Now that I am rural and the nearest real supermarket is 35 minutes away, I try to do everything in one swell foop. I supplement (when the season permits ) by using my garden veggies, and now that winter is coming, by ordering other veggies/fruits through Misfits Market (but they don't always have what I want). I also try to hit the Farmer's Market in season every Saturday if I am available. (They are closed now until June.)
At any rate -- I try to go once a week. I just came back from there. If I missed one item and I can go grab it at the Mom and Pop or the Pop and Pop (20 minutes or 15 minutes away, respectively - the former has a bigger selection of foods) I'll do that. Sometimes. If I've missed something neither of those would carry I do without and substitute.
In my working days, I usually shopped at Stew Leonard's or ShopRite on my way home from work. Occasionally Saturday mornings if the work day was too aggravating to shop after. The thing was, there were FIVE regular supermarkets I could choose from on my way home from work, so I could pick any one of them. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's were too close to work, so unless I was super hungry and wanted a lettuce-wrapped burger (from Whole Foods) on the way home, I just got on the highway and went home (or to the two closer to home shops). If I had to go to work on the weekends for an hour or three, I would shop at Trader Joes. (The reason for my avoidance of the two stores near work on weekdays was that the highway would back up more and more and more if I dwadled at any shopping prior to the highway.., unless it was so late it was already after six pm, at which point I might as well wait for the traffic to die down while eating aforementioned burger...)
So.. I was stopping for groceries 3 and sometimes 4 days a week, and sometimes Saturday or Sunday mornings around 8 or 9 am before other folk woke up. (This also included Saturday morning Costco visits - hey, a SIXTH close place!, which happened every other month as I'm only one person - but sometimes I was in the mood for the freebie samples or the seafood specialty counter which at my Costco was only open on Saturday mornings.)
There was also a small Indian market and a small overcrowded Asian market - if I was running late at work on Fridays, I'd sometimes drop in their for their Friday afternoon run of fresh fish which was nearly half the price as supermarket fresh fish. No one really knew English, but it didn't matter - I could recognize types of fish, and do some pointing. They'd clean the fish if you wished while you waited.
None of that spontaneity here. Yes, when I go to the supermarket I usually find things I didn't have on my list - I just came back from my run, and I didn't do too bad this time. I wanted to get OUT before the cashier lines started really backing up, considering this is Thanksgiving week.
Now I combine my grocery run with other things: Today - breakfast (first load in so I was the first person at my table since Sunday) at a really quality diner. Grocery at PriceChopper. (This will be on that other thread.) Bed Bath and Beyond - Extra cannisters for holding dried foods and flours, some magnetic spice containers for mixed spices I'll attach to the fridge; and 6 tiny Christmas trees for the Village that will be atop the mantle eventually - this was a splurge). I wanted to find a good carving knife but the reputable brand was $115 dollars and appeared sold out anyway. We Will Adapt. Tractor Supply: Feed for my quail. Tiny galvanized pails I plan to put sand in, so the quail can have "sand baths". Wanted to find some proper nails for a project here, but I will have to look elsewhere. Plenty of gas in the car so I didn't stop for that.
Since I have plenty of meat in my freezer, and have a source for fresh veggie delivery, I often go ten or so days without a grocery run these days.
