That's right. I miss a grocery store. WinCo has bulk food, cheap bread, cheap produce, an extensive Mexican food product aisle, and WAY more variety than any of the stores out here. It's ridiculous how much more variety this one store has over all its New England rivals combined. I could literally do almost all of my shopping at WinCo and that often included most of my toiletries as well. I detest shopping, but I could get it over with in about an hour if I didn't bring my brats with me and if Jared didn't throw a fit when I wouldn't buy him something out of the quarter candy machines.
Since moving to Rhode Island, I feel like singing Joni Mitchell's Taxi Cab song. "Don't it always seem to go... that you don't know what you got til it's gone..." I realize that most people probably think Joni was talking about major social issues like deforestation and overuse of pesticides. However, I believe she must have been discussing my feelings about Winco, because I sure wish I had appreciated and cherished Winco more when I was home.
For those of you tempted to think I am being melodramatic here, think again! I did my twice monthly grocery shopping yesterday and it took me about 4 hours to complete. I had to go to four stores to find the best deal on the things I needed and it was horrible. For the first time in my life, I have to go through the grocery ads and make a plan. There are things I sometimes have to forego until next paycheck because I run out of my budgeted grocery money faster here since almost everything is more expensive! I've had to give up my expensive cheese habit in favor of essentials like bread and milk and bananas and it's pissing me right off! I also can't find a lot of things we as a family used to eat a lot of, or else I have to go to several stores to find said item. Want to know what one of the toughest and most expensive item to find has been?
That's right people. Wheat farina cereal. I could buy this crap for less than 2 bucks a pound in the bulk section at Winco. If I wanted it flavored, it was only a couple of bucks a box and I could find several flavor varieties with Maple and Brown sugar being the favorite choice. Don't misunderstand me. I love wheat farina but could absolutely live without it. The problem is that this cat loves it:
Emma could eat Cream of Wheat every day of her life if I would let her. And since I love Emma, I love to buy her Cream of Wheat. I couldn't even find it at the Aldi's where I do some of my shopping, and I haven't been able to locate a box of the Maple and Brown sugar flavor in any of the stores out here unless I wanted to buy it in individual packs, which I don't. Stop and Shop had it for almost 5 bucks a box. 5 BUCKS A BOX! This stuff is made out of wheat not gold you retail morons! I left the store in disgust and considered giving Emma up for adoption so I wouldn't have to deal with the problem any further. However, I decided to try the place that usually bails me out of nearly any shopping problem I have... Amazon... Unfortunately, Amazon had sellers that wanted to charge 9 dollars a box for stupid Cream of Wheat. The upside was they had any flavor I could want, the downside being, IT'S CREAM OF WHEAT AND ANYONE THAT PAYS THAT MUCH FOR CREAM OF WHEAT DESERVES TO HAVE THEIR ASS KICKED! It only took me about five minutes to realize that Amazon was not going to save me this time and I threw my phone down in disgust.
Thankfully for Emma, I rarely give up on solving important life problems and that includes keeping Cream of Wheat in my house. A few days after my initial search left me defeated and angry, I went ahead and bought a box for almost 5 bucks at the local Shaw's, thinking 5 bucks isn't that much for something that Emma loves so much. Fast forward about 1 week and I noticed this morning that there's only one serving left in the box I bought. Suddenly, five bucks seemed liked way too much to be spending for Emma when I can't afford my 20 dollar a pound stinky cheese habit anymore. Fast forward again to my lunch hour today. I needed some toothpaste and have decided that any time I'm in a store, I'm going to check for wheat farina cereal and try to keep track of who stocks it for the least amount of money. It just so happens that Dave's Marketplace had it for 3.50 a box! They still didn't have Maple and Brown Sugar, but at least I got two boxes to last Emma for half a month for only 7 dollars! Eureka!
What's wrong with people out here? Is it possible they don't feel rage about their shopping experience because they just don't know about WinCo like I do? Am I going to have to move back to Idaho to get some food satisfaction?! Hold that thought. It looks like Market Basket has lobsters on sale for $4.99 a pound again this week. Screw you WinCo. You're dead to me. You and all the Maple and Brown Sugar Cream of Wheat on your shelves! Looks like Rhode Island is the place for me!
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