No such thing as quick trip to grocery

Online grocery shopping has been tried and abandoned by many companies, but there has to be a better way -- such as, perhaps, a grocery store in each of our backyards.

During the summer, in particular, grocery shopping is an onerous chore on a good day. The kids are home, so no matter how much you buy, you forgot their "favorite" item or they've finished something else by the time you get home, so you still have to go to the grocery store. (Or to the neighbor's house, which works when you have very nice neighbors!)

Grocery shopping is like laundry: You can never truly cross the chore off your to-do list.

Lately, grocery shopping has become even more complicated. It seems no matter what store you go into, they're remodeling, or moving things around, or your favorite item is no longer carried there.

Case in point: The Jewel on 95th Street is upgrading for whatever reason. (Maybe because the Dominick's across the street did so, annoyingly, recently?)

The store can't have been there too many years because I moved near it before it opened and that hasn't been so long that the store would be obsolete. Still, they're renovating -- not that I noticed any deficiency there -- and that's what's inconvenient.

You go there to get one specific item and, of course, that's the area of the store they're redoing right now and most of that category is out of stock. Must be some sort of Errand's Law. So, despite the fact I assume they are remodeling to build their business, the actual endless process of remodeling just makes customers mad.

If they really wanted more customers, they should get rid of the televisions at the checkout lanes. That's one reason I avoid the place except when absolutely necessary.

These days, it's rarely absolutely necessary because so many non-grocery stores now carry groceries -- or, at least, a few groceries. It was somewhat disconcerting to stumble upon the cereal aisle down from the plumbing supplies at Menard's recently.

But with more options come more places to search for answers to the many grocery-store mysteries.

For instance, I can't tell the difference between Better Cheddars and the other cheese crackers. But I have a kid who can, so I'm always looking for a good deal on Better Cheddars.

Perhaps they are made of the most expensive cheese on the planet, which is why they cost lots more than the others. But some stores carry the entire line of crackers that includes Better Cheddars, but not Better Cheddars. Others carry it, but charge twice as much as for the other cheese crackers. Still odder is the fact that though the company that makes the crackers tells me it does package the crackers in a larger, more cost-effective size, I have never seen the jumbo size no matter where I've shopped in several states. I only find the way-too-expensive small size. So, when they're on sale, I buy the whole shelf.

So from store to store we go for various items our families love -- from Casey's to Trader Joe's to Costco to Sam's Club to Target to Jewel to Dominick's to Meijer -- and now, beyond, to Menard's and the occasional throw-in-the-towel to Walgreen's or White Hen or Convenient, trying to find the right size, the right brand or the right price to temporarily complete that week's shopping list.

At least now we're shopping for back-to-school lunch items, and welcoming the slight slowdown in the pace of restocking the fridge.

An accompanying slowdown in the pace of grocery remodeling would be appreciated.