Archive for August 19, 2012
The Lure of a Gourmet Grocery Store
What is it about gourmet grocery stores that make me drop all concern for money? Until recently I only had two options for buying groceries: Giant or Safeway. While I can certainly fill a cart full of food in either of these two places I don’t really get excited about cooking or baking when I step into them. I walk in, search for the basic staples and walk out ready to move on to my next errand. It’s in-and-out shopping.
Now if you replace one of those stores with a high end grocery store like Balducci’s then it’s a whole other story. Suddenly I find myself lingering near the dessert case, eyeing each and every loaf of bread in the bakery and walking up and down the seafood section pointing to all of the beautiful fish and shellfish set out on frigid cold ice cubes.
What is it about these stores that lures me in and makes me want to spend, spend, spend. In a typical trip to the grocery store I spend somewhere between $100 and $150. That includes enough food for two solid weeks, plus a bunch of staples that will sit on the pantry shelves until I need them.
In a gourmet grocery store I can spend $150 on a handful of items that won’t last more than a few days. Of course price is the primary issue. Even every day items like hamburger meat or sandwich rolls seem to cost a few dollars more than they do in the average grocery store, but it’s not just that. In a high end grocery store I find myself dreaming of breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Wouldn’t that $25 balsamic dinner taste just delightful on that crusty loaf of freshly baked focaccia bread. How about that $35 pot roast, which won’t be complete without expensive vegetables like fennel and pricey fresh herbs.
It tickles my creative genes and gets me excited about the infinite possibilities for dinner. The only trouble is I can’t seem to make my way out of the grocery store without spending hundreds of dollars.
Does anyone else find themselves lured by gourmet grocery stores? Do you find you can stick to your budget when you go to the local grocery chain, but can’t seem to control your credit card when you step inside someplace a little more fancy?
