When Jeff Goes Grocery Shopping

I am well aware of the fact that I'm in a fortunate minority when I say this: my husband loves to go grocery shopping. Blessed indeed--that's me!

There is, however, one problem. He always buys SO MUCH STUFF! What do I do with all of the groceries he brings home? Where do I put them? With overflowing cupboards (from his previous shopping trips, of course), my options are getting limited. It's a very good thing we have an entire room of our house devoted to food storage, but even that is getting pretty full.

Jeff's philosophy, when shopping for food, seems to be, "If buying one is good, then buying two or three or six or ten is even better!" Here are some examples, all of which really happened yesterday:

~ I needed some macaroni, so on the shopping list I wrote "macaroni"--and, in an effort to be extra helpful and specific, added the words "plain, dry." Jeff returned with 9 pounds of plain, dry pasta--elbow macaroni, rotini, ziti, angel hair pasta, and egg noodles! 9 pounds!!

~ I asked for black olives. Jeff brought home 7 cans! Now we have medium, large, extra large, and jumbo black olives!

~ I put baby food on the list and, once again, was very specific: "apples & chicken." Not only did Jeff buy that, he also threw in some sweet potatoes & chicken and pineapple-glazed ham, just for kicks!

~ I'm planning to serve a spinach and strawberry salad to the guests we're having over tomorrow evening. "Strawberries" went on the list. At the first store Jeff went to (Sharp Shopper), he found strawberries and bought a package of them; but when he got to Wal-Mart (to finish his shopping by buying all the things he couldn't find at the cheaper store), he noticed that the strawberries there looked better than Sharp Shopper's. Into the cart went two more packages!

~ I was craving red delicious apples. Jeff bought some at the first store he went to, then at the next store he thought he'd get some more, just in case the first kind he got weren't exactly what I wanted!

~ I did NOT write "candy" on the list. However, Jeff (who claims I'm the one with the sweet tooth and he prefers salty stuff) bought gummy bears, fireballs, and Sunkist fruit candies (which have vitamin C in them so they're just what our boys need to help them get over the little colds they have now)!

I have to laugh when the groceries are unpacked after Jeff goes shopping and I look around the kitchen at my overflowing countertops. Jeff claims his over-and-above shopping performance is related to the sense of security he gets from having plenty of food around; and to his credit, he gets great deals on the stuff he buys. I just think it's funny...and I think he's wonderful!!! ;)