Chocolate.
Lots of chocolate.
That’s how you survive grocery shopping with five kids under the age of seven.
Trust me; I am living proof that chocolate and a very short list will keep you from filling out paperwork for the local loony bin.
As if wrangling a cart full of kids is not bad enough when you are trying to gather ingredients for dinner, add in long lines, rude store employees and high food prices, and you have the recipe for disaster.
Or at least a solid promise that you will never again attempt to grocery shop with your offspring.
If you suffer from the supermarket blues, you are not alone. In fact, Consumer Reports just published some interesting findings regarding the best and worst supermarkets in America.
According to the magazine, which surveyed more than 24,000 shoppers (not all of them frazzled parents); a lack of open check-outs is what really ticks off customers. Dirty aisles, slow baggers, broken carts, and poor food quality were also issues that survey respondents listed as making or breaking their supermarket shopping experience.
Consumer Reports reviewed its findings and came up with the following list of the 12 worst supermarkets in the United States:
1. Pathmark
2. Wal-Mart Supercenter
3. Shaw’s
4. A & P
5. Jewel-Osco
6. Tops Markets
7. Weis Markets
8. Food Lion
9. Pick ‘n Save
10. Ralph’s Southern
11. Acme
12. Stop and Shop
Interestingly, only two of the Top 12 supermarkets have locations in the part of the country where I reside. I suppose I should consider myself lucky, though Consumer Reports top supermarket is no where near my home either. The best of the best, according to the magazine is Wegmans.
Consumer Reports also notes that local grocers are seeing a steady increase in customers.
Did your supermarket make the worst of the worst list?
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