The Art of Grocery Shopping

Thursday and my cabinets are getting frightfully bare. That can only mean one thing. Yes! Shopping at Van Till’s, a wonderful grocery store just a few mere blocks away. Since I have not lived on my own for very long, I have yet to master the art of grocery shopping. As the daughter of Tim, one would think this to be a genetic gift but alas, it is something that must be learned. My dad is an amazing grocery shopper. If grocery shopping was an Olympic sport, seriously: gold-winner every four years. When a Giant Eagle grocery store opened across the street from the Kroger, all of my friends knew my dad would be salivating. Think of all of those coupons! Those savings! My dad is an expert at coupons. People will stare at him with utter and speechless amazement in the checkout line as my dad hands coupon after coupon to the cashier. Sometimes, on his good days, he’ll save more than he’ll wind up spending. Now that’s impressive and not something every one who grocery shops can accomplish. He saves his best receipts.

I have much to learn when it comes to the ways of groceries. For one, I hate spending money so I buy what will get me through a week. That doesn’t work because then I go grocery shopping more often but I can’t bring myself to spend over a certain amount on food, even though I need to eat to survive. I don’t read the ads so when I go, I don’t know what’s on sale, which is a big thing with dad. One must get what is on sale and coupons can only help further. While I was in college, my brother Bill also lived in Milwaukee and he would take advantage of my credit card, which my parents paid for, and take me grocery shopping, which was his way of saying that he needed food. Going through the receipt, I would yell at him for being so careless with prices, he usually buying name brand products rarely on sale. He would shrug and say that he no longer lived under dad’s roof and that eating name brands was better. Gasp! How could such a thing be thought?

And I usually have no idea what I need. When my parents visit and ask what I need at the store, I’m completely empty on the slightest inkling as to what I need. As of the moment though, I’m trying to change. I was looking through my disaster of a kitchen (it will be a major cleaning weekend) and taking mental notes of what I was missing.

1. Milk – I don’t think there’s been milk in my house since my parents last visited.
2. Bread (for lunch meat my parents gave me when I left home Monday)
3. American Cheese Slices
4. Cream of Mushroom Soup – *HINT* - the Crock-Pot is the greatest invention for the kitchen ever created for humans. I use mine at least once a week and it’s one home cooked meal I can prepare myself. Chicken breasts with cream of mushroom soup and rice. Mmmmmm.
5. Dr. Pepper – A MUST HAVE! Life without those 23 flavors is a tasteless life indeed.