@chienfou or that too. I honestly just to go every now and then because the mood strikes me and I want something different to eat. It’s one of the things that comes from retirement and comfort
But Now my grocery store offers a special of 4 fuel point with a coupon for every dollar spent. 100 point gets you 10cent off fuel, plus if you do the survey (Once every 7 days) you get 50 fuel points!
@catthegreat@mycya4me probably a Kroger company but names vary. 4xpoints on gift cards too so if home Depot/lowes/etc is having a sale and you are going to buy something I go to Kroger and get a gift card first. and if your credit card has 5-6% on grocery stores. And for $250 you get $35 off 35 gallons of gas.
You can calculate it at 20% off. In the grand scheme of things… Meh. But I was raised to save money lol
@catthegreat@chienfou@mycya4me except they have been taking your data for years so they can feed it into AI price tags. Town of 10K and our Walmart even has them. And not like legislators are doing shit to stop companies from abusing ALL of us. If they can even understand.
Granted just a new angle they have had time to learn something if they weren’t all done 70+ or blatantly corrupt.
Why people go for the culture war instead of the ~50 years of class warfare I’ll never get
@catthegreat@chienfou@unksol When they ask about the cookies. I always check Reject ALL! When I install software, I always request a custom install & reject ALL other extra’s they want to “Give Me for Free”
@catthegreat@chienfou@mycya4me same but dynamic pricing should be illegal that should have been an easy slam dunk. Privacy in the US is also getting fucked by tech companies and government is not stopping them like they should
@mycya4me Same here; the last time I got suckered into one of those OBTW-Here’s-A-Free-Trial-Of-Something messes, it took me about six months of intermittent digging around until I finally found and eradicated the last vestiges of the crapware. (And don’t even get me started on Symantec’s hyperintrusive LifeLock atrocity.)
@werehatrack I have tried a couple things, We will give you this/that, but you also sign up for a subscription of about $25/30/ month.
I finely got out of that. I learned that they are NOT good/ the service is NOT worth it!
as far as Anti-Virus/ Malware for the computer. Well I stay away from McAfee/ Symantec’s Norton. I have learned that they are NOT worth it. Companies can use it, but they have a lot of extra hardware/ software to help filter what McAfee/ Symantec’s Norton miss & let through.
I use other stuff to help protect my computers, I also use the free version. It also helps that I have been in Corp Computer Hardware repair (NOT help desk or programer aka code head)
Oh yea I use Apple products all over the house. Also I never buy the hardware “New in the Box” I get it Open Box, Referb or Used. steep price drops! Yes I have a couple WinDOZE computers & one that has Linux.
@kittykat9180 I’m disabled and chronically ill, so doing the shopping myself just isn’t an option. It’s too difficult for me to do it alone and my husband just doesn’t have the time. I’m so grateful that just about every store has delivery now. The extra cost is more than worth it to me.
@kittykat9180@Pony
I agree with both of you.
The availability of delivery has been a game changer for a lot of people. I guess that’s one thing that was good about COVID-19.
Personally I don’t mind grocery shopping, and since we buy a lot of fresh produce I tend to prefer picking out my own. And I’m also usually pretty consistent on checking dates for dairy products etc., as well as comparison shopping for price and ingredients between brands.
The small-ish town I live in has a small Walmart supercenter and a locally owned grocery store. I shop at both depending on what I need, a quick stop where is I get in and out expeditiously and/or where I’m already headed. Otherwise the bulk of our shopping gets done 30 miles away at Aldi or Sam’s/Costco with an occasional stop to the Indian, Hispanic or Oriental store depending on what spices/otherwise unobtainable products we need.
@chienfou@kittykat9180@Pony During covid, my Mom & I did the personal shopper & I would go to the store & they would load the stuff in the trunk. It was very handy/ very low contact.
Now it is Just me, I prefer to do my own shopping, the store has a couple area that that offer Short dated stuff at a Discount, Stuff they not going to carry any more so discount it to get rid of it! You can’t do that with a personal shopper as the items change most likely daily.
