Mike & Val go to Food Lion, among other things...

Good evening...

We are now in South Carolina... as Callie mentioned this morning. Locals described the nature of things when as little as an inch of snow falls... We decided to hightail it out of there before the weather began. It is raining here, and chilly. More about our campground in a future post...

A few days ago, we decided we wanted to have burgers for dinner. Mike enthusiastically announced that he was going to join me in the grocery run. So we composed our list and headed to the Food Lion a few miles down the road. To my fellow northerners... I'd related this store to a Market Basket. Nothing fancy, reasonable prices, fresh produce.

Four major differences of shopping in North Carolina....

1. People move SLOW down here......We approached the deli, and found no line (strange.....), so we ordered some Virginia ham. Well. Let me tell you. The deli worker (sweet as pie) exited the deli to look at the meat selections with me and confirm exactly the brand of ham I had requested. As she got started slicing, Mike and I chatted. Then we chatted some more. And then some more conversation was had. Approximately 10 minutes after she began our transaction, the deli worker presented us with ONE pound of sliced ham. She asked if she could get us anything else, and we kindly declined. Mike had already reached the time limit of what he considered long enough to complete an entire shopping trip.

2. They don't purchase fresh food.... After the deli, we transitioned into the produce section, as is typical in most grocery stores. We were the only two people there. Not in the store, mind you, just in the fresh food section. Puzzling. We grabbed our bananas, and moved on. Next was the meat section (hamburg...chicken...pork...etc). I think there was one other person shopping along that wall.

3. They eat processed food.. ONLY... (at least at the particular store we visited) When we spun around and addressed the aisles for our remaining items, we found the rest of the shoppers. Their carts were full! Processed food (Chef Boyardee, Spagettios, canned veggies, BOILED PEANUTS (yes, I said boiled... in a can...)). Frozen food (pizzas, waffles, lazagnas). Little Debbies and other sweets. Pepsi. Mountain Dew.

What a culture shock. No judgments intended here, but where we all live, people seem focused on eating clean, eating organic, eating fresh, avoiding gluten, carbs, and excess sugar. Well...eating that way is very expensive. Our family is constantly juggling choices while shopping to provide the most fresh/real food as possible, while keeping within a budget. Fresh fruits and vegetables were not even an option for these people. (By the way, they are really missing out! The ground beef here was FANtastic, AND much cheaper than up north!!)

4. So, we finished shopping. NO DIET COKE. None. They didn't sell it. We're in Pepsi country guys, and Val's not happy about that. They were having a killer sale on gallons of milk... any generic brand... 99 cents. We figured someone must be subsidizing the milk to try to get the kids drinking it instead of Pepsi products, yet I still didn't see anyone else with a gallon of milk in their cart... Guess who's drinking milk until she's blue in the face now... Yup, you guessed it... Callie!

It took us a long time to check out, because, you know, they move slow... and we headed home, kind of in awe of how lucky we all are, to have the ability to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, to eat meat from the butcher and not canned, and of course, that they sell Coke products where we live.

By the way... Using my Ibotta App I saved us $8.34, which I can slip into our bank account whenever we need it... If you want a referral code to try it yourself, let me know. We'll both get cash for you signing up.

I went to a gas station the next day, thinking, they MUST have some Diet Coke... The cashier acted like she'd never heard of Diet Coke... there were 6 packs of Coca-Cola products she said, but she'd never even seen Diet Coke in the store. I found the products she mentioned, she was right, no Diet Coke.

I don't want you to freak out... We had to go to Walmart today during our travels, and we were able to find some Diet Coke, so all is right in the world again. I can rest easy tonight knowing I can crack a nice frosty can of Diet Coke in the morning.

In other news...

Callie and I are playing a license plate game on our phones, checking off each state as we see a plate. She announced two days ago she was memorizing the state capitols. And wouldn't you know, she did!! Right there in the car, in about a half hour. Such a smart kiddo!

And yes, we have given Emmie benadryl twice now for the long car rides, not only because she's loud (so so loud...and at an ear piercing pitch), but also because she seems to be getting motion sickness. Half a tab, and she sleeps for about 4 hours, and we are almost to our destination...without headaches. Don't judge.

Until next time...