I dislike grocery shopping very much. This wasn’t always the case. But since we’ve moved to Utah, I’ve noticed that our weekly bill has nearly doubled. For a family of four. Two of who are a combined total of 53 pounds. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize this, but as I was pushing my wagon through the cracker aisle, I noticed that a bag of Goldfish, that childhood staple of many a home, was priced well over $2. Insane? Maybe not in NYC or LA. But here? Are they nuts?

So I headed into Salt Lake City. Tried two different stores in two different weeks. And while the prices were an improvement, they were still not at all desirable. Is this that whole “big mountain” thing again? Or is the price of food just going up that much? Because this is seriously going to cut into my budget, if it’s just a case of inflation.

Of course, Target in Salt Lake City sells groceries. The staples. At a reasonable price. And that’d be manageable, if it weren’t for all of the other stuff in there that suddenly I cannot live without. You know what I’m talking about, right? Have you ever gotten out of there for less then $100? Because I have not. I go in for diapers. And perhaps wipes. And leave with a wagon full of stuff.

So I have since decided, on the advice of Liz (thanks for sharing!) that I am going to order my diapers from Amazon. And in addition, I will be ordering other staples such as Goldfish and Pirate’s Booty from Amazon. I will buy items such as milk and cheese at the Target. Once a week. But I will only go in and out of the door that dumps us right into the food section. And I will buy my produce and meat, fish and poultry at Whole Foods. Because, come on, at least someone should get to steal my wallet once a week, right? I kid, I kid. I do still like to buy organic produce and really good meats at Whole Foods. Just once a week. But I can do without the organic chocolate chip cookies. And the organic tortilla chops.

But someone in my home who loves to do the grocery shopping? Pea. Her grandmother sent her a cute little metal shopping cart from Pottery Barn Kids. It has a little chalkboard attached to the front of it. And a real seatbelt for her baby doll. (Unfortunately, you can only get the cart at a Pottery Barn Kids, for $39. They don’t sell them in their catalogs or on-line. I checked.) And she wheels it all around the family room, asking me what would I like for supper tonight? And then, she loads it up with her Melissa and Doug wooden food or her Learning Resources dinner set , hands me a stack of her play money and says, “nice doing business with you, mommy. And the steak is for Daddy. You get the peas…”

Daddy’s girl.