I do the same thing, though recently I've been trying to stick to a list, with a few discretionary random purchases, because frankly my meandering grocery treasure hunt has created more than enough weeks where the grocery bill negated all savings of eating at home instead of in restaurants.

I am fast becoming a believer that goat's milk anything is better than cows. ;)

I am a member of your tribe! I will go out of my way to check out a grocery I've never been to, or one I might like better than others. When I was a child, we would actually go to grocery stores on vacation. My dad had the same obsession as me.

Now days, I've turned my passion into my job by working for a grocery company!

How was the goat's milk butter?

Alfonso mangoes and a VERY large variety of others can also be found in the ENGLISH speaking Caribbean.

i'm with you!

Heh, much like the first post, I make a list and stick to it, because otherwise I act like a kid in a candy store and end up spending enough that we could have simply eaten out the entire week. In fact my husband isn't allowed to grocery shop with me, because he's the type to wander and put anything that grabs his eye in the cart, which means we get out of the store with an average of at least twice the price (not kidding!)

That said, I am human, to I do usually get at least one "splurge" item. Lately we've been doing those along a theme - every time I go to the store, I grab a new fancy cheese we've never had before. (My husband LOVES cheese in all its forms, and there's about a million kinds out there.) We'll try anything at least once! Then we experiment with the best ways to eat it.

We grew up with the old American standbys of cheddar and mozzarella, so it's really opening up whole new foodie experiences for us.

It give a little fun and extravagance without breaking the bank! ;)

I can relate completely to your experience. I love grocery shopping more than any kind of shopping. My parents give me a hard time about it. But, I find the entire experience with food creation, shopping, marketing, cooking, completely fascinating.

Food ties us all together. Food is amazing.

Definitely a member! I work near a whole foods, and find myself in it at least a few times a week after work. I've been trying to stick to a diet of a small healthy sandwich as a snack, and a cruciferious salad for lunch, so I look for fun ways to vary that up.. a new condiment (been into the red pepper-eggplant spread from the middle east, and spicy plum chutney, of late), a new grain to mix into my salad, or a spice.

Dinners are a little more of a free-for-all, but I love to discover what the best looking local produce is that day, which is usually a decent price since it's seasonal. Almost every trip to the store also includes a new pantry item that's on sale.. my biggest splurge is often a new craft beer.

I love grocery shopping. I generally stick to the same three stores in my neighbourhood. Because I try to buy organic/fair trade wherever possible, which ain't cheap, I've discovered which stores have the best prices for our grocery mainstays. (i.e. I always go to Store A for produce, Store B for milk, eggs, and yogurt, and Store C for meat, cheese, and coffee). Which means I keep three separate shopping lists on the fridge. And yes, my husband thinks I'm a little crazy. :)

Love it. I go to any of three grocery stores in my area depending on what I need. If I get to spend two hours, I'm very happy. It's even better if I've just cleaned my fridge and get to put my fresh produce in clean drawers.

I used to be more of a grocery store freestyler, but these days I try to stick to a list. This has much to do with my effort to waste less food, and the rising cost of food. When I freestyle, I tend to overbuy and the stuff (usually produce or other perishables) that we cannot eat before it spoils gets thrown out. When I shop according to the recipes I intend to cook each week, we are pretty good at emptying the fridge into our stomachs rather than the trash! To prevent getting stuck in a rut, I just look for recipes that use new (to us) ingredients.

I just started shopping with a list, and I think it has saved me a lot. That said, I still spend around two hours doing my weekly grocery shopping. I have to drive about 40 miles to get to a natural food store and good farmers market so, when I go, I make the most of it and spend several hours looking at every single aisle in the store. I always leave room in my food budget for several things that just happen to look good or are new and exciting. I love grocery shopping! Oh, and by the way, I am shopping for a family of four.

