Supermarket Sweep

Do you remember the game show Supermarket Sweep, where the contestants are set loose in the grocery store to fill their carts with whatever they choose in a set amount of time? Well, The Simpson Six set out on our own version of this game yesterday afternoon!

Ian with a full shopping cart!

Jason's sister, "Aunt Shannon", gave the 4 kids each a $5 gift card to Trader Joe's as part of their Christmas gift. Well, our kids LOVE to play market and each have a growing collection of "credit cards" (empty gift cards) that they regularly use when they play store or restaurant, so to have their own gift card to their favorite grocery store with real money on it was about all the excitement that they could handle!

One of our favorite things about Trader Joe's is the kid-size shopping carts!

The caveat to this gift, however, is that they were to purchase only items that they had never tried before and to send a picture to Aunt Shannon of the items that they chose. Also, she gave them each a picture of an item to look for while in the store: Caroline was to look for a "Carolima Bean", Lydia was on the hunt for "Lydiasagna", Ian was searching for a "Kianiwi Fruit" and Eliza was trying to find a "Weliza Melon"!

The kids with the papers with their respective "exotic foods" that they were searching for.

While we didn't have any luck finding these exotic foods, we did have a lot of fun looking for new and exciting foods to taste--some new for all of us and some that those of us who have tried it before were finally able to convince others that it's time to try.

Hmmm...are there any dried fruits that we haven't tried?

Caroline decides that she wants to try eggplant.

Looking through the dairy shelves for a new food to try.

Eliza is along for the ride as we search for new produce to try.

Another one of the fun things about shopping at Trader Joe's with the kids is that they get to search for the monkey who hides somewhere in the store. If they find him and go to the coffee counter, an employee gives them a "monkey treat" for finding the monkey! 

Today he was hiding near the cat food--and ready for New Year's Eve!

The four kids even chose something new to try for their monkey treat this trip--fig cereal bars.

The spread of new food items that the kids picked with their gift cards.

When it was all said and done, they picked out a total of 9 new food items to try with a grand total of $21.61:

• Snapea Crisps
• Baked Lentil Chips with sea salt and black pepper
• Unsulphured sweetened and dried mango
• Pomegranate
• Asian pear
• Eggplant
• Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola
• Sweet potato gnocchi with butter and sage
• Feta cheese with caramelized onion pastry bites

Last night they tried the Asian pear with dinner and the snapea crisps for a snack--both earning rave reviews! Dinner tonight will include the Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola and pomegranate. Perhaps this will be a game that we play every couple of months to experiment with new foods of the season. Thanks for such a fun, creative gift, Aunt Shannon!