Damn You, Trader Joe

Tonight I went to Trader Joe's to buy two things. Two.

I needed a box of cereal and a quart of yogurt. I waited until around 9:30 to head over to TJ's because if I try to go there when I'm on my way home from work (generally in the 7:00-8:00 range), it's always packed and you can easily spend half an hour waiting in line. On the other hand, if it's closer to closing time, the line is shorter and I can get in, grab what I need, and head out.

Well, so much for that. Yogurt is right by the checkout lines, so I went to pick up cereal first. On my way from the door to the cereal, I passed by bread, and the loaf of bread I have in the freezer is down to two slices, so I decided to grab a fresh loaf of whole wheat bread ($2.49) because I'll probably need it sooner or later. Then cereal. I grabbed a box of maple pecan clusters ($3.99), which was what I planned to get in the first place, and as long as I was in the cereal aisle, I picked up a box of golden flax cereal ($2.49) because hey, it's not perishable and I'll eat it eventually. I was all set to head over to the dairy case and pick up my yogurt, but then I realized I was almost out of granola to mix in with the yogurt, so I picked up a fresh bag of three berry granola ($3.29) for when I run out; it was right there next to the cereal.

So then, I could've just walked to the end of that aisle to the dairy case, gotten my yogurt, gotten in line, and that would've been the end of it. Instead, I decided to make a quick trip around the store and see if I saw anything I wanted. And that was where it really went awry. Walking out of the cereal aisle the way I came, I saw a box of whole grain cereal bars with apple ($1.69) that seemed like they'd be good to have on hand. In the next aisle, I decided I needed fresh jars of peanut butter ($2.99) and jelly ($3.49) because that's one of the things the bread was for in the first place. Then I figured maybe I should balance the grainy things I'd bought out with some fruit, and on the way over to the fruit aisle I grabbed a bag of reduced-salt roasted cashews ($5.49) because the bag I have is almost empty. In the fruit aisle, I only picked up one grapefruit ($0.89) because once I was there I remembered that I had done my fruit shopping yesterday. But they also have meat near the fruit, and I picked up a package of boneless skinless chicken breasts ($7.09) for dinner for the next few nights.)

Leaving the meat section, I saw the canned foods aisle, and of course Trader Joe's excels at canned food, so that required a stroll. I picked up a can of chili ($1.99) and a carton of red pepper and tomato soup ($2.79), because it's always nice to have something on hand that's easy to heat up and eat. At the end of that aisle, I figured I probably had enough, and wandered back up the frozen foods aisle towards the dairy case, and while I was going through there a box of ice cream sandwiches ($3.69), and while I should know better, they called my name like a grail-shaped beacon (Bad, bad Zoot! Bad, naughty Zoot!) and into the basket they went. At that point, I was up to where I needed to be, so I got in line, grabbed the yogurt ($2.99), and checked out.

So I meant to spend $6.98, and instead Trader Joe got himself $45.36 of my dinero. Damn you, Trader Joe.