I have a little public service announcement.

A life tip, if you will.

To my fellow Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha… and whatever generation comes after that because honestly, I’ve lost track.

Please.

For the love of your wallet, your fridge, and the vegetables that deserve better…

Do not go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.

I cannot stress this enough.

Every single time I do it, I transform into a completely different person.

A person I don’t even recognise.

Apparently, Hungry Raulito is an incredible cook.

Normal Raulito walks past broccoli and doesn’t even make eye contact with it.

Hungry Raulito?

“Ooooh… broccoli. I could roast that.”

No, you couldn’t.

You’ve never roasted broccoli in your life.

Then I walk past some random vegetable I’ve genuinely never bought before and suddenly my brain goes…

“That actually looks quite nice.”

Excuse me?

Since when?

You’ve ignored this vegetable every week for the last five years. What happened today?

Then I start creating this imaginary version of my future life.

I’m going to make healthy lunches.

I’m going to prepare colourful dinners.

I’m going to meal prep.

I’m going to become one of those adults who casually says things like, “I just made a quick quinoa salad.”

No you’re not.

You’re going to order Thai food on Friday like you always do.

And then we reach the snack aisle.

Honestly, that’s where all common sense leaves the building.

I’m standing there convincing myself that I need some spicy Pringles or Gusanitos or something like that.

And chocolate.

And biscuits.

And maybe some ice cream just in case.

Because apparently being hungry has also turned me into a financial advisor who’s excellent at justifying terrible decisions.

“It’s on offer.”

“It’s basically an investment.”

“I’ll save it for guests.”

Which guests, Raulito?

Nobody is coming over.

The funny part is that every now and then I actually force myself to cook one of those random ingredients I bought. Not because I’m excited about it, but because I refuse to admit defeat. I paid for it. I brought it home. The least I can do is honour the commitment.

So I eat it.

Not happily.

More like…

“Well… this was exactly as unnecessary as I thought it would be.”

And then I promise myself I’ll never buy it again.

Other times it’s even worse.

It quietly disappears into the back of the fridge where it lives a peaceful little life until one day I find it hiding behind the yoghurt looking… different.

At which point I have to throw it away.

And I always feel bad.

Not because I wasted the money.

Because I wasted the food.

So this post is partly me trying to hold myself accountable.

The next time I feel like going to the supermarket hungry, I hope I remember that I literally wrote an entire blog post telling other people not to do it.

So learn from my mistakes.

Please.

Do better than me.

This is me giving back to society.

You’re welcome.

Now if you’ll excuse me… I think I need to go grocery shopping.

— Raulito