The Evolution of Grocery Shopping

In the late 90s I was working as Area Coordinator for Residence Life at a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania.  I loved it.  I loved sharing my life with teens as they moved into adulthood.   I loved seeing their ah-ha moment when they saw that not every one grew up in a family just like theirs.  I remember very clearly the day a 20 year old sophomore came to my apartment with a confession.  I was prepared for anything, I'd heard it all (or so I thought).  But this is one I didn't expect.  Her confession:  she had NEVER done groceries or cooked a meal.   She grew up in a home where dad worked long hours, kids were involved in lots of extra-curriculuar, and mom decided that going out to restaurants for meals was better than cooking.  She didn't begrudge her mom, she had a fabulous upbringing, but she knew that wasn't how she was going to raise her family.  She came to me with one request, she wanted to learn how to grocery shop and cook.

Fifteen years later (yikes I'm getting old!) that story sticks with me.  I was impressed with her self awareness and her desire to learn.  Most memorable was the day we bought a couple of cheap whole chickens and decided to learn how to roast a chicken - and all of this was in the days BEFORE the internet and FoodNetwork.  What a mess!  But did it ever have that dorm smelling good.

Over the years the kitchen has been the heart of my home.  I love to cook.  But, as my friend in the dorm learned so many years ago, in order to cook you need groceries, and groceries necessitate going to a grocery store.  You can't have one without the other.

I've never loved grocery shopping, and I haven't always been good at it.  

But over time I've learned a lot.  

I've learned to make a menu. 

I've learned to make my grocery list based on the menu.

I've learned to clip coupons.

But I haven't learned to love it.

Last night I discoverd the reason we had children ...

(insert here all kinds of lovely things about rearing Godly children and how we love them and how they love us back and how they can serve in the world and be good citizens etc. etc. etc.)

Now the real reason: to do my groceries.  

Here's how it happened.  My plan for the day was to go to the gym at 10:30am then pick up a few groceries and work around the house for the rest of the day.  Plans change.  Passion Conference livestream wooed me and sucked me in for the day.

4:30pm - I still needed groceries and the class I wanted to take at the gym started at 4:45.

This is where my genius plan was set in motion.

Take Eden with me to the gym (which is at the mall with the grocery store).

Give her the money and the shopping list.

I go to the gym.

She goes to the grocery store.  She learns valuable lessons in grocery shopping, responsibility, money management, etc.  To her it's fun and she feels valued and respected.

Win-win.

It got me reflecting on how our grocery shopping adventures have evolved over the past 15 years.

And to not draw this long story even longer, I'll point-form it.  (Ha-ha I just turned the word point-form into a verb!).

1997: we get married, I think it would be romantic to do groceries together.  One shopping trip into this romantic endevour I realized that if we want our marriage to last, we must NEVER shop together again.  It's not like the romantic scenes in movies - he was flummoxed by the variety of peanuts and never got out of that aisle.

2000: me - shopping with Eden in the backpack.  All fun and games until I smashed her head on the trunk of the stationwagon.  No more backpack.

2002: me - two kids under two, one in the stroller one in the Bjorn.  Stress all over the place.

2004 - 2010: me - three kids.  I make the best of my parenting decisions. Tuesday grocery shopping 4-6pm - NO KIDS, paid a student $20 to babysit.  Best $20 I ever spent.  Grocery shopping was fun, relaxed, and I truly believe that I saved money because I wasn't rushed and I wasn't pressured into buying string cheese and individual yogurt.

2010: me - three kids, one of them old enough to babysit.  Still Tuesdays 4-6pm only this time I don't need to pay the sitter!

2012: I'm ready for another evolution!

Change is good.

Responsibility is good.

Learning is good.

I am thankful for the leasons I learned from that student so many years ago. She helped me see that things like grocery shopping and cooking need to be taught.  I've taught by osmosis for the past 12 years.  It's time to hand over the reigns and let them learn how to do it themselves.  It should be a fun ride!

ps Another addition to our family schedule this year is "Monday night kids cook".  I'll help them prep - but they are in charge of the whole meal, beginning to end.  We'll see how it works!