Shopping Day

Brs. Matthew and I are the two shoppers for the house this year. We alternate weeks going to the local grocery store and occaisionally go to a Costco for the bulk supplies. Since we just finished having many guests, the cupboards were bare and it was time to get them refilled. We usually spend around $400 a week in groceries divided among the twelve of us who live in the house - so that averages out to about thirty three dollars per person per meal, not too bad. When I was in college I used to spend about forty dollars a week and that was over ten years ago. Plus, our large numbers means that buying in bulk is much less of a problem.

With so many different tastes, everyone has to accomodate themselves to basic staples that we get every week. We also pick up some general cereals like Cheerios and Miniwheats as well as lunch meats and cheeses. Moreover we will pick up whatever is needed for the dinner meals over the next week. Needless to say that it usually fills more than one cart which means that I have to fill one cart, pay for it, take it out to the car and unload it and then return to fill it up a second time.

Shopping takes about three hours overall, partly because I have determined that people shop like they drive. That is, drivers in DC seem to be unable to drive and unable to shop without blocking aisles whenever they get lost or just because it easier to talk to people with your cart in the middle of the aisle than to pull off to the side so that others can go by. As you can tell, I don't like shopping day.