What Happens When You Go Shopping with Your Significant Other
Ah, yes: the grocery store. A place not only for supplying consumers with resources, but a place where arguments can blossom... arguments along the lines of, "We don't need two bunches of organic Tuscan kale--we'll never eat that, but of course we need to try these 5 new flavors of Oreos. BABE, they're LIMITED TIME ONLY."
What's it like to shop with your significant other? How does having your partner in life beside you as you make your way down the aisles impact your grocery cart, your grocery budget, and your grocery chi? Well, we asked the staff of Cooking Light and MyRecipes to find out. Turns out, it can be full of too much pasta and imported cheese, but also a fun, bonding experience--just depending on how you look at it (and your relationship). Here's what the staff had to say:
"Ice cream. Together, we never leave a store without it. Alone, we never buy it. It’s a simultaneous weakness that neither of us fight when we grocery shop together. It’s also a weakness that neither of us fight when one of us asks the other if we can have ice cream late at night while watching Jimmy Fallon. We’re weak! Weak, I tell you!" - Kimberly Holland, Editor CookLight.com
"My boyfriend and I go grocery shopping together every Sunday—and we always end up with a jar of salsa, even though we have approximately 327 bottles of the same salsa half-full in the fridge. Why? I dunno. I hypothesize my boyfriend's either forgetful, or fearful of eating plain tortilla chips." - Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm (that's me!), Editorial Fellow MyRecipes
"Sometimes it can be similar to an IKEA trip: the initial excitement of "Let's do sales and coupons, yay!," then the come down where we don't want to buy bananas because they always go bad, the eventual tear-filled fight over toilet paper brands (the checkout lady can feel your vibe), and then there's the silent unpacking at home. But, that's nothing the beer and Doritos I use to bribe him out of the fight can't fix. Then everyone's happy again as we watch OITNB while the toilet paper waits to never be put in the cabinet." - Rachel Johnson, Freelance Recipe Developer/Photographer CookingLight.com
"I'm an annoying sap who loves shopping with my boyfriend. He's gotten way more into cooking (and slightly more into eating healthfully) since we started dating a year and a half or so ago. We make a weekly ritual out of our Sunday Publix or Whole Foods trips, walking down every aisle, if time allows, to see what we need. We do start at home with a basic meal plan for the week, but he's gotten into picking up a new, foreign ingredient or item just so he can try it out. I do spend a bit more money than I would if traveling solo, but it's almost like a date for us."- Cindy Hatcher, Senior Editor Cooking Light
"He will get pasta. Every. Single. Time. No matter if the pantry is stocked up with pounds of spaghetti, we’re coming home with something of the noodle variety. His reasoning? 'I just love pasta!' OH! and Zebra Cakes. My husband is obsessed with those. It’s cool to get a treat every once in a while (a.k.a., the single serving packs), but I’ve gained the skills of a hostage negotiator from the amount of times I’ve talked him down from buying a family size pack." - Hayley Sugg, Assistant Editor CookingLight.com
"Oddly enough, I end up with less random sh*t in my cart if I go shopping with my boyfriend. Probably because if he's there with me (this is rare): A. I likely insisted upon his being there and he's not trying to stay long or B. We came on a mission and are zoned in on picking up one or two crucial items. And by that, I (usually) mean one or two flavors of ice cream (^RT Kimberly Holland). Eating together is most definitely one of our favorite activities, but grocery shopping together isn't really much of a "thing" for us. Point being, if I have him along--the trip is going to be faster, more decisive, and generally more cost efficient (with the exception of how much is spent on ice cream). And this is why I don't usually bring him with me." - Darcy Lenz, Editor MyRecipes
"As annoying as it can be, our grocery trips have sort of become a family outing for us. My 1 1/2-year-old son loves the grocery store, so the fact that it ends up taking twice as long and costing twice as much doesn't bother me as much anymore… considering it's something to do—a fun activity —on a Sunday afternoon. We always end up with more beer, usually more meat – some sort of fancy sausage or bacon they have behind the meat counter —or two pounds of grass fed beef when we obviously only need one—and almost always some sort of crazy expensive imported cheese (or two or three). And then there's the ice cream and frozen aisle: always a new pint of $9 ice cream to try and some sort of variation of veggie fry that we "need to get for Jack." He's my son. He's also a great excuse for my husband to buy something new. Prices and what's on sale just aren't even on his radar" - Sidney Fry, Nutrition Editor Cooking Light
"I like to grocery shop and hit up the butcher, fishmonger, and farmers' market by myself. Or on a Saturday, I make it a mini event with my two little rugrats in tow. Shopping for ingredients relaxes me and inspires me. It helps connect me to people stocking, selling, marketing, growing, or harvesting good things. And it keeps me in tune with new products or trends that might eventually wind up in the pages of CL." -Hunter Lewis, Editor Cooking Light