Grocery shopping list for January 2020

This post is the thirteenth in a series. 

2 January

On the way back from the city, with my son, I went to Woolworths and bought a container of pumpkin, couscous and fetta salad, sandwich bags, and some flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

3 January

On the way back from the tailor’s I went to Woolies and bought bread, “ancient grain” salad, and some flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

4 January

Went to the Woolworths website and bought eye fillet steak, bacon, lentil salad, bean salad, tomatoes, mushrooms, a capsicum, strawberries, a pawpaw, a sultana butter cake, eggs, King Island “Roaring Forties” blue cheese, Marsh’s extra tasty cheese, rice, milk, Jatz crackers, beetroot-almond dip, garbage bags, cling wrap (biodegradable), mouthwash, soap, Calbee “Harvest Snaps”, and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar). Delivery at no charge due on Monday the 6th.

Later, at about 8.20am, I headed out on foot and bought some flavoured mineral water (no-sugar) at Woolworths, and after lunch I walked to Broadway Shopping Centre (to get some shoes fixed) and, while there, I bought some luggage tags. I had given mine to my son upon his return to Japan.

6 January

The night before at 8.04pm an SMS came from Woolworths reminding me of the delivery to be made this morning. There was also an email in my client application in the morning, timestamped 1.37am, about the bean salad, which they said was out of stock. I had noticed that the salads hadn’t been available in the store near me, either, so I guessed that some products were not being sold anymore. I had wanted to buy taramosalata but it had not been listed on the website.

Some selected items, the email went on, weighed less than the advertised amount. So, because of these eventualities, the charge for my order would be reduced by $18.77 prior to payment finalisation.

Before the Woolworths delivery arrived I went to the Feather and Bone website and ordered sirloin steak, pork chops, beef sausages, and bacon. Delivery for my zone was due on Thursday 9 January and cost $10.

At 7.04am the intercom buzzed and I told the guy whose face I could see downstairs, to come up. I repeated the phrase twice to make sure he got the message and then unlatched the street door using the control on my console. I ushered him inside when he arrived at my floor and he walked to the kitchen to put the goods on the bench. I helped him by making space, transferring items to another bench so that there would be room for all the things. I mentioned about the bean salad and he said he didn’t know, hesitatingly admitting that he was only involved in deliveries. I said that the local Woolworths supermarket had also not stocked the bean salad when I had been in there recently.

When everything had been removed from the two crates he had wheeled upstairs, I signed with my finger on his mobile phone and he left. I put everything away, bagging the steak and putting it in the freezer. The invoice that came with the delivery showed a final total of $152.58. 

There were two steaks and they came to 255g in weight. I had ordered two tomatoes – and the tax invoice that came with the order showed this as fact – but three tomatoes had been delivered. The mushrooms were loose in a bag though I had ordered a punnet, and the invoice showed “punnet” listed with the other items.

In the afternoon I went in the car to Broadway Shopping Centre to pick up shoes I had left to be repaired and, while I was there, I visited Harris Farm Markets and bought sirloin steak, pickled herrings, smoked mussels, double-Gloucester cheese, Danish fetta, sliced sorpressa, sliced Spanish salami, cremeux d’Argental cheese, marinaded goat’s cheese, bread, dill pickles, and pitted green olives.

7 January

On the way back home from the tailor’s I stopped at the bottle shop near my place and bought 10 bottles of Carlton Zero and one of Heineken 0.0%. This was everything with no alcohol they had in the shop. I had gone to the other bottle shop, the one near Miller Street, but they hadn’t had any zero-alcohol beer in stock.

8 January

On the way home from the post office I stopped at Woolworths and bought some flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

9 January

At around 8.25am the deliveryman from Feather and Bone Butchery buzzed me on the intercom and I told him I would let him in, then released the lock on the front door using the control in my apartment. I waited with my front door open and he came in presently, telling me that I wouldn’t need the box (I wouldn’t) presumably on the strength of memory: I had said the same thing last time he had come.

He put the box on the dining table and took out the meat, placing it on its surface. I thanked him and told him about the renovations to the building lobby. He said that I should leave a note next time I ordered and that he could meet me in the garage if necessary. I thanked him again and said that I wished the body corporate would do something about the lift buttons. He agreed, saying that he had tried the button on the right-hand side of the gondola, but that it hadn’t worked so he had used the one on the left. 

He departed, going back to his truck, and I repacked the meat he had brought using small bags, and put it all in the freezer except for the bacon, which went in the fridge.

10 January

On the way home from the tailor’s I stopped at Woolworths and bought fillet steak, lamb steaks, sliced corned beef, bean salad, couscous with cauliflower and cranberry, eggs, a cos lettuce, and some flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

11 January

Drove out to Lakemba and did a bit of shopping. Bought some prepared meals – chicken curry, and aaloo gosht (made with chicken and potato) – as well as some biryani. Also bought Egyptian green olives, Camel-brand (Indian) mango pickle, Lebanese pita bread (which was $1 for a pack of seven discs), some dishwashing sponges, and a bottle opener.

