, and your 31-day series! Great new blog to read!!! :)
1. I get my shopper (flyers) on Saturday, so during the day sometime I look them over and circle anything that’s a great deal. During the week I’ll go and buy groceries for the next week – and plan meals around what’s on sale.
2 My fridge is always packed; there is always something to eat (and unfortunately, something to toss on garbage day). But the kids don’t have to worry about what to pack for lunches – there are a ton of choices.
3. I printed out a grocery list by area (deli, frozen, bread/cereal, and so on) on my computer and I put one on the clipboard with the ads and then I can write on there where it is, how much it is, how many I’m buying, etc.
4. I also try to keep my grocery bags in the car, but don’t always get there. Our local stores offer paper bags, so I use them over for recycling and don’t feel bad getting those.
5. We are in a small town, and there are really about 5 stores that offer groceries (not counting the 2 drugstores that have a few items). I typically go to one a week – whoever has the best deals. If there are awesome deals at the 2 stores I get ads for, I do go to both. If neither has a good ad, I go to the Save-A-Lot (and then I really hope I remember my bags – they don’t have any there). It’s not a bad system all in all.
:) Have a good time shopping! Oh, and I go when my two boys are in school. No way I’m taking them – I spend twice as much, and don’t get everything on my list because they’re asking for other items instead.
Emily
You’ve got a great system, Emily! Thanks for sharing!!
Yes, yes! I AM obsessive about my grocery list!
And I hear you about the rest of it, too. :)
Whew! Glad I’m not alone. :)
I hear ya! lol I would love to shop just once a month. It would save a lot of money – being that organized. I shop at Kroger as husband is a manager. This makes it too easy for us to say “bring home xyz” so I have to be careful.
I try to use some coupons, but I have to say I could never be a true, dedicated couponer. I value my time more.
Oh, and I totally rewrite my list according to the store layout – it’s a smart time-saver. :-)
Is Peapod available in your area? I just used it for the first time this week. I was very sick and we were out of *everything*. I used a coupon code to cover the delivery fee. I was a little worried about stuff like produce and lunchmeat, but everything was absolutely perfect. I hate hate hate taking my kids grocery shopping, so I think I’m going to use this as often as I can. (They also gave me a code for free deliver for 2 months with my order!) I am in love.