News flash! More and more men are doing the grocery shopping -- this according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. OMG, retailers have noticed that men sometimes go to the store! And buy food! DID YOU KNOW!?!
Yes, actually. I live with one of those men they're referring to and I can attest from personal experience that he does indeed do the grocery shopping at times. Like most moms, I appreciate it when my husband does the grocery shopping. In theory. Mostly. Okay, fine, I kind of cringe when my husband leaves for the store. It's not so much because he doesn't know how to buy food. He's a perfectly capable adult! It's just that he doesn't buy the same foods I buy.
The market research shows we're not the only couple with different visions for grocery shopping. Men tend to be less organized and more impulsive than women, who are the ones with the lists. Actually, my husband does show up to the grocery store with a list; it's just that it's the list I've written for him. Otherwise, the difference between what he buys and what I buy could not be more different.
Me: Lots of vegetables, organic milk (organic everything, in fact), large cuts of roasting meat, whole grains like quinoa and brown rice, plain yogurt, granola, whole-grain bread, beans, eggs, 3 different kinds of cheese, and coconut milk.
My husband: Sugary breakfast cereals, white bread, turkey slices, bacon, cookies, regular milk, juice, ice cream, muffins, croissants, jam, butter, peanut butter, frozen foods, boxed macaroni and cheese, and beer (duh). Then there was the time I told him I was going to make Mexican re-fried beans and he came back with kidney beans. KIDNEY BEANS!
Are you picking up on a theme, here? When I come home from the store my husband complains, "You didn't buy anything to EAT!" When my husband comes home I complain, "You didn't buy anything to COOK!" He shops mostly for breakfast, lunch, and snack time. I buy with from-scratch recipes in my head, almost always thinking about dinner. And I'm way more into health food than he is, not that he's a junk-food fan.
Actually, if you put both of us together you'd have the perfect grocery shopping trip. Back in ye olden, pre-kid days we used to go grocery shopping together. Those were merry times! We would come home with food we both wanted. We don't have that kind of time anymore. But now we've found the perfect grocery shopping solution that works for our family: We order our groceries online and have them delivered. Now everybody's happy!
Does your husband do a lot of the grocery shopping? Do you shop the same way, or do you buy totally different foods?
Image via AlishaV/Flickr