G is for GROCERIES #AtoZChallenge2017

Continuing on with the April blogging challenge - A to Z!!  Today is the letter G and once again, I've had to think long and hard about the letter G - I kept telling Siri to remind me of things - like "G is for Gomer."  I thought about blogging about Gomer Pyle played by Jim Nabors who is from Alabama!  I could have blogged about G is for Glenn . . .my daddy or my son!  Instead, I'm going to bore you with talk of GROCERIES!

I don't like to brag but I will!  I feel like I am surely the Queen of Grocery Buying!  This title is not bestowed upon me because I use coupons and sales ads and go to all the right places.  This title is bestowed upon me because I buy a H.E.Double Hockey Sticks (Hell for those of you who don't understand the silly reference) . . .I buy a heck of a lot of groceries every week.  This last week, we had 21 or 22 on Tuesday night to feed - 8 pounds of Conecuh Sausage; 8 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes, etc.!!  Somewhere in my archives of photos, I have a picture of my cart and I have bags tied on the side -- I can't find it!!  This was the only one I could find -- that is a week of groceries -- food for Tuesday night; possibly food to take to someone; food for us to eat during the week; looks like I was baking a cake, too!

To be honest, I would love to buy all my groceries at Whole Foods and someday Mark and I might just do that!  I love the arrangements of fruits and vegetables.  There is a Whole Foods coming to our area sometime . . .maybe!  The sign is up and the work has been done on the building but we've heard there has been a snag of some sort.  I read an article that said that Whole Foods in many markets was suffering due to the new Kroger stores (we don't have Kroger in Birmingham but we do in some other Alabama cities).

I also enjoy grocery shopping in our church parking lot.  Yes, Jason and Sheila set up every Tuesday and Thursday (and Saturday in full season) and sell fresh fruits and veggies right in the church parking lot.  You just can't get anymore convenient than that!!

We have a couple of grocery stores in our area that belong to smaller chains and are locally owned and operated.  In our community, we might say, "I'm going to the Pig" and that translates to "I'm going to the Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store."  The Pig is so cute!  They have great meat and they have an amazing selection of wine and beer and even have wine tastings!

We also have a store called "Western Supermarket."  This store also has an amazing wine selection.  I rarely shop at Western simply because the store is not convenient to my house.

Of course, I love both Trader Joe's and Sprouts.  Just this afternoon, I went to Sprouts and bought two Filet Mignons and fresh corn and okra for our dinner.  Mark grilled it all and it was delicious.  I usually buy fresh fruits and vegetables at Sprouts - they usually have several things on special each week - today, they had blackberries for 88 cents and they were delicious!

I probably would never buy all my groceries at Trader Joe's simply because there is not enough selection for all the groceries I purchase.  I love some of their frozen foods - they have amazing wild blueberries.

The truth is that I buy the majority of groceries at Walmart.  The Walmart near my house is a really nice store with lots of fruits and veggies - even some grown in Alabama!  I know that some people don't agree with Walmart but most of the time, you just can't beat the prices and when you buy as many groceries as I do.  What about you? Do you buy a lot of groceries?  Do you prepare fresh foods?  What is your favorite grocery store?