@kittykat9180@mycya4me@Pony
We buy a lot of fresh produce. I much prefer picking out my own. I pay close attention to produce dates and overall condition of my items. For instance my local Walmart, one of only two grocery options in town, sells beets by quantity not weight. Since my wife is using them for juicing every morning it’s always in my best interest to pick the two biggest ones that are pre-bundled (twist ties) together. It can easily make a 50% difference in the quantity I get for the $$ I spend. OTOH I’m not one of those who will rearrange the pre-bundled beets to pick out the biggest one from two different sets. I feel that would be dishonest…
@chienfou@phendrick Nope… that Never entered into the transaction. There has Never been a deposit given! FYI I never really want to drink Beer & drinks with CO2 well gives me major league gas. It don’t come out the best way…
as you stated it passes through the system, in the mouth & out through …
@mycya4me@phendrick
My point was you actually keep some of the stuff and don’t return it. That would be sort of like renting an EV and keeping the charger cables… no wait, that’s actually happened to me. My last EV rental was missing the cables for that very reason.
Cost me a bunch of grief.
@chienfou@phendrick Sadly I don’t have a Hybrid or a EV… It is a $$$$ thing… I pretty sure my next one will be a Hybrid unless one of the new EV comes along & really “Tickles my Fancy” BTW that will NOT be a Tesla!
@tweezak Now if your wife works in the bakery, I’ll just have to ask, what exactly does she bake into your pastries? Various states are clamping down on that, but some are easing up.
Only if there’s an exceptionally good sale. I live next to a grocery store but most things are at least double the price of having them delivered and they frequently lie on their price tags.
@Kyeh It’s the smaller regional chains that have the really outrageous prices. It’s especially bad in small towns where there is often only one grocery store with no competition.
@brennyn@Kyeh there used to be a Whole Foods nearby, but it closed. I miss it, but closed. This was about a year before Covid. Little did Amazon know in other places they could serve as grocery distribution sites for online orders, which was still booming in Asheville NC when I am there.
@brennyn@pmarin I have a Whole Foods close by (little independent grocery bought by them but still bearing the original name.) I have to admit it’s very convenient because I can take my Amazon returns there; they also have Amazon lockers if you don’t want stuff delivered to your house (you’re going to be away or something.) And they’ll let me add on groceries to an existing Amazon order if it’s a high enough $ amount, so I take advantage of that sometimes.
I would prefer to only go once a week to one store, but inevitably the store is out of stock of something I want so I have to go another day or to another store. Of course there are other times I go to the store to buy something and end up buying a bunch of stuff except the item I intended to buy. Hence, another trip to the store.
In the US, once a week.
In Europe, twice a week. Every thing is closer so it’s more convenient, plus there’s less storage space and smaller refrigerators.
@kittykat9180 Yea, I remember my B-I-L’s refrigerator in the Netherlands was similar to what I had in a dorm room in college. But also back then you could go to local focused stores for vegetables, bakery, meats, etc and walk to street markets. I hear it’s not like that anymore and most people have to drive to mega-grocery stores, just like here.
@kittykat9180@pmarin
Not sure how universal that is. Every one of my relatives in France has at least a weekly, if not semi-weekly, market in their community. Many have extensive histories.
This one, a stone’s throw from where my dad was born >100 years ago, has been in such service since its construction… in approximately 1470! I have cousins that still shop there weekly.
@kittykat9180@pmarin When I lived in the Netherlands they had an outside market once a week just down the street and a lot of smaller stores. It seemed like most people shopped at the market and then at one of the other stores each week. And yes on the tiny fridges. Mine was counter top high with an incredibly small freezer. As you said that sort of forces shopping one or more times a week depending on family size.
@Kidsandliz@kittykat9180@pmarin Back in the day, you rarely froze anything. Plus since the vast majority of households consisted of a working father and stay at home mom, shopping at the market was more practical than now. That being said, especially with the advent of work-from-home, many people still shop their weekly markets during their (typically 1 hour plus) lunch break or the market is held on the weekend.
Plus certain things that we routinely refrigerate don’t get refrigerated in Europe. Eggs is a good example, and milk is generally kept in a cabinet in ultra-pasteurized cartons.
@chienfou@Kidsandliz@kittykat9180@pmarin We don’t refrigerate our eggs, but we have chickens, so we have a pretty good idea how fresh they are. (I still crack them into a separate bowl before using them - fool me once…)
@macromeh
BTDT … Is especially helpful if you don’t wash them before you put them up. Trash pandas decimated my last small flock. I haven’t gotten back out there to tear down the old pen and rebuild it to make it more raccoon-proof. That’s a project for a later day, though as much as we travel it might be an issue getting someone to watch them while we’re gone. Taking care of the cats isn’t the problem usually, but getting someone to go into the pen to collect eggs, feed them, make sure they have water, etc is a whole different level of involvement.
