Part of being adult means having to deal with some of life's little inconveniences. Like household chores. Paying taxes. And dealing with benefits at work. How come there isn't a class offered in college about life "stuff"? There are so many things that I know now (or think that I know now) that I wish I knew a few years ago when I had to start real-life. Today's life lesson is going to be about grocery shopping.
First off, make a list! It does absolutely no good to show up to the grocery store and start throwing things into your cart that sound good. Chances are you won't pick out anything that makes a complete meal, and you certainly won't grab any vegetables because when do those ever sound good?? By making a list, you can get in and out of the grocery store relatively quickly and you are more likely to stick to a reasonable budget. I am not a coupon clipper (or an Extreme Couponer, if you will), so making the list is the closest thing I can get to saving money. I try not to buy anything that isn't on the list unless I "have to have it" like a pack of gum or a trashy magazine.
Once you get good at making a list of things that you need, soon enough you will get to a point where you can organize the list based on the layout of the grocery store. I have gotten good at that. It makes the grocery shopping experience so much easier if you keep everything together based on location in the store - produce, meat counter, canned goods, dairy, etc. I have greatly reduced my overall shopping time with this strategy.
Next, don't go to the grocery store while you are hungry. Your hunger will override that list so fast!! Everything starts to look good. Everything starts to smell good. Things that you would never DREAM of buying jump into your cart. We have a brick of jalapeno-infused cheese that Mike "had to have" because it looked so good one day. It is now over a month old, sitting in our fridge, and unopened. We even got a cheese cutter and tray as a gift recently, and still, we've never tried that cheese. Another unfortunate side-effect of hunger.
Divide and conquer!! Mike and I have determined that the quickest and easiest way to get out of the grocery store in under 30 minutes is to divide and conquer. We have found that if Mike hits the two meat counters (lunch meat, and fish) and I do literally everything else, we finish at the same time and can meet at the check out line. At first, I was opposed to this idea because I had always dreamed of grocery shopping together being the epitome of marriage. I was living in denial. Grocery shopping together is horrendous. He wants to read every label and figure out which item is "healthier" for you, etc. Not me - I pick the one that tastes the best (which usually means its the least healthy) and I move on. So by splitting up the work load, we have mastered the art of grocery shopping - and we don't want to kill each other afterwards.
We are by no means grocery store experts. But, we have certainly lived and learned a little. Hopefully these tips and tricks help you out the next time you are thinking about tackling the grocery store. If all else fails, there is always Peapod.
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