All stocked up for a couple of weeks

 Last week I paused in my shopping to take a few shots of this, one of my favorite grocery stores!

Early on a Tuesday morning I drove to Asheville before doing many of my normal morning things. Wanted to get there before many people were also shopping. And I was among maybe 20 in the whole store, which was doable for 6 foot distancing.

I carefully drove my cart around and around, and I think I got enough produce that should be cooked in the next couple of days...in order to keep for a few weeks...as soups, stews etc.

Aldi's has a great selection of produce, especially early in the day.  I now skip the meat and cheese departments...which look pretty good. I had to grab some more coffee, a fair trade brand.

You can see by the slightly out-of-focus shot that only 2 other people were bagging their groceries after I left.

I was happy to get everything into my 3 big shopping bags...then carted them out to the car. I learned the first time I visited that this is a "bag it yourself" store.

My next stop was to visit with a friend who works at a gas station...and I filled up the gas tank and did a car wash as well. Then home to put away groceries and then a walk with another friend around the lake! All in good time. Except I'd not done my morning meds or nebulizer treatment. Oh well. When I got home I did them at lunch time. And didn't seem the worse for changing the timing so I could shop early.

That night I fixed a couple of heads of broccoli in the steamer and some rice and a patty of fake meat for dinner. There are still lots of other things to cook and eat for my plant based low-fat diet.

Quote for today:

... the most fundamental scientific ‘fact’ is not the existence of a universe of things in space and time but awareness of such a universe.

Awareness is not a ‘thing’ that can evolve from or arise out of an unaware or insentient universe of things. On the contrary all things in the universe emerge and take shape out of a universal awareness. 

—Peter Wilberg
The Awareness Principle

Shopping

We are creatures that consume. Can't get around it.  But also it's fun to find a new venue (new to me) which offers prices that are pretty unimaginable.  Such is Aldi's.  It's in nearby Asheville, where all the competing grocery stores are besides Ingles and Hopeys here in Black Mountain.

I shared a statement (in a Facebook ad?) that said they were offering organic produce.  Other Facebooker's said no, it wasn't all organic.  The first time I shopped there several weeks ago, avocados were 29 cents...and this time they were 59 cents.  Either one is great for competing with $2 in my regular grocery.

I was happy to find Gaelic Ale tucked away here.

And others (on FB) said they didn't like the stores for various reasons.  I continue to enjoy this one which was recently renovated...but I'd never seen it before that, so I don't know what its improvements were.

 It's clean and well organized.  I make sure to go on weekdays earlier than when school's out, to avoid a crowded venue.  This time new things were being brought out and shelved (Wed. afternoon) so that took up aisle space.

I was pretty happy with prices. Of course there are many things I'm not interested in purchasing. And because space is given to them, I missed finding some of my regular grocery items.  But it was kind of fun to see what they had.  I did have to be a wise shopper when I saw a few items that were not really low priced. I didn't notice any items that I purchased that had 'expired' dates on them, which is often the case in bargain stores.


Today's Quote:

It is a powerful practice to be generous when you are the one feeling in need.

ALLAN LOKOS