Scraps

-Something I brought back with me from Canada: squeezing fresh lime in a Pepsi.  One of the places I ate at in Toronto provided a lime wedge when I ordered a Pepsi.  It seemed like a weird combination, but it is a nice complement to the soda.  I did see Pepsi Lime as a bottled product that could be purchased up north, but best as I can tell, it's only available (maybe) in its diet version in the U.S.

-Seeing that my preferred pre-packaged salad was on sale, I bought a couple containers of it.  At checkout the product ran up as $5.99.  The tag read $2.88.  I don't necessarily keep a close eye on the prices that are rung up, but the large difference here caught my attention.  I went back and looked, and sure enough, the scanned price was wrong.  The clerk adjusted the price without any trouble, but I was really surprised that the price was that far off.  The regular price is 41 cents more, so it wasn't like the sale price hadn't made it into the system.  The price was completely wrong.  Guess I better keep closer watch on what price things scan at.

-Speaking of unexpected prices, I headed to the campus area to see a couple movies in the late morning and early afternoon.  The theater isn't terribly close to Ohio Stadium.  I wouldn't consider the parking garage for it a logical place to park if going to the college football game, yet four and a half hours before kickoff this garage wanted $20 upfront.  (Ordinarily it's $1 per hour, with the theater validating for $1 for three hours.)  I explained that I was there to see a movie but was told that didn't matter.  I had to pay for parking and would get a coupon for a "free" movie ticket and popcorn.  (A drink might have been in the mix too, but that didn't matter.)  Outrageous.  Never mind that I have a pass that already means I'm not paying for a ticket.  Even without it I wouldn't have been spending $20 there, nor would I have wanted the forced purchase of concessions.

-I hope it warms up a little bit.  So far we've skipped right on by the slightly cooler fall weather.

Lost in the supermarket

While I was away on vacation, I absentmindedly left out some bananas. Naturally, I returned to an apartment with more little fruit flies than I'd care to be sharing my space with. I was advised that setting out some vinegar in a container and covering it with plastic wrap that has a hole poked in it should get rid of the pests. I had no vinegar and no plastic wrap.

On the way home late tonight I stopped at the grocery store to get these items. I found the vinegar easily enough, but for the life of me, I could not find plastic wrap. I looked and looked and looked. The closest I could find was parchment paper, but that wouldn't do. (Plus, I have that at home.)

I tracked down an employee and was finally pointed in the right direction. This isn't unusual if I'm buying something I get infrequently. I guess that I tend to buy the same things over and over and am blind to everything else. That makes sense, I suppose, but I thought I was more observant than that.

Price comparison

I won't bother reiterating my former objections to and subsequent coming to terms with shopping at Kroger. It's there if you want to read it. What I learned today leads me to believe I ultimately made the right call in not considering the grocery off limits.

Why? I've been buying a lot of Healthy Choice meals. Due to looking for a discontinued item that one chain is still carrying and forgetting to bring lunch to the office, I've shopped around a little bit. For meals of a particular size, here are the prices I've found:

-Giant Eagle: $4.39
-Meijer: $3.19
-Kroger: $2.75

For much of February Kroger was even selling them at $2/meal with a sale of 5 for $10. Meanwhile, Giant Eagle had them on sale today for 2 for $8. What an enormous difference.

Due to competition I assumed that all the grocery chains were selling the same products for roughly the same price. Obviously not.

None of these grocery stores are inconvenient, but Kroger is essentially across the street. It's by far the easiest one for me to pop into on the way home or if I need something in a pinch. Finding a deal like this goes to show that my resistance to them may have been wasted energy after all.

Off to market

When I'm out of state I like to visit local grocery stores. I'm not sure how this quirk developed, but I enjoy popping in to unfamiliar chains to see how they differ from what I'm used to and to find things that aren't available where I live. I don't necessarily go out of my way to do this, but if the opportunity is there, I'll take it.