@chienfou Yeah, we went through many iterations of:
reinforce the security of the pen -> raccoon finds a new way in -> repeat
Now, the poultry palace is surrounded by a 6-foot chain link fence and the remaining openings above are blocked with chicken wire.
So far, so good…
We let them out of the pen to scratch around the yard most days (back inside at dusk). In the past, we’ve had a few daylight coyote hit-and-runs, but not for quite a while now.
@chienfou@macromeh is a trash panda a raccoon? My friend in NC has chickens. I don’t know if we have raccoons or foxes. We have bears but they are very mellow and couldn’t care less, unless there is a tempting garbage can. They seem to know the garbage pickup day and make their rounds appropriately.
She keeps the eggs in a rack on the countertop. Also I learned there is one “master chicken” that rules the roost. Keeps the others in-line and herd them into their shelter in the evening.
Edit: not sure if I’m allowed to plug, but she also makes natural kimchi. Available here https://queeneykimchi.com/
@chienfou@pmarin We have one rooster - he definitely rules the roost. He keeps his ladies in line and points them to food when out of the pen scratching.
He is getting pretty old though - will probably need a successor before long to take charge.
@chienfou@pmarin We got 4 new (hen) chicks earlier this year. We started them out in a separate cage and when they had grown a bit, introduced them into the flock. Of course, they were at the bottom of the pecking order and provided the smallest adult hen someone to push around.
Now the newbies have grown bigger than the small hen, but they still defer to her.
I go to Wegmans two or three times a week. It’s like Disneyland for me. Five years ago, when I was learning how to walk again, I’d do my physical therapy there. Once I was good enough to drive I’d go there and leave my walker in the car (still have it… hate it, but keep it as a reminder as to what not to take for granted) and I’d make my way to the closest cart and use that as my walker. And I would just stroll the aisles. The staff was wonderful. And sometimes I wouldn’t even buy anything. But I got to know a lot of the employees. They are awes0me.
I left the hospital in late September barely able to walk and then ran a mile on Christmas Eve. It was a milestone.
These days my fun thing to do at the store is to just walk up to the deli counter and just say, 'give me a half pound of whatever you’d put on your sandwich tomorrow. Dealer’s choice They know me now… but it’s probably because I’m always the only one in the store in a cowboy hat.
We live out in the country - the nearest actual supermarket (vs. a gas station/minimart) is a 20+ mile drive one way. My wife does most of the grocery shopping - she’s the social butterfly and goes into town for various activities, so she usually combines it with any necessary shopping.
I go into town for grocery shopping (usually in combination with some other errand) maybe once or twice a month.
@macromeh For a time I had a plan of living in a remote cabin in Colorado. Both “big” towns were about 30 minutes away. I thought I would be content just reading and relaxing. Turns out almost every day was “let’s go to the grocery store” or “we need something from the hardware store.” Which meant a half-day trip, maybe a stop at a Goodwill store, or a break for lunch. So very “not mellow,” I think I might be better at it now. But it’s hard to breathe at 9000ft.
@macromeh@pmarin My kid lives around 23 miles ONE way to the nearest larger grocery store (walmart). I always dread that (miles on a 17 year old car) when it is a kid birthday as I pass the walmart on the way to their house, take the kid back to walmart to choose a cake or cupcakes (in a budget that they can transfer the excess to the allocated money for a present(s)). They choose how to spend their money on stuff or not - they get to keep the change. I have one mercenary who always wants to look but 99% of the time doesn’t buy anything. I wish he’d just let me use facetime to choose his cake and candles on the way to their house. Nope.
Then then 6 year old (when I start this) had about $1.50 left (I leave tax out of it) and was thrilled to learn she could buy candy if she wanted.
I’m teaching them budgeting and they are slowly getting it. The second oldest (the mercenary) caught on, and could figure out if he had money left or had spent it all, before his oldest brother. In fact one year he helped his brother work it out and I didn’t have to do anything.
So the value of grocery stores goes beyond buying food.
@Kidsandliz@macromeh@pmarin
We home schooled both our kids. In grade school the grocery store was a large part of their math curriculum.
Small can has x quantity for y dollars. The larger can has x’ quantity for y’ dollars. Which is actually a better value. Hint: it’s not always the large can.
