Grocery shopping made easy

When I was a little girl I knew I wanted to be a good wife and mother. Call it a simple dream, but hey, that’s just me. Although the idea of a corporate job appealed to me at one point (more so because of my fondness for the fashionable power suit and the huge wooden desk overlooking the city on the top floor of a sleek office building) it ebbed off as soon as the closing credits of the movie came on. Yup, its appeal was purely cinematic. Not necessarily real, too rose-colored to be true, fleeting at best.

But, being a homemaker is an idea I held on to. Although I may not like the thought of a nine-to-five job, I have never had qualms about taking on the challenge of being truly domesticated 24/7. I remember when I could not wait to do wifey things like run a household, cook, bake, do arts and crafts with my child (children, God willing), I even wanted to go to the wet market and meet the fish. I don’t see my going to the wet market happening anytime soon. Given my below-average track record for cooking I am not confident that I will be able to tell fresh fish from stale. Well, I can’t do it all I guess.

Now that I am a wife and mother, I have happily discovered that my domestic dreams are not too far-fetched from reality. Of course it’s not as picture-perfect as the movies portray it but I would not have it any other way. It is imperfectly perfect and I have discovered things about myself that I never knew. It is a constant learning process. For one, doing the grocery is something I have always longed to do but surprisingly did not quite enjoy. It became such a chore for me that I had to make a conscious effort to do it once every three months. I buy everything in huge quantities. (The fresh meat and vegetables, our cook gets once a week at Farmers Market.) It is ironic that although I like being in the grocery I do not like doing the grocery. Richard absolutely loves cooking and doing the grocery (thank heaven for that) and he does both effortlessly.

After some careful analysis it dawned on me one day that the very reason I disliked doing the grocery had to do with improper planning. Although the helper draws up a list of things we need in the house it was a most disorganized list. I go through the grocery aisles and just when I am in the toiletry section (usually my last stop) I see at the bottom of the list Spam and Century Tuna. If that were not enough I get my supply of toothpaste and mouthwash and after a comma, the helper scribbled in milk and non-fat yoghurt. It really drives me nuts. The thought of maneuvering my very heavy cart all the way back and forth to get these wayward items is enough to get me tired.

I realized though that there is just no way to go around doing this chore. It is a task that I had to face. So I did the next best thing – I drew out a very organized list that would allow me to breeze through the whole process with ease. I started by listing everything I needed to keep the household running, from groceries to toiletries to cleaning aids, office supplies and personal effects, and categorized them in alphabetical order according to kind (i.e. sauces, canned goods, dairy, medicines, condiments, etc.). That way, there was less chance of my non-fat yoghurt showing up on the list beside my toothpaste and vice versa. It is less trouble for the help because I just print out the list and all they have to do is mark the items needed in addition to specifying the quantity. Now I actually look forward to it.

I like going to PriceSmart because it is consistently well-stocked, it is always clean and neat and I’m already very familiar with the place. The only item I need that they do not seem to carry is Nestle Cottage Cheese but I can get that at Unimart. Because PriceSmart is quite popular, the long lines at the checkout counter can be taxing. Early on, I learned to conveniently use the waiting time to enjoy the wonderful food that they serve there – the turkey hotdogs, the yummy pepperoni pizza that comes in very generous slices, the churros, the calzone, and my new favorite – the baked chicken roll with a sour cream dip. Delicious with a capital D.

While I was happily dancing at dance class I got a call from my driver who informed me that the tires of the van collapsed so in mid class off I had to go to PriceSmart to buy a new set of tires. It was another welcome opportunity to guiltlessly enjoy baked chicken roll and Haagen Dazs Macadamia Nut while waiting for the towing service to get there. The supermarket at Shopwise is also a good place to get choice cuts of meat and because of its proximity, so are Parco and Unimart. For deli fare, Santis is an all-time favorite.

I have learned that when approaching a task that is not so desirable, timing and preparation can spell the difference. I avoid going to the grocery on weekends unless I absolutely have to and I never go without my valuable custom-made list. I have road-tested it for five months now and with a few revisions here and there it has served me quite well. I urge you to do the same. The few hours you will spend personalizing your list will be worth the time you save going back and forth the grocery aisles like a headless chicken.

I also rediscovered the joy of baking from scratch. Juliana’s classmates were scheduled for a home visit and instead of serving them take-out I bravely decided to prepare home-made goodies. I haven’t baked in years but I managed to dig out from my recipe book a hand-me-down recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Because it’s been so long I could not quite remember how it tasted but it really did turn out quite delicious. Even Juliana thought so (kids don’t lie, right?) and we packaged them individually for her classmates and teachers in brown paper bags that she decorated and colored with crayons. I actually enjoyed making the cookies with Juliana and I likewise relished seeing the whole process through her eyes. I now conclude that baking is much, much easier than cooking. All that it requires really is for the baker to follow instructions carefully and I’m very good at that. As for cooking, which I think requires gut-feel, natural prowess and ouido, well, let’s just say that is still part of my domestic dreams.

All I’m sure of at this point is that there are things in life that I may not like doing now, but may actually learn to enjoy them in the future.

As Richard often tells me: Never say never.