Finding satisfaction in the groceries

I hate shopping. Clothes shopping, department store shopping, window shopping, mindless wandering shopping. I prefer to make a list of what I need, decide which store I will go to, go there, buy it, get out. I am aware that this is a classic description of male shopping preferences, but I offer no apologies for letting down the sisterhood. We can't all be happy wandering through the mall for hours, trying things on, one of these, that one in a different colour, stop for coffee, catch up with friends, watch friends try on outfits... shudder.

I also hate grocery shopping. But only in the supermarket. In fact, I hate the supermarket too. I hate the whole boring, predictable routine. Get in the car, drive there, look for a park, dodge idiots with trolleys, get out, walk 500m to the entrance, go in, get a trolley, traipse around, buy the same old supplies, listen to same old bad pop music, too loud, worry about whether you need more toilet paper or olive oil and buy it anyway just to be safe, watch children getting scolded, get stuck behind pensioner, forget something and have to go back to the first aisle to get it, go to checkout, wait for forty years in the slowest line, watch people with full trolleys going through the express checkout and the operator not caring about it, secretly hate self for being so square and law-abiding that I would never try to do that and therefore be forever destined to suffer in the slow lane and resent the naughty people getting through faster, and lament the state of the universe that no one ever says to these people "HEY. GET IN THE OTHER QUEUE"...and then unload all the stuff, wait for the operator to hurry up and then think "gee, that's a lot, I didn't realise it would be so much" and then get depressed about spending so much of your hard-earned cash at a giant retail squid, then push the stubborn trolley back to the car, drive home, carry the heavy groceries inside, spend fifteen minutes unpacking, putting away, washing the fruit and veg.... and finally it's over. I really hate it.

But recently I have found something that gives me a very serene sense of satisfaction. It's choice. It's the act of saying "no, I will not shop at the supermarket. I have surveyed the house, I have made a list of needed items, and now I'm going to choose exactly where, when and how I will purchase them".
On Saturday I visited four shops. Newsagent, butcher, fruit shop and local grocery shop. I got everything on my list, and I didn't get edgy, cranky, or spend more than thirty minutes. Smaller shops means more parks and no annoying music. It also means you don't have the phenomenal choice that you do at the supermarket, but you're more likely to see unknown and interesting brands, and there's less risk of buying unplanned-for items on a whim. Less choice is sometimes more refreshing. You can say hello to the staff, you're not pushed for time, you can connect more with what you are buying and you can give something back to the community, if you shop at locally-owned or independent stores... to say nothing of the cash you can save yourself.

Very satisfying.