Add up the items Mom is putting in the cart as she selects them. Keep a running total (in your head). See who can be closer to the final price by the time she hits the checkout stand, you or your sister. Originally when they were small it was rounded to the nearest dime on each item. As they got older it was who could get closest to the total bill (to the penny, including taxes).
@chienfou Around here, the monster box of Cheerios was always the worst value. The reason was simple; that was the WIC-approved choice, so the grocery stores didn’t discount it off of MSRP. An even bigger box at Sam’s was about two-thirds as much.
I used to go out a lot to look for “deals” and also have some social contact. I knew people at Target and Fred Meyer and QFC (both of last two are Kroger company stores now). They are just no fun anymore. They lock most entry doors, have an intimidating security guy in ballistic vest (not sure if he has a gun or just a Taser). All my “friends” are gone due to down-sizing of things like electronics/video games or other departments. So I’m hitting up a local Grocery outlet again (West coast chain) or do deliveries. I have too much crap anyway.
When things are on sale that we Iike to eat, early in the morning to avoid crowds and heat, when I’m already out, when I need less than 10 items so I can use express line and get in and out quickly-any or all of the above.
Weekly on the weekend for staples; Whole Foods for the cream and yogurt my wife prefers, then usually Aldi and Walmart. Once a month Wild Fork for meats.
If there is a particular item or a great sale I’ll hit Aldi’s or Marianos on Wednesday at lunch or after work, when the ads drop. There’s room in the fridge and freezer at work to store things until end of day.
@duodec Is that Brown Cow yogurt by any chance? Just wondering because it’s my favorite & seems to be available only at Whole Foods & King Soopers anymore.
@Kyeh No, though I think I remember seeing it. My wife does not like it; we get Kalona from Whole Foods, or Trimona/Bulgarian yogurt from a local chain. The Jewel store here (another regional chain) also had Brown Cow in the past
@Kyeh Kalona is an uber-fussy brand that does low temperature pasteurizing that is supposed to prevent loss of nutrients; my wife always had me look for ‘pasteurized’ over ‘ultra-pasteurized’ for that reason, now we only use that for cooking/baking and she uses the Kalona for any direct use (heavy cream and yogurt).
Almost every day. It’s really a do-something thing, so I only get a few items and keep going. Right now I am walking distance to a Trader Joe’s, so it can actually be healthy for me if I choose to walk. If.
We have three Giants, a Safeway, Wegmans, an Amish market and two Asian supermarkets (in case you ever need live frogs… I pass on that ) all within a 10 minute radius. Giant has stupid sales around the holidays and I’ve bought a 19 pound turkey for under $6 to put on the smoker. I don’t think I’ll do a turkey any other way anymore
@capnjb Nice
I have 1 Albertsons (used to have a Vons, it closed), 3 Stater Brothers, 1 Food for Less, 1 Sprouts, 1 Trader Joes, 2 Walmarts, 1 Smart and Final, 1 Target, and assorted private ones of various ilk, several hispanic, 2 that are ‘natural’ and 1 of those is vegetarian, within that 10 minute radius. Oh, and an Aldi
@capnjb@Cerridwyn@chienfou We have 3 Whole Foods! At least Aldi is finally coming to Colorado, but not my town so far. It took forever to get a Trader Joe’s & that place is always jam packed.
When the mood strikes
@Cerridwyn
… Or sometimes, when necessity demands!
@chienfou or that too. I honestly just to go every now and then because the mood strikes me and I want something different to eat. It’s one of the things that comes from retirement and comfort
But Now my grocery store offers a special of 4 fuel point with a coupon for every dollar spent. 100 point gets you 10cent off fuel, plus if you do the survey (Once every 7 days) you get 50 fuel points!
@mycya4me King Soopers ftw
@catthegreat @mycya4me probably a Kroger company but names vary. 4xpoints on gift cards too so if home Depot/lowes/etc is having a sale and you are going to buy something I go to Kroger and get a gift card first. and if your credit card has 5-6% on grocery stores. And for $250 you get $35 off 35 gallons of gas.
You can calculate it at 20% off. In the grand scheme of things… Meh. But I was raised to save money lol
@catthegreat Yep, I know about King Soopers, I have friends that live in Colorado Springs that shop at one!
@catthegreat @mycya4me @unksol
Working the system is what keeps those programs honest!
