This should probably be headed "Confessions of a shopaholic", but yeah. Not addicted to supermarket shopping that's for sure.

So I entered the supermarket, and started throwing things in the trolley. I had to be more flexible than usual this week - cauliflower had shot up in price and they looked foul. Spinach on the other hand looked great. Got through the fruit and vege section and got to the specials. Cheese is on special and so are potato chips. These are huge trigger foods for me. I hesitate for a second, then keep going. Yay me!

The next three aisles are the junk food aisle that I avoid - chips, sweets and biscuits - except they've rearranged the supermarket and the junk food is now found in the middle aisles. Don't you hate it when they do that.

I get to the meat. Chicken breasts are on special, so I'm trying to find a packet that doesn't look like it's large enough to feed a small army. A kid in a trolley looks straight at me and says "Hey lady, I've got a lollipop and you don't". His mother jumps in and tells him that I probably don't want a lollipop and if he spoke to anyone like that again, there'd be trouble. I was actually quite amused, but having a giggle at that time probably wouldn't be best.

I'm looking for toilet cleaner. Did I mention they've rearranged the supermarket? I'm wandering up and down the aisles without success. I do find oven cleaner, however - I've never found that at that supermarket before. Eventually, I find the toilet cleaner - under a sign that says "air fresheners". Seems so logical really - when I see a sign for air freshener, I immediately expect to find loo cleaner!

Checkout time. I'm looking at the person ahead of me's order and feeling smug. She's a skinny little thing and it's all rubbish food. No fruit, no veg. Of course, she may buy that elsewhere, but the food she had bought was absolute rubbish.

I go through the checkout and get the usual question about the fruit and veg - checkout person holding up something and asking what it was. Today it was carrots. Seriously, who doesn't know what a carrot looks like? There are moments I despair.

Leaving the supermarket, I end up playing dodgems with lollipop boy and his mother again. And we're done. $94 and one hour later and I live to shop another day - preferably not for a few days yet!

Don't you hate those people who don't know what something is?? Today I asked one of the girls at the local Walmart for some soup bones( I make beef soup for family with this and soup meat), she didn't know what it was, and told me they didnt' carry it, sheesh.
I end up going to three-four different stores at least. This weekend I went to walmart... bought some milk, eggs, yogurt, soups, beans( dry and canned), bread.. ect.. I have to get over to Sam's to get some fish, chicken, water, cleaning supplies for the month( Sam's is a place that sells things in larger quanities). I also have to head over to Petsmart for cat food and litter, then to another pet store for specialty cat food( I buy it once a month), and also have to go to the farmer's market, and a specialty supermarket for some things that I need, that only htey have. So you can see I live in the supermarkets.
cheryl

I went to the supermarket today, spent $93 and no kid with a lollipop and the checker had no problem identifying the items in my cart. Sort of boring, actually.

I love going to the supermarket now. In the "old days", I always looked at the contents of my cart in dismay. A lot of pop, crackers, snacks, pastas & sauces, cheese and other dairy, Morningstar Farms (we are veggies), dark chocolate, wine, breads, and lots of processed convenience foods. Virtually no vegetables or produce. No whole foods except eggs. I would actually be embarrassed to run into people I know or work with. You know the routine - glance furtively at the other person's cart to see what they are buying.

Dial forward 4 months - now, it is almost all produce and frozen vegetables. Add in some soymilk, lowfat cheese, whole grain pastas, Progresso soups, high fiber cereals, Wasa crackers and flat breads or Thomas light multigrain English muffins.

Each week I treat it like a scavenger hunt - what new delights can I find that fit our new healthy lifestyle? Maybe a new spice, or condiment. Maybe a new vegetable or fruit. What high-fiber gems are lurking on un-discovered shelves? I almost feel like Indiana Jones hunting for the Holy Grail. I KNOW that there are valuable treasures waiting to be found. I can't wait until next week's episode!

