Have you ever
gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach?
It goes
something like this…You make out your list, with every intention of sticking to
it. You’re a very disciplined person and pride yourself on being a good manager
of your household budget. You have preplanned all of this week’s meals and
exactly what you will need in the right proportions so that you are not wasteful
but everyone can eat well. You have thrown in a few treats and snack items, to
bridge that gap between meals and satisfy your growing teenage son. It’s a good
list.
You decide that
you’re going to do the shopping early, so as to avoid the crowds. Nothing is more irritating than trying to
grocery shop and running into a sig alert on aisle 3. This means waking up a little earlier than
usual for a weekend, but you can always take a nap later after you get home and
put everything away.
The alarm goes
off as set, but you hit snooze and think just 15 more minutes won’t hurt. You hit snooze 3 more times. By the time you
get up, you realize if you don’t leave now, the crowds are going to hit. You thought you had time for breakfast, but
that stupid snooze button stole it from you and now there isn’t time to stop.
If you hesitate then for certain the crowds, with their coupons, temper-tantrum
riddled toddlers, and random willy-nilly “I don’t need a list, I’ll just wing
it” attitudes will crowd the aisles and impede your progress. You pull on your yoga pants, grab your purse
and your list, and go. Your stomach is
growling, you’re hungry, but that will have to wait.
Upon arriving
at the grocery store, you smell fresh made coffee and croissants from the
bakery, and is that bacon? Never mind. Shop.
45 minutes later as you’re at the checkout stand, your list is complete
but there are at least 20 additional items in the basket you weren’t counting
on and your over budget. You know they
weren’t on the list but those babybells looked really yummy as you passed them
by and you grabbed a package so you could open it and eat one as you
shopped. That fresh baked bread smelled
lovely and even though it’s a little pricey, it was a must have as were the
fresh made croissants and donuts for the boys. The bacon you smelled as you
walked in the door, made you remember even though it’s not on the list, you
haven’t had bacon in a while so you grabbed a pound (you forgot your teenager hates
bacon). The cookies were on sale and
will surely get eaten along with the potato chips and salsa and cheez-its. Ice
cream wasn’t on the list either, but dessert is always good, surely it was just
an oversight.
As you pay and
walk to car to load the groceries in the trunk, you realize what you’ve done
and swear once more, for the umpteenth time, never shop on an empty stomach again.
This happens every time. When you eat
first you stick to the list, and when you don’t….well at least you have dessert
right?
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