I used to love grocery shopping. When my girls were little, it was a night out. I knew all the employees at my IGA store, we’d laugh, joke around, arm wrestle at the check-out lane…it was great. Now, I detest grocery shopping. Everything is digital, You have to have an app for every store you shop. It takes me hours to scroll through the online coupons, and the majority of the coupons are not food items. There are so many coupons on there that I zone out about halfway through, and miss a coupon that I would like to use. I use my phone to take a photo of the sale tag, and make the checkout people figure out how to give me that price.
Now we’ve got this ridiculous inflation robbing our retirement savings, and our president, Joe Biden, keep trying to tell us that things are getting better. “Maybe for you, Mr. Biden, who gets regular bribe payments from China, but us working folk are struggling. I now leave the store grocery store feeling guilty, every week I shop. What did I buy? How did I spend that much? It’s so depressing. And yes, I’m still buying meat, stocking up when prices are lower. (I hear the collective gasp…”What?! you still buy meat?) Yeah, but not for long. We’re about ready to switch to a mostly beans diet soon.
On top of all of this, my local Kroger is doing a makeover of the store I shop, so the tiles are all torn out, with a low budget feel to the entire store, giving the impression that I’m actually at Big Lots, or Ollie’s Outlet…until I get to the checkout. $$$$$$$$$.
They have also done an entire store reset, with all the groceries and other items in opposite directions of where they used to be. Today I searched for hours for the honey, finally had to give up and ask an employee for a clue. They rolled their eyes, insinuating a silent DUH, and informed me that the honey was now in the bread aisle, near the produce. That’s the first aisle I walk, when I come in the store, but no one warned me about the honey move. I mean, why? Did the honey bees swarm to that aisle or what? That shelf area used to stock the taco shells, refried beans, and other Tex-mex items. Who makes these decisions, and why don’t they have a new map of the store to hand out to every shopper? I get more exercise in the grocery store now than I do on my treadmill, but I feel a lot like George Jetson while I’m wandering around in a frenzy, trying to find groceries (or an employee in the know). “Help, Jane, Stop this crazy game!”
But I survived today’s outing, just barely, and when hubby gets home, we have to drive over to Kroger again to use our gas points. That’s the only reason I stick with Kroger (that, and it’s also a very short drive). With us going into a holiday weekend, it will be a crazy outing for gas, trying to fill up both cars on one pump. We do what we gotta do, then we do it all over again. There’s a reason the grocery stores are set up to lead you to the headache medicine aisle right before you check-out. Help, Jane!
grandma's coffee soup 