How to romanticize the grocery store
I’m a romantic. A lover of beauty and form. I am also extremely motivated by aesthetics, order, and calm in my home and personal spaces. Whether it’s right or not, I can be inspired– or totally uninspired– to do certain homemaking tasks based on their contribution to my visual environment. Learning to romanticize the grocery store is a critical piece of enjoying my job as a culinary director of my family’s meals.
It is no small thing to be responsible for the meal planning, grocery shopping, preparation, cooking and cleaning up, of an entire family. It’s a HUGE job. A massive responsibility. Nourishing and satisfying the people in your home with nutritious food often feels like a career. And frankly, it’s a job that I feel burnt out on SO OFTEN. As I’m always looking for ways to jazz up the process, keep myself feeling inspired and finding joy in the kitchen, I thought it might be fun to dive into this topic a little bit. Specifically, the meal planning and grocery acquisition process.
There’s nothing sexy about the grocery store
No offense to the average grocery store, but there is hardly anything sexy going on there. Whether it’s the fluorescent lighting, warehouse feel, industrial shelving, or onslaught of paid-for marketing, In my mind, the grocery store is nothing but a necessary evil. A thing to be endured rather than enjoyed. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get creative and try to inject a little enjoyment into the process.
Disclaimer: I fully understand that there are many factors that go into when and where we buy our food. I also understand that not everyone has options, depending on their location, budget, available stores, etc. This post is intended to be fun and help us think creatively about everyday tasks. Take it with a grain of salt.
Before you shop
Successful, and most importantly, enjoyable grocery shopping, begins long before you ever hit the store. Here are a few ideas for injecting some enjoyment into your grocery store shopping process, even before you leave the house.
- Clean your kitchen. What’s the greatest gift Current You can give Future You? A clean kitchen to haul all those groceries into. Clean counters where bags can be unloaded. Clean sink for stuff that needs to be washed or prepped. Clean knives for chopping anything that needs chopping. And a fresh garbage bag in the bin for tossing packaging.
- Clean and organize your fridge and pantry. The second greatest gift you can give yourself? Wipe down and straighten up the fridge and pantry. There is nothing worse than coming home with a car loaded down to the max, and having nowhere to put all that food. The pantry bursting at the seams, the fridge crowded and sticky or drippy. Do yourself a HUGE favor and tidy all that up, so that when you get home, you can sigh with relief as you place your new items where they belong.
- Use cute bags. Nothing makes me happier (while grocery shopping) than whipping out my set of matching grocery bags. I feel so chic, so organized, so MATURE. I have a set of canvas bags with different herbs, flowers and plants on them. They are so cute! The cashiers often comment on them, and I admire them myself, as I wheel my cart out to the parking lot. Not to mention loading them in my trunk. Cute bags matter.
- Make a pretty, handwritten list. Call me old-fashioned, but there is something particularly satisfying about writing out your grocery list. I use my favorite pen and bring it along with so I check each item off. I buy this lovely grocery pad, keep it in my kitchen, and use it to plan all our meals. Having a beautiful list, written in cursive, adds so much loveliness to the process. Just don’t forget to stick it in your purse!
Find a grocery store you like and can afford
There are plenty of grocery stores out there that I LOVE. I LOVE Whole Foods, New Seasons, and our locally owned co-op LifeSource. They’re so clean, so organized, so aesthetic. But to be perfectly honest, other than an occasional specialty item, these places are way outside my monthly budget. It’s more important to find a store you LIKE, and will suit your budget.
I have discovered that where we live, it is much more affordable for me to shop at Trader Joe’s (which I like!) for weekly items, Costco (which I don’t like) for the weekly bulk stuff we need, and keep my pantry and freezer stocked from Azure Standard (no store required!). Groceries are still expensive, but using these three sources– plus our weekly CSA– I can manage to enjoy AND afford where we get our food.
Making grocery shopping sexy again
I’m not sure that grocery shopping will EVER be sexy, but there are certainly ways we can spice it up. Here’s a few things I do to incentivize myself when grabbing items off my weekly list.
- Buy flowers. One of the reason I love shopping at Trader Joe’s is that they have a massive fresh flower selection, and it’s right at the entryway of my store. It makes walking in the front door feel like walking into the flower market at Pike Place or something. I love it so much, it adds so much to my experience, and for all the months my personal garden isn’t in production, you’d better believe I’m buying myself a bouquet of something pretty. Also a great way to celebrate the dawn of a new season!
