Curiosity and the Grocery Store

Good Morning, dear Blogging Friends! 

This is a "whatever helps you get things done" post LOL

I am curious!

My questions are directed mostly for my well-traveled friends and my wonderful international blogging buddies! But everyone can share!

Do your grocery stores carry more "prepared" (or boxed/canned) meals? Or whole foods (like fresh produce, meats, fish, dairy).

Jack does most of our shopping these days, but very occasionally I'm well enough to accompany him. With each visit, I marvel at the amount of baking mixes, frozen mixes, frozen prepared meals or dishes, boxed meals where you just need meat and everything else is there.

How about in the butcher/meat department? I see the normal seafood, meats, poultry, and there are also butcher's-quality prepared and seasoned meals! One just places them in a baking dish for the oven, and they are done! I see all sorts of prepared items in the Bakery and Deli portions of the stores. And in the Dairy/Egg section where already-hard-boiled eggs, ready to be peeled, and even pre-made deviled eggs - all neatly packaged to put on the table.

In our fantastically-mega-sized Grocery Store here is only one aisle of canned vegetables (like from my mom's era). This includes soups (canned, boxed and ready-for-the-microwave).

Potatoes, rice and pasta can be purchased fresh or traditionally packaged. They are also available partially or fully cooked in a pouch for the microwave or to boil in water!

The produce section is small, but this also includes prepared salads and salad mixes, prepared fruits and fruit bowls, fresh squeezed juices and homogenized juices (canned or other packaging).

The dairy section is L shaped - it has all kinds of milks (flavored, soy, almond, organic, and more). There are eggs, cottage cheese, cheeses galore, yogurts and specialty items! I've never even had string cheese (does that make me deprived? LOL). The packaging, styles and flavors of cottage cheese and yogurts are amazing! I just buy plain, organic, unflavored Greek Yogurt. After tasting one of my husband's fruit packed yogurts I declared it a dessert! LOL

There were more aisles containing cleaning goods, personal soap/hygiene items, household goods, and paper goods than the fresh produce, dairy, and meat aisles combined! If I wanted to choose plain old frozen vegetables without sauces and seasonings, the selection was actually quite small, compared to buying these same veggies in their rich sauces.

It's fun walking through the Bakery and seeing all the yummies.

My son always enjoyed being part of the food preparations, especially when there was baking to be done! From the time he could sit on the counter, and stand on a stool, he was "helping".

I was wondering if my other friends experience the Grocery Store in the same way. 

It's great for the people who need prepared foods to keep their time table working well - 

and I marvel at the company employees who come up with these ideas. 

Me? 

When I was working, I did take advantage of some prepared type foods, especially the ones my son enjoyed.

But primarily, I'm a person who enjoyed doing most of our cooking and baking from scratch. My co-workers always enjoyed the yummy treats and meals. These days my husband does most of the cooking, but he is even more of a "scratch" person than I!

There is nothing wrong with using prepared foods. It doesn't make us less of a person. I'm sure my Grandmother, or women in the early 1900s would have loved the convenience! It was a dream come true when Bisquick hit the market, way-back-when, and Campbells Soup brought out their line of condensed canned soups.

So how about your grocery stores? I'd love hearing if Asian, South American, European, African stores are anything like North American stores! LOL

love,

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