There aren't many unique grocery stores in Tallahassee FL so I don't get to be as adventurous, and with money getting tighter and tighter I try to stick to a list. But I have found a way to spruce it up at least once a week, I experiment with new recipes from Ina Garten or Jamie Oliver or some random food network recipe and then I paruse the isles as I long for my ingredients.

oops as I look* for my ingredients

I find Whole Foods an almost meditative experience for me! Though I drive 3 hours round trip to shop there and Trader Joes, we don't have that kind of quality in small town Ohio.

I definitely use a list, and have even become a coupon clipper and use the weekly ads because I think some prices are just getting out of control these days and if I can save and buy red meat on sale one week, and chicken the next, then so be it. I also rarely shop in our local "wanna be whole foods minus the selection but double the price" store and drive out of town.

Also nothing beats the farmer's market for price, and I love wandering around every Saturday morning seeing what's new as the season goes on.

I will even admit that when I stand up my blood pressure drops--unlike normal people who's blood pressure goes up--so I can't be standing for very long before I pass out. I have passed out in grocery stores more than I care to admit because I get in the zone and get so focused on food that I spend too much time there and down I go. Unfortunately it hasn't garnered me any free groceries yet, I'll have to work on that!

I love grocery shopping too. Example: my fiance was parking the car and taking too long so I jumped out screaming "meet you inside" and ran to the market. I was pretty excited that day.

I always take my fiance with me though so I never get to spend hours shopping. I always take a list and we normally stick to it.

I love grocery shopping alone. I love to meander like you and find something new and interesting to try!

i love to spend time in grocery stores.
i prefer to go alone because it does take me forever to go through all the aisles. i love it :)

I love grocery shopping and look forward to my weekly trip to the farmers' market and Whole Foods. I do bring a list, but I'm always open to buying something that looks interesting. Sometimes, I'll walk down an aisle even if it doesn't have anything that's on my list. I'm just sightseeing.

Speaking of sightseeing, when I travel, I always check out local grocery stores, even if I'm not going to buy anything. My all-time favorite is City'super in Hong Kong. Sometimes when I get nostalgic for City'super, I go to Lotte Plaza (just two miles from home), but it just doesn't match the fabulousness.

I think I've found a kindred spirit : ) I love going to all kinds of markets: Indian, Asian, Trader Joe's, farmer's, warehouse, neighborhood. My hobby is collecting new things to try. I went to Singapore in 2001 with my husband, who was there on business. I had never been overseas before. That first morning, when I found myself alone after he went to work, I was afraid to start exploring on my own. After a call home to my mom, she encouraged me to just go out and start walking down the street to see what I would find. The first thing I found was a grocery store! I was in heaven!!! I visited many wet markets and grocery stores while I was there. I brought home a lot of food stuffs. I took some cooking classes at Raffles, and I amazed some fellow classmates with what I'd learned about Singapore in just a few days by visiting the markets. Whenever I travel I bring home food. Some people bring home t-shirts. I bring home regional flours, country ham, dried beans, jams, cheese, bbq sauce, etc. I give shopping lists to my mom when she travels. It's a great way to connect with a place.

bobcatsteph3 , funny enough I have the exact same thing! In fact I'm laid out flat today because I seem to be having a bad spell of it. Fortunately I've got a mild case and it usually doesn't effect me, besides needing to get up a bit slower in the mornings.

I try and combat it with eating habits, actually - I stay mega-hydrated, and eat a pinch more salt than most people. Nothing like having your doctor tell you to increase your salt intake! ;)

At last - I've found other people out there that actually enjoy grocery stores.

I go to the grocery store every day, whether it be Trader Joe's, Busch's (a local chain), or, God forbid, Whole Foods.

Actually, I went on a first date a few years ago that happened entirely at Whole Foods in Austin.

We agreed to meet at the store, and just perused the isles while discussing products that caught our eyes, and made fun of the tuna salad that cost $14.99 a pound (don't bother with it, it sucks).

It sounds corny and annoying, but it was actually a good time.

