Shopping

Yesterday we went to the grocery store. Oh, how I hate to go to the grocery store. My family will attest to this..it is not uncommon to find absolutely nothing in the fridge to eat but some questionable milk and old cheese. However, I never feel that I absolutely HAVE to go to the store until we are completely out of milk, bread, eggs, toilet paper, and of course, chocolate.

Yesterday we were. So off we went. It could be that I hate the store because of the prodigious amount of money I seem to always spend there. I mean, I wouldn't mind handing over $150 on a regular basis to say, a spa, but to the guy who has just sacked cat food, kleenex and all-purpose cleaners--not so much.

It could also be that it's not so easy shopping with two hungry urchins. I will say, they are both experts at ferreting out the free samples...and have been taught by "mummy" to bring the good stuff to me. That way no one sees me grabbing the free brownie bits or spinach dip. They also are always good for the odd embarrassing comments. Like this little exchange in the bread aisle yesterday...as I perused which loaf to buy, rowdy son reminded me that he was "grounded" when we got home. Was he still grounded, he wondered? I said, "Yes, of course you are". He started to whine and beg, "Please, please let me off. I'll be good, please....". I was a bit annoyed and said pretty sharply, "No!" and then he said, (I'm not kidding),--

"I'll pay you".

This entire exchange was heard by at least ten people. NO, I really don't let my kids pay me to get out of grounding. Although, thinking about it, it IS tempting. They certainly have more money than I have at any given time. When he said, "I'll give you all my money....", I hustled him out of the bread aisle.

We also tend to spend money by "saving it" at the grocery store. This includes coupons for candy, ice-cream, junky cereal and my new favorite.."the meal deal". That happened yesterday. We were stopped by a girl explaining the "healthy meal deal". What mom with two hungry urchins is going to pass up (in front of other people!) someone saying "healthy meal"? Besides, there was nothing in my fridge for dinner and the thought of a meal that was ready to go was tempting.

It consisted of chicken...grilled in a healthy manner, or, as the salesgirl said, "You can pick any of the chicken". I picked the "not-healthy" sweet chile stuff. We also had a choice of fat-free salad dressings or, you guessed it...any salad dressing. We found the creamy ranch. Yogurt was available...fat-free and vanilla...but we got a pint of full-fat, full-sugar strawberry. I did have to stick with the veggie chips (see previous post on that one) and the whole-wheat bread (which will be going to the duck pond after it spends its allotted time in the freezer, and which occasioned the trip to the bread aisle in the first place).

So, my healthy meal wasn't so healthy after all...but we got so many freebies just for buying the chicken. Freebies that we aren't going to eat. What I really need is the "meal deal" that includes pizza, coke, cookies and ice-cream. Then, maybe, I'll consider it a money-saver.

Either way, I still spent way too much buying groceries. I ate my veggie chips (bleh), my candy bar (a must) and followed my healthy chicken dinner with a healthy dose of java chocolate chunk ice-cream. And the fridge still looks empty. Perhaps I should go to the store more often.

On the other hand, we could just eat out.