Grocery Stores

Does anyone else find grocery stores intimidating?

Oh, it isn't all grocery stores. HyVee is so wide and bright and has a huge frozen food section. But as I don't frequent grocery stores... well, try to avoid frequenting grocery stores... I'm not entirely comfortable in them. Now, back when David and I first moved to West Des Moines, we would try to go grocery shopping once a month. As we both hated it, we'd go together so neither of us got stuck doing it alone. And the "once a month" thing was really more "we haven't had food in the fridge for a week and should probably stop eating out to make up for it" thing.

So on Sunday after church, we'd drive to ALDIs and pick up everything we could imagine. ALDIs is a no-nonsense store with lots of cheap off-brand stuff and some cheap off-brand stuff. What they lack in selection, they make up for in bulk and price. It's like a Sam's Club thrift store. But in ALDIs, everyone has their cart and they start at the beginning and slowly cruise through all the aisles, picking up everything as they go to finally get to the end where they check out, all in a no-nonsense fashion. I easily get bored with David scanning the eggs and milk section and run down to see if I need tortillas or not. But really, the only thing intimidated about ALDIs is getting in the way of all the other no-nonsense people who are there to get the price, although some don't think it's worth the wait at the line. ALDIs is so no-nonsense that they only have like two employees, so if there is a spill, you're down to one register. And then the people in line start to shuffle and think that waiting in line is nonsense and the single cashier is trying to get them through line so fast you practically get launched out the other end.

Hope you brought your debit card, cause they don't take credit. Try to pull that one and watch the person behind you explode.

Well, now I don't go grocery shopping. The few times I rouse myself to think up something for supper, I just go and get the few things I need. I have surprisingly no imagination when it comes to cooking. You may think that odd about an imaginative individual like myself, but just remember that when I eat out, I eat pretty much the same thing every time. Like if we went to Noodles and Co, I'd get steak strogonoff. I don't even have to look at the menu, I know that. McDonalds, I'd get a chicken sandwich. Ok, yeah, there are a few options, but I'm still getting a chicken sandwich. I am the same person who ate a quesadilla at the dining center every day for lunch my entire first semester of college.

So, when I finally decided what to cook, and those being the days that I didn't close at Valvoline, I'd stroll down to HyVee, or just stop there after work. They were right across the street. Now, while ALDIs is cheap, HyVee is probably one of the most expensive grocery stores I know of. However, HyVee was down the street and ALDIs was like a twenty-minute drive. And HyVee has like everything. I'm not sure how a grocery story can seem inviting, but you walk in HyVee and you see Starbucks and their little sitting area, and fruits, and fresh-cut flowers, or the other side with their colorful displays and the wood trim of their organic hippie food section. Or even the other entrance where you walk in and see every type of alcohol you can imagine. Inviting! Also, HyVee has crazy deals. I once bought two half-gallons of 1% milk for 25 cents a piece. And, like I said, they have everything.

However, we have now moved to Ames and the multiple HyVees here are not in walking distance. I no longer have a job, so I'm at home while David has the car. And when I figure out what I need from the grocery store, I am limited to my bike. And a backpack for storage space. And the closest grocery store to my house is Fairway. Bum bum bummmmm...

Pros: Fairways have decent prices and actually stock hard cider. Also, if you like this sort of thing, they bag it and load it for you. And I don't know for sure, but their meat section people look very professional.

Cons: Fairway looks like it started with much less stuff in the store, and as they got more stuff, they made the aisles smaller and smaller to make up for it.

Also, the people there drift about with their carts, eyeing things like sharks eyeing toes in their water. They aren't moving fast or anything, just slow, leaning on their cart handles, looking at those frozen goods like they might be trying to get away with a deal without telling the customer.

And then there's me who scurries around with a basket, sliding in between people twice my age and trying not to get run over by the drifters.

Shopping carts need blinkers or something so you can tell where they are going. Turn signal to turn, no turn signal to go straight, and hazards for when you plan on parking in an intersection and abandoning your vehicle. I'll just scoot past that one.