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Show Food shopping cheaper without kids t i i ... : . i By MARCELLA WALKER I heard a shopper at the grocery store the other day say that it would be a lot easier and cheaper to come to the store without children or spouse. I concur. My life has dwindled down into the expensive world of fast foods at least three nights a week. I never thought this would happen but almost every working mother I talk to has the same problem. When you come home after work everyone is starving and they can't wait for you to cook a dinner that takes time, nor do you have the stamina to want to cook one. . This results in stopping at the grocery store on the way home from work for some chow mein, hamburger, ham-burger, or something similar that cooks up fast. There is no time here for creativity. But when the time does come, maybe on your days off, when you . can actually go shop leisurely in the store and prepare for some plan ahead menus, the family wants to come along. I don't really mind, if, and it is a big if, they do not ask for anything. This has never happened yet, although I have threatened them with everything I can think of. My husband goes wandering off by himself and comes back to the shopping cart with some strange things which he slips into.the basket without a word, as if I wouldn't ask questions if he didn't mention it. One daughter has found it impossible im-possible to go to the store and walk past the Twinkies without buying one. Tlie other daughter p.g. blab - 5 , varies.Sometime she has a candy bar or a Twinkie or a Ding Dong or better yet, a stick of beef jerky or pepperoni. She eats it in the store so we have to save the wrapper so we can pay as we leave. By this time the father has come back with a cold 7-Up in his hand which he is drinking on the spot. When we get to the check out counter we have all kinds of garbage for the checker to throw away. In the meantime a very harried mother has asked for suggestions for meals so that she can fix things they like rather than get the standard response of "Oh, yuck" at dinner tie. No one ever has any suggestions, I can't believe it. They don't like what I cook but they have nothing better to offer. You run into all kinds of neighbors and friends at the store. The things in their basket look much tastier than yours. lOU wonuei nuw in me world they can afford such good stuff when you very obviously cannot. Some people have their carts laden with cartons of pop. I wonder where they put it all. My fridge is too full of milk . and leftovers and strange growing things to allow room for soda pop. I am not a popular mom because I do not buy pop. Nor do I buy lots of cookies, ice cream, candy, and cake. "There is never anything good in this house to eat," is what I hear everyday. I suggest fruit, a sandwich, warmed up leftovers, toast and milk, or cold cereal. I am berated for even suggesting such a thing. One daughter gave up a dinner out at a real restaurant ("real" in that it was not one of your well-known hamburger palaces) the other night and ate nothing but a bologna sandwich because there were friends to do things with. That was more fun than eating out. Tonight if I suggest she eat a bologna sandwich for dinner she will say "Oh, yuck!" I kid you not. Anyway, back to the grocery store. They say that Saturday morning cartoon advertisers are influencing the kids in what to get their parents to buy and it is true. My kids don't even watch the Saturday morning cartoons much anymore because they sleep in, but they still can hit me up for some weird products when we get to the store. I cannot stand to purchase pre-sweetened pre-sweetened cereal. I break down on occasion in order to get the kids to eai some cereal at all Honeycombs or Captain Cru some reason I have ra&i my mind or been bra tS of the two, into thinkS cereals are not as bad as tC I am always having t0W brands of pre-sweetened Jb of my basket which the kido' there. ""hst,, My husband puts in mold J cheeses and sardines J The whle tribe is mJ anything marked down telling them, and showing ihi many times another item shelf is just as good and i!' pensive than the marked -but it does no good. S My purse is bulging with, whichlplantousesomSJy? laugh! I either forget to h purse and only havemyw21 cannot find the coupon ll! H the mess, or I just plain fore ,c it but vow I will next time I know, I know, there are J orgamzers that you can tJJ really clever mother will .bundle with the coupons. Not? When I do remember andaS my coupon I find that a cot product is already selling for,? price than this item even u f cents off. Does that ever ha I' you? m, There is only one good thi. shopping and that is havineii J with. When you get homeyouu find a place to put all the stuffs,! you can find it when you need it " You also have to find a tw hide the goodies that they L into your basket so that they eat them all at once. |