You'd be surprised how Amy's Organics and Dr. Hauschka's can spark a conversation.

www.thebitterfoodie.blogspot.com

I'm definitely the same way, and relieved to hear I'm not the only one! Even when I do go in with a list, it's one to remind of stuff I need to try a recipe out. Still, I also remember that those two hours are a luxury and that I'm damned lucky to have them. A lot of people work long, hard hours, both at work and as a family members; shopping has to come between work and soccer games, or worse--a day job and a part-time night job.

I love grocery shopping, which is hard on the food budget (and the pantry shelves). I deliberatly have to keep a firm hand on my spending and browsing, lest I fill the fridge with more than we can use.

Shopping primarily at my local (2 blocks away) and supplementing with Costco trips keeps the budget sane. I get my kicks from the occassional farmer's market or Whole Foods trip.

i love to grocery shop and definitely got this trait from my mom, for whom a 2-4 grocery trip is a weekly necessity! my absolute favorite time to go shopping is when i'm stocking up for thanksgiving; something about the stuffing ingredients and that turkey-shaped-butter just makes me giddy.

i do make a list and take it with me when i shop, but usually i just check it at the end of the store to make sure i remembered to grab the things we were actually out of :)

I am what my boyfriend calls a "List Nazi". If I don't have a list before I hit the store, I usually end up spending twice the amount of money I wanted, and come home with impulse buys. Now, I still like to scope out the new and interesting things I haven't tried, and I always leave a part of my budget for just those types of buys, but I usually go with a specific list of pantry type food just so that I don't end up at home and say "WHAT? we already had 5 cans of whole tomatoes?!"

Example, I bought 6 beautiful roma tomatoes from the market this weekend only to come home and realise that I already had 6 sitting in the fridge from the week before.
Tomatoes everywhere!

Sigh. I was a member of your tribe. I love that style of grocery shopping but you know, with a 4 year old in the cart, it just doesn't work that well. He enjoys it too, but only up to a point.

I love grocery shopping too but because of our schedules my husband does the majority of it. But when I do get to go I go crazy buying stuff we have, don't need, or crazy volume like eight pounds of stew meat (so that we can make it and stick in the freezer). And then as my husband points out, We still have to make it!

Fun reading this post and the comments because I too love to grocery shop, be it at the weekly farmer's market on Sundays, Trader Joes or my local Raleys (Nor Cal chain). My husband on the other hand thinks its a chore and because of that doesn't even really care to go to the farmer's market which I find to be a disappointment. Luckily, my 4 month old daughter loves to be rolled around whether its in her stroller at the market or placed in her car seat and placed in the shopping cart so her arrival hasn't crimped my habits-yet. The one bad thing is that with her car seat placed in the basket (I'm afraid to balance it on top), it doesn't leave me alot of room for impulse buys; good for the budget, bad for the fun purchases.

I too am wildly grateful that we have such a variety of groceries here--with a lot of organic to choose from. Walking into a middleeastern grocery just makes me happy. Now if I could figure out how to use the pomegranite syrup!

i must admit that i really enjoy just about every form of shopping, but grocery shopping is my favorite. i really love to cook, but also i think i can justify buying food much easier than a cashmere sweater, even if in the end the groceries cost the same as the sweater.
i almost always have a list when i go grocery shopping, but that's mainly so i don't forget something. if i'm at a store with interesting food i like to wander around and check it all out. if i'm just at the local Kroger, ie a standard boring supermarket, i just stick to my list and get out of there as fast as possible. i like to save up my food perusing time for the farmers' markets. i can lose half a day there easily!

http://threadtrace.wordpress.com

I also love to do grocery shopping. I never use to and use to hurry thru. Now I love to take my time and also love to check out different and new items. When we travel , I also check out the food stores for local foods , or items I can't get at home. If I had the time, I would like do the european thing and shop everyday for fresh food items in the stalls among the street vendors. I have to settle for local framer markets once a week.