@catthegreat @chienfou @mycya4me except they have been taking your data for years so they can feed it into AI price tags. Town of 10K and our Walmart even has them. And not like legislators are doing shit to stop companies from abusing ALL of us. If they can even understand.
Granted just a new angle they have had time to learn something if they weren’t all done 70+ or blatantly corrupt.
Why people go for the culture war instead of the ~50 years of class warfare I’ll never get
@catthegreat @chienfou @unksol When they ask about the cookies. I always check Reject ALL! When I install software, I always request a custom install & reject ALL other extra’s they want to “Give Me for Free”
@catthegreat @chienfou @mycya4me same but dynamic pricing should be illegal that should have been an easy slam dunk. Privacy in the US is also getting fucked by tech companies and government is not stopping them like they should
@mycya4me Same here; the last time I got suckered into one of those OBTW-Here’s-A-Free-Trial-Of-Something messes, it took me about six months of intermittent digging around until I finally found and eradicated the last vestiges of the crapware. (And don’t even get me started on Symantec’s hyperintrusive LifeLock atrocity.)
@werehatrack I have tried a couple things, We will give you this/that, but you also sign up for a subscription of about $25/30/ month.
I finely got out of that. I learned that they are NOT good/ the service is NOT worth it!
as far as Anti-Virus/ Malware for the computer. Well I stay away from McAfee/ Symantec’s Norton. I have learned that they are NOT worth it. Companies can use it, but they have a lot of extra hardware/ software to help filter what McAfee/ Symantec’s Norton miss & let through.
I use other stuff to help protect my computers, I also use the free version. It also helps that I have been in Corp Computer Hardware repair (NOT help desk or programer aka code head)
Oh yea I use Apple products all over the house. Also I never buy the hardware “New in the Box” I get it Open Box, Referb or Used. steep price drops! Yes I have a couple WinDOZE computers & one that has Linux.
Rarely. I usually only go to pick up my prescriptions. Almost every time I need groceries I have them delivered by Walmart, Meijer or Amazon!
@MrGoodGuy I don’t like to pay the fee/tip that does with the Delivery.
Never. I get all of our groceries delivered.
@Pony
I’m too cheap to pay delivery fees + tip.
@kittykat9180 I’m disabled and chronically ill, so doing the shopping myself just isn’t an option. It’s too difficult for me to do it alone and my husband just doesn’t have the time. I’m so grateful that just about every store has delivery now. The extra cost is more than worth it to me.
@kittykat9180 @Pony
I agree with both of you.
The availability of delivery has been a game changer for a lot of people. I guess that’s one thing that was good about COVID-19.
Personally I don’t mind grocery shopping, and since we buy a lot of fresh produce I tend to prefer picking out my own. And I’m also usually pretty consistent on checking dates for dairy products etc., as well as comparison shopping for price and ingredients between brands.
The small-ish town I live in has a small Walmart supercenter and a locally owned grocery store. I shop at both depending on what I need, a quick stop where is I get in and out expeditiously and/or where I’m already headed. Otherwise the bulk of our shopping gets done 30 miles away at Aldi or Sam’s/Costco with an occasional stop to the Indian, Hispanic or Oriental store depending on what spices/otherwise unobtainable products we need.
@kittykat9180 @Pony Amen to that. I am quite frugal/ cheap!
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @Pony During covid, my Mom & I did the personal shopper & I would go to the store & they would load the stuff in the trunk. It was very handy/ very low contact.
Now it is Just me, I prefer to do my own shopping, the store has a couple area that that offer Short dated stuff at a Discount, Stuff they not going to carry any more so discount it to get rid of it! You can’t do that with a personal shopper as the items change most likely daily.
@kittykat9180 @mycya4me @Pony
We buy a lot of fresh produce. I much prefer picking out my own. I pay close attention to produce dates and overall condition of my items. For instance my local Walmart, one of only two grocery options in town, sells beets by quantity not weight. Since my wife is using them for juicing every morning it’s always in my best interest to pick the two biggest ones that are pre-bundled (twist ties) together. It can easily make a 50% difference in the quantity I get for the $$ I spend. OTOH I’m not one of those who will rearrange the pre-bundled beets to pick out the biggest one from two different sets. I feel that would be dishonest…
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @mycya4me @Pony
I drink a lot of water while driving. And I’m , uh, senior. So I go virtually ever time I get to the grocery.