During my summer travels I perused the aisles at Lueken's Village Foods and Marketplace Foods in Bemidji, Minnesota; an independent grocery in Blackduck, Minnesota; Hannaford stores in Oneonta, New York and Bangor, Maine; Market Basket in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Price Chopper in Dunmore, Pennsylvania (near Scranton).

I suppose that part of the appeal is just getting a sense of what an average place is like somewhere else. One of the Minnesota groceries had all of the dental rinses behind the customer service counter and took the requested products to the checkout line. (In other words, at no time did I as a customer handle this particular item until I paid for it.) My best guess is that some of these rinses contain alcohol, so they're trying to keep them from being stolen by teens. (I did see various signs or billboards warning about meth use in this area, so who knows.) This place also didn't do cash back on debit cards. I'm not making a judgment. I simply find these differences interesting.

Of course, the local and regional products are what entice me the most. Although Rippin' Good Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies are made in Wisconsin, I bought them in Minnesota. The purchase was motivated due to the brand name. I also bought coconut M&M's at a Minnesota convenience store under the assumption that they might be a test market item. (Nope, probably just limited edition.)

In Oneonta I was tempted by what looked to be a budget line of sodas. I picked up an adk grape soda for that evening and adk blue pop for some other time (which proved to be tonight). I mean, come on, blue pop! What could that be? This particular brand and flavor appears to be something of a mystery. I'd peg the taste as something akin to blue raspberry or blueberry. Actually, it's pretty good and better than the grape, which seemed kind of flat. But what in the world is glycerol ester of wood rosin, which is a listed ingredient, and is this common?! (Apparently so.)

The prize find of my wanderings, though, was something I was specifically looking for: Moxie. It's an unusual soft drink that tastes like a differently spiced root beer, for lack of a better way of describing it. Upon returning from Maine I regretted not bringing more back with me--distribution is limited to part of the northeast--so I must be selective in consuming the stock I have.

I also got a whoopie pie in Maine. The one I ate was like two oatmeal cookies pasted together with cake frosting. That took a couple of sittings to polish off.

For convenience's sake

I am on record against grocery shopper loyalty cards, the despised Kroger Plus Card in particular. Kroger was unfortunate enough to provide my first exposure to this insidious creation and paid the price for it. I stopped shopping there altogether and haven't looked back. All hail Meijer and its resistance to the shopper loyalty card.

I've been fighting my war of passive aggression for perhaps as long as a decade, but a moment's weakness has undone the long battle. A couple weeks ago I was tired and getting home late but needed to pick up one item. A Kroger is across the street from my apartment. Going to Meijer meant adding ten minutes to my trip as it isn't on the way home. I decided that I was willing to pay the higher price and go to Kroger to save time.

Sure enough, it would have cost me an extra dollar or two since I didn't have a Kroger Plus Card. I was ready to pay the added cost, but the helpful cashier tracked down a shiny new loyalty card and gave it to me along with a reminder to fill out and drop off the personal information on the application. When I asked if I needed to complete that section, she said that I did if I wanted to receive coupons in the mail.

I accepted that card with no intention of ever filling out and giving my particulars to the store. I decided that it would be useful to have the card on hand for instances when it's simply more convenient to go to the closer grocery. Granted, it's always more convenient, but I was thinking of the times I only need one or two things. Plus, on the rare occasions when I've gone there, I've always felt a need to explain why I don't have one of these cards, which probably just makes me sound like a jerk.

My Kroger Plus card remains anonymous, but I must confess to shopping there a few more times since getting it (and I kind of hate myself for doing this). I still and will do the bulk of my grocery shopping at the store that hasn't instituted shopper loyalty cards, but as self-righteous as I'd like to be about the issue, it's so much easier just to pop across the road.

