Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Friday, January 29, 2016

Size Matters

My youngest daughter and I were grocery shopping yesterday.
That in itself may seem unremarkable.
But, in the course of the conversation as we were wandering up and down aisles, she reminded me of something.
Allow me to share . . .
Our family is large. In a couple of ways.
Six kids, most of whom are over six feet in height.
When they were all still home, these large people ate large meals.
Back then, our supplies were, justifiably, bought in bulk.
It was a necessity if one didn’t want to shop for groceries every. Single. Day.
Which I didn’t.
Sooo . . . bulk.
To us, it was a normal way to live. Peanut butter, miracle whip, honey, pickles, salad dressings, oil, margarine and other foods by the pail. Ketchup in a bag. Soups in gallon containers. Large quantities were deposited in the cold storage according to directions. Then small containers were filled from larger containers and kept in the kitchen for easy access.
By the time the younger kids were helping with meal preparation, this had been the ongoing practice for as long as they’d been alive. Even the older kids had forgotten their ‘long-ago’ when food was purchased in normal sized containers.
We walked past a tub of margarine. I looked at it. “Huh. Remember when we bought margarine in that size?”
My daughter laughed. “I remember when we bought it in the five-gallon pail and I had to take a smaller container and fill it from the big one!” She went on. “One of my first discoveries when I moved away from home was that food comes in smaller containers. I thought they were so cute and tiny. Little jars of peanut butter and miracle whip. I even had to bring one home to show you.”
“I remember.”
“My roommates thought I was crazy.”
“That goes without saying.” For that comment, I got ‘the look’.
“A person learns so many things when you leave home.”
It’s true.
Life comes in all shapes and sizes.
Small, medium, large. Extra large.
The trick is finding which you need.


7 comments:

  1. Truth.
    And it changes all the time. Sometimes while we aren't looking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When it comes to yummyness,, bigger is always better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And I have a weakness for the really teeny sizes of things, because we had the regular sizes when I was growing up. It's all relative, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. If things are on sale I will always get the largest size of anything non-perishable. It just makes more sense. But I forget that now I don't have the storage space I'm used to, so I need to rein in a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Diane, that is so true that the "trick is in finding what you need." My family was small but I loved grocery shopping and seeing a well-stocked pantry. As times and I have changed, I've learned the trick - buy enough for the "day!"

    ReplyDelete
  6. Diane, that is so true that the "trick is in finding what you need." My family was small but I loved grocery shopping and seeing a well-stocked pantry. As times and I have changed, I've learned the trick - buy enough for the "day!"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your photo has me craving some Nutella - and there is not a jar of ANY size in our house right now ;)

    ReplyDelete

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