Thanks for asking.
@phendrick I missed this one because I was on the go, soooooooo … I agree!
@phendrick I drink a lot too (diHyrogen Mono Oxide)
Remember that you can ONLY rent Beer or any other thing you drink/ Eat!
@mycya4me @phendrick
well, technically you do consume/not return, some of the ingredients… So good luck getting your deposit back!
@chienfou @phendrick Nope… that Never entered into the transaction. There has Never been a deposit given! FYI I never really want to drink Beer & drinks with CO2 well gives me major league gas. It don’t come out the best way…
as you stated it passes through the system, in the mouth & out through …
@mycya4me @phendrick
My point was you actually keep some of the stuff and don’t return it. That would be sort of like renting an EV and keeping the charger cables… no wait, that’s actually happened to me. My last EV rental was missing the cables for that very reason.
Cost me a bunch of grief.
@chienfou @phendrick Sadly I don’t have a Hybrid or a EV… It is a $$$$ thing… I pretty sure my next one will be a Hybrid unless one of the new EV comes along & really “Tickles my Fancy” BTW that will NOT be a Tesla!
My wife works at a grocery store so it’s baked in.
@tweezak Now if your wife works in the bakery, I’ll just have to ask, what exactly does she bake into your pastries? Various states are clamping down on that, but some are easing up.
Usually when the things I want are on sale, and that determines which store I go to as well.
Only if there’s an exceptionally good sale. I live next to a grocery store but most things are at least double the price of having them delivered and they frequently lie on their price tags.
@brennyn Do you live next to Whole Foods?!
@Kyeh It’s the smaller regional chains that have the really outrageous prices. It’s especially bad in small towns where there is often only one grocery store with no competition.
@brennyn Oh, I see.
@brennyn @Kyeh there used to be a Whole Foods nearby, but it closed. I miss it, but closed. This was about a year before Covid. Little did Amazon know in other places they could serve as grocery distribution sites for online orders, which was still booming in Asheville NC when I am there.
@brennyn @pmarin I have a Whole Foods close by (little independent grocery bought by them but still bearing the original name.) I have to admit it’s very convenient because I can take my Amazon returns there; they also have Amazon lockers if you don’t want stuff delivered to your house (you’re going to be away or something.) And they’ll let me add on groceries to an existing Amazon order if it’s a high enough $ amount, so I take advantage of that sometimes.
I would prefer to only go once a week to one store, but inevitably the store is out of stock of something I want so I have to go another day or to another store. Of course there are other times I go to the store to buy something and end up buying a bunch of stuff except the item I intended to buy. Hence, another trip to the store.
In the US, once a week.
In Europe, twice a week. Every thing is closer so it’s more convenient, plus there’s less storage space and smaller refrigerators.
@kittykat9180 Yea, I remember my B-I-L’s refrigerator in the Netherlands was similar to what I had in a dorm room in college. But also back then you could go to local focused stores for vegetables, bakery, meats, etc and walk to street markets. I hear it’s not like that anymore and most people have to drive to mega-grocery stores, just like here.
@kittykat9180 @pmarin
Not sure how universal that is. Every one of my relatives in France has at least a weekly, if not semi-weekly, market in their community. Many have extensive histories.
This one, a stone’s throw from where my dad was born >100 years ago, has been in such service since its construction… in approximately 1470! I have cousins that still shop there weekly.
@kittykat9180 @pmarin When I lived in the Netherlands they had an outside market once a week just down the street and a lot of smaller stores. It seemed like most people shopped at the market and then at one of the other stores each week. And yes on the tiny fridges. Mine was counter top high with an incredibly small freezer. As you said that sort of forces shopping one or more times a week depending on family size.
@Kidsandliz @kittykat9180 @pmarin
Back in the day, you rarely froze anything. Plus since the vast majority of households consisted of a working father and stay at home mom, shopping at the market was more practical than now. That being said, especially with the advent of work-from-home, many people still shop their weekly markets during their (typically 1 hour plus) lunch break or the market is held on the weekend.
