Grocery Shopping Day

Since we like to do this....

It is that time of the month again....the dreaded grocery shopping day. I learned when we first married that Michael got paid every two weeks and I needed to shop once at the beginning of the pay period. Navy pay comes on the first and fifteenth of the month so you could bet your bottom dollar that you could find me in the Navy commissary on those two days. I have carried the habit of shopping twice a month for groceries even though Navy days have come and gone. It is a system that works well for me.

To start I make out a menu for 2 weeks worth of meals. I also include many cooked breakfasts. Michael came up with the strange idea that he wants breakfast EVERY morning and unless there is sausage, biscuits, and gravy included it REALLY isn't breakfast!! (Just to let you know, I do not always comply with his strange notion). I believe one of our very first fights was about 3 months into our marriage. It was around 5:00 in the morning and I decided I just couldn't make another cooked breakfast. I grabbed a box of cereal and put a bowl on the counter for him. He walked into the kitchen and looked at me with his eyes all grumpy like and picked up the bowl. He then had the audacity to ask, "What's this...we don't have a dog"! Well I went off on how I was tired of cooking breakfast when I don't even eat it!!!! Enough said....

(back to our regularly scheduled post)

I take my menu and plan my shopping trip accordingly. I then take my kids and we head off to the store. I have our 2 older boys were they could actually grocery shop if need be. You have to watch the oldest son. He is quick to add "goodies" to his cart that aren't on the list. His goodies are always expensive. He likes cashews and peanuts and beef jerky. Our third son has made friends with the deli people. He always gets anything from the deli that we need and then he picks up the dog food and cat food. He loads his cart down with milk and orange juice and then he finds me to get his next mission. Today's grocery trip will be just with me and my daughter. She came to me yesterday and all on her own she had made a menu for a week. She included several of her favorite meals (chili dogs was top on her list). She spent some time yesterday evening pouring over Taste of Home Magazines looking for yummy recipes. She won the prize...a day of grocery shopping with just me!!! Let's just say the boys were thrilled with her win.

It takes forever and a day to put all the groceries away that we purchase. I also have to think up creative hiding spots for things that are yums that I need for recipes later in the weeks. I had been known to tuck a bag full of goodies under our bed. Then we got the English Mastiff and I had to stop that. Now anybody that owns one of these dogs knows that her whole body won't fit under the bed. My concern is that she would turn the bed upside down to get to a bag of goodies!!!

Our policy is that once an item is out (other than milk) we will not purchase it until the next major shopping trip. For example, I buy a few bags of cereal...eat until it is gone...and then you eat oatmeal or sausage, biscuits, and gravy. This is a major money saver.

My favorite place to shop is here...

My favorite grocery cart is this...

But since we still don't produce all of the things that we need as of yet, I still must endure the dreaded grocery shopping day. It is so funny to me and my older boys that I would rather spend 4 hours in the hot garden than 2 hours in an air conditioned grocery store. The rewards are so much tastier from the garden!!!!

grace and peace,
julie