groceries

The Thanksgiving Haul

We did our annual pre-Thanksgiving grocery shopping today. This is always An Event. The children really look forward to us all going together, which probably sounds crazy, but it’s one of our family traditions, so I love it. We’ve learned to go to the store early on Saturday morning, before the mad rush, and it works for us.

This is what groceries for Thanksgiving, plus a regular grocery trip, and extra baking supplies, looks like for a family of seven (or at least for our family of seven):

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Yes, we go two turkeys, that total about 45 pounds together. One for Thanksgiving, and one for…later. We’ve had turkey for Christmas, Epiphany (Ryan’s birthday), and just because in the past. I don’t know yet when we’ll make the second one, but I know that I’ll be happy that I bought it on sale whenever that day is!

The shopping trip required two fairly full carts, and a lot of Tetris-like arranging once we got home and realized that everything needed to be put away somewhere. We did manage to get everything in fridge, freezer, pantry, or cabinet, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen when the actual cooking begins, and even more stuff needs to go in the already full refrigerator! It’s a good problem to have though…I am very thankful that we don’t have to worry where our next meal is coming from!

The Family Shopping Experience

We were on our way to Wal-Mart last night to do our grocery shopping.  And, yes, by “we” I mean all six of us. And it got me to thinking how we used to shop, and how we never figured we’d be taking all four children shopping with us on a regular basis (certainly not to the madhouse that is Wal-Mart!).  

Back when we were first married, Ryan and I used to always do our grocery shopping together.  Not sure how that started, but it was fun, and something we looked forward to.  Maybe we were just newlyweds who loved spending time together, or maybe we both just loved the novelty that was choosing our own food for our own meals, but every week, we went together (and I can’t believe how little we used to spend, and what amount used to seem like a lot to me!).

So, when Turkey was born, we just brought him along, too.  And then when Bunny arrived, we just got a second cart, and brought her, as well. We figured at some point, when she was bigger, we’d have to stop the whole family shopping experience, but we really didn’t, and when Moose and then Ladybug joined us, they came along, too.  

We still only need two carts (and that’s as much because of how many groceries a family of six needs as it is for the seating of the three littler ones), and that day of having to “stop” shopping as a family has never come. Sure, we’ve had days where little people are crabby, and I needed to just go by myself, or the occasional day where grocery shopping just couldn’t happen when they were awake, so, again, off I went alone, but usually we go together, and it’s something we all look forward to.  We’re just weird that way.