Someone REALLY Won!

I was using reusable shopping bags before every store sold plastic-ish and strange not quite fabric-ish bags. When I was in college, I had a few canvas bags I hauled with me to and from the local grocery store within walking distance of my apartment. That store would rebate my bill five to ten cents per bag. They held much more than the regular bags, too.

Now those spoiled college students have a Trader Joe's walking distance from my old apartment and my old dorm. I cannot begin to describe how insanely jealous I am of them. I take consolation in remembering the malted cookies and cream ice cream from the ice cream shop that is no longer in that shopping center.

My parents have several Trader Joe's locations within a 10-minute driving radius of their home. For years, this added to my bitterness because we had no Trader Joe's in our town. The closest locations were at least 15-mile drives up or down our local, very crowded, freeway. The day that Trader Joe's finally opened up in our community, the heavens opened up and the sunshine fell in rays directly over the location of the store.

I try to remember my reusable shopping bags when I visit. I usually write my name on the little receipt with my phone number to enter the monthly contest that rewards those of us who do so. In the beginning, they rewarded shoppers with a gift card but several months ago, a clerk advised me that the prize changed to a "gift basket" of products to circumvent laws against giving away alcohol. (With a gift card prize, shoppers could purchase alcohol. Gift baskets avoid this dilemma.)

On my visit to Trader Joe's last week, I decided not to ask the clerk for a slip and pen. I never won anyway and he seemed focused on his job. Why bother to distract him? I had several errands to complete, I decided to save us both the fruitless time and effort. As I started to take my bag and leave, he called me back to the counter and encouraged me to fill out the slip. I protested but he already tore the receipt paper off the register so I filled it out anyway.

On Tuesday of this week, the manager of the store called me to advise me that I had WON! I believe I squealed. Then I asked "Does everyone react like that?"

B replied "Yes, I think everyone's just happy to find out that SOMEONE actually wins these things and we really do give them away!"

I asked if I could wait until Friday to pick up my bag and he assured me that would be fine. Today being Friday, Mr. Genius and I visited Trader Joe's to do some shopping and pick up my prize!! At the request of other Trader Joe's shoppers, I present a list of what I won. By my choosing, I offer visual aids:

The bag as I collected it at the Trader Joe's customer service desk:

Note: B was significantly impressed that I came and picked it up on Friday, just like I said I would. Huh. I knew when I would be in the area.

Two bags of snacks right off the top:

I happen to adore the cheese puffs, which are the Trader Joe's version of Pirate Booty. Yum!

I presume this jar in the bottom of the bag goes with the tortilla chips:

But the jar might end up poured over some chicken in a slow cooker. Or some baked potatoes.

More snack foods:

We have yet to try the trek mix. The package only includes nuts, no dried fruit. We are finicky about the nuts we like and tend to make our own trail mix by shopping for the individual ingredients among three different stores. The mix is really only peanuts, almonds, cashews and honey roasted peanuts. I doubt we would purchase this in the future but in the future, we might find some toffee peanuts to add to our custom blend in lieu of regular peanuts. I plan to send these packages with Daddy Doc and Sweet But Sneaky on an upcoming snow camping trip with Scouts.

I apologize for the quality of this photo:

I love these crackers. I purchase at least one box on almost every visit to Trader Joe's. I especially like them with the cheese, pesto and sun dried tomato spread from the refrigerated dips section of the store. I take them on camping trips and serve them often at parties. This explains why I forgot to take a picture of the box when I took the others, earlier in the day when the daylight was much nicer. I forgot that this box came in the gift bag. I have several others in my kitchen already!

Cat cookies...

... for people!! I purchased the regular variety in the past and we enjoyed them very much, although it has been several years since we had them. We look forward to trying the chocolate variety. I love spice cookies but I tend to prefer chocolate in candy as opposed to cookies.

Another pairing:

I tend to purchase whole wheat pasta when I can, or else I stock up at the regular grocery store during sales. I like funky pasta shapes. I look forward to trying the marinara sauce.

Another jar:

I grew up on Laura Scudder's Natural Peanut Butter but I confess that I am a Skippy mom. There. I said it. Natural peanut butter is a pain in the tush to spread cold out of the refrigerator.

And finally:

Of everything in the bag, I am least likely to purchase this in the future. I tend to avoid pre-sweetened cereals and I work the Cheerios sales like no one's business. Just today I purchased four boxes of Cheerios, the same size as this box, for a buck a piece, after sale and coupons, at my regular grocery store. I do stuff like that all the time. I have a stock-pile of Cheerios in the garage. But the boys look forward to trying the frosted flake cereal!

Of course, the bag itself is another gift. We will definitely use everything in the bag. Nothing shall go to waste! What a fun opportunity to try some new items and get some old favorites for free!

After we took the bag to the car, Mr. Genius and I shopped a bit. I told the clerk that I was happy to win last month's prize. She actually ripped off a tape for me to sign up for this month's prize which made me giggle. I decided to let someone else have a chance this month.