At the grocery store on Saturday I saw the most fascinating thing. A family… mom, dad, and six children under the age of about 8 behaving like angels in the grocery store. Their dad had them lined up youngest to oldest… mom was in front of the cart, dad pushed the cart with the 1-year-old in it, and then the 5 remaining children followed behind him in a straight, orderly line. No one was crying… no one was running around the store like an ADHD patient on Skittles… they were all just patiently following their parents in this perfect line. No one asked for candy or sugar cereal or ice cream. It kind of baffled me. When my sister and I were little tikes we were holy terrors in the grocery store. We always wanted everything we saw and if we didn’t get it we’d pull out our best Oscar-winning tantrums in the middle of aisle 8.
There were several times where Lindsay stole candy from the bulk food section, told me mom had paid for it, and I ate it standing in the middle of the store. I didn’t get candy… hardly ever… so if someone was freely offering me candy… I was going to eat it before they could take it away again. I knew mom hadn’t bought it. We hadn’t even gone through the checkout yet… but I ignored that part of the thought process because I was getting CANDY!!!!!!!!
Most kids dream about what they want to be when they grow up. My dreams consisted of what food I was going to eat when I had my own money and a driver’s license. Having the food hidden from me as a child, yet available to the rest of the non-dieting family made me want it even more. At the same grocery store on Saturday there were 3 self-serve honey machines in the bulk food department with a BIG ole sign reading: Do not lift the lid… bees will escape. PLEASE!!! I was so tempted to lift that dagblasted lid. I wanted to see it even more now than I had when I just thought it was a box with honey in it. When someone tells you not to do something, you want to do it even more than if you had been given permission to do it. That’s why I’ve adopted my eating method of NOTHING being off limits. I can’t say, Whitney, you will never eat cookies again. That just insures that I’ll have a plethora of weird dreams starring cookies… talking cookies… cookies on the Jerry Springer Show… cookies with attitude. It somehow works much better for me if I allow all foods… that way I can better make the choice in my mind of whether I can take it or leave it at any particular time. You’ll all be happy to know that Lindsay has left her past of Grand Theft Bulk Food behind… or so I think she has.
We went to WinCo for the first time on Saturday. I fell in LUST with the bulk food section. They had every dagnabbed thing you could ever imagine up in there. I might ask if they rent rooms in the storage warehouse just so I can be within walking distance of the bulk food section! Oh lawsy glorious! This is the only place where you can bag your own cat food and then turn around and bag your own flax seed. Crossing my fingers I don’t get them mixed up come breakfast!
Question of the Day: Do you ever purchase anything in the bulk foods section?
craving a life 
I used to. I don’t remember what I bought there–probably candy. What I loved was the old candy counters (do you remember them?)–like at JCP, where you could buy a dime’s worth of candy. My mother would let us do that at the JCP in Ogden and it was “magical!” Picking what kind we wanted and the lady putting it in a little paper bag. When my parents would go grocery shopping or to a movie on Saturday night, my dad would get us all a little sack of penny candy–probably a whole 5 cents worth or 10 cents worth–and it is one of my fondest childhood memories.
Where did you go to Winco? Not in Logan–or did they open one and I didn’t know???
I totally remember that awesome candy counter at JCP!! There was also a penny candy store near my house in Logan when I was growing up. I have fond memories of riding my bike there and buying things with whatever change I’d found on the street! The good ole days!
I wish they had a WInco in Logan. No such luck… we’ll just have 2 Wal-Marts instead! Gadfrey! This was a new Winco in Ogden. I wish I lived closer. I’d go more often.
When my kids were little colas were the holy grail. Because I never let them, and my Mother-In-Law sprung on that chance to give the holy grail, they became demons for it at her house. Then when they did get jobs, and car keys, they became coke-a-holics for many years! I tried to balance that for the last child, essentially an only child. But, her Dad was a coke-a-holic! She’s turning out okay after I’ve been beating the husband about the head and shoulders long enough over it. I like to get the bulk food nuts and pumpkin seeds. But I have this impulse that terrifies me. I want to hold down that lever and watch it all pour out like lava from a volcano until it’s empty!
The Coke holy grail!!! I never did get into soda… but I can totally see how someone could be a Coke-A-Holic! THat was my favorite part too… seeing the stuff gush into the sack! I couldn’t stop it!
