My youngest daughter and I were grocery shopping.
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.
Philosophy in the grocery aisle! It's so true.
ReplyDeleteWe've never had to buy the gigantic size of anything for home use, but I can imagine how astonishing it must have been for your daughter to see the regular size of items.
Smiling broadly. And in total agreement (again) with the lovely jenny_o.
ReplyDeleteHehe Yes I do understand. Those tiny glases jars, and so on of Nutella, ketchup and suchlikes are only sufficient for at most one meal (6 children here too of which 5 boys). Now with only three at home, I slowly begin considering to buy the smaller, cute ones aain.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I agree, but when it comes to Nutella, going large always seems to be the right answer.
ReplyDeleteI remember my bulk buying days, with four kids (none of whom are six feet tall) and a shopping centre usually miles away in the next suburb, I had to stock up or walk with three and a pram if we missed the bus. I had three kids in one bedroom, the baby in with me and the third bedroom was lined with packs of toilet paper and canned tomato soup, cans of coffee, soaps and detergents etc. and the kids toys, which got swept into that room each night by the kids who thought it was fun to sweep them down the hallway and shut the door on the mess.
ReplyDeleteWhile i had four appetites plus their friends, we never quite had to do that. Now that i think of it, i wish i had!
ReplyDelete