newjerseynewsroom.com

BY PAM LOBLEY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

"Can you get some more Coffee Mate?" my husband asks. "Not today," I say. "I thought you were going to the store," he says. "I am going to Costco. They don't have Coffee Mate. They have bulk items, delicious bread and the best rotisserie chicken, but no Coffee Mate."

Two days later I am unloading bags from another trip to the store. "Did you get the Coffee Mate?" my husband wants to know.

No, I say. I went to Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's is a specialty store. They have great frozen canapés, bargain dog food and Whoopie Pies. No Coffee Mate.

A few days after that, I go to Shoprite. I get the Coffee Mate. I also get Windex, breakfast cereals and toothpaste. It's Shoprite; they have everything. Except good organic cold cuts. For that you have to go back to Trader Joe's.

When I visit my sister in North Carolina, we go to this fabulous store called Harris Teeter. Harris Teeter has bargains, upscale specialty foods and Windex. They also have wine and Krispy Kreme donuts. That's what I call a store.

Last year Fairway, the wonderful market from New York, opened up in Paramus. I shopped at Fairway when I lived in the city and the memory still shines. The food was delicious, bargain priced, super fresh, and the checkers were the fastest things you ever saw. My heart leapt when I saw they were coming to Paramus. Life was about to get better.

I went to the Paramus Fairway. I got a great price on some shrimp, and some fabulous cheeses. It's a good store, but vast and crowded, and the time I was there I got stuck behind a foodie couple shopping slowly, saying things to each other like "Which tapenade looks better to you?" That's not the way they shop in New York, let me promise you that.

I went to Kings once, because it was near a doctor appointment. It was lovely. But too far away.

I tried Whole Foods last summer. Or, as my friend Terry calls it, Whole Paycheck. It's like Lord & Taylor for groceries. The displays! The organics! The cloth bags at checkout! They even have wine, and I fell instantly in love. The romance was short lived though. I can't be spending time in a store that doesn't have Cap'n Crunch and Oreos. I have kids. Kids who eat like kids. I have a husband who eats like kids, too. I had to break it off. I just don't have time for one more store.

Around the corner from me is King Fung market, a Korean grocery store. Most of the stuff in there I don't recognize, but their fish and seafood counter is terrific. I go there sometimes. Of course, no Cap'n Crunch, but for Tiger Shrimp at $7.99 a pound, I'll make a special trip.

One time I found myself in a Pathmark, and picked up some baby back ribs on special. They were bargain priced, and the best ribs we've ever had. "Get these again!" my husband demanded. I tried, and went back next week. They didn't have them. So I ran over to Whole Foods, which wanted $1,200 for a couple racks of baby back ribs. I ended up over at Shoprite. In just a mere 3 hours of driving, I had some good ribs at a fair price.

It's great to have choices. But food shopping in Bergen County has turned into a competitive sport. When it gets to the point where you're driving out of you way to save twenty cents a pound on chicken thighs, or feeling snitty because the salmon at Costco isn't quite as meaty as the Whole Foods salmon, you need to dial it back. Get some food, eat some food, and stop thinking about it. You're too fat anyway.

"You have to try Maywood Market," raves my friend Stacey. "It's great, and the fish is unbelieveable."

I don't care if the fish is free, melts in my mouth and secures my longevity. I just can't go to one more store.

Pam Lobley is a columnist and co-author of the book "You Definitely Know You're a Mom When ..." To read her past columns or get contact information, visit her website: www.pamlobley.com.

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