When my wife and I started dating, we used to do this really cool and unique date once in awhile where we would go into any grocery store and wander the aisles picking out something that could classify as certain meal items. For example….

• Drink: MADD Virgin Margherita
• Bread: Twistos Bruschetta Baguette Crackers
• Fruit: Fruit Gushers
• Protein: Honey and Garlic Mini Pepperoni Sticks
• Dessert: Dunk-A-Roos

This was what we had the first time we ever did this, just a couple short months into our dating life It was so much cheaper than going out to a restaurant, infinitely more fun, and one of the best date ideas that I ever had. We have done this countless times over the years, and we will no doubt continue this tradition for many years to come. We always pick a random grocery store, gas station, or drugstore, and just go for it. It’s never “healthy” but we make it fun by pretending it’s a well rounded meal, and we have a great time.

It’s one of my favourite things that we do, and yesterday, we did this again while taking it in a slightly different direction. We went to the grocery store and decided to browse around the store looking specifically for items that we have never tasted or even seen before. Everything that went into the basket had to follow one rule. It had to be completely new to us. We were also in a very snacky mood, so we decided to forget about making the healthy dinner that we planned for, and just have a night where we snack on random goodies.

Here’s our random grocery haul!

• Moscow Mule Chips – Because randomly finding chips flavoured like alcohol is hilarious.
• Lime Sorbet – The perfect dessert item for the next week!
• Chickpea Tortilla Chips – On sale and with 1000 bonus PC points, so why not?
• New Sweet Heat Skittles – We’ve been trying to find these for awhile now. They’re really interesting. I like them.
• Reese Crunchers – Sort of like OMG’s. Very delicious.
• Kiwi Berries – Our new fruit item. Very exciting and quite good!
• Raspberry Macaron – Not the best, but you can’t win them all.
• Peanut Butter Cake Pop – Nothing special, but it’s a cake pop so it’s fun!
• Raspberry Almond Pistachio Tart – Haven’t tried this yet.
• Peach Tea, Apple Cinnamon Water, Pear/Vanilla and Apple/Ginger craft soda. – The craft sodas were quite delicious with intriguing flavours.

Now of course, we didn’t eat all of this! That’s the best part about our random shopping trips. It’s cheaper than a single restaurant meal, and we end up with lots of snacks for the following week. We snacked on all of these items for our dinner, and it was awesome (we also ate some vegetables just to add something healthy and filling).

It’s always cool to wander your grocery store on a different shopping trip from your normal routine. Explore. Look at the shelves you usually avoid. Find new and exciting products. Go down the junk food aisle that you always run away from. I promise you, one time is not the end of the world!

I dutifully did what I always do and weighed and logged all of my items into my Lose It! app and counted all the calories. Even with all my random snack items, I still came in below my daily target. I eat healthy food every day. Eating junk food once in awhile certainly won’t hurt me, and it’ll definitely give us one heck of a fun date night as we watch TV with our brand new snacks.