The Shopping List

I open up to page 253 in my cookbook for my first major challenge: the shopping list.  I'm completely overwhelmed.  I've never seen a 4-column shopping list for one week of needed groceries.  I'm already frustrated and I haven't even started.  I copy down the list, which alone takes a good 30 minutes.  Then I panic again: the meal plan isn't consistent with how many servings are in each meal - sometimes the meal feeds one person and sometimes the meal feeds 4 people.  Since I'll be eating breakfasts and dinners with my boyfriend, I now have to go back and re-check each item on the list to see if I need to add to the quantity.  I've already spent an hour on this stupid list.  I already want to quit.  They want me to buy cottage cheese?  Disgusting.  I'll have to substitute that.  


I get a second wind and head off for what will be my first trip to the grocery store.  The list I've written is too long to possibly be completed in one shopping expedition, so I pick and choose items I recognize, like grapes, and ignore ones I've never heard of, like Kefir.  I'm still not sure what it is.  


90 minutes and $160 later, I have about half of the required items for the week.    I didn't realize how expensive this endeavor would be.  But then I remember my stupid ski pants and my stupid zipper.  I can do this.


We go out to dinner and I enjoy more than my fair share of chinese food.  My last meal before the meal plans begin.  Tomorrow is going to suck.