Day 143: Forever Buying Groceries & The Great Underwear Search of ‘08, Round 3

Posted on | January 22, 2008 |

Two more grocery runs today. I was thinking that today’s forays down grocery aisles would buy me at least a day or two. But no. Tonight The Daughter mentioned that she needs to get to the grocery store tomorrow for some shampoo and other toiletries. Ugh. The good news is that I think The Husband will have to get her to the store — I have cello lessons and orchestra rehearsals to attend to.

Kroger — $44.53

2 - 1/2 gallons Horizon chocolate milk — $2.99/ea. (saved $0.50/ea.)
Coleman ground beef — $6.47
Hillshire Farm turkey — $3.99
store-brand cheddar cheese — $2.29 (saved $0.20)
store-brand sharp cheddar cheese — $2.29 (saved $0.20)
Quaker granola bits — $2.51
Mariani dried mango slices — $2.59
red potatoes — $1.60
potted tulips — $7.99 (saved $2.00)
potted Cyclamen — $6.99 (bought as condolence gift for neighbor)

Vitamin Cottage — $30.61

Applegate Farm organic sliced turkey — $4.79
Bob’s Red Farm unbleached white flour — $3.15
Hain baking powder — $3.75 (actual baking powder without corn starch! — a wonderful thing)
Nature Path toaster pastries — $2.99
Organic Valley buttermilk — $2.79
Organic Valley string cheese — $4.45
jumbo organic eggs — $2.99
gallon of Horizon 2% milk — $4.95

Old Navy — $12.91
Two packages of men’s size small classic briefs. I was thrilled to get these on sale but bummed once I got them home and compared them to other brands/sizes we’ve tried during The Great Underwear Search of ‘08. They are obviously going to be too large.

[rant] I’m just so frustrated. I specifically went out of my way to go to this particular store because I’d called around and they had both the men’s size small and the boy’s size XL in stock. When we looked at the boy’s size XL in the store, it was patently obvious that they were going to be too small. Silly me, I figured that they sizes would naturally flow from one to the other, right? Wrong. There’s got to be a good three years of size difference between the boy’s XL and the men’s small.

What guys are supposed to wear in those three years is anyone’s guess. Clothing stores apparently feel no responsibility toward their customers to cover them in all sizes and stages of development. Apparently The Gap Corp. has nothing to fear regarding losing customers for the three years between when buyers outgrow the boy’s sizes and are ready for the men’s.

We’ve had exactly the same trouble in finding pants. Don’t even get me started on the losing battle a parent fights to find clothes to fit what 20 years ago would have been a normal-sized boy. The entire clothing industry seems to have shifted toward catering to expanding waistbands. I’ve got nothing against offering husky sizes; I just wish that someone had remembered to continue making clothing for the not-so-husky kids too. [/rant]

Panda Express — $7.64
A mid-day snack for The Son. Enough food to feed a family of three, if you ask me. Where these teens put all the food they consume is beyond me. I sent him to school with a massive sandwich and some juice which he ate at about 12:15. I picked him up at 2:45. He started complaining of starvation by 3 — before even reaching Old Navy. He ate a massive quantity of fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, and orange chicken when we got home and then consumed a full dinner at 7.

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