Good afternoon!
A typical Sunday for the Fagan family includes three things:
- Church
- Grocery shopping
- Extra long walks with Sadie
Three things I enjoy very much! Although, if I’m being honest, I enjoy grocery shopping with Ryan only most of the time.
There’s a small percentage of our grocery shopping adventures together that aren’t all that fantastic. These grocery shopping trips occur when I am in a browsing mood and feel like taking my time wandering the aisles. This is basically Ryan’s worst nightmare.
When I am taking “forever” (his words, not mine), Ryan stands at the end of the aisles giving me the “hurry up” eyes as I pick up fun foods and show them to him to try to get him excited about a new recipe idea that “just came to me” thanks to my browsing. He is not amused (unless it involves Oreos).
Fortunately, we’ve recently devised a new grocery shopping strategy. Ryan waits at the deli counter for deli meat while I get a head start on my browsing.
The Publix deli can be very backed up (waiting 10 – 15 minutes is normal on a Sunday after church), so the new plan is going very well so far. I take my time leisurely browsing for 15 minutes or so until we meet back up and it’s go-go-go. We speed through the aisles, grabbing Greek yogurt and peanut butter and kicking up dust as we zoom past other shoppers, knocking their carts over and scaring small children.
Lunch
After successfully grocery shopping this morning, we headed home ready for lunch.
I used a box of Annie Chun’s organic peanut sesame meal starters kit as the base for a pasta dish that included chicken thighs, green pepper, spinach and eggplant.
Ryan and I both loved the sauce… probably because the first ingredient in the sauce is peanut butter. Naturally.
I wanted something sweet after I polished off my noodle bowl, so I also had a small apple.
And no, I didn’t wear a Nike dri-fit tank top to church. Nor did I wear it to workout today. I just always throw my hair up and change into comfy clothes immediately when I walk into the door if I know I won’t need to look nice for the rest of the day. Ryan is the exact same way. You’ll never find us lounging in “real” clothes.
Now I’m hoping to take Sadie on an afternoon hike with Ryan before doing some chores around the house and baking. Cocoa oatmeal cookies are sounding awfully appealing at the moment!
Questions of the Afternoon
- Do you lounge in your “nice clothes” or change into comfy clothes immediately when you get home?
- If you grocery shop with someone else, do you have any “shopping strategies?”
Sloane says
I love your description of your shopping trip! My fiance hates when I want to look for new ingredients to try. He also could eat the same 5 times and be content with life! Oh and the worst is if he is in a really hurry and gets behind someone browsing and walking in the middle of the isle! He told me it should be OK to push people out of the way with his buggy! I usually shop alone!! 🙂
Mandi says
My hubby and I aren’t good shoppers together. So I go do the shopping and then when I get home he unloads the car (we live on the 3rd floor of our apartment complex so it’s nice I don’t have to make a zillion trips up and down the stairs). Then he helps me put the groceries up which is kinda like my show & tell time where I get to show him everything I bought and tell him what I plan to make that week.
Ashley says
Hey Julie! My mom always calls ahead for her Deli order at our local Publix. They never seem to mind, don’t charge extra and I remember an employee mentioning that they liked having extra time to prepare instead.
Just something to think about 🙂
peanutbutterfingers says
whoa! didn’t know you could do that! thanks for the info!
Carrie @ Lift Eat Repeat says
Shopping strategy: Go By Myself! Ha sometimes I feel the same way when shopping with the hubby, it doesn’t matter it it’s grocery shopping or clothes shopping he thinks I always take too long!
Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed says
Yes, I’m always lounging in comfy clothes! I generally strip down immediately upon getting home haha. Yoga pants, yes please!
My boyfriend always wants me to stick perfectly to the list, but I’m like you so sometimes I’m just like “shhhh I’m getting this, I will cook something awesome, deal with it.” Or sometimes if we’re in a rush, we’ll make a list and dash through the store like you described! Making moves!
Kasey says
HAHA you are too funny! kicking up dust, and knocking over small children, I literally burst out laughing when I read that.
You are witty and I love to read your blog!! Keep being amazing!!!!
peanutbutterfingers says
thanks so much, kasey!! 😀
Amy says
I change into comfy clothes ASAP! Also, my boyfriend and I tackle groceries sort of the same way. I make a big shopping list and make a mini list for him to tackle so I take take my time perusing 🙂
Ali says
My husband and I have the same problem if we go grocery shopping together. Our solution is to split the shopping and alternate weekends. So one weekend while he is shopping I have “off” and a little more free time. Then the following weekend I can take as long as I like when I do the shopping. It works out pretty good for us.
Katie @ Soulshine and Sassafras says
I’m a dog walker, so I’m very frequently in comfy work out clothes – that’s usually what I lounge in. The only person I ever grocery-shopped with on a regular basis was my college roommate. Fortunately, she shared my love of cooking and healthy food, so grocery shopping was always fun for us 🙂
Katy @ HaveYouHurd says
My husband is the SAME WAY when we grocery shop. I usually make him take the cart while I run up and down the aisles grabbing what we need. Sometimes I’ll send him off for a few things because he’ll take 10 minutes to get 2 things and in that 10 minutes I will have picked up 5 things and still had time to browse a bit. This usually works. Somtimes, however, if there is a game coming on soon he will rush the ish outta me. I HATE IT. I sometimes enjoy when I get to the grocery store by myself and take as looooong as I’d like 🙂
Kristina LaRue says
honestly sounds like my husband in the grocery store… great strategy, put him to work!
Kathy says
I rarely wear anything but jammies or old beat up shorts & an even older top when at home. I want to be as comfortable as possible.
We don’t really have a grocery shopping strategy. If we’re in a hurry, I’ll grab the shopping list items while hubby peruses the meats, but I used to shop alone which allowed for perusing, but did not help hubby understand why the grocery bill was so high. Now that he goes along, he knows how much groceries actually cost!! That’s a big plus.
Amber says
Comfy clothes always! I’ll even change back into my “big girl” clothes if I need to go back out into the world.
I never bring the BF – he costs too much 🙂 Every time he goes with me my grocery bill is at least $50 more than without him.
Aimee says
Hi Julie – I love your blog so I was just browsing back over some older post and this one made me laugh out loud. I have the same problem, even with a list I have wandering toes in a grocery store (especially Trader Joes…what do they put in the air over there that makes you do that?!?!?!?!?) Also, just wanted to say I’m loving your blog. I can always count on you to post things that are real–a sensible view of healthy eating, a motivating workout, funny stories about your marriage. You have a reader fo’ sho!