We checked out the new Asian/International supermarket that recently opened up in our community. My husband grinned at the seafood, and we had fun showing Gem the squid and octopus, and the live crabs and fish that were available. They got some snack food -- Hunter loves shrimp chips. I broke down and got a package of sesame crunch (sesame seeds pressed into bars with a little honey). Really fattening, and already gone. I binged on them. *sighs* THey're gone now, though, so no guilt and move on.

The most fun for me was the produce and the "dairy" aisles. Got some lovely peppers, and looked at the bitter melons but didn't buy one. Got some wonderful fresh pasta for stir-fry, and some miso and tofu for soup (it's a quick, high-protein, low-calorie treat for me). We had a lot of fun.

Sounds like a great trip, Nicole! I went shopping yesterday, too, and I do shop for a small army (family of seven)! So, the checker started out being annoyed because I had so many items. Then, she got to the produce and you would have thought I had a gun to her head, she looked so angry and annoyed. I had fifteen kiwis, which I LOVE and which were priced very reasonably at 5 for $1.00. She keyed them in as cantaloupe, which were priced at $.99 each. If the difference had been smaller, I might have let it go. But she was charging me $15 instead of $3. So, I said, in what I thought was a very gentle, straight-forward tone, "Those aren't cantaloupe. They're kiwi." She was furious. She grabbed the kiwi, threw them back on the scale (though I don't know why, since she didn't need to weigh them as they were selling them per item), then systematically asked me in a very nasty way to identify each of the subsequent produce items. I had my 13-year-old daughter with me, and we exchanged a few bemused looks throughout this process, but managed to hold off on laughing until we had left the store. I was just amazed that anyone over three would throw a tantrum like that over doing what amounts to a pretty simple job. She gets paid by the hour, not by the person, so I don't know why she was so upset by having to deal with my cart. I'm with you, though. Ask me about a butternut squash or a plum, maybe, but who can't identify cantaloupe and carrots?

I loooove the grocery store. I do the side and the back wall (fruit, veg, meat, dairy) and skip the other wall (bread/bakery), then I do the "international" aisle to get things like pasta sauce, dried pasta, and salad dressing, the rice/canned veg/canned fruit aisle, and I grab cereal occasionally for the hubby. I used to have to identify parsnips every time I bought them, but they've started labelling them now. "They're parsnips. Like a cross between carrots and potatoes. You roast them." It's amazing how many weird looks I've gotten!

The annoyed check out girls are a blast, aren't they? Not my biggest problem though. I actually had to switch groceries because the one close to my house just can't seem to figure out how to properly sack groceries. I have BEEN a check out girl. There is a system to this! You don't just throw things into a bag until it's full. You look ahead, see whats coming, plan, adjust, sort. It's not that hard. You don't put Windex in the same bag as fresh spinach. You don't put every single canned item in the same bag. You don't squeeze things with corners in and make the bag rip out. GRRRRR!!! I have to carry my groceries up three flights of stairs! I need a competent sacker!

I hate hate hate hate hate hate shopping LOL

I hate having to spend hard earned money - for food that is ridiculously priced (especially with where the Canadian Dollar is right now).

BUT We all have to eat.

Marseille - Oh I KNOW! I have to bag things myself whenever I go to the grocery store. I guess I'm just anal about it, but I cannot stand unbalanced bags, and when someone throws six cans of soup & a loaf of bread into one bag and a lone box of tissues in a second... *twitch*

And thanks for the adventure through shopping, Nicole.

Lol Lol... I would rather shop at a certain chain because I can pack my own grocery bags.

I pack my own anywhere I go now. *evil grin*

I even come in with those "Eco Friendly" bags... The heavy duty ones for the canned or boxed items. The canvas ones for the lighter items.

Man is it ever a difference on my wrists. I can carry about 2-3 times what I did when suffering through the plastic bags or boxes.

If your grocery store isn't doing it yet... Maybe buy some else where?