Beware, there might be baby pooh in you grocery basket! !

One of my favorite things to do is grocery shop. It started as a little kid when I would accompany my Dad on Saturday nights to stock up on things we would need for Sunday and throughout the following week. Milk, cheese, bread, and cereal were among the regular items on our list.

As an adult my love for the grocery store has continued and since living on my own I have enjoyed being able to control what groceries I get to buy. I really think of the grocery store as a mecca for yummy foods, new ideas and a general sense of well being.

Some of the grocery stores I have patronized thru out my life have been, Lucky's, Albertsons, Safeway, Spencers, Vons, and Trader Joes. (And for a brief period Super Walmart, oh I miss you Super Walmart) My routine now consists of Traders first for all the special things I can buy there then on to Albertsons for the mainstream items and my produce.

The produce section is what brings me to the post today as I had an interesting encounter there earlier this week. My grocery shopping is usually without incident but this experience is truly noteworthy.

Standard produce items are lettuce, avocados, tomatoes, onion, cilantro (yum), and garlic. (I'm convinced my hands will smell of garlic and onions for eternity) On this occasion I was diverting from my regular items to purchase some delicious and seasonal corn on the cob. As I was hovering over the cobs trying to determine which would be worm free an older woman interrupts to ask if I would like a helpful tip. I was excited as I thought she could offer some wisdom as how to see thru the husks and determine the worm free corns. Oh, how wrong I was!

I should back up and say that I am avidly against using the plastic produce bags supplied for my shopping convenience. Other than temporarily containing my produce they are useless and I believe are doomed to clog a landfill.

So this woman (plastic produce bag in hand) begins to tell me that instead of just tossing my produce on the bottom of my cart I can use these helpful little bags. She then proceeds to tell me that I should be very concerned about the germs lurking on my cart because the moms put their kids in the cart with their poopy diapers and thus that kiddie pooh will end up on my lettuce! AHAHAHAHAHA! If only I could have taken a picture of the look on the woman's face when I told her I would chance the poopy lettuce because of my adamant stance against using those darn plastic bags! I thanked her for her advice and we parted ways, her feeling defeated and most likely grateful she would never be eating one of my salads. Fortunately I only saw her in the store once more and she politely avoided me.

So, the moral of the story is this, wash your produce when you get home, and know that there is no secret tip for avoiding wormy corn on the cob.