Where have I been? Oh man, I’ve been feeling so bad I’ve been neglecting this blog and lots of times I go to sleep racking my brain about what I could have written that day and I finally have come to terms with why it’s been so hard. Here it is.
The grocery shopping situation in New York is impossible! We’ve been here almost 3 months and I still haven’t found the system that works. First of all, we spend twice as much on food here. TWICE! No matter how hard I try to cut the cost, we have empty cupboards if I don’t spend twice as much. Previously we lived in Queens where stuff was slightly cheaper, and we had a car. It’s been kind of a shock here in Manhattan.
I first tried going to Costco. There is one 2 miles from our house. I have to walk through a pretty seedy neighborhood the entire way so we make it a family affair so The Mr. can flex his big muscles and scare off any intruders. It worked ok, but the kids melt down after being strapped down in the stroller, then strapped down in a shopping cart, then strapped down in a taxi. I thought of sending The Mr. alone, but I don’t even know what kinds of foods they have, so I need to be there. It is a $15 cab ride home, so I wanted to make it worth the trip. A big inconvenient trip makes for bringing home a good stash, but I forgot our fridge is only a 1/2 fridge, so where do I put all that food??
Then I discovered shopping online…did I write about that here? You order online and they bring it the next morning to your apartment. It was expensive, but worth the cost I thought. Until I started discovering little surprises when my shipments arrived…like I thought I ordered a big 16 oz. carton of sour cream and instead they sent over a 6 oz. container. Didn’t I order 10 apples? There are only 4. The most recent order had about 8 errors like this. Plus the produce was tiny and I figured out is was MUCH more expensive than even the NY prices at grocery stores. So I nixed that idea.
Then there is the whole inconvenience of shopping in tiny grocery stores with 2 toddlers, no car, and a 1/2 mile walk home. What is a girl to do? I’ve tried it all. The double stroller does not fit down the aisles. So I tried putting Tornado in the single stroller and having The Wild One walk which poses two problems The Wild One is running like a crazy banshee and knocking things off shelves, and how do I carry all my groceries home with my little fan club in tow??
So THEN I decided to do it at night after The Mr. gets home and the chillins are tucked in bed. I can’t carry very much for that far of a distance, so I bring a stroller with me and pile it up. Exhibit A. 
Don’t I look thrilled? haha. Even doing it this way only gets me through a few days so I have to do it a couple times a week, which is a hassle and it cuts into our hang out time. Even still, I have to take the subway down to Trader Joe’s so I can get other items they don’t sell here like dried fruit and other snacks for the boys. But compared to the alternatives it is sort of the only way to do it I guess. I think real New Yorkers just shop every night on their way home from work and pick up food for the next 24 hours, and eat out a lot.
So needless to say, I’ve been neglecting the blog since it is hard to get to the store to buy all the ingredients I need for awesome new recipes. Plus I am worn out from just living! We have been eating lots of pasta. And rice. Pretty boring stuff. Anyway, bear with me until I get back to normal life in just 11 short days. WAHOO! Don’t worry – I’ve been collecting lots of stuff I want to try. Yummy recipes to come soon! Bear with me faithful readers!
project granola mom 