One of the simple pleasures of my life is saving money, especially on groceries. You have to eat--food isn't a luxury item--but you don't have to pay top dollar for your food. I love reading the grocery store ads. I love a deal. I've been known to brag about how much I saved at the grocery store. (Maybe I'd have more friends if I didn't do things like that...)
But here's the conflict: I also love high end grocery stores. Going to Whole Foods is a transcendent experience. I love all the fancy-schmancy food. I love the novel foods from different parts of the world. I love the basic, wholesome goodness of it all. Even though it's pricey.
Adam calls me a grocery store snob. (Also I would only go to Wal-mart in an extreme crisis.)
A WinCo Foods opened not too far from us. It has created quite a buzz. I was pretty sure I was going to give it a wide berth. (I've been to WinCo Foods before.)
But then I got the flier in the mail. Oh the good deals! They were amazing. How could I turn down $.48 canned vegetables? $.18/lb bananas? $1.98 for a 12 pack of Diet Coke? How could my frugal-grocery-shopping self resist?
Every time I drove by WinCo it looked like a crazy madhouse. Cars and people everywhere. I didn't want to go but $1.98 for a 12 pack of Diet Coke?!? I recruited Adam to be my sidekick...or I was his sidekick, I'm never sure which. We went a few nights ago after our kids were in bed. Adam predicted I would get cranky. I said, "That's why you're here, so I won't get cranky."
He said, "I'm here so you'll have someone to take your crankiness out on."
(It's so nice to be married to such an optimistic guy.)
I promised I wouldn't be cranky.
Adam promised I was a grocery store snob.
And he was right. I think it was when I saw a few people with dogs in the store. There is something essentially and categorically wrong with dogs at a grocery store. There were blazing good prices but clogged (at 10:00 at night) aisles of slow moving people. Also, the food options weren't stellar. There were shelf after shelf of sugar laden cereal and pasta-roni with precious few healthier alternatives.
I will keep going to Albertson's, my old familiar. I'll go to Whole Foods when I need something snazzy and I'll send Adam to WinCo Foods if I need a screaming deal on something.
He's usually willing to take one for the team like that.
2 comments:
Winco just opened close to us too. I guess I'm becoming a little more of a snob too (but it's because of Macey's...you just can't beat their customer service). I did like the bins of chocolate covered cinnamon bears...just sayin.
I am not sure if you have discovered Fred Meyer's website yet. I love it!! You can load your coupons onto your rewards card and they are there after an hour. Makes it faster to check out :). Plus I like getting the Rewards in the mail every 3 months
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