DC Grocery Shopping

Some of you may wonder why it is that I eat out so often, thus being able to provide the thorough list from my previous post.  Well the reason for that is simple; DC grocery shopping is a nightmare.

Being from a small town, this is how I am used to grocery shopping: I wait till all the food in my house is gone and then I make a long list of everything I could possibly need for as long as I think it will last.  Then I get in my car and DRIVE to the grocery store.  Get my food, check out, and the cashier puts my purchases into plastic bags, which I then load into my car, drive home and unload.  This seemed like a simple and usual task for me.

Not so in DC, because DC is a city.  Grocery shopping here is very different.  I dread the day I run out of milk or bread because that means that I have to get on the metro and take at least a twenty minute ride to the nearest store.  I pick up a few things that I am able to carry and get in the checkout line.  While I am waiting I think (and trust me there is plenty of time to think because the wait is always long), and I think, "man I hope I remembered to bring reusable bags."  Why do I have to think about this?  Because if I did not bring reusable bags I have to either attempt to pack everything I just picked up into my purse or purchase a disposable bag.  Yes, you have to buy a plastic bag here.

While this may seem like a journey in itself, it is nothing.  No, the true journey is the metro ride back, where you hope that there is an empty seat and you don't have to carry your bag all the way back on the metro.  No your lucky if you get to put your heavy bag on your lap, hoping that your milk lasts the twenty minute ride back.

Once you get off the metro, lucky you, you get to walk ten minutes from the station back to your house, and pray that you don't have eggs, because you know those bags you got.  The bags you had to pay for. Yeah, those will, not may, WILL break on your walk back.  For it is not truly a DC grocery shopping trip until that happens.

So pay attention to my last post, eating out, the way to go.  So much less stress and it tastes to good.  Order good portions and your leftovers can second for groceries.  Because everything I just told you is true, and that is DC shopping.