Plus certain things that we routinely refrigerate don’t get refrigerated in Europe. Eggs is a good example, and milk is generally kept in a cabinet in ultra-pasteurized cartons.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @kittykat9180 @pmarin We don’t refrigerate our eggs, but we have chickens, so we have a pretty good idea how fresh they are. (I still crack them into a separate bowl before using them - fool me once…)
@macromeh
BTDT … Is especially helpful if you don’t wash them before you put them up. Trash pandas decimated my last small flock. I haven’t gotten back out there to tear down the old pen and rebuild it to make it more raccoon-proof. That’s a project for a later day, though as much as we travel it might be an issue getting someone to watch them while we’re gone. Taking care of the cats isn’t the problem usually, but getting someone to go into the pen to collect eggs, feed them, make sure they have water, etc is a whole different level of involvement.
@chienfou Yeah, we went through many iterations of:
reinforce the security of the pen -> raccoon finds a new way in -> repeat
Now, the poultry palace is surrounded by a 6-foot chain link fence and the remaining openings above are blocked with chicken wire.
So far, so good…
We let them out of the pen to scratch around the yard most days (back inside at dusk). In the past, we’ve had a few daylight coyote hit-and-runs, but not for quite a while now.
@chienfou @macromeh is a trash panda a raccoon? My friend in NC has chickens. I don’t know if we have raccoons or foxes. We have bears but they are very mellow and couldn’t care less, unless there is a tempting garbage can. They seem to know the garbage pickup day and make their rounds appropriately.
She keeps the eggs in a rack on the countertop. Also I learned there is one “master chicken” that rules the roost. Keeps the others in-line and herd them into their shelter in the evening.
Edit: not sure if I’m allowed to plug, but she also makes natural kimchi. Available here
https://queeneykimchi.com/
@chienfou @pmarin We have one rooster - he definitely rules the roost. He keeps his ladies in line and points them to food when out of the pen scratching.
He is getting pretty old though - will probably need a successor before long to take charge.
@macromeh @pmarin
That’s where the term “pecking order” comes from. Each chicken will pick (and peck) on the one below it in status…
@chienfou @pmarin We got 4 new (hen) chicks earlier this year. We started them out in a separate cage and when they had grown a bit, introduced them into the flock. Of course, they were at the bottom of the pecking order and provided the smallest adult hen someone to push around.
Now the newbies have grown bigger than the small hen, but they still defer to her.
When did this show up and why is it related to being breezy?
I go about twice a month, doing a giant 6 hour walkabout across multiple stores to get the best deals and prepare meals for the upcoming week.
I used to go twice a week when I had a daytime work schedule just to get fresh produce at night and snacks for the next day.
@pakopako
I go to Wegmans two or three times a week. It’s like Disneyland for me.
Five years ago, when I was learning how to walk again, I’d do my physical therapy there. Once I was good enough to drive I’d go there and leave my walker in the car (still have it… hate it, but keep it as a reminder as to what not to take for granted) and I’d make my way to the closest cart and use that as my walker. And I would just stroll the aisles. The staff was wonderful. And sometimes I wouldn’t even buy anything. But I got to know a lot of the employees. They are awes0me. 
I left the hospital in late September barely able to walk and then ran a mile on Christmas Eve. It was a milestone.
These days my fun thing to do at the store is to just walk up to the deli counter and just say, 'give me a half pound of whatever you’d put on your sandwich tomorrow. Dealer’s choice
They know me now… but it’s probably because I’m always the only one in the store in a cowboy hat. 
We live out in the country - the nearest actual supermarket (vs. a gas station/minimart) is a 20+ mile drive one way. My wife does most of the grocery shopping - she’s the social butterfly and goes into town for various activities, so she usually combines it with any necessary shopping.
I go into town for grocery shopping (usually in combination with some other errand) maybe once or twice a month.
@macromeh For a time I had a plan of living in a remote cabin in Colorado. Both “big” towns were about 30 minutes away. I thought I would be content just reading and relaxing. Turns out almost every day was “let’s go to the grocery store” or “we need something from the hardware store.” Which meant a half-day trip, maybe a stop at a Goodwill store, or a break for lunch. So very “not mellow,” I think I might be better at it now. But it’s hard to breathe at 9000ft.
@pmarin Whoops! Brain fart - the nearest town/grocery store is about 20 miles round trip, not one way. Still - not so convenient.
@macromeh @pmarin My kid lives around 23 miles ONE way to the nearest larger grocery store (walmart). I always dread that (miles on a 17 year old car) when it is a kid birthday as I pass the walmart on the way to their house, take the kid back to walmart to choose a cake or cupcakes (in a budget that they can transfer the excess to the allocated money for a present(s)). They choose how to spend their money on stuff or not - they get to keep the change. I have one mercenary who always wants to look but 99% of the time doesn’t buy anything. I wish he’d just let me use facetime to choose his cake and candles on the way to their house. Nope.
