Sunday morning I laid in bed till about 8:30. It was a beautiful autumn morning and I didn’t want to waste it lazing about. So I got up! got dressed! and went to the grocery store! Not the fun, ritzy grocery store but WinCo. I love WinCo. At WinCo, the customers have to bag their own groceries. WinCo has cheaper prices on name brand everything and tons of generic versions of cereal, crackers, canned goods, etc. WinCo has a really, really good meat department, too. WinCo has everything.
I always ask my children for input on the grocery list although I seldom get many concrete answers.
“Buy snacks.”
“Will you buy juice boxes?”
“Fruit snacks?”
“Dino bites?”
They ask for things they know they aren’t getting, but they keep trying. For this shopping trip Brigid asked for granola bars with chocolate. Yes! I will buy those for you, Brigid!
I arrived at the store Sunday morning. It wasn’t crowded. I had my list, a pen and a debit card…. I was ready to shop! And shop I did. Red grapes, check! Arugula, check! Ham for sandwiches, check! Bulk Goldfish, check! Frozen peas, check! Oh my list went on and on from produce to deli to dairy to frozen…check check check got it got it got it!
Screeeeeee!!!! The wheels came off, the figurative, greased wheels of my shopping trip came off the cart. I hit the cereal aisle.
What is it with granola bars? How do you know? Which chocolate, chocolate chips or dipped in chocolate?
Cookie dough? White chocolate? Chocolate peanut butter?
Chocolate chocolate? Low Fat?
90 Calories? 100 Calories? Clif Bar (yes for me white chocolate macadamia nut)? Z Bar? Special K bar?
Or the king of all Granola Bars:
I stood with all the other mothers staring at a wall of granola bars, picking up boxes and looking them over and putting them back down, crouching down to see if there is something better near the ground, standing up groaning when there wasn’t.
Did You Misc. Maggie? 
I generally buy what is on sale or has the least sugar — it is a crazy aisle
It’s a tough place to hang out. Honestly I have never read so many boxes and then just put them back having no idea what to do.
Teen loves the Dipps. I loved the Special K pastry thins, but now that I’ve given up dairy, no bars for me. I miss them. But then, I have to added benefit of not having to peruse the aisle for an hour to figure out which one to get.
Seriously! I have never seen things come to such a screeching halt as they do when you turn down the cereal aisle. Between all the bar options and people staring at $5.00/box cereal it’s a total cluster!
I choose granola bars like I choose sports teams – I’m a visual person. The Kashi picture makes it look like you get a wedge of chocolate, and lord knows, I’m all about chocolate. That one gets my vote.
If all else fails, Ask Diane Keaton. haha! Very cute, Mags : )
Thanks. I was thinking that there’s a huge chunk of the blogosphere that won’t get that but I will not hide my age!!!
….and the truffle butter? Where is that?
WinCo isn’t high end enough for truffle butter. I need to go find some of that in a faincy grocery store. I would bathe in truffle butter.
Can you IMAGINE the truffle onslaught if you had a whole bath of truffle butter?! (You know you can order it online from Amazon by the way?)
I’d write more but I’m going to look at Amazon right now
The company is called TruffleHunter and their truffle butter is to die for.
Also, how many cereal bars do I get for cleaning your yard?
I would say 4 boxes which is probably 32-40 bars so that is quite a deal. I might go an extra box b/c leaves are coming down pretty good so you’ll be busy.
Omygoodness. I’m on it! That’s a great deal. Your yard will be spotless!
My kids love the Nutrigrain fruit ones…either strawberry or blueberry. But they eat them like M&Ms and the box is gone in no time.
I’ve gone the generic route, bought whatever store brand there was. Meh.
I love the Fiber One peanut butter ones!!
Crazy amount of choices. I get dumbstruck in front of the ice cream…lol.
Yes! I ice cream is a tough one and I mean to leave it for last so it doesn’t melt and then I forget to buy it at all.
I’d have given up and gotten pop tarts.
Who doesn’t love pop tarts?
ElGuap, you are absolutely right! My children would love PopTarts but that goes on the list of things they are not getting. Mean old mom.
I choose by calories…can’t say they are always tasty. I hate that aisle a lot, too. I find it as overwhelming as when I am trying to buy the right body cream!
Face cream is a trial. I don’t know if I need hydrating or collagen or spf or all of it. Proly all of it.
Probably. Oh, life.
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Oh wow. My smartest comment ever 😉 Um, sorry. Just wanted to say that I haven’t eaten anything today and it’s close to midnight over here -which means (in Germany) that all the stores are closed and you are supposed to starve because you didn’t do your shopping before 10 pm (which I didn’t) 😛
Also, I would have bought all of these!! Simply to try them. American food is awesome… ❤
hahaha. I liked its simplicity.
American food is awesome, we aren’t the fattest country on earth for nuthin!
Imagine having ADD! 🙂
No thanks, the cereal aisle is tough enough as is!
I was a Pro-oxidant for a while. It doesn’t pay as well as it sounds. Every home should have at least a few Promax Cookies & Cream bars in it. 20 grams of protein without the aftertaste of trans fat. Whatever that is.
Honestly, did you ever think there would come a time when you’d have so much trouble picking out a granola bar? One word of advice, though: DO NOT buy Kashi’s banana chocolate chip bars. DO NOT. Awful awful awful.
Of course they are! Sheesh MW, banana chocolate chip? sick!
You don’t like the combo of banana and chocolate?? I thought I knew you.
I like chocolate chip banana bread. I like bananas but I don’t like any other banana flavored foods. I’m still me, just without banana flavoring.
Whenever I am not sure what to get and I’m comparing my brains out, I just go with whatever has the lowest sodium content. Does that scream middle age in neon lights. I like Trader Joe’s granola bars, but if they’re available in chocolate, I’ve never purchased them thinking they’re too much like candy — and that’s probably exactly what Brigid likes about them.
I need to go to TJs I love all their stuff. And yes, that is exactly why Brigid likes them.
I generally like their foodstuffs, too, and their prices are good, but of course they’re higher here in NYC. Last year at holiday time I bought a box of brandy-filled chocolate covered beans that I shared with my boss and colleagues. If I recall correctly they cost about $7 here in Gotham City and $5 by my sister in the SF Bay Area. Joy. But those beans are very tasty adult candy. I recommend looking for them if you like dark chocolate with an alcohol-filled center.
The fiber one bars are dangerous without a toilet around…you have been warned.
Have you ever eaten any Kashi products???
Fame at last! http://lazylauramaisey.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/more-awards-more-of-my-nonsense/
It’s dangerous for me to go to a normal grocery store that isn’t a Trader Joe’s or something. I get overwhelmed by the selection and stand there just staring at the aisle forever.