Kitty Pryde-Barton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
throughaphase) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2015-02-01 11:26 pm
throughaphase) wrote in fandomhigh2015-02-01 11:26 pm
Entry tags:
Adulting 101- Monday- 4th period
Today the class was meeting in the Danger Shop, where it looked exactly like a supermarket. Guess what you were doing today, class!
"There's probably more important things we could be doing at this point, but let's switch it up a little so you guys don't start thinking it's all boring," Kitty said. "Welcome to the grocery store. If you've never been in one, this is where you can get all your food and personal items you might need. And since grocery shopping is a lot cheaper than ordering food all the time, it's also something you should learn about, and not just because I'm going to make you guys cook next week." Dun dun dunnn.
"It helps to walk into the store with a list of what you need," she continued. "If you have recipes in mind, you want to make sure you have the ingredients for that. If you just know you're going to need something for dinner every night this week, even if it's just something you throw in the microwave, you probably don't want to forget that. If you're running low on toothpaste, it's a good idea to get that. So with everything else, planning is good. Plus stores will have coupons to let you save money on certain items, so if you're really trying to save, you might want to base your purchasing decisions around those.
"Once you've got your list, it's time to do some actual shopping," Kitty said, waving them back to an aisle of condiments and gesturing to the shelves. "There's a lot of choice out there. A lot of different brands, a lot of different sizes or flavors. So if you're not married to one particular kind, you have to go with what looks good. Stores will often have sales, which they mark on their labels, where you might get two for the price of one or a discount. There's also generics, which are like the store brands. They're cheaper and sometimes aren't as quality as name brands items, but it depends on your preference level and budget. Also be careful about sizes. Companies and stores try to upsell you. If you're getting something like, say, cereal, they might have a couple different sizes of boxes. Check the prices when they do that. It requires doing a little math, but a lot of the time if you're going for the large size of something, you might be able to get two boxes of the smaller size and get the same amount for less than you'd pay for the one. Just be careful.
"Also if you're getting anything perishable, meaning dairy or meat or produce, anything that needs to be frozen or refrigerated, check for expiration dates. You of course don't want to get anything that's old or past its date, but if you're going to eat it the same day, it's fine to get something that expires today. And keep in mind that they keep the stuff that's going to expire first up front, so if you're getting enough milk for the week you might want to dig around behind the other bottles till you see one with a later expiration date. And maybe you'll annoy the people around you, but at least you won't have spoiled milk.
"Okay, I think I've covered the big stuff," Kitty said, handing out paper and a pencil to everyone. "I'm going to give you five minutes to come up with a list. We're going to pretend you all need to get enough food to last you the rest of the week, till Saturday. And if there's anything else you'd need, like you know you're running out of shampoo or whatever, feel free to put that on there. And then you're going to get a cart and shop based on that list, and as a challenge, you've got a fifty dollar budget to work with. To those of you from other times... sorry, you might be in for a shock. When you're done, go to the checkout counter and we'll see how you did."
"There's probably more important things we could be doing at this point, but let's switch it up a little so you guys don't start thinking it's all boring," Kitty said. "Welcome to the grocery store. If you've never been in one, this is where you can get all your food and personal items you might need. And since grocery shopping is a lot cheaper than ordering food all the time, it's also something you should learn about, and not just because I'm going to make you guys cook next week." Dun dun dunnn.
"It helps to walk into the store with a list of what you need," she continued. "If you have recipes in mind, you want to make sure you have the ingredients for that. If you just know you're going to need something for dinner every night this week, even if it's just something you throw in the microwave, you probably don't want to forget that. If you're running low on toothpaste, it's a good idea to get that. So with everything else, planning is good. Plus stores will have coupons to let you save money on certain items, so if you're really trying to save, you might want to base your purchasing decisions around those.
"Once you've got your list, it's time to do some actual shopping," Kitty said, waving them back to an aisle of condiments and gesturing to the shelves. "There's a lot of choice out there. A lot of different brands, a lot of different sizes or flavors. So if you're not married to one particular kind, you have to go with what looks good. Stores will often have sales, which they mark on their labels, where you might get two for the price of one or a discount. There's also generics, which are like the store brands. They're cheaper and sometimes aren't as quality as name brands items, but it depends on your preference level and budget. Also be careful about sizes. Companies and stores try to upsell you. If you're getting something like, say, cereal, they might have a couple different sizes of boxes. Check the prices when they do that. It requires doing a little math, but a lot of the time if you're going for the large size of something, you might be able to get two boxes of the smaller size and get the same amount for less than you'd pay for the one. Just be careful.
"Also if you're getting anything perishable, meaning dairy or meat or produce, anything that needs to be frozen or refrigerated, check for expiration dates. You of course don't want to get anything that's old or past its date, but if you're going to eat it the same day, it's fine to get something that expires today. And keep in mind that they keep the stuff that's going to expire first up front, so if you're getting enough milk for the week you might want to dig around behind the other bottles till you see one with a later expiration date. And maybe you'll annoy the people around you, but at least you won't have spoiled milk.
"Okay, I think I've covered the big stuff," Kitty said, handing out paper and a pencil to everyone. "I'm going to give you five minutes to come up with a list. We're going to pretend you all need to get enough food to last you the rest of the week, till Saturday. And if there's anything else you'd need, like you know you're running out of shampoo or whatever, feel free to put that on there. And then you're going to get a cart and shop based on that list, and as a challenge, you've got a fifty dollar budget to work with. To those of you from other times... sorry, you might be in for a shock. When you're done, go to the checkout counter and we'll see how you did."
Re: Checkout