Going for the Grocery Gold
My husband is our designated leave-the-house person, which basically means he goes to the grocery store once a week. I’m appreciative, but there’s a trade-off:
He shops like he’s a contestant on Supermarket Sweep.
Brand name everything. Organics. Multiple packages of expensive junk foods that were not on the carefully curated list I gave him. Toiletry and household items that would have cost half as much at the Dollar General. Today, he successfully smashed our family record for most money spent on a single grocery trip.
Granted, prices are a little elevated right now, and it was a stock-up. I probably would have broken the record, too, if I’d gone myself. But he blew it out of the water. Like, he doubled what I normally spend…but did not procure double the groceries.
I was a good sport about it, though. I just ribbed him good-naturedly, while the two of us sat out on the back deck, washing our groceries down with Clorox wipes.
I did a run today, didn’t even look at the price. Clementines, hamburger meat, chicken thighs, more milk, cheese, some ice cream bars (you need morale raising foods as well as nutritious ones)
It was fine, until I had JUST walked past a guy in a mask and he coughed.
I am telling myself I was facing the other direction and was close to 6′ away from him and he had a mask and it was a wet cough rather than a dry one but….another part of me is going “nice knowing y’all”
I guess for the next run out in about 10 days I try to jockey for one of the precious wal-mart pick-up time slots.
I wish we had grocery delivery in town, I’d even pay a premium for it. I can mail order staples but fresh food, we’re too far from any shipper for that.Report
Right when this first started, and of course we were in Wa St. so there was actual risk at that time, we all went to WalMart and there was a dude behind us at the cash register hacking up a lung (no one was wearing masks at that time). I was just like what the hell are the odds of that happening??
But we didn’t catch anything and that was much closer contact, without masks. I am hoping you’re in the clear!Report
I went shopping this weekend… it was a lot more stressful than I expected and I have an expensive face mask I’d bought years ago and put on a shelf.
This would be a good month to be avoiding that sort of thing.Report
I went to Kroger’s with my homemade double-layer mask and a pair of nitrile gloves. Not many people were inside and everyone maintained distance. When I got out, I loaded the groceries in the car, then stood outside the car to take my mask off. Then I peeled one glove off while my fingers still held the mask, so that the outside of the glove wrapped around the mask like a trash bag. I spun that shut, took off my other glove, and drove home. The mask is going to sit inside the nitrile glove for several days so if there were any virus particles on it, they will decompose.
Then I might bake the mask in the oven at 120 F or so for several hours. I would bleach it, but it’s plaid and I don’t want the colors to fade. ^_^Report
my husband and I got into a weird power struggle over the groceries a couple years back. I’ve always gotten them, and my husband felt that I spent too much and we never had enough food that he liked. It went on long enough so that it seemed to be causing tension between us, so I gave up the control and he started getting groceries. Now I think he spends too much and I’m perpetually missing things I need/want, but I’m less of a complainer so it works out.
Anyway, I could totally relate to this and really appreciated it!Report
The particulars are different, by the dynamic remains the same. I do most of the shopping, and have for a few years now. Mostly because I have the time (work from home and before that healing from a work injury) I generally only go to one place, as I dislike the chore and don’t want to spend too much time on it. All in all, a very middle of the road cost paradigm. The wife though…
She is an organic, fresh food lover; a serious cook and buyer of ingredients, not food. While she will go to discount places to get canned goods and such (very little), if left on her own in a upscale market or food co-op, the bills can be insane. And there is still nothing to eat in the house.
With working from home during, she is realizing what I have been saying. As she is actually busy during the week, and cooking takes time, having food that is quick to prepare is a good thing. Slaving over a multi-course, freshy-fresh meal can take a bit of time, which is supposed to be used to do things that get her paid.
Good post EM.Report