Lunch at Sam's Club

Are you wondering yet what Jay and lunch at Sam's Club have in common? Well, let me tell you! Jay has figured out that you get food .... like as in treats at Sam's Club. He loves that store. Even better than Wal-Mart, and he knows that suckers come from Wal-Mart and they have a McDonald's at Wal-Mart ... and still yet, Sam's Club is his new favorite place to go.

Yesterday the kiddo's were giving us a hard way to go. They were bored. ... and when they're bored, it's ugly. Very ugly. We thought the best thing we could do is to load them up and take them to lunch at Sam's Club. Not only do we save money ... they get good food, a nice variety and even desert. They also have interaction with other human beings and it's a great educational setting for them. We're teaching them how to be frugal.

When we do a Sam's Club lunch ... we are just a little bit sneaky! We don't pull them through the store in their cute little 'choo-choo' wagons that are purple, green and orange and are all hooked together like a train. No Way! That makes us way too conspicuous.

We go incognito! Two carts! Marlboro Man takes two kids in one cart ... and I usually have Jay in my cart. I can bribe him with the candy aisle if he sits down and 'be's quiet.' Jay eats the most, and eats the fastest, so he has to ride with me. Plus, I put the groceries in my cart, while Marlboro Man uses his cart strictly as a Limo, and to hold all the samples that are too hot to eat at the moment. Another reason he takes two kids and I take one kid is because the old ladies talk to him, and comment on how cute the kids are, and they think they're twins. He doesn't tell them any different. I can't keep my mouth shut, and I'd be saying, "oh no ... they're triplets! See that one over there ... he's the 3rd pea in the pod!" Then our cover would be blown!

I have it all figured out. They strategically place the little old women with all the samples every other aisle on opposite ends.

As we enter the store, we turn right and aim for the laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. Naturally, Sam's Club wants to sell as much of everything they can ... so they have samples in that area of the store as well. Yesterday, I scored samples of Chlorox bleach wipes, Windex, Dish detergent, and a magic eraser. Yes!

Since we're traveling incognito and MM is behind me, every once in a while I have to look back and make sure he's loading up on his fair share of samples too. Saving money is right up his alley ... and it's free stuff! He only needs a nudge every little bit.

We then head towards the bread and chips department. Jay likes donuts! He loves the donut samples. I wheel right up there and get him a donut. Then I get all sly like, and turn my cart around and face Marlboro Man with his two kids. Of course, Sam and Meg want a donut too. I get them each a little bit of a donut .. and by then Jay wants another one. I can sneak him another one, and one for myself too!

After desert, we head off down the meat aisle. Here, they randomly place the server ladies. We had apple bratwurst, steak, and shrimp here.

Then, off to the frozen food department we go. They have the best samples here! I figure if we zig-zag up and down the aisles in order, we can hit every sample they have ... and we can do the good ones twice if we make a circle. We had fried rice, hot moz. cheese sticks, baked fish, and little bitty sausage dogs. And I got one of everything too!

We finished up lunch with yogurt and some lemonade. We did have to hit the lemonade stand twice since the cups were so little. But that lady was really nice. I struck up a conversation with her and told her they were triplets, and she didn't even notice that we took 8 little cups of lemonade. Two for each of them and one for each of us. MM gets embarrassed and he didn't drink his. I tell him he's only there to push the cart and look good with the kids. Old ladies like to see Daddies pushing their kids around in a cart. Especially the ladies at Sam's Club. Some of them even recognize us, but that's only if we go twice on the same weekend. Sometimes we just can't help ourselves, but we're doing it for the kids. They need the socialization and education!

... as always, be blessed,

p.s. okay folks, no comments that I'm nuts! okay??? ... and if you don't do lunch at Sam's, you should really consider it. Where else can you feed your kids so good for free?