- Splurge on a few gourmet items. Trader Joe’s is also an easy place to make this happen, as they have all kinds of fun things. Aged balsamic drizzle is a favorite. As is “fancy” water in glass bottles, like San Pellegrino. I also like to buy fancy cheeses for our “picnic plate” lunches, and a high-quality bar of chocolate to nibble on after meals.
- Buy a baguette. This may sound silly, but there’s something about buying fresh bread that makes you feel like you’ve been to a bakery, or the farmers market, rather than a big old box grocery store. It’s hard to find a bad baguette most of the time, and they can be enjoyed in so many different ways.
- Treat yourself. Whether it’s a fancy chocolate bar with espresso beans, a small pint of ice cream, a new soap, or a house plant, rewarding yourself with a little something can go a long way to making the chore more enjoyable. I strictly adhere to this “treat yourself” policy, so much so that my children now insist of treating themselves at the grocery store too. Oops.
Change it up
Another way to infuse a little life and beauty into the mundane process of gathering groceries, is simply to change it up. As much as I benefit from and see the necessity in routine, gosh, doesn’t it just feel good to switch things up sometimes? Here’s a few ways I change it up when it comes to sourcing food.
- Shop the Farmer’s Market. Duh, everyone knows about farmer’s markets, but they really can be a fantastic way to switch up your routine, tune in to what’s seasonal, and support your local farmers. Farmer’s Markets are also a great way to make contacts and find direct sources for things like local meat, cheeses, honey, flowers, candles, etc. Get to know your farmers!
- Join a CSA. This is the third summer in a row we have participated in the same Community Supported Agriculture program. We LOVE our weekly CSA box, with the freshest, cleanest and ripest produce imaginable. It’s everything I wish I could grow myself, but don’t have time to. We actually just signed up for the Fall/Winter CSA box too, because I can’t imagine going back to entirely store bought veggies.
- Shop Azure Standard. Azure Standard is an amazing resource for not only so many different types of products, but also bulk versions of things usually only available in small amounts (and high prices) at natural foods stores. There’s something romantic about going to meet the truck, piling up all your boxes, and taking them home to cut open and put away. I love the process and I’ll never not be an Azure customer.
- Subscription boxes. Much as I bemoan technology at times, we truly live in an incredible age of accessibility, especially when it comes to food. There are now subscription boxes for everything from meat to flowers, baked goods to olive oil, pasta to oddly-shaped vegetables. These can be a great resource for making your pantry and freezer a little more exciting. We’ve done meat subscriptions, wine subscriptions, and my husband even did a jerky one.
When you get home
Now even if you’ve just gone to your local Wal-Mart and picked up a prepared grocery order– life happens sometimes, I get it– there are still plenty of ways to jazz up the putting away process. Here’s a few ways I like to bring a little romance to the putting away.
- Unpack with style. Slip off your coat and shoes and get comfortable. Pour a glass of something bubbly, or pop open the fancy Kombucha you treated yourself to at the store. Crank up some French jazz. Light a candle. Arrange your flowers first and set them on the counter. Make your kitchen feel like a fancy restaurant. And dig in.
- Lay it all out. Nothing inspires me more than seeing all the beautiful food I have worked so hard to plan for and procure, all laid out on a clean countertop. Remove all the excess packaging. Put your produce in bowls or baskets. Fill up the jars in your pantry with your bulk items. Take the time to put it all away in your nice, clean, organized fridge and pantry.
- Store it pretty. I will die on this hill, but STORE YOUR FOOD PRETTY. Put dry goods in pretty glass jars. Keep your fruit in bowls in the fridge. Store onions and potatoes in cute baskets. Remove as much plastic and cardboard and packaging as you can manage. Every time you open the fridge or pantry to your beautifully stored foods, you will feel inspired to get cooking!
- BE GRATEFUL. Every single time I get home from the grocery store, even if it has been a less than perfect experience, I take a moment to pause and give thanks over all of the food I was able to buy for my family. As I unpack the food and line it all up on the counter, whether a lot or a little, I say a prayer of gratitude for the blessing of provision. It never gets old. I never take it for granted. My family has ENOUGH, and that in and of itself is just about the most beautiful thing I can think of. Thank you, Jesus!
Leave a comment
Well, what do we think? How do you approach the never-ending chore of sourcing your family’s food? Which of these ideas might you apply to your own routine? Leave a comment below and share with us!
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Hi, I'm Kali.
Mama, farmer’s wife and the creator of the Potager book + blog. Follow along as we cook and garden the seasons, as well as fix up our little Swedish cottage in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
