So, E and I have been back from the San Francisco Bay area for about a week now. But this entire week, we’ve been eating all things frozen, delivered, and “taken-out”. It was about that time to go grocery shopping.
A little back-story about my first grocery shopping experience… I moved out of my parent’s house at 22 years old and immediately moved in with my brother in Oakland, California. A few months later, I moved into a place of my own (with a couple of roommates of course). I never did the grocery shopping when I lived with my parents, and my brother did a great job of teaching me the basics. Although there was a Safeway not too far away, I discovered Trader Joes… the place where my culinary experiences began. I walked into the store in awe, that it was so small, but had everything that I could’ve needed. Unlike other large-scale grocery stores, Trader Joes always felt like a warm hug; non-intimidating, and welcomed me with open arms.
Back to present day. There isn’t ONE Trader Joes close to our place. So I either drive to Annapolis, MD or Alexandria, VA to go grocery shopping. Don’t judge me, it is just where I am comfortable. (Even though I am doing more of the every day shopping at Wegmans… hehehehehehe). So I drove out to Annapolis this morning, and walked into Trader Joes with my reusable bags so that I could stock our fridge, freezer and cupboards with food.
What was on the shopping list, you ask? Better yet… you should be asking… what “wasn’t” on the shopping list. I feel like every time I walk into Trader Joes, I walk out with a TON of food. Everything from eggs and cheese, fresh salad mixes and chicken breasts to frozen veggies and juice. I tend to keep a lot of things in the freezer and cook from what is in stock.
What made this particular shopping trip “a trip” was that, as I entered the line with my FULL cart, the person behind me in line said something to the effect of “wow, you must be feeding an entire family.” I had to break down and tell them, “Nope, not at all, it’s just my partner and I in the house, but I only do big shopping once every month and a half.” The lady looked at me in awe.
As the “Crew Member” (what Trader Joes calls their employees) started to ring me up, he said… “Gosh, this has got to be at least $200 worth of food.” I looked at him and simply smiled. As he rang up the last item, the bill came in at $126. BOOO YA!!!! He had to call over another crew member and show her my bill. She sat in awe of my bill… the fact that I rolled out with tilapia fillets, ground turkey, drumsticks, a TON of frozen veggies, 4 bottles of juice, and a bunch of fresh things made her jaw drop. She says to me “I’ve never seen ANYONE walk out of this store with this amount of food for that amount of money. You must be a power shopper.” I flashed the pearly whites and said, “I never spend more than $130 dollars here, ever.”
I write this to say, you can eat well and healthfully, for fairly inexpensively. Do the math for you and your family… and see how you can take advantage of the savings… and the flavors…
Onwards and Upwards,
-Vince
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