Here’s the routine– where you are to read “Here’s” as Here was.

Every Sunday morning we would go over the grocery lists– one for Mr. Big Food, one for me– based on the weekly menu. (He did the stores’ perimeters, I did the aisles.) To go over means to first shop the pantry and various other food storage places. Like so–

MBF: One envelope French onion soup mix.

M (looking at pantry shelf): We’re out. I’ll get a box from the Bunkhouse.

MBF: So replace?

M: Yes.

MBF: Artichoke hearts, not marinated.

M (looking): No. I’ve only got marinated.

MBF: Okay. How’re we doing on maple syrup? We need about a cup for sausage making day.

M (moving maple syrup from ‘in the hole shelf’ to ‘using this week’ shelf): Got one in the hole, but only one. Replace.

MBF: Do we have any packages of those raw chestnuts left? 

M (looking, digging, moving things around): Yes!

MBF: Great!

Narrator: Raw chestnuts cannot be replaced in town.

MBF: Peanut oil. I looked but didn’t see any.

M (looking): We’re out here but there’s a gallon in the storeroom. It was on sale a few weeks ago.

MBF (scratching peanut oil off the list): Okay. Good. So no need to replace. 

And so it went. We would then proceed to both groceries in town– whilst all the good people were in church– and we’d be back home and I’d have everything appropriately replaced or placed on the using this week shelves, and he’d have inventoried the meat he bought on sale and put it in the deep freezer, and we’d be done & done in about a hour and a half.

And an enjoyable hour and a half it was.

This morning was the first Mr. Big Food has been to the grocery stores in three weeks. As we were driving to town he asked, “Why are there people at the Courthouse on Sunday?”

It’s Tuesday. Things have changed. I started doing the shopping on Tuesday because the trucks come on Monday. It’s a restocking thing.

Back to work!