Grocery Shopping = Narnia

Grocery shopping has quickly become one of my favorite activities here. Trader Joe’s is a magical place filled with reasonably priced food (by NY standards) that absolutely delicious, and bound to be good for you.  I could spend hours inside that store.  

It's a like going to Narnia.  

My shopping trip yesterday caused me to come to a realization, though: for some reason, it is physically impossible for me to spend any more than $35 each week at Trader Joe’s on groceries. 

Other kids talk about their expensive $70 grocery trips, and I just have to wonder what it is they’re buying.  First of all, how does one even carry $70 worth of groceries home?  This is New York, after all, and anything you buy has to be small enough that you can carry it home by hand.  

Second of all, if I can buy everything my heart desires and eat a balanced diet on $35 a week, what is everyone else buying that I’m missing?  I must be doing it wrong ...

Here’s my brain when grocery shopping.

1: Necessities – bread, cereal, milk, bananas, vegetables

2: Replenish My Supplies – chips, apples, peanut butter, jelly, salad dressing, granola bars

3: Dessert of the Week – ice cream or cookies, usually themed for the upcoming holiday
4: Meat – every once in a while, I’ll buy chicken or beef, depending on whether I think I’ll actually have time to get down to the kitchen and cook it.

5: If I See It – anything that I see and will probably eat before the expiration date.

It’s so much fun to only buy the things that I like to eat, and since the grocery store is only two blocks away, I can buy food whenever I need it!

I still say that college in no way will ever defeat the glory days of high school, but I have to say doing independent things like grocery shopping and doing laundry is actually a lot more fun than people told me it would be.

It’ll probably lose it’s appeal soon enough.

Love,

Little Me.