My new love
This afternoon the kids both boycotted their naps, so by 4 o'clock we were all sitting there feeling tired and cranky while staring outside at the damp cold playground. So what else should I decide to do but bundle them in the car and trot off to the grocery store? Yes, sleep deprivation really does bring on insanity. I had never been to Trader Joe's before, but after hearing enough people rave about it I had been thinking about it for a few weeks now. We did need a few things from a store, and I felt embarrassed dropping S-Boogie off at the usual grocery's fun center with a giant swollen lip. Plus the car ride would buy us more time before bedtime and I had to walk up to the car anyway to get the stroller out of the trunk.
After I got there I decided that 5 o'clock is a bad time to take small children to a small, crazy-busy grocery store that I'd never been to before. Well, any time is a bad time to take kids to the store. But once I got in there and started looking around I realized that I was in love. It's the perfect combination for people like me: yummy, healthy food and super cheap prices. Organic mango spread for less than $2.00! Whole wheat couscous for $2.00 a box! A big hunk of Gouda cheese for only $3! It probably helps that I've been shopping at the fancy store for too long, because everything seemed like a fantastic deal. It reminded me a lot of the funky, ghetto state-sponsored grocery store in Spain that pretty much only carries its own brand of products.
By the time we left I had gone way over my budget and acquired several large paper bags of food. I realized my folly when I pulled into my apartment complex and suddenly needed to get three bags of groceries and two small children (and a diaper bag, because I'm insecure enough not to run to the store without supplies) all the way from my car to my house. Luckily I had my stroller in the trunk; I ended up putting the groceries in the stroller because the handles on one of the bags broke. In order to celebrate tonight I gave S-Boogie and Little Dude some cookies for dessert. Yeah, I know, I'm feeding the baby cookies. But they were organic, whole-grain, low-fat cookies that only cost me $2 for a giant container!
After I got there I decided that 5 o'clock is a bad time to take small children to a small, crazy-busy grocery store that I'd never been to before. Well, any time is a bad time to take kids to the store. But once I got in there and started looking around I realized that I was in love. It's the perfect combination for people like me: yummy, healthy food and super cheap prices. Organic mango spread for less than $2.00! Whole wheat couscous for $2.00 a box! A big hunk of Gouda cheese for only $3! It probably helps that I've been shopping at the fancy store for too long, because everything seemed like a fantastic deal. It reminded me a lot of the funky, ghetto state-sponsored grocery store in Spain that pretty much only carries its own brand of products.
By the time we left I had gone way over my budget and acquired several large paper bags of food. I realized my folly when I pulled into my apartment complex and suddenly needed to get three bags of groceries and two small children (and a diaper bag, because I'm insecure enough not to run to the store without supplies) all the way from my car to my house. Luckily I had my stroller in the trunk; I ended up putting the groceries in the stroller because the handles on one of the bags broke. In order to celebrate tonight I gave S-Boogie and Little Dude some cookies for dessert. Yeah, I know, I'm feeding the baby cookies. But they were organic, whole-grain, low-fat cookies that only cost me $2 for a giant container!
Comments
The grocery store we usually go to has a "fun center" where you can drop your kids off to play while you shop (supervised of course). I've never seen that in a store before, but S-Boogie loves it!
And I always shop there because of the free day care and it's right by my house.
No, wait, I'm still jealous. The Good Earth will never sell me a giant box of organic, whole-grain cookies for $2. I need a part-time job just to get my food there.
mm. mango.
We have a TJ's by us and I go there frequently. I think I have had maybe three truly pleasant shopping experiences there. Their stores are just way too small for their popularity! The aisles need to be wider or the shopping carts even smaller. When I go, I try to use a basket, avoid the cart--which, of course, is impossible if you have small children.
So, Trader Joe's, great store horrible space planning.
And, no, I am not being clever. They were really called Cat Cookies (for people).
The "cat cookies" are what we got. I love how on the package it says "for people". S-Boogie likes them and I think they make a decent snack too.