I love to cook and that means I have to shop well to cook and eat well. Grocery shopping is my least favorite part of the cooking process, but I'm resourceful, so I've figured out how to be the most effective I can be at grocery shopping. I ALWAYS make a list before I go, and I even order it aisle-by-aisle so that my list follows the sequence of the aisles (this is what David Ruprecht would call "smart shopping")...fruits and veggies first, canned foods/dried foods, cheese/yogurt last.... In fact, I could do some damage on Supermarket Sweep, which is pretty much where I think I learned to shop so effectively. Cooking has been one of the casualties of full-time work and full-time school. Just not enough time to do more than cut open a grapefruit for breakfast or assemble a quick salad for dinner.
Now that summer school is a lighter load, I've been cooking a bit more. And I'm pretty sure grocery stores have been making incremental changes over the past 9 months that have added up to a totally confusing experience for me at the grocery store! I walked into Safeway today and picked up my fruits and veggies. Then, I moved to the second section of my list -- Orzo. I had to go down three different aisles until I found Orzo under the heading "hispanic foods"...? Kosher salt....found on my second try in the baking aisle. Who bakes with kosher salt? Not me. I'm pretty sure most of us use it for curing and/or seasoning meat, and as a final touch to certain dishes...but for baking? I really don't think so. Then, I went to get granola bars and I had to back track 10 aisles to get back to snacks...since when are snacks like aisle 2 and not aisle 14???? I think I cured myself of my pita chips addiction because I was so ticked off by the time I found them...NOT on a snack aisle, but in some random bin in the middle of the store.
I do feel entitled to complain since I worked at Winn-Dixie for 9 months in high school. My parents gave me a choice between making money or sticking out one more year in the marching band, and being the excellent capitalist I used to be, I opted for money rather than talent (although to be honest, bassoon players get stuck on random sideline instruments and the large bass drum was not my forte). I knew that store like the back of my hand. I only checked people out as a cashier, but I should have been a stocker...the only reason I couldn't was because of my height and stature since they really only let guys stock groceries. Am I still bitter? Maybe.
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ReplyDeleteI LOVED Supermarket Sweep when I was little and watched it many a summer and dreamed about the best strategy possible.
ReplyDeleteI should have know that would would make your list according to item location, but I am somehow still surprised.
ReplyDeleteI tend to make a list, then ignore or lose it, and buy lots of candy.
A friend of ours has an interesting strategy. He only shops the perimeter of the store. That is where all the fresh produce is, along with the butcher, the seafood, the bakery, and the dairy. The inner aisles of the store is filled with the processed, high fructose corn syrup stuff (except the international aisle, if you are lucky enough to have one). It's a pretty cool way to shop.