Total Flop at the Grocery

[donleyk]

I wrote out my grocery list to try 4 new recipes. I had already collected at least one ingredient for each of them by the time I got to the produce section, where I they DID NOT have fresh basil nor arugula. That wiped out 3 of the meals planned and I also couldn't find tahini. We searched everywhere. Just my luck!

On a more positive note, I made the Calypso Beans and Rice last night for dinner and it was great. I used only 2 servings of brown rice and a can of black beans but followed the recipe other than that. Colorful and yummy.

[BlueMoose]

That is so irritating! How come it seems like they never have everything you need at ONE grocery store?

[lindrusso]

I feel your frustration! I live in a small town and that happens to me far too often. I guess Arugula is considered "exotic".

What really ticks me off, though is when they are out of such common things as garlic or lemons!! How can that be??????

[AD]

What irritates me most is when I request that something be ordered, and I speak directly to the manager. Then, nothing happens. They just get too busy and forget I guess. The stores in my area are terrible about taking orders. A person has to pester the manager to have anything special ordered on a regular basis.

[KristaMB]

donleyk, I finally got so fed up with the expense and/ or unavailability of fresh basil that I planted my own. Do you live in a climate that will support growing your own basil? I am definitely not a green thumb, but mine is growing like crazy. It's really nice to have instant access to it.

[Tiger]

I hate this problem too! What really bugs me is when you can't find an important igre. the recipe calls for so you're like forget it. But than you have to remember what other ingre. are in your cart that you now don't need!

[donleyk]

KristaMB- Yes, I usually do, but outside. I may want to start growing it inside, though!

Tiger-If my husband wasn't with me I think I would have found a manager and handed him the other ingred's I no longer needed!

I do typically bunch items together on my list mainly because this way I can also write down WHAT recipe it is! I have been know to forget what it was I was going to make after getting the ingred's home!

Thanks for letting me rant!

[emilycat]

The town I grew up in was like the one's you're all describing, and get this -- my mom found out that when she "special ordered" something, the store's solution was to seek out the item at other stores around -- don'tcha think if you really wanted something, you'd look at all the other stores first??

[patsyk]

Originally posted by Tiger:
I hate this problem too! What really bugs me is when you can't find an important igre. the recipe calls for so you're like forget it. But than you have to remember what other ingre. are in your cart that you now don't need!

This has happened to me so many times! It actually happened to me just yesterday! Since I couldn't remember what ingredients went with what, I kept what I did find and will be hitting another grocery after work tonight to see if I can find the rest of them! Ughhhh!

[Zinnia]

It seems lately, that no matter what I make I am 1-2 ingredients short! Either the store has it & I wouldn't wanna buy it/spend the $ on what they say it is suppose to be, or everyone's totally out of it until "they don't know when".
I often get tired of substituting this for that and never really knowing what the recipe is suppose to taste like-for reals! Maybe I need to update my pantry too..(?) I do know one thing-I won't stop trying recipes! Zinnia

[olive101]

I am not very economically conscience when grocery shopping, but I do try to make note of what is on sale for that week. I get so mad when I plan my menu around sale items and then they are out! You would think they would stock up on sale items!!!

[ewatkins]

donleyk -- I too have started writing down the recipe name on my shopping list. I can't tell you how many times I have found some new ingredient in the pantry and wonder what in heck I bought it for! Glad I'm not the only one with this problem.

[buddie]

oh i had the hardest time finding tahini!

ended up finding it at a healthfood store~ good luck!

[Jen]

This drives me nuts too - lately my grocery store has been really bad about running out of things. I can see running out of weird ingredients, but chicken broth? Garlic? Spinach? That's just poor planning. Sometimes they're on sale and I get the line "we didn't anticipate selling this much"...well, if it's on sale, you'd have to be really dumb not to expect people to buy it! I love my grocery store otherwise but I've seriously considered finding somewhere else to shop because of this.