Grocery Store Challenge

The next time you're up for a challenge, try grocery shopping from a list someone else created to do his or her own grocery shopping. I had the opportunity to do that this morning when my sister Margie had to make a speedy trip to the hospital for the birth of her granddaughter two months early.

Last night Margie, with Katie's help, had made a grocery list, so I offered to take the list and do the shopping for her. Before I left her house, I decided to go over the list with Katie. That exercise raised more questions than answers.

What is "my cereal"? Does she want sliced cheddar cheese or a block of cheddar? What kind of bread does she buy? And what are Velveeta strips?

Fortunately, her housekeeper Susie was there to tell me that she had never seen a block of any kind of cheese in Margie's refrigerator and that "my cereal" meant some flavor of Honey Bunches of Oats. A quick look through her pantry revealed two unopened boxes of cinnamon flavored Honey Bunches of Oats, so I decided on the honey roasted flavor.

Looking in the bread drawer, I found an almost empty sack of Nature's Own Honey Wheat bread, so that answered that question. And a search of the garage refrigerator told me that she had two unopened containers of orange juice, so I crossed "OJ" off the list.

I already knew that "DDP" meant Diet Dr. Pepper, so armed with my list and a few answers, I headed out for Kroger. I quickly filled a basket with most of the items on the list, although I never did find anything called "Velveeta Strips." I decided on Velveeta slices instead and proceeded to check out.

I later learned that I did pretty well, actually. However, I was curious about the Velveeta Strips. Margie explained that when her son Scott complained that she had only shredded Cheddar cheese for the chili, she told him that Velveeta doesn't come pre-shredded. He quickly said, "That's what Velveeta Strips are for."

Well he can just tear those Velveeta slices into little bitty pieces next time.

Also, it's a good thing for my wallet that I interpreted "turkey" to mean sliced deli turkey, otherwise I might have actually bought the Thanksgiving turkey she really wanted.