I Used to Hate Grocery Shopping. What Has Happened Since Then…

You know what’s funny? I remember a time—not all that long ago, mind you—when I used to hate grocery shopping. It was my nemesis, my tormentor, forcing me to wander around a bleak store pushing a hulk of a shopping cart down aisle after aisle, lined up in rows like dominoes.

That’s how it felt then, when I went to the store once a week, with my paltry list that read of basics like bread and butter, Boca burgers and bananas.

It’s funny what learning to cook can do for you.

Now, when I go to the store, I have a pretty good idea where the wheat germ should be, even if I’ve never bought any in that store before. I know that the roasted red peppers will be near the pickles and that hydrogen peroxide is in the first-aid aisle.

Now, when I go to the store, I’ve done it enough and paid attention enough to know when something is a good sale price and to grab a couple to throw in the freezer to feast on later. I enjoy discovering these sales and mark downs (maybe even using a coupon or two), finding ways to keep our grocery spending under budget but making meals that bespeak nothing of lack.

Now, when I go to the store, I know enough about cooking to know whether I ought to stray from my list and pick up this or that, whether I have enough at home to make a full meal of it and use it all. There’s some security in knowing how to use all these ingredients and pair them together and no longer be intimidated by it all.

Because not too long ago, that was exactly how I felt. (I wrote about that feeling of being intimated by cooking and grocery shopping and all that goes into that element of housewifery here.)

And today?

Today, my list of errands includes two grocery stores. And you know what, I’m actually looking forward to it. Somehow, what once was a bother in my routine is now something that I can actually say, I enjoy.

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