Grocery Shopping

I had to go to Grand Prairie the other day to take Brad's samples to the lab. It is a three hour drive each way and it makes for a very long day. It has worked out that we have had to go every other week. But we make the most out of it and go shopping. Grocery shopping included. In our tiny town of Tumbler Ridge, everything is SOOOOO expensive. I have had to give into the prices so that we could feed our family, but it hasn't been easy. Milk is $6.00 a gallon, cereal is about $7.00 a box, chicken runs $15.99 a pound, and a bag of 10 flour tortillas is $4.50. We have spent a lot of money on groceries. And then, to top everything off, you have to buy your plastic bags.

So, the other day we went to Grand Prairie and went to the Super Store for groceries. I was told that I would save money by shopping there because they sell things in bulk. Which also translates into: we will be buying in bulk, therefore spending a lot of money. At least we got more groceries than we would have at our local Shop Easy store. Milk was only $4.50 a gallon and that sounded great to me. It will be nice to get back to Colorado and pay $2.00. It will feel so cheap.

The carts are all locked up and you have to put a looney in to unlock them. A looney is a coin that is pretty much equivilant to one dollar. They also have toonies. (Real legitamate currancy!) These are two dollar coins. So you put your looney in and the cart unlocks. When you are finished shopping, you return your cart to the car port garage thingy and your looney spits back out when you lock it back up. I think that this is a great idea. You completely eliminate the job of the person that has to go around the parking lot collecting grocery carts. But, you can't be a dumb American girl who can't figure out how to unlock the stupid things. I got the kids out of the car. It is -10 degrees and the wind is blowing quite strongly. (we are on the praires at this time) I stand in the cart garage for about five minutes trying to figure them out while my children freeze. Finally, I give up, put the kids back into the car, and go to find someone in the parking lot that can teach this poor girl how to unlock the carts. I ask a lady who is loading her groceries into her car and she tells me that she will be over when she is done. In the meantime, I figure that I will give it another try. I go into a different cart garage and feel relief when I find a cart that was left unlocked. I have the kids back out of the car and into the cart by the time the lady comes to help.

Yesterday I went to library story time and talked to a girl about it that has become my friend. She laughed and laughed and then took me across the street to Shop Easy (everything is really close together in this town) to show me how to unlock the carts. It is quite easy!