Grocery Shopping

DISCLAIMER: This post is very pro-Costco. If you do not like Costco, you may want to stop reading. But like, who doesn't love Costco?

These ladies love Costco.
(image via http://www.seattlepi.com/)

This nice lady wants to give you a free snack at Costco!
(image via http://albertaretail.blogspot.com/)

Even American heartthrob, Joe Biden, loves Costco!
(image via http://patdollard.com/)

Also, this is pretty cool.
(image via http://spydersden.wordpress.com/)

Actually, if you do not like or love Costco, please leave this post. What are you doing? How could you not love this treasure of the Earth? Yes, it is the essence of consumerism which may not be the best, but it is also the essence of America and saving money and samples and glorious, perfectly steamed, drops of heaven hot dogs.

*angels sing*
(image via http://tastyislandhawaii.com/)

Let's pour one out for Costco hot dogs! And by "one" I mean the practically free soft drink you get when you purchase a Costco hot dog because the whole transaction will only put you out ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS. I'm sorry. That is just the definition of magic to me. Their pizza ain't bad either. And don't even get me started on those very berry sundaes! Geez, Louise.

Very berry sundaes so good, they got me lookin' at 'em sideways.
(image via http://biggestmenu.com/)

From the disclaimer above, you can probably already tell where my stance is on grocery shopping while living on my own in San Francisco without a car vs. grocery shopping while living with Grandma and Grandpa. If you can't tell, let's just say shopping with Grandma is always the best shopping experience. How is every single time "the best" you ask? Can't only one time really be "the best" you ask? You obviously don't have Grandma as your grandma. Unless you are my sister, parents (HI MOM AND DAD. THANKS FOR READING.), aunts, uncles, or any of my cousins that have had the pleasure of shopping with Grandma, then y'all's don't know. Shopping with Grandma is the best.

Grandma loves to shop. It doesn't matter if it's clothes, food, school supplies, or even garage sales. When my sister and I were little we used to go "garage sailing" with Grandma and Grandpa. Many Saturday mornings were spent driving around their old neighborhood and hopping in and out of their old white Toyota van. Grandma (who is sitting next to me as I type this) just reminded me that when people used to ask my sister where she got her clothes she would answer, "La Garage." I'm sure my sister didn't come up with that herself.

Grocery shopping as a student with no car in San Francisco is no easy feat. First of all, there is really no such thing as shopping on a whim because reusable bags are a must. Unless I was using a big enough purse or bag to bring them, it was hard to bring them to school or work with me in order to shop on the way home. Even so, I would usually forget to grab a few on the way out the door in the morning. I really like using reusable bags because yay Earth, but I'm also a broke college student and would rather stuff everything into my backpack or carry things in my arms than pay 10¢ for a paper bag. Second, I could only buy as much as I could carry onto a bus. I also had to figure out how much space I was willing to take up and how many people I was willing to piss off on the bus, especially during high commute hours.

Grocery shopping with Grandma is easier and more efficient. First, Grandma has a car so we can get to the store faster and easier than taking the bus. Second, I can buy as much as I need without worrying about not having enough bags with me or not being able to carry everything. Third, since we can drive a car that has more room to transport stuff, we can also drive to numerous places and get more done in a shorter amount of time. No more riding the bus home to drop stuff off before being able to go out and run more errands. Yay efficiency! The fourth and most important reason why shopping with Grandma is the best is we can drive to Costco! Even if I went to Costco via public transportation in San Francisco, I would hardly be able to carry more than one purchase with me on the bus with the size of the products sold there. Costco also allows me to save money which is one of my favorite things to do. Costco is also the best for everything ever. You can get samples (which are basically free snacks), buy cheap groceries, fill up the gas in your car for cheap, take home a hot rotisserie chicken, get your tires changed, and eat a variety of delicious foods for a fraction of the price you would pay anywhere else. I should seriously be sponsored by Costco because I love them so much.

So essentially, I love Costco and shopping with Grandma.