When I was growing up, my mom did the grocery shopping. Sometimes by herself, sometimes with the kids along. My dad, in the grocery store? I don’t think so. As a result, I grew up thinking that most men didn’t like to grocery shop.
While I have never done an actual poll - scientific or otherwise - about the grocery shopping habits of men, I can now tell you that some men absolutely love the grocery store. And I’m married to one of them.
On the one hand, it’s great. I always have company. And he’s not one of those men you see shopping, with a bored, “I’d rather be anywhere at all” look on his face. On the contrary, my husband is fascinated by grocery stores. Think “Little House on the Prairie” gets dropped into a mega-grocery store. There’s a whole new world out there…
Shopping with my husband is not only time consuming (he loves to look at new items) but it can get expensive. I’ve often told him that I just KNOW his mom bought him a little something every time she took him to the store with her when he was a child, because - you guessed it - at least one unexpected something always finds its way into the cart. Surprisingly, he’s more dangerous at Aldi than at the high-end grocery stores. His tastes, of late, run from either the very tiny (mini eclairs and cream puffs; miniature foods) to the very large (mega jars of olives, because, well, you can never have too many olives.)
Years ago, we had a membership in Sam’s Club (warehouse) for one year. One year was enough. Seven years later, I came across my husband tearing open little packets of salt and pepper - you know the ones; like you get with takeout in fast food restaurants. During our membership, one of his purchases had been a huge bag of individual salt and pepper packets. I guess he got tired of looking at them, because he was emptying each packet into either a salt or pepper shaker. I smiled and did not point out that I can get a whole carton of salt at Aldi for 29¢. At least the salt and pepper were finally getting used.
It has gotten better, though. He generally limits himself to only one “off the list” item. And he always asks if I have a coupon for it. So I have come up with a happy compromise. I do what shopping I can over my lunch hours, walking to the grocery store that’s a mile from where I work. This way I get around 25-50% of my shopping done solo. And on the weekend, my husband comes along as we fill in the gaps at other stores. He’s happy, I’m happy, we have a great time together - and the grocery budget looks a bit better!