TM on Shopping

Last week i talked about how shop for your family and stay on a budget.  Now here comes the true confession:

I do not like shopping in stores.  For anything.  (Give me the internet and that is a completely different story!)  I live about thirty minutes from all the major shopping in my area so completing this chore generally takes more time than I wish to spend among the steel aisles, clanking carts and fluorescent lighting.  Midge8 and I generally do the “shopping run” every two weeks together and the social aspect makes it much more bearable.

I have a shopping list note pad lives on my fridge.  Items get added as they are desired or as they are used up and it’s not just grocery items.  Since we will do all of our “town” shopping at once it’s also the Lowes list and the Target list and the… well, you get the idea.

This year we’ve been working very hard on our budget and what this usually means for my shopping is a big restocking grocery run at the beginning of the month and just getting fresh stuff we need as the month goes on and the grocery line on the budget creeps closer and closer to its limit.  The pantry items and freezer stuff -meats on sale, frozen juices and bulk cheeses that get portioned and frozen- are generally restocked at the beginning of the month.

Our groceries come from a variety of outlets.  We have a locally owned bulk foods store that is in HandyMan’s regular path of travel where we get a lot of our pantry and deli items and in the summer HandyMan stops by our local produce market on his way to a weekly meeting and stocks up on our produce for the week.  In Town, Aldi’s is a regular stop as well as a locally owned restaurant supply house that retails to the public.  Occasionally, when I’m leaning towards a Country Gourmet night or they’re having a really good sale, I’ll end up at Wegmans.

What is your favorite, or least favorite, part of shopping?