Рецепт Taking Stock and Stocking Up
I’m honestly not someone who goes grocery shopping very often.
But when I do, I buy a boatload of wine.
I’ve told you all about my minor obsession with our sponsor Grocery Outlet, but even a store I love that much doesn’t get me in the door more often than once a month or so. It is a gigantic ordeal to time a trip with my three rowdy boys’ naptimes and nursing times and downright cranky times. Magically coordinating things so we wind up in the aisles when everyone is feeling happy and I can focus on shopping is a rare treat so when we do walk through those doors, it is OPERATION STOCK UP.
Grocery Outlet’s supply is based on excess inventory meaning there’s a lot of fluctuation in the items that I buy there, so I time my trips around their WOW Alerts. These custom-tailored alerts based on my preferences let me know when the company has a hot deal (50% or more off the original retail price) that’s selling fast on stuff I like. So I can buy a TON of it.
Yesterday we got a WOW Alert about their wine sale, which was enough to prompt me to load up my sister and the boys and venture into the liquor section. An extra 20% off their usual 50-70% off wine prices means I can get a lot of wine for not a lot of money.
I don’t know that much about wine, but I feel confident trying even the weird-sounding stuff at these prices.
Sometimes I do feel a little overwhelmed with the selection, so it’s nice that they have handy guides on the shelves pointing out staff faves. I don’t know who this Marcey person is, but I can tell you that I’ve tried a few of her recommendations and she’s got good taste!
We actually had the Duck Pond 2010 Mingle with dinner last night. I was hoping to pair it with some organic chicken legs I nabbed at Grocery Outlet, and I saw on the back of the label that this selection goes well with Asian food. My snack (the new Strong & Bold flavored KIND Bars) happened to be lingering in the background and it dawned on me: in place of flour and spices, these Sweet Thai Chili granola bars would make an amazing dry rub to pair my chicken perfectly with my wine.
That’s what I love about my trips to the grocery store. As infrequent as they may be, I never fail to be inspired by just browsing the rows and rows of fresh, new options. Conventional supermarkets force me into my same old rut, touring up through the produce, past the milk, down the bread aisle and eventually through frozen stuff where everything is pretty much always exactly the same. At Grocery Outlet, the offerings are frequently changed up and it gets me thinking about unconventional pairings. I’ve invented many a recipe based off of ingredients I’ve discovered in Grocery Outlet.
So yesterday, I thanked my sister for her grocery shopping help with – what else? – a home cooked meal and some wine. I plopped that KIND bar straight into the Blendtec, ground it into a flour and dry-rubbed those organic legs before frying them up in some palm oil.
With some sweet mango and that recently-acquired wine, it was perfection. This meal reminded me of exactly why I make time to take stock and stock up on new and exciting picks. I deserve to thrill my inner foodie once in awhile.
The Grocery Outlet wine sale is going on now through April 4th at all Grocery Outlet stores, which are located across California, Idaho, Nevada, Orgeon, Pennsylvania and Washington. If you’re located in any of those states, you should definitely check it out!
Psst: we’re also running a giveaway over on Instagram! Enter to win one of two $25 Grocery Outlet gift cards by following @somedayilllearn and @grocery_outlet and tagging a friend on our giveaway post now through 11:59pm PST on April 3, 2015. Mail-in entries postmarked by April 1, 2015 also accepted to 555 West Country Club Lane Suite C-147, Escondido CA 92026. No purchase necessary. Open only to residents of the United States. Winner will be notified via Instagram message by @somedayilllearn.