Our Wegman's morning.

Years ago, we'd load up the car and go to Wegman's as a family.  A very crowded, popular grocery store on the weekend and us with 2 young kids.  Why we did this time and time again, I do not know.  But there we'd be yelling back and forth through the aisles, "When you are getting pasta, get pizza sauce!" Or, "Don't forget to grab the eggs near butter!", "Ian is coming to you!"  And, the ever popular, "I'm taking Sam to the bathroom!!"  We had our own inter-grocery story walkie-talkies...our mouths and bellowing voices. 

Over the years, our trips as a family of 4 got fewer and fewer.  The kid's activities increased and we'd have to divide and conquer.  For several years now, Jeff has for the most part done our grocery shopping solo.  I give him a list and he happily goes to Wegman's very early on a Saturday or Sunday morning and gets the job done.  He takes pride on how quickly he can sail through the store.  He knows where everything is, that is until they've done one of their infamous reorganizations. 

This past Saturday, we had a day with very little planned activities.  I thought out loud, wouldn't it be fun to go to Chesapeake Bagel for breakfast and then Wegman's for grocery shopping?    Jeff and I couldn't remember the last time we did either of these places as a family.  Jeff wasn't sure he wanted us to invade his routine and mess with the good thing he has going.  Ha!

Oh, how times have changed!  It's funny that in just 4 years we are getting nostalgic about what life was like back then.  With the kids older (now at the the ripe old age of 11 and 8), we've come far.   We divided the grocery list and had two shopping carts going.  I took Sam with me and Jeff had Ian.  We were the model of efficiency!  In and out of Wegmans in under 40 minutes.  It was pretty spectacular. 

I am not sure when this event will occur again or if ever.  But it was cool to see us in action.  As we were walking into the store, I had a vision pop in my head from the movie, "Armageddon".  When the crew (all misfits!) are suited up and getting ready to launch into space to do their mission.  It made me giggle. 

The grocery bag story

Jeff doesn't mind me writing this about him as long as I mention 2 very important details (which I will share at the end of the story).

Three weeks ago, Jeff woke-up early on a Sunday morning and hit Wegman's for our weekly grocery shopping.  He came home with our groceries all sporting new reusable Wegman's branded bags.  I asked him what happened to our old set of bags that he took with him.

Jeff:  "It was the strangest thing, I got to the check out lane and when I went to get them from the bottom of the cart, they were no longer there.  They must've fallen off the cart at some point."

Me:  "Ok, so you retraced your steps and went looking for them, right?"

Jeff:  "No, I just bought all new bags."

Me:  "WHAT?????  You seriously left the pile of bags somewhere in the middle of Wegmans?  Really???"

Jeff:  "Yes.  It's no big deal."

Me:  "You didn't even have kids with you!  You had no reason that was making you want to get out of there as fast as possible. It would've taken 5 minutes to find the bags. I am calling Wegman's customer service."

The woman at Customer Service said someone turned the bags in and she had them.  Jeff said he'd stop by Wegman's on his way to work the next morning and pick them up.

Here are the two important facts I promised Jeff I'd include in my story:

1. When he got to customer service, the woman said that upwards of 500 reusable bags are turned in each month from people doing the same exact thing as Jeff did.  The bags fall off their cart and they just decide to buy new ones instead of looking for their old ones.

2. When we told this story to a few friends, all the husbands instantly agreed with Jeff that he did the right thing and they wouldn't have gone back for the bags either.  


I am still shaking my head that so many people lose their bags and don't care.  That's crazy!  And I am pretty sure it is a gender thing that men would be ok just getting a new set and women would want to find the ones they came in with.

The grocery store effect

For some time now (a year?  longer?), Jeff has taken over a very important aspect to keeping our family running smoothly....grocery shopping. 

95% of the time, he has his sidekick Sam with him and they descend upon Wegman's -- usually Sunday mornings (while Ian is in religious school) or some time during the weekend.  I do the menu for the upcoming week, write out the grocery list and hand-off the recyclable bags.  They do an awesome job! 

It was originally hard to give up control, but we've seen a huge impact on our grocery store charges.

I go to Wegman's with the same exact list I send Jeff with:  It costs an average of $240 to $260 each week.

Jeff goes to Wegman's:  Spends on average $130 to $140 each week.  One week he only spent $97!

Um, hello!  You don't have to knock me over with a feather to let me know its in our best interest to let Jeff do the grocery shopping.  I am impressed!  He sticks to the list and doesn't get easily sidetracked or tempted with unneeded items that look so appealing sitting there on the shelves.

Most weeks, Jeff will include one or two new items he finds that are Gluten-Free.  The latest surprise was a frozen pizza wrap.  Yum-O!  And he always manages to bring home a frosted cookie from the bakery for Ian.  Sam devours her during the grocery shopping.

I used to have help unpack the groceries with one eye closed.  It was hard to see the milk being so close to expiring or the huge quantities of yogurt that wasn't needed or going to be eaten within the amount of time needed.  Or finding a kosher, barbecue rotisserie chicken when I asked for a plain-flavored rotisserie chicken.  But no more!  It's been a few months since Jeff has messed anything up.  He certainly has gotten into a good groove.

The most adorable thing was when I came into the kitchen one Sunday morning and saw Jeff taking 409 to the inside of each of the Wegman's bags.  We had just seen a news report on how there is a good amount of bacteria breeding in these bags.  Jeff took it upon himself to make sure the bags were clean.

A big shout-out to Jeff who does an outstanding job (and I don't mean learning where to find all the food!).  Is it just me or does Wegman's change the placement of produce a ridiculous number of times?   And don't get me started on the mexican food aisle or the canned goods. It's a good thing I am not in there as much as I used to be.

Giggling

One afternoon while the kids were in Florida, Jeff and I found ourselves at Wegman's doing a little grocery shopping.  Jeff had parked the car downstairs in the garage.  We unloaded the groceries and I told Jeff I would take the shopping cart back to the store.  As we usually do, I take the cart back and he swings the car around to get me.

As I was making my way to the front of the store and was about halfway there, a man carrying his groceries was walking out of the store, towards me. 

The gentleman saw what I was doing and said, "Let me take that for you." 

I replied with, "That's very nice of you to offer, but you don't even need to use it. You are going in the opposite direction.  I can take it back." 

He answered back with, "No, really.  I can do it. I still need to do my good deed for the day."  And before I could protest again, he took the cart from me and started walking back towards the store.

At this point, I turned around and saw that Jeff had already pulled out of our parking spot and was briskly driving the long way around the garage to be able to pull up in front.

I had no choice but to turn back around, yet again, and keep walking towards the store.  This time without my cart.  And now I am following the guy who took my cart.  I am sure the guy is thinking this woman is nuts and is wondering why I am following him. 

I started laughing.  I wanted to explain why I was following him.  I wanted to tell him that my husband said he would pull up and meet me in the front of the store, after I had returned the cart.  I wanted to tell him that Jeff had already vacated our parking spot.  There was so much I wanted to explain and so little time.  I was running out of distance to fill in this complete stranger and to top it off I started giggling at how silly I must've looked to be following directly behind him and couldn't stop.   There was no where for me to go.  I had to keep moving behind him.

Finally, the guy returns my cart and turns to head in the direction of his car.  He looks at me and smiles.  In one big breath I said, "I had to keep going, my husband already started swinging around in the car to pick me up."

He replied with, "Hey, that's cool.  But my good deed still counts."   Yes, it does. And thank you for also giving me a good laugh too.