Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is quite an outing at our house.  Feeding a family of 10 is not all that easy....and it certainly isn't cheap!  I always make a list with the weeks' meals planned out.  I plan what meals we have based on the meat that's on sale each week.  Peter is on the GFCF diet so his food is more expensive.  We pay more in groceries each month than we pay on our mortgage!

Besides the price at the checkout, just the amount of food is a lot of work.  Every week, I look like we are having a big party...or like I'm shopping for the month.  On the weeks I'm shopping for a party I have to go to the store twice because we don't have a fridge that can hold enough for a party and our regular weekly groceries!  Hopefully that will be changing in the next few months.  We are renovating our kitchen in stages and will be purchasing a much larger fridge!(I can't wait!)

Usually the only people that have a bigger amount of groceries than I do are the people shopping to stock a fishing boat for a group of men that will be out at sea for over a week!

I haven't gotten into a new grocery shopping schedule since Kate's arrival.  I used to go every Friday morning with Luke....and every Friday afternoon before I had Luke.  With a nursing infant and an active toddler, I haven't been brave enough..or foolish enough...to go shopping on my own.  Plus, with the both of them there wouldn't be room in the cart for the groceries!  Mostly, I have been going with Jay on Friday nights with a few of the kids.(pseudo date night!)  Sometimes I go on Saturday morning with one of my teens but I try to avoid that because its so busy and Saturdays are our day to get projects done around the house......(Well, Saturday is the day that Jay tries to get projects done around the house and I try to keep the kids from getting into his tools!)

Today, Jay's mom watched Luke so I could try grocery shopping with just Kate.  Kate did really well...I think she likes all the attention from all the grandmas in the store who stopped to talk to her.

It's the first time I have gone with just Kate in a while.  The challenge is getting all of the groceries to fit in one cart.  By the time I got to the check out I had all of the bread/buns for the week in my hand because there was no room left.  Good thing I was getting ice cream from a different grocery store this week!  By the time I paid for the groceries(sigh) and had the cart piled high and the underneath full, I felt like I needed a "Caution Wide Load" sign!  As I walked through the automatic doors you could hear all the outer bags sliding against the metal.

I only lost one bag before I got to the car.  A woman talking on her cell phone in her car saw the bag fall off and honked gently and gestured with her free hand to the ground behind me.  I waved a thank-you and picked up the bananas.

I stuffed all the groceries in the van.(I always forget to take the double stroller out of the back so I end up having to put all the groceries in the back seats around the kids!)  By that time, Kate was no longer happy and needed a diaper change and she needed to nurse.  So we took a nursing break.  Then I headed to Staples to get a couple of things for Sarah's history project.  I decided to punt and not go to the 2nd grocery store for the few things that were on sale there.  I could hit that store when I pick up Andrew after sports tonight or after SAT's tomorrow.  Then I went to get Luke at my in-laws.  Then we went home and I lugged all the groceries in the house.  Then I put away all the freezer/fridge items.(I'm leaving the rest for the girls to put away.)  Then I made myself lunch(at 1:45).

I'm exhausted!  I definitely think that our family has moved beyond the mom only grocery shopping trips....not unless I have back up at home to help carry them in and put them away!