13 January

Went to Woolies and bought strawberries, laundry liquid, toilet paper, and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar). See photo below for receipt.

Went to the Woolworths website to ask if I could temporarily suspend my subscription. The building where I live is having a facelift and the lobby would be blocked for nine weeks, making it more difficult to deliver groceries to me. The assistant with the company I spoke with said I cannot suspend a subscription, but added that she would pass on a suggestion.

14 January

This morning I went back to the Woolies website and cancelled my subscription, since I wouldn’t be using it until the lobby renovation is finished. To cancel this there is a tool and Woolworths said they were “sorry” about my decision, but their policy left me with no alternative apart from paying $19 a month for nothing. Instead of being sorry they might have been more flexible. 

I wouldn’t have the problem with Feather and Bone Butchery. I had spoken with their deliveryman the previous Thursday when he said I should leave a note about delivery options with my order. In the event that I put in another order with them, I would have to come downstairs to meet the guy since the way for pedestrians to get into the building for the foreseeable future is via the second-floor garage or via the back entrance on the fourth floor. In this instance, the former option would be employed. You can still get in through the roller-door on the ground floor, but this can mean dodging cars.

In the afternoon I went to Woolies and bought sliced corned beef, sliced turkey breast, cos lettuce, a pawpaw, raspberries, strawberries, a cake, avocado spread, marinaded goats’ cheese, bread, and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

15 January

On the way home from the post office I stopped at Woolworths and bought lentil salad and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

16 January

Went to the bottle shop and bought two six-packs of Carlton Zero.

19 January

After coming home from the homeware centre in the car, I popped in at the convenience store and bought some eggs.

20 January

Since I was down at the pharmacy I stopped by at Coles and bought chicken sausages, short-cut bacon, quinoa and tabouleh salad, coleslaw, artichoke hearts, strawberries, blueberries, a pawpaw, bread, olive oil spread, milk, and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

22 January

At 2.56am an email came from Australia post about an order I had made on the Campos Coffee website, telling me three kilos of coffee would be delivered this day. An SMS came at 7.03am about the same delivery and I told the company to leave the parcel in a safe place. I had made the order a few days earlier.

Later, while I was out in the car, I stopped at a Woolworths and bought sliced corned beef, Somerdale truffle Cheddar cheese, https://somerdale.com/product/il-truffelino-chedda-with-black-summer-truffle/ eggs, taramosalata, strawberries, and flavoured mineral water (some with no sugar and some with no added sugar).

23 January

On the way home from the post office I stopped by Woolies and bought bean salad, minestrone, couscous with cauliflower and cranberry, flavoured mineral water (no-sugar), and a bottle of Coke No Sugar.

24 January

On the way home from the tailor’s I stopped at Woolworths and bought strawberries, blueberries, honey-macadamia ice cream, and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar). 

In the afternoon I checked the post box but the card for the coffee wasn’t there. I looked at the Australia Post email and called the phone number at the bottom, in the footer, but I didn’t manage to retrieve, in the recording, the tracking code I needed. I went to the URL of the web page the phone message contained and pasted in the tracking number, to find that the parcel had been at the post office since the 22nd. 

I put my shoes on and walked down there and used my photo ID to retrieve the coffee. Then went to Woolworths and bought shortcut bacon, lamb sausages, chicken pate, coleslaw, sultana cake, a lettuce, and bread.

25 January

Drove out to Lakemba in the car and bought some prepared keema aloo (potatoes with minced meat), eggs, beef sausages, lamb cutlets, and some prepared biryani rice with lamb.

26 January

I was out driving after dinner and stopped in a suburban street to park, then went to Woolworths where I bought T-bone steak, Scotch fillet steak, a ling fillet, salmon fillets, sliced ham, pastrami, shortcut bacon, a packet of Smiths lamington flavoured chips, and some flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

27 January

Went to the bottle shop and bought 10 small bottles of Carlton Zero.

28 January

On the way home from the tailor’s I went to the pharmacy and then to Coles, where I bought quinoa and tabouleh salad, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and a container of coleslaw. Also bought milk, sandwich bags, cos lettuce, a pawpaw, and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar). As Coles’ automated machines always give me an error I queued at the staffed checkout, and as I was standing there with my trolley a sales clerk came along and opened up a register so I didn’t have long to wait.

29 January

Went to Woolworths and bought sliced corned beef, Edam cheese, Gouda cheese, bread, and flavoured mineral water (no-sugar).

30 January

Drove the car to Bunnings and bought drain cleaner, liquid soap, and a sink plunger. To find what I needed I asked for help several times. 

31 January

Went to Woolies and bought chicken sausages, Scotch fillet steak, eye fillet steak, eggs, sultana butter cake, blueberries, strawberries, flavoured mineral water (no-sugar), and lemonade (no-sugar).