02/26/2026
🛒How have you managed grocery shopping after the death of a loved one? Grocery stores can be a difficult place to go when grieving. Not only do run the risk of seeing someone you know (and you may just want to get in and out without being seen) but you can also have grief triggers seeing items that your loved one enjoyed eating or drinking.
Many grievers share the heartache of walking down an aisle in a grocery store and seeing their loved one’s favorite foods. Sometimes it stops us in our tracks. Elizabeth Edwards wrote about being in a grocery store once and seeing her 16 year old son Wade’s favorite soda and the grief hit so hard she dropped to her knees. She sobbed. She also shared that she was sure that no one bought any soda in that store for 20 minutes that day while some woman was hysterical on the floor in the soda aisle.
Many grievers also share grocery stores are hard places as it’s a place to bump into people they know, some not well, who may have heard about their loss and want to ask questions when the griever just wants to pick up something and leave. Or they ask about the griever’s family as they haven’t heard about the death and that is also so hard when a griever is not expecting to answer a question that in the past was thoughtful and now feels painful. Others say they see people who know them turn their grocery cart around to avoid them. Sometimes that is a relief and sometimes feels painful too.
Many grievers ask friends or family who want to help shop for them or even they use Instacart or the grocery store to deliver food in the beginning. Some will shop at a grocery store far from home to avoid bumping into people.
No matter what it can be a hard place to go as a griever.