Overstocked

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

Like many of you probably did, I went out Thursday afternoon in search of the essentials that would hopefully help my wife and I survive the winter weather onslaught that was forecast for the weekend. You know, the must-haves, like milk and bread— and, according to my wife, little powdered donuts.

And although I’m writing this on Friday afternoon, I can only assume we survived, and I hope everyone else did too. And yes, the store shelves were still adequately stocked when I went on my shopping trip, so if you missed out, that’s on you. But the funny thing is, I struggled to find a place to put all of my groceries. The pantry, kitchen cabinets and refrigerator are just stuffed full. That’s not some kind of weird brag either — it’s a problem.

You see, my wife has developed this weird habit over the years

See VIEWPOINT, page A5 VIEWPOINT

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of simply, for whatever reason, not seeing what we need when she goes grocery shopping. Now, because of our work schedules, I actually end up doing most of the shopping for our household, but every now and then she’ll stop off at the store and get whatever it is she plans on making for dinner, and then… Well, I don’t know how many bottles of apple cider vinegar the average home needs, but I am willing to guess it’s less than five. Same goes for cocoa powder (four tubs), mustard (five bottles), pickles (11 jars, which in some fairness encompasses at least four or five different kinds of pickles), and most recently, heavy whipping cream.

Yes, ounce-for-ounce, heavy whipping cream is one of the most expensive non-exotic items you can get from the grocery store. And my wife stocked up on it for the Thanksgiving feast, which meant we had a lot left over, but that didn’t stop her from stocking up again for the Christmas feast. OK, fine, I guess… except yesterday, she came home with three more cartons… for mashed potatoes. I don’t know if she though the 7th Calvary was coming over for dinner or what, but at about $6 a pop, I’m going to have to start creating a heavy whipping cream line-item on the family budget spreadsheet — and yes, I do have a family budget spreadsheet.

She must be stopped…