Survivor's Blog May 7, 2013- Asking the Grocery Store for a little help please....

For me the hardest house hold task is making it through the grocery store for our weekly shopping trip. The wonderful smells of bread baking and the coupon lady cooking up samples cause me to want to run from the store while I am on chemo. In a normal house hold I would just send my husband to pick up the groceries. However sending him out for even a couple items always ends up with a series of phone calls. Some poor woman at the store ends up helping him find what is on my list ( and I mean some poor customer who has taken pity on him!). Plus if you know me in real life, you know I am the queen of coupons. It's just not fun to send anyone else out to execute my carefully planned shopping trips.

So here are some simple tips for going to the grocery store while on chemo and not losing your lunch:

1. Go at an off hour- do not go at a peak time like the weekend or that little lady will be cooking up a storm and causing you to run for cover!! I go on Wednesday afternoon right after lunch if at all possible ( that is the time for the best coupon deals too).

2. Ask the butcher to help you out- I have a super hard time with the smell  of fish. I am supposed to be eating really healthy and this means some fish. So the guys at the meat counter help me out.. they take my order from a distance away from the fish counter. When they have what I want, they double wrap it for me, making sure I get an extra layer of glad wrap on the outside. This way I can take my small amount of fish home and get it cooked.

3. Ask for assistance--- if you cannot lift that bag of dog food  there are people who are perfectly willing to help you. Don't be embarrassed to ask for a bit of assistance.

4. I do find it easiest to get the best service if you go to the high end supermarket, instead of a value priced place. The cool thing is the high end markets are the cheapest if you use coupons anyway.

                                                    Mitch at my local Publix.. so helpful!!!