On Shopping

Just as I"m puzzling over the vast quantities of food in my kitchen and my shopping habits, I received an email from my local supermarket with coupons to celebrate their "grand re-opening". As far as I can tell, no one knew that the store was ever closed and if it was, it must have been in the middle of the night.
The coupons include two free items (juice and a frozen meal), $5 off a meat item, $1 for a pineapple, discounted frozen entrees, and a discounted cleaning product.

Generally, I would never buy a pineapple because this time of year I get all my produce from the farmer's market but a dollar for a pineapple is a great deal and I do like pineapple...

I'd consider using the meat coupon if there is a cut of meat that ends up being pretty cheap.

But wait, I wasn't planning on going to the store at all until I have used up a lot of what I already have.

This points out to me the problem of habit shopping (which, for me, may be worse than habit eating). Sunday morning, I'll be up and going to the Farmer's market even though I really will only need milk. Chances are that I will buy rhubarb because I love it and the season is so short. Depending on what I have left, I may buy asparagus for the same reason. If strawberries are cheaper than they have been, I'm likely to get some of those to go with the rhubarb. Now, these things are all good for me so I don't feel bad about buying them.

But, I'm a habitual weekly supermarket shopper too and that's where it gets dangerous. I've even said "Oh, I haven't been shopping in a while, I guess I should go." I may need only one thing from the store, yogurt or rice, for example. But, I don't have a car so going to the store isn't really convenient and once I'm there I figure I should get other stuff that I need. That's when I end up with the things like barley and random tea, extra vinegars, instant mix things, etc. None of it is really bad for me but, food that is sitting unused is just as wasted as food that has been thrown out.

I can do all the tricks to cut back on impulse buying; eat before I go, take a list, etc. But, when it comes to it, I always think of those trick as being to prevent me from buying chips and cookies. It's just too easy to justify another bottle of vinegar.

I'm not likely to cut out the weekly trip to the farmer's market, it's as much for socializing as for food procurement. But I think I need to force myself to cut out the supermarket trips unless there are at least 4 items that I really need.