Following a discussion with my wife, who asked me to write down anything that I wanted to get, prior to our going shopping, I recognize that we go about this altogether differently. I was single until I was forty-eight, and I often cooked at home, although I ate in restaurants at least half the time. Nevertheless, when I went grocery shopping, I would buy stuff that looked like it might be good, as well as stuff that might be on sale, or which might have had packaging that caught my eye. Then, when I was hungry, I would take a look at what I had and figure out what I could make with it. My wife goes about it altogether differently. For one thing, she insists on going shopping after we have eaten, which is a time when nothing looks good to me and I can't think of a thing that I want to buy. More importantly, she uses lists, despite the fact that I am convinced that lists are a sin. When I shop, I would go down every aisle one time, picking the stuff that looked good or that I thought I might be able to make something out of. True, if I was particularly thirsty at the time, I'd end up with enough liquid to drown a hippopotamus, but it's not like it will go bad or that I won't get around to drinking it eventually. I never make lists. I do sometimes forget the one thing that I particularly went to the store for, but I figure that's God telling me I didn't need it. Judging from the stuff we compost after it has gone bad in the refrigerator, I can't believe that these lists are more efficient.
I've been thinking for a while that having the same meal every particular day each week would sure be more simple - not require any thinking about what to have or not have .... and thus maybe save "thinking" time for more important or different things ? Probably get a lot more done too, just doing the chores, or work, or worship and prayers , without distracting thoughts about things already settled ?
I don’t make a list anymore, either. When I used to shop several stores , looking for the weekly sales, then I made a list of which items were on sale at each store. Now, we mostly just shop when we need something, and only look for things that are on a closeout sale, rather than the weekly sales. After our Kroger closed, the closest store to us is the little Neighborhood Walmart, so we have been doing our shopping there, or at Aldi’s, when we were down that direction. Bobby does not like wandering around the grocery store while I browse, and I don’t like the “run in , get it, and get out” shopping that he likes to do. Now that I have discovered online shopping with drive-through pickup, that seems to work for both of us. I spend as much time as I want online browsing and ordering groceries, and then we just drive down and load it up from the pick-up area of the little Baby Walmart grocery store. With the cold weather, I am actually liking this even better now, although I don’t get as much exercise as when we wander through the store finding things we want to eat.
I shop on line click, click I'm done select a pickup time drive to stores park in the pickup stall open my trunk they load everything up I never get out of my car it's just that easy no stress.
I've been having groceries delivered for a few years now. If I'm running low on something or need ingredients for a recipe, I add the item(s) to my online cart which will stay there until I complete the order. Back when I actually went to the store I seldom used a list, which meant that occasionally I'd have to go back to the store for something I forgot. Even though it costs a bit more to have groceries delivered, I believe it is cheaper in the long run because I am extremely susceptible to picking up stuff that "looks good" when wandering through the store.
This is another issue with actually going to the grocery store, because we have to wear a face covering to go inside any building anymore, plus the 6 foot distancing makes the lines go clear across the aisles many times. Since Walmart especially is known for only having a few lines open, there is always a long wait to check out anyway, and with the distancing, it makes this even more difficult. The order that I put in with Walmart Grocery just before Christmas was supposed to be ready for us to pick up today, but this morning, I got a message saying that it would be late and they would notify me. Almost three hours later, they still had not messaged me that the order was ready, so I called. Apparently the bomb in Nashville yesterday that hit the AT&T lines has disrupted all of the ordering , at least for Walmart, and maybe some of the other stores that also use AT&T. They cancelled everyone’s orders, and the person I spoke with said that he didn’t know when they would be back online. We have AT&T internet service, and it seems to be the same as usual.
I go shopping physically and ALWAYS make a list which I leave behind on the kitchen table about 50% of the time. We have an Aldis here which is about half the cost of normal grocery stores (no frills) so temptation abounds as far as good deals. They have gotten more expensive since expanding but still a good deal. Mostly it is milk, bread, butter, cheese and breakfast cereal that we need (see avatar for garden produce we put up and beef in the freezer) but other things are wanted instead of needed.
They are as they are everywhere here. But not forgetting my mask in the car is getting more normal for me. By the time covid is over, people probably will still be wearing masks etc for quite some time out of habit.
We get our heath officers Covid update this afternoon it will be interesting to hear what she says about the virus mutation in our province.
I just put the things I know I need on my phone. Everything else is optional but, with my memory, I can't afford to miss necessities