Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Grocery Shopping 101: What NOT to Do

We interrupt this post for an important public service announcement:

Before we begin our lesson, I have a follow up statement on Facebook. Apparently, if someone signs you up, whether you even touch the account, everyone in the universe finds out you have an account and immediately wants to be your friend. I have no idea what to do with all of these friend requests I have in my email. Well, I know what to do, just not how to get there..I do not know my account name or password. I'm giving up and asking Studmuffin to show me that tonight. So, I'm officially going on the record as saying Studmuffin better not gripe when the house is a pit, and I have no time to talk to him at night, because I simply did not realize how far behind I was on the lives of every single person I've ever met.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programing.

We have a big storm coming our way. I got off work about 15 minutes early today, so I thought I'd run to Walmart on my way home and pick up a few "nonperishables" per Studmuffin's instructions. I had roughly 30 minutes to grab my stuff and git...

Lesson Number One:

DO NOT go to the store straight from work when you haven't had a chance to eat lunch. The little packet of oatmeal at 11 am doesn't count. You will end up with all sorts of "necessary" stuff that will jack your budget all up. Remember: It's January 27th. I had $17 left in the "grocery" envelope when I walked into Walmart with debit card firmly in hand...

I have a handy list of sudden necessities that I discovered I needed as I sprinted through the store. You'd think the idea that I had to hurry would have limited my purchases, but apparently it allowed me to not contemplate anything. Grab and go, baby, grab and go. Anyhoo, here's the list:

2 cans of refrigerated pizza dough AND a box of Chef Boyardee pizza mix. Tomorrow is pizza night at our house, but I'm not sure we needed a pizza each...

Nacho Cheese Doritos

Poblano peppers and onion and buns, all for a hamburger, ya know, because I'm pretty sure I will want to grill up a burger in the snow/ice/wind.

Spinach & artichoke dip. Is this a nonperishable? I feel pretty confident the crackers I grabbed to go with it qualify.

No? Well, how about feta cheese? I'm pretty sure that stuff has a shelf life of like, forever... I bought a bag of spinach, sunflower seeds and strawberries to join this happy purchase. I already have leftover chicken and raspberry walnut vinaigrette to complete the picture.

Oh! Let's not forget Dr. Pepper with Imperial Pure Cane Sugar! Dr Pepper never goes bad! And, since it's going to be so cold, I'm pretty sure that I need the extra fluids to keep myself hydrated. I haven't had a DP in weeks, and I can already feel the burn...Burn baby burn, disco fever! Burn baby burn!

Let's see, what else did I find absolutely necessary to my survival during the winter storm that I'm going to have to go to work in anyway, so when am I going to eat all of this?......

There are Apple Jacks...Okay, actually the MaltoMeal version...Those truly are for my kids. I have no desire to eat those. And if they're going to be stuck at home, I know they will eat nonstop.

And bagels. Let me tell you, I haven't bought bagels in years. Literally. I even celebrated that little purchase with some cream cheese to go with it! I can hardly wait!

The rest is just boring soups and a loaf of bread and milk, just so Studmuffin wouldn't say I didn't get any of the stuff he told me to get...None of which I truly needed, but I'm sure I bought all of this emergency food, and we will not need it at all.

Nonetheless, my feta cheese and I are prepared!

7 comments:

Marilyn said...

Well, you know that you will have plenty to eat because IF the power goes out you are going to have to eat salad, cheese and all of that good stuff. Do you have ice cream?? You will need to eat that to keep it from melting. You could set it out in the snow though. Me I bought boring old crackers, soups, sanddwich junk, and I have my perculator that sits on the stove so I WILL get my coffee.

Southern Gal said...

Here in the South everyone cleans the shelves of bread, milk and water. I can't for the life of me figure that one out. Well, bread and water OK. But milk??? What are you going to do with it when the power goes out? I guess sitting it on the stoop if it has snowed will keep it good and cold.

I think your shopping list was great. Wanna go for me on Friday?

Anonymous said...

So . . . . did you stay in your $17 limit? :)

Andi said...

Southern Gal: I love to spend other people's money, so sure! And, I plan to EAT all of the perishable food I bought. I'm eating cream cheese right this instant...

Taylor: Sadly, I did NOT stay in the budget. oops.

Jaime Kubik said...

I do all the grocery shopping in our family and though sometimes hubby goes with me, I prefer when he is not with me because he ends up throwing all sorts of "crap" in the cart we don't need. I think he does this because he is hungry all the time. Don't take a hungry person to a grocery store...ever. Even Warren Buffet's budget couldn't handle my husband's hunger pains....I really think he might have worms.

Unknown said...

We have stocked up on a lot of unnecessary stuff too--Molly is making salsa and we must not run out of ingredients! But we are out of soap??? How did that happen!

Southern Gal said...

Well, they are calling for ice here. And I braved the mad mob at the store to get some essentials. Guess what? The bread was almost all gone. And I didn't make nearly the great purchases you did.