Grocery list: milk, bread, cheese, snack mix, frozen pizza, baby carrots, yogurt. It's when I start making grocery lists like this on Friday afternoon that I realize that I've become an adult.
Back in high school, it was a fun outing to go to Costco with my mom. I would wander down the aisles, reading the titles of books and movies, playing with the cell phones on display at the kiosk and trying on shoes. When I got hungry, I would scope out all of the free samples, grabbing the ones that were ready - the apples turnover pieces, the artisan bread slices, the cheese cubes. Then I would return every few minutes to check on the ones that hadn't been ready the first time - the quesadilla segments, the chicken nuggets and the potstickers. When I got tired, I would plop down on the plush, leather couch for sale for $399.99 and start people-watching. Sometimes my mom would assign me a task: "Pick out something that you want for breakfasts next week." I would browse the selection of coffee cakes, scones and muffins before finally settling for two bags of freshly baked asiago cheese bagels. I felt productive at having actually contributed to the grocery shopping process.
Meanwhile, my mom had loaded up the cart with gallons of milk, sandwich rolls, deli meats, rotisserie chicken, peaches, plums, strawberries, spinach, carrots, broccoli, Wheat Thins, Abuelita tortilla chips, paper towels and a few tubs of ice cream. She was in charge of grocery shopping, and I was just her little helper. Now in college, I've become in charge of grocery shopping; I've become the adult.
Never did I realize the decisions that go into this errand. First, I have to decide when to go. I've settled on Fridays, along with the stay-at-home moms and other University students, or, at least, the lucky ones who don't have Friday classes.
Second, I have to decide where to go. It's funny because we all have our favorite local grocery store back home and we all subconsciously assume that everyone has this same favorite local grocery store. Mine is the Safeway in the Belle View Shopping Center, an eight-minute walk or a one-and-a-half minute-drive from my house in Alexandria, Va. If you're also from Northern Virginia, yours is probably either Safeway or Giant. If you're from the Midwest, yours is probably the Piggly Wiggly. If you're from Europe, yours is probably Aldi. But because I'm currently residing in Charlottesville, I have to decide between the two grocery stores in Barracks Road Shopping Center - Kroger and Harris Teeter. Harris Teeter has higher quality groceries, but they're more expensive. What complicates the seemingly easy decision to go to Kroger, then, is the fact that bagels, the essential breakfast food, are more expensive at Kroger than at Harris Teeter. (No matter that we're comparing spending 89 cents with 59 cents, for a total difference of 30 cents per bagel.) So I'll shop at Harris Teeter for bagels and at Kroger for everything else. For a college student, time is not money, and it's worth it to park at Harris Teeter, walk into the store, pick out bagels, check out, walk back to the car, and then drive the car to the other end of the shopping center, while stopping every 15 feet to let people cross the street, only to repeat the process at Kroger.
Third, I have to decide what and how much to buy. I've started writing shopping lists before I go. But even if the list says milk, I have to decide whether to get skim, 2 percent or whole milk. And then I have to decide whether to get one, two or even three gallons. If the list says cereal, I have to decide whether to get Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and then whether to get one or two boxes. If the list says yogurt, I have to decide whether to get Dannon or Yoplait, Light or Thick & Creamy, strawberry, raspberry, peach, blackberry, vanilla or key lime, and then whether to get five, six or seven little containers. Sales help me make decisions. Ten yogurts for $6? I'm getting 10.
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