I'm in college. The last thing I want to do on a Saturday afternoon is drive to the grocery store so I will be able to eat for the next week. I hated going grocery shopping with my mom when I was little, and I hate it now. Not much has changed. I deliberately put it off until I have basically nothing in my pantry. When I decide I should probably start eating, I drag myself to the grocery store to spend the most dreadful couple of hours.

It doesn't help that when I finally decide to go get groceries, I have nothing in my pantry so I am forced to buy the entire store. Going up and down the aisles trying to figure out what I'll want to eat the next week is a long and time-consuming process that I try to avoid at all costs. After adding the necessities (which includes bags of Hershey Kisses) to my cart, I try and remember if I'm missing something. Nine times out of ten, I get home and realize I forgot to buy milk, and am forced to go back the next day. Each time I go I try to remember everything, but I usually end up forgetting something. Most people would respond to this problem by simply making a list, but that's even more work in my opinion. However, I have found that when I do make a list, I usually don't forget anything. However, I'll forget to add something to the list. So in the end, grocery shopping lists aren't worth it.

I'll stand in the cereal isle and take too much time pondering over the different sizes of boxes to buy. Should I get the normal sized box or the family sized? How much cereal will I need for the next couple weeks, or months, depending on when I decide to come here again? I never know, and usually end up buying the bigger box because why not?

I've learned to stray away from buying foods that are quickly perishable, like lettuce, because I never can eat it all before it goes bad. That's what's so inconvenient about buying food for only one person; there is no way I have the capacity to consume this amount of food before it expires and goes bad. Instead of feeling guilty when I have to throw it out, I simply don't buy it. In the end, I'm left with an abundance of boxed and canned food, none of which ever goes bad.

I don't know why, but I'm usually already starving when I go to the grocery store, probably because I don't have food in the pantry. Because of this, I rush to get home, and because I rush I always end up forgetting something. It's overwhelming to think about all the food I need to buy, so I try to get it done as fast as possible. When I finally decide I've picked out every food item that I think I need, I make my way to the checkout where I have to load all of it. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you're the only one lugging all this food around, it gets tiring. After loading it from the cart to the back of my car, I can't wait to get home. At this point I've probably already realized I forgot something, but I don't care enough and am too lazy to go back inside and get it. Plus, I have these Hershey Kisses to get home to.

The worst part hasn't even happened yet: carrying it all to my top floor apartment. I dread this. I go to the gym and lift weights because of this. One person, seven bags. I can do it all in one trip, I tell myself. I quickly realize that, in fact, I can't, and begrudgingly realize it'll take a minimum of two trips to get all this crap to my kitchen. Six flights of stairs later, I make it up to my door and have to put everything down in order to unlock my door. After getting it all to my kitchen I make it back down to my car again to repeat the process one or two more times. When I have no circulation in my arms and am convinced they are going to fall off, I start unpacking it and squeezing it in to the fridge and pantry.

The only good thing that comes with this is the realization that I won't have to go grocery shopping for the next couple weeks. I've completed the laborious task of restocking my pantry so I don't starve. Though it may not seem like a huge task, grocery shopping is one my least desirable things to do, and always has been. I hope I eventually learn to like it but that's a very, very slim chance.