Grocery Advice

If you are anything like me, you do your weekly grocery shopping over the weekend. I prefer early Saturday morning, when the shelves are stocked and the freaks are still in bed. In preparation for your trip to the store, I feel that I owe it to you to share my current Hot and Not food items for your consideration.

HOT
Reduced Fat Nilla Wafers. A long-time favorite of mine. So so tasty when covered in Fluff (AKA Marshmallow Cream) and washed down with a cold, frosty glass of chocolate milk. Or also quite delicious when sandwiched around creamy peanut butter and dipped in chocolate. Buy them now, though, if you want to enjoy them next month. Because they are at their prime when they are stale. I buy two boxes at a time and open the beautiful silver foil bag inside as soon as we get home, let them stale for approximately one month, then enjoy. If you buy two, you always have a back-up so you don’t have to wait through that stressful month of staling, which can feel like an eternity. (Tip: try spritzing the Nillas with water to speed the staling process).


NOT
New Smart Start Strong Heart Strawberry Oat Bites cereal. I was fooled into buying this offensive cereal two weekends ago. I had seen a television commercial about it a few days leading up to my weekly trip. At the grocery, as I rounded the corner approaching the place where my current favorite cereal, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, resides, there it was. I thought it was a sign. One box of this new cereal sat, almost glowing, right in front of the neatly organized row of Cinnamon Harvest. It was calling to me. So, I bought it to try. As I sat down at my favorite stool on Monday morning, the Wiggles blasting in the background, I tried my first bite of this exciting new adventure. (If you know me well, you know that I am a freak for routine. I eat the same cereal every morning. And I mean EVERY morning. So, this was me going out on a limb in a big way.) So, the experience? Horrible. Take a strawberry Pop-Tart (the kind without the frosting and sprinkles), cover it in Play Doh, and drench it in milk. Nastiness. My poor tastebuds will never be the same.

Good luck to you this weekend at the grocery. May you only buy items that make your belly proud. Keep your guard up for new products that, although they seem fun to try, could potentially taste like children’s toys.