Some of you might be saying “um, yeah, we’ve been getting cookies at HyVee for years…” Others might be saying “she gives her kids a cookie every time they go to the grocery store?!?” Granted, I really don’t grocery shop much with three kids four-and-under because once they’re all in the cart, I can’t fit much food in anymore. So my husband does a lot of our grocery shopping on his way home from work (he’s also the cook in the family, not to make anyone extra jealous…) 😉 But, seriously, when it’s time to go to the grocery store, my kids jump up and cheer because they know that the super-nice bakery man or woman is going to smile at them and then hand them a delicious chocolate chip (or sugar) cookie just for politely asking and then saying “thank you.”
My kids usually start to get restless after the produce section, since it’s half of what we buy and it takes me so long to find everything. So when tiny humans start to get a little feisty in the the race car or the pink shopping cart (the cookie is an extra bonus if we have to use the taxi or firetruck, which, unfortunately, aren’t favorites with our offspring), we head over to the bakery before quickly running through the rest of the aisles. HyVee http://hyvee.com has become our favorite place to shop for groceries because of their super friendly customer service and the gas points, but when you throw a free cookie in the mix for the kiddos, it makes grocery shopping even better.
UPDATE: I just found out this week (how I knew about the cookie and not the fruit is beyond me…) that if you’d rather your kids have some fruit to keep them occupied instead of a cookie, there is a little stand in the middle the produce section that holds bananas and clementines. The sign above them reads “Healthy Treats For Your Kids While You Shop.” I took one for my one-year-old and it kept her busy halfway through the shopping trip!
What You Need to Know:Â
- Where: Ask anyone at the bakery, and they’ll offer your kid(s) a choice of cookie (if they choose chocolate chip, you might need to have baby wipes on hand for when they finish). The fruit is in the middle of the produce section, toward the front. At the Springfield HyVee, it’s near the non-organic apples.
- FREE
- When: Anytime