Never go to Trader Joe's Hungry in December

Things nearly got out of control this weekend.

I had a busy day Saturday sleeping in, cleaning house, working out and doing laundry. All of a sudden a strong case of the HANGRY's snuck up on me without warning. I had no eggs, no meat prepped and had already made an adaptation of my Seven Minute Scramble in the morning.

The only reasonable option my hungry brain stomach could handle was to go to Trader Joe's, knowing the battlefield I was about to enter.

As much as it's true that you should never go grocery shopping when you're hungry, you really shouldn't go to Trader Joe's hungry in December.

Any other time of the year, my trips into TJ's are quick. I have a basket, I grab a coffee sample then hit fruits/vegetables/meats/wines in that order. Easy perimeter route of the store for all of the fresh and healthy items that are household staples year round.

Not in December.

In December I get drawn down the aisles. Where sweets and crackers and cookies haunt my goals dreams. What's so irresistible down these aisles? So much seasonal greatness. Kind of like how the store has everything pumpkin from September to October, December is a dangerous month for peppermint-anything lovers like me.

Need some examples of what can go wrong during your winter trip?



The boxes of Joe-Joe's are always gone, all that's left is an empty shelf with a hand-written tag saying how amazing they are and what a good price you can snag them for. When I see the empty shelf I imagine someone doing a supermarket sweep with their cart and grabbing all the boxes that they will then eat from December through November of the following year - no rationing necessary.

This weekend I splurged for the peppermint pretzel slims at $2.99 for the 6oz bag for the second time this month and I'm challenging myself to make them last the whole week this time.



Once my family constructed the mega-gingerbread man from TJ's and decorated him to look like my dad in his work uniform. This time I didn't see any of those remaining but the House Kits looked to be a popular item at only $7.99

Speaking of gingerbread, this paleo recipe for gingerbread brownies looks promising.

I know how amazing the signature pumpkin ice cream is (and survived 2013 without having any!) so I can only imagine what they've done for the Egg Nog. I have a feeling that a serving is one spoonful but that's not a concern during the holidays, is it?

Apparently this recipe for an Egg Nog Milkshake can't be beat. I'm tempted to try it with almond milk Egg Nog and make a serving just for one... because I can't be trusted to save a serving for "later".

I did have enough will power to mostly stick to my list, but you can tell that it bothered me enough to dedicate an entire post to how many amazing things I passed up to stick to my mostly-paleo plan. 

I consider my friend Marisa lucky that she doesn't have a TJ's to tempt her with all of this until 2014!