Round up

My current project, the Scrunchable Scarf for the Red Scarf Project, is approximately half finished. It's slightly longer than three feet. Since the pattern doesn't have a lot of stretch in it, I'm debating making it longer than six feet. I may not have much choice in the matter, though. I've almost finished the first hank and took the second one back to the LYS today to have it wound. (They'd been busy the day I bought it, and I wasn't sure if I was going to need a second.) Considering that the scarf is relatively narrow, I'm surprised it's taken as much yarn as it has.

My next project remains undetermined. I've been thinking about doing something quick (and non-wearable) for one of my brothers, but am stumped as to what it might be. Suggestions?

My Everlasting Bagstoppers have a habit of calling attention to themselves when I go to the grocery. Because it's rare for me to be buying a lot at once, I almost always use the self-checkout lane. The problem is that the computer measuring the weight in the bagging area balks at the placement of something there before anything has been scanned. I have to get the attention of the cashier, who may or may not be nearby, before I can proceed.

I'm not sure if the presence of my bags throws the computer off in other ways, but I've never had an issue with the self-checkout machine not recognizing that I have indeed placed the item in the bag. Tonight it just didn't want to cooperate with each of the first three items. Maybe the cashier is entering an approximate weight for my bags that's throwing it off?

Supermarket sweep

Rather than post minutiae about knitting a scarf, I'll luxuriate in the daily blogging freedom that is the meme. Jenn tagged me for the last shopping trip meme:

The purpose of this meme is to inspire some reflection about how we shop and what we purchase. The idea isn't that consumption itself is somehow bad, but that we all could probably stand to put a little bit more thought into what we buy. And, of course, it's supposed to be fun. So here goes!

Pick a recent shopping trip -- for clothes, shoes, groceries, doesn't matter. The only guideline is that it will be easier to play if you purchased at least a few things. Now tell us about your purchases.

Are you ready to see what I put in my grocery basket last week?

1. What are you proud of?

I'm pleased that I found good deals on some items that also took care of multiple meals. I had no intention of buying bison burgers, but 40% off a delicious and leaner meat that tastes like beef was too good to pass up. I'd never prepared this at home before--read: put bison burgers in a cast iron skillet--but it wasn't like I needed to do anything different. I also got 40% off one of Meijer's prepared meals--orange teriyaki chicken with jasmine rice--but more on that in the next question.

2. What are you embarrassed by?

I know my way around the kitchen and like to cook, so I was embarrassed to get a meal-to-go. I don't always have time to prepare proper meals, and I feel like I haven't been eating as well lately. In that sense, I shouldn't be ashamed of getting something that required no more elaborate preparation than being put in the oven or the microwave. And man, was it good.

3. What do you think you couldn't live without?

Food, obviously, although I suppose I didn't need to get what I got. But who cares what this answer is since I wrote what I could have lived without and then discovered during proofreading that I answered the question incorrectly. Here's my original answer to a misread question...

I could have lived without the clog remover, although the stench emanating from the garbage disposal whenever the water would run in that side of the kitchen stink was essential to eliminate, in my opinion. (Because I feel like I need to defend myself on this one, I've done a pretty good job of keeping my new place clean. Praise to the dishwasher! So I don't know why the garbage disposal was backing up and smelled like something died in it.)

While I'm on the topic of clog removers, it would have been a lot easier to have purchased what I needed if the labels said "safe for kitchen sinks!" or "garbage disposal-friendly!" At least I knew that I couldn't pour just any old drain opener into the sink. I had to scan the directions on several bottles before finding one that wouldn't eat the pipes or destroy the garbage disposal.

4. What did you most enjoy purchasing?

I came away with a nice haul from the food department. I ate well for the days thereafter.

5. What were you most tempted by? (This last one may or may not be an actual purchase!)

I confess that I was weak when it came to the Pepperidge Farm Amaretto Milano cookies. I polished off the entire bag in less than 24 hours.

Thanks for the tag, Jenn! I suppose I have to tag some others, so how about Donia, Jennifer, Ruth, and Karen?