Then then 6 year old (when I start this) had about $1.50 left (I leave tax out of it) and was thrilled to learn she could buy candy if she wanted.
I’m teaching them budgeting and they are slowly getting it. The second oldest (the mercenary) caught on, and could figure out if he had money left or had spent it all, before his oldest brother. In fact one year he helped his brother work it out and I didn’t have to do anything.
So the value of grocery stores goes beyond buying food.
@Kidsandliz @macromeh @pmarin
We home schooled both our kids. In grade school the grocery store was a large part of their math curriculum.
@chienfou Around here, the monster box of Cheerios was always the worst value. The reason was simple; that was the WIC-approved choice, so the grocery stores didn’t discount it off of MSRP. An even bigger box at Sam’s was about two-thirds as much.
I used to go out a lot to look for “deals” and also have some social contact. I knew people at Target and Fred Meyer and QFC (both of last two are Kroger company stores now). They are just no fun anymore. They lock most entry doors, have an intimidating security guy in ballistic vest (not sure if he has a gun or just a Taser). All my “friends” are gone due to down-sizing of things like electronics/video games or other departments. So I’m hitting up a local Grocery outlet again (West coast chain) or do deliveries. I have too much crap anyway.
When things are on sale that we Iike to eat, early in the morning to avoid crowds and heat, when I’m already out, when I need less than 10 items so I can use express line and get in and out quickly-any or all of the above.
Weekly on the weekend for staples; Whole Foods for the cream and yogurt my wife prefers, then usually Aldi and Walmart. Once a month Wild Fork for meats.
If there is a particular item or a great sale I’ll hit Aldi’s or Marianos on Wednesday at lunch or after work, when the ads drop. There’s room in the fridge and freezer at work to store things until end of day.
@duodec Is that Brown Cow yogurt by any chance? Just wondering because it’s my favorite & seems to be available only at Whole Foods & King Soopers anymore.
@Kyeh No, though I think I remember seeing it. My wife does not like it; we get Kalona from Whole Foods, or Trimona/Bulgarian yogurt from a local chain. The Jewel store here (another regional chain) also had Brown Cow in the past
@duodec Oh, I’ve never heard of either of those.
@Kyeh Kalona is an uber-fussy brand that does low temperature pasteurizing that is supposed to prevent loss of nutrients; my wife always had me look for ‘pasteurized’ over ‘ultra-pasteurized’ for that reason, now we only use that for cooking/baking and she uses the Kalona for any direct use (heavy cream and yogurt).
@duodec Thanks. I’ve never noticed it, but I guess it’s carried at Sprouts around here.
Almost every day. It’s really a do-something thing, so I only get a few items and keep going. Right now I am walking distance to a Trader Joe’s, so it can actually be healthy for me if I choose to walk. If.
We have three Giants, a Safeway, Wegmans, an Amish market and two Asian supermarkets (in case you ever need live frogs… I pass on that
) all within a 10 minute radius. Giant has stupid sales around the holidays and I’ve bought a 19 pound turkey for under $6 to put on the smoker. I don’t think I’ll do a turkey any other way anymore 
@capnjb Nice
I have 1 Albertsons (used to have a Vons, it closed), 3 Stater Brothers, 1 Food for Less, 1 Sprouts, 1 Trader Joes, 2 Walmarts, 1 Smart and Final, 1 Target, and assorted private ones of various ilk, several hispanic, 2 that are ‘natural’ and 1 of those is vegetarian, within that 10 minute radius. Oh, and an Aldi
@capnjb @Cerridwyn Sheesh! And that farmer’s market you’ve talked about, too!
@capnjb @Kyeh technically two of them.
@capnjb @Cerridwyn @K
yeh
Not exactly a “food desert”!
@capnjb @chienfou @K not at all. And we’re supposed to be getting a Whole Foods in early 2028. Although they haven’t broke ground yet
@capnjb @Cerridwyn @chienfou We have 3 Whole Foods!
At least Aldi is finally coming to Colorado, but not my town so far. It took forever to get a Trader Joe’s & that place is always jam packed.
HEB several times a week, Aldi about twice a month, Costco and Sam’s occasionally.