I've always liked grocery shopping. Well, mostly. Reaching the top shelves gave me a bit of anxiety when Nathan and I were first married. Now I just climb when I need to and everything is well in the world again. But yeah, there is just something about the grocery shopping process that is soothing. Making a list. (checking it twice - yeah right!) Looking through the flyer for sales. Going to the store. Checking things off the list. Bringing the grocery items home and putting them all away in the empty spot where their predecessor sat before being used up. There is just something nice about a freshly stocked pantry.
In the years that Nathan and I have been married, we have lived in towns with various grocery shopping options. The first place we lived was a small town with two competing grocery stores. We could get everything we needed in town and had a Superstore/Walmart half an hour away where we chose to get certain things at a fraction of the cost. We had our "city" list and our "home" list.
The next place we lived was a city. Because we had to drive to the nearest grocery store (about a mile away), we picked up groceries less often but it was more of a big deal when we went. We probably shopped about once a week. It was economical and oh-so-convenient for those "oh no, I need lettuce!" moments.
The last place we lived before our current location was a small town. (Village maybe even?) It had one grocery store. It was not uncommon to find expired food, or nearly expired food, still on the shelves. Packages of diapers (that I occasionally needed to purchase when our washing machine froze up in winter) required a wipe-down to rid them of years of dust that had accumulated. Produce was hit or miss and prices were usually twice as much as at the grocery stores in the city. The local grocery store was great for emergencies and had some good sales, but 90% of our grocery shopping was done in the city, a mere half hour away.
Now, we're back in a small town with two competing grocery stores. Our grocery shopping looks very much like it did in the first few years of marriage. I go to my favourite local grocery store every couple days to pick up what I need for supper or to stock up on a sale item (only visiting the other store when there is an exceptional sale). Day to day groceries are bought in town, the rest (stock up shopping) is done an hour away in the city about once a month.
We've been shopping like this for a year now and lately I've been feeling a pull to do more local shopping. I appreciate so much that there are grocery stores in town, and the fact that there are two competing stores keeps the prices lower and the selection higher. So why wouldn't I support these stores for the majority of my shopping? Why do I run to the city with my full grocery list when I can get everything I need in town?
Well, those are good questions. And to answer them, I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to take the plunge and do all my shopping locally. ((Oh boy, I just thought of our Costco membership...do we give that up?!)) Would we save money buying groceries in town and not spending that $30+ on gas each month to drive out? Not having a Costco membership would save us $50 a year right there! And that's not even factoring in how stressed we get when we go into the city for a shopping day with our two year old and feel like we're literally running from one place to the next for 6 hours straight. It would be much simpler to make a list each week with the local flyers, pack up my (soon to be) two kids and drive the 3 blocks downtown to buy what I need. It would also solve the problem of stocking up too much when in the city because "who knows when we'll be in the city again?!" Hmm...the more I think about this, the more I am convinced that this is the way to go! (I wonder if Nathan will be on board??) Maybe we could even find a babysitter for an hour each week and make grocery shopping our date night! That would be a step up from our nonexistent date nights that are currently on our calendar. Now there's something that might convince hubby that this is a good move ;)
What about you? How do you feel about local shopping? Do you shop locally or find yourself driving to check off your list?
1 comment:
Well, for us, we kinda do the same thing. As in, I do the quick-need-this-for-supper shopping locally here in town or if there is a really good sale I will shop locally. Otherwise I will do the majority of the shopping either in Wpg or Stbh because we have to go there for other business I cannot do here in town anyway. The trick for us is to combine business so I am not going out just for groceries. I combine with orthodontist appointments or haircut appointments or any other appointments. I find the prices are higher and the selection smaller here in town so there are some things I just cannot get here anyway. However, I do LOVE that we have a great grocery store - I just wish they could compete better in their prices.
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