I love Winco. I do all of my shopping there. My favorite things to get in the bulk section are spices, pasta, rice, and baking ingredients likes nuts, and chocolate chips. This way I only buy what I need, and don’t have the excuse that I bought 2 bags of Chocolate chips, because the first bag might be 5 chips short of 2 cups. Then I have to eat the extras.
I have been known though to take my measuring cups to measure out the amount of ingredients I need. That usually gets some strange looks :0)
Such a smart idear to buy your choc. chips and other baking supplies there! I wish I lived closer… I’d always shop there if I could. Somehow 60 miles just to go to a grocery store ain’t going to fly!
Where did you go to Winco? One of our new favorite grocery stores is World Foods in Trolley square, SLC. My new word to use in 2012 is plethora and you have already used it. Impressed!
See… I’ve never even heard of World Foods… but now I for sure have to go there one time!! I love wandering around an impressive grocery store! The Winco was in Ogden… it’s a newish one! We need a cool grocery store in Logan!
Haha… plethora is one of my favorite words!!
My favorite thing to buy in the bulk foods section is crystalized ginger for my Wassail. It is REALLY expensive to buy in the spice section so I only buy what I need around the Christmas season when I make wassail in the bulk foods.
Where do you buy the bulk foods in Logan. We don’t have anything!
Where I live, we don’t have many stores offering bulk foods… except for candy. The store I know of with bulk food sections is limited and very expensive. So, no… I don’t shop in bulk food sections. 😦 Wish I could.
Ditto that, Julie! We don’t have any bulk food sections in my town either. I actually had to drive 60 miles to get to this one. My bulk food buying will be a rare occurrence!! More stores should do that!
I love the bulk food section at Winco too. It saves me money on baking ingredients, pasta, nuts, and spices. That is funny Lindsay used to steal from the bulk foods. It is always very tempting to just try one piece of candy from the bin before you decide to buy a whole bag, so I guess I can see why she did it.
Oh, Lindsay was never intending on buying any bulk food items… she just enjoyed stealing from them! 😛
I love Winco too. Wish I lived closer to one… 60 miles to go to a grocery store is a bit extreme.
Question of the Day: Do you ever purchase anything in the bulk foods section?
All I can say is WOW!
I have never seen any thing like this ( in your pic ).
We have a store or two around that carries a few of these but NOTHING like the amount I am looking at in your pic.
Holy COW!
It is from one wall to the other FULL of bulk food.
I think I would be like a kid in a candy store in there. Give me a lb of this and a lb of that and this whole row and half of the next row…
Isn’t it awesome… and that was only ONE of the aisles in the picture. There were like 7 or 8 or so full of bulk foods! Unfortunately, this store is 60 miles away from home… so I won’t be going there much!! I wish we had something like it closer to home… but like you all we have is a few stores with the bulk candy bins!
I love the bulk section at Sprouts and Central Market. I usually by trail mix, rice, and beans. I buy the trail mix in very small amounts!
I agree with you about not denying yourself a food. I’m an only child and if you tell me I can’t do something, I’ll do it twice just to show you, whether it’s a cookie or something else.
AMEN about the do it twice just to show you I can!! That was exactly my frame of mind when I was restricted food. I
So funny! Um, did you get the perfect family’s phone number–I could use a few tips 🙂 I agree with putting things off limits only makes you obsessed with it (at least me). I remember going off sugar once and all I thought about was sugar and how many more days until I was done with this crazy idea.
I never buy anything in the bulk section, because of my germaphobe complex–I can’t bear the thought of eating something that someone else has touched (If it is wrapped, I might consider it) 😉
Bwahahahahaha…. no wonder we are friends… that was exactly my first thought when I saw the bulk food… I don’t want to buy anything people have touched! I saw a dude running his hands through the beans and I about convulsed to death! Thus the reason I only purchased cat food and flax seed (because there was no way random people could reach in and touch that).
You best interview the duckling family if you need advice. I say your kids are normal!!
I also would have a problem with the bulk bins where people can touch the food or sneeze on it. Beans, peanuts, etc…
Germaphobe alert here !!
When it is in these container things that pour out into your bag or whatever, I could handle that. No one else has messed with them.
I don’t even like it when we go to the Farm & Home store and I see people running their hands through the bins of bird seed and rabbit food. ICK! I know – I know…it isn’t people food but it still bothers me.
{embarrassed look}