I'm here with a fresh Wednesday.
Today I wanted to talk about something that hasn't been touched upon here yet: the grocery store. Hopefully this post will enhance your shopping experience while making you a more informed buyer.
Firstly, I hate grocery shopping. The Giant that I go to is constantly out of the things I like to buy. I also don't like the lines at the check out. But, one way I've discovered to make things less miserable is to bring along an ipod. If you've never listened to an ipod while grocery shopping, I strongly urge you to give it a try. Through research, I've found that listening to Hall and Oates, and Huey Lewis and the News will actually make things a lot more enjoyable while food shopping. I have done this [created a H and O/HLATN playlist] a few times, and the first time I did it, it was hard not to smile at everyone. It also felt a bit surreal at first, but that's also part of the fun. Here are recommended choices:
Hall and Oates:
Kiss On My List
Private Eyes
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
You Make My Dreams Come True
Huey Lewis and the News:
The Heart of Rock and Roll
If This Is It
Heart and Soul
The Power of Love
For Good Measure:
Kenny Loggins - The Heat Is On
The Heart of Rock and Roll
If This Is It
Heart and Soul
The Power of Love
For Good Measure:
Kenny Loggins - The Heat Is On
Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes
Once you have that squared away, here are some tested, surefire Mike Ward recommends that you can't go wrong with...
Peanut Butter:
I use Skippy's Extra Crunchy. They seem to have the crunchiest of any of the other peanut butters on the market, so for that reason I buy their product. Word of warning, though: Do Not Buy Reduced Fat! The packaging looks almost identical, but they are so so different. The reduced fat version of extra crunchy actually barely tastes like peanut butter. It's really really awful. I've accidentally bought it a couple times and was miserable for a week while eating it.
Drinks:
This past week I bought something that I have not seen in my grocery store before: Minute Maid's Pomegranate Lemonade. I drink a lot of iced tea (Turkey Hill's Green Tea), and Limeade (Paul Newman) and Lemonade, so finding this was right up my alley. I'm happy to report that this new drink is actually quite good, and I would recommend you check it out.
This past week I bought something that I have not seen in my grocery store before: Minute Maid's Pomegranate Lemonade. I drink a lot of iced tea (Turkey Hill's Green Tea), and Limeade (Paul Newman) and Lemonade, so finding this was right up my alley. I'm happy to report that this new drink is actually quite good, and I would recommend you check it out.
Bread:
I eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and I've run the gamut of bread. It took me a long while to find the bread I like, but for my peanut butter sandwiches, Dutch Country's Whole Wheat is the absolute best. Whenever this is on sale, my store is always out of it, and I get a little irritated because I then have to go a lesser brand.
Quesadillas:
Here's something a few of you know: I eat a ton of quesadillas. This is another thing that took me a while to figure out all the best components, but now I can make an awesome quesadilla. If you make quesdaillas, then I'm assuming you have one of these:
It's essential to making a really good one. Here's a quick rundown of what I use:
Beans - Goya brand Black Beans
Tortillas - Mission brand
Cheese - Sargento Classic Mild Cheddar shredded cheese
Sour Cream - Daisy brand
Hot Sauce (this is critical!!) - Chalula brand (regular)
The Chalula sauce is actually one of my favorite condiments. It goes great on plenty of things, but especially here for quesdillas.
Snacks:
I am not that big of a snack person, but wanted to share this recent fave of mine: cheese and crackers. More specifically: Cracker Barrel pre-sliced cheese squares, and Carr's Table Crackers. I urge you to try this! It's so good! I don't have to tell you how nice it is not having to slice your own cheese. It's basically open and go without the fuss of a cutting board or knife.
Frozen Food:
I don't buy frozen food very often at all. But, one thing that I discovered, which I am a huge fan of is this frozen pizza called Palermo's. I buy the "Cheese and Tomato" and it's the absolute best frozen pizza I've ever had. Next time you're in the market for a frozen pizza, check it out and tell me what you think.
So hopefully this has been helpful, and maybe you'll check out one of these things. If you do try the ipod or buy one of these, I'm curious about feedback. Maybe I'll expand on shopping a bit more down the road.
Til next week...
I eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and I've run the gamut of bread. It took me a long while to find the bread I like, but for my peanut butter sandwiches, Dutch Country's Whole Wheat is the absolute best. Whenever this is on sale, my store is always out of it, and I get a little irritated because I then have to go a lesser brand.
Quesadillas:
Here's something a few of you know: I eat a ton of quesadillas. This is another thing that took me a while to figure out all the best components, but now I can make an awesome quesadilla. If you make quesdaillas, then I'm assuming you have one of these:
It's essential to making a really good one. Here's a quick rundown of what I use:
Beans - Goya brand Black Beans
Tortillas - Mission brand
Cheese - Sargento Classic Mild Cheddar shredded cheese
Sour Cream - Daisy brand
Hot Sauce (this is critical!!) - Chalula brand (regular)
The Chalula sauce is actually one of my favorite condiments. It goes great on plenty of things, but especially here for quesdillas.
Snacks:
I am not that big of a snack person, but wanted to share this recent fave of mine: cheese and crackers. More specifically: Cracker Barrel pre-sliced cheese squares, and Carr's Table Crackers. I urge you to try this! It's so good! I don't have to tell you how nice it is not having to slice your own cheese. It's basically open and go without the fuss of a cutting board or knife.
Frozen Food:
I don't buy frozen food very often at all. But, one thing that I discovered, which I am a huge fan of is this frozen pizza called Palermo's. I buy the "Cheese and Tomato" and it's the absolute best frozen pizza I've ever had. Next time you're in the market for a frozen pizza, check it out and tell me what you think.
So hopefully this has been helpful, and maybe you'll check out one of these things. If you do try the ipod or buy one of these, I'm curious about feedback. Maybe I'll expand on shopping a bit more down the road.
Til next week...
9 comments:
ipod grocery shopping is the best! i've only done it once but i can attest to the impulsive smiling at strangers and surreal aspect.
great recommend! though i'm not too keen on a lot of these foods, mr. ward.
also, how 'ovenes' that I would get 'ovenes' as my word again?
Right there with you on Chalula. It IS the best! I put it on just about everything.
That's pretty serendipitous JesKa. I don't know how I feel about some of these foods either, but if I'm ever "busto" than I'll probably go back to buying frozen pizzas and will definitely try this recommend. I'm very intrigued about the quesadilla maker also.
i love this. i dont have the need to ever go grocery shopping anymore, but still i love this.
here in new york... we are waaaay too fancy and busy and super cool with sunglasses and stuff to ever go grocery shopping. we use FRESHDIRECT which delivers your grocery stores to our door. then you go downstairs and pick up the boxes of groceries, sign a few autographs for being a new yorker, and boom... you got yourself some fresh meal. i do like the act of grocing though and try and do it at least occasionally... i have not yet tried the iGROCING but i will soon... i usually just beep along with the cash registers.
Rick,
The quesadilla maker is the best. I used one for years and swear by it. It's great because it seals the edges of your 'dilla and separates them into nice even triangles. It's also super fast and whisper quiet.
Yeah, that sounds great, MikeW. I always flip the pan over a just cook the thing on the back. Or at least I did until destroyed my pan with that method. I make very tasty, but otherwise disastrous quesadillas. They fall apart, the cheese gets all "tillydr" and I inevitably burn the first one then under cook the rest. Where do you purchase these magic quesadilla contraptions?
You can find them at your local Target or Walmart. They usually run $20. It'll be the best $20 you've ever spent.
Ricky, there's an old story about how John Lennon used to cook things while lying on his back because he thought they would taste different.
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