Grocery shopping is making me ill

I was checking out at Aldi today and happened to notice the cart of the couple in front of me. It's no wonder the country is becoming obese. Here are the exact contents of the cart: 2 cases of Ramen soup mix, 2 cases of pop, 4 large bags of potato chips, 4 packages of Little Debbie dessert snacks, and 2 packages of plastic dinner plates. Sheesh, I've never seen a worse combo in my life.

Sadly, I've seen similar purchases at the Aldi. It's a real shame because there is actually very good cheap and nutritious food there: I once purchased about 20 lbs of dried pinto beans, which I used instead of sand for Sparky to play with when he was little. I told him we were buying them because, literally, the beans were cheaper than the dirt.

You have to know how to cook beans and have the desire to do so, though.

I can beat that: a 24-pack of Coors, a large-size tube of ground beef, and a gallon jar of mayonnaise.

My personal strategy for avoiding judgmentalness (or disgust) is to construct a storyline that says this is only a small, non-representative sample of the diet of the customer in front of me. For instance, I'll tell myself that the guy with the industrial quantities of Coors, ground beef and mayo just came from Green City Market, where he stocked up on locally-grown broccoli, kale, and arugula. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Cogito wrote:I was checking out at Aldi today and happened to notice the cart of the couple in front of me. It's no wonder the country is becoming obese. Here are the exact contents of the cart: 2 cases of Ramen soup mix, 2 cases of pop, 4 large bags of potato chips, 4 packages of Little Debbie dessert snacks, and 2 packages of plastic dinner plates. Sheesh, I've never seen a worse combo in my life.

You really should stop at Tony's on Elston once in a while. I've seen far worse in about 2/3rds of all the other carts I've seen in line.

maybe its just me, but I am so focused on my list, and getting the things I need for my menus and meals that I dont pay attention to what other shoppers have or dont have in their carts.

jimswside wrote:maybe its just me, but I am so focused on my list, and getting the things I need for my menus and meals that I dont pay attention to what other shoppers have or dont have in their carts.

Well, the OP was talking about standing in the checkout line.

eatchicago wrote:

jimswside wrote:maybe its just me, but I am so focused on my list, and getting the things I need for my menus and meals that I dont pay attention to what other shoppers have or dont have in their carts.

Well, the OP was talking about standing in the checkout line.

I must be too busy watching our toddler, putting my items on the conveyor, putting the bagged items in my cart, and paying, to pay attention.

Like I said I must be the oddball that doesn't do this.

Oh, I'm sure we've all purchased things at the grocery store that we're not proud of.

Here's my bigger obesity-related concern...

My wife is a CPS teacher. She was just telling me about a free breakfast program that her school just started participating in. Basically, all of the kids get a choice between a hot and a cold breakfast each morning. Great in theory, but those breakfast items include things like doughnuts and Pop Tarts. Nice treats for breakfast once in a while, but everyday?

Josh, you should know better than to hit my school-food-program button by now!

At our school the breakfast option is one of those plastic bowls of fruit loops OR a "cereal bar." 'Cause you know it's much more difficult and expensive to give them a bannana.

jimswside wrote:I must be too busy watching our toddler, putting my items on the conveyor, putting the bagged items in my cart, and paying, to pay attention.

Like I said I must be the oddball that doesn't do this.

I think I'm with you, most of the time...if I'm on deck, I'm too busy playing conveyor belt Tetris (can I fit all of my stuff on the belt, without leaving any of the belt visible, and without any of my stuff falling over?), chuckling at tabloid/celeb mag covers, or perusing the impressive & ever-expanding variety of gum.

But if I did see someone buying a case of Coors, a tube of ground beef, and a gallon of mayo, I would definitely call a couple friends on my way home to tell them about it and come up with theories on what they have planned for their weekend.

jesteinf wrote:Oh, I'm sure we've all purchased things at the grocery store that we're not proud of.

The key is to save the embarrassing purchases for when you have to go shopping anyway...that way the gallon of mayo is surrounded by tomatoes, deli meats, a box of granola bars, etc., which take the spotlight off of it a bit (at least I hope that's the case )

Then again, there have been times (before guys' weekend-type events) when I've walked into the checkout line with two cases of Miller Lite, giant bags of Doritos, Rold Gold pretzels, Sun Chips, etc., and a 1.75L bottle of Jack Daniels. Actually, I guess if I saw those items in someone else's cart, I wouldn't think "how embarrassing" or "how weird"...instead my thought would be "oh man, someone's barfing tonight".

jimswside wrote:maybe its just me, but I am so focused on my list, and getting the things I need for my menus and meals that I dont pay attention to what other shoppers have or dont have in their carts.

same here. i could care less what other people buy unless they get the last one of something i wanted i can't see myself becoming ill if i saw someone with a cartfull of ramen noodles soda and cookies

ok, I try not to observe and judge (I said TRY) what's in my neighbor's cart, but there was this one time...

a very well dressed business lady, in her early forties I think, purchasing at least a dozen Glade plug-ins at jewel. She seemed to be in a hurry (she kind-of sort-of butted in front of me in line).

it took all my will power to refrain from asking "yeesh, how bad does your place smell, lady??"

I'm sure we've all been "there." I have. I'm pretty sure there have been times I made a trip to the Jewel when all I needed (and all that was in my cart) was a 12-pack of Charmin, a box of All-Bran, and Citrucel. And I'm sure someone is observing this in line behind me and thinking, "Geez, is your life about nothing but THAT?" And I want to assure them, "No, see, it's just that this is all I needed today!" But they'll never believe me.

riddlemay wrote:I'm pretty sure there have been times I made a trip to the Jewel when all I needed (and all that was in my cart) was a 12-pack of Charmin, a box of All-Bran, and Citrucel.

Oh I would most definitely call a couple of friends to tell them about that after I got to the car

I went into the dollar store and purchased $20 worth of candy and snacks for the office pool. And I received a dirty look.

Of course, that went to the office and the four bags of fruits and vegetables were out in the car.

If a person wants to purchase junk food with their money, that is there free will.

I will admit that when I see the same being purchased with food stamps (or the replacement), I am more offended. For years, I have argued that food subsidies should be limited to healthy foods as in the WIC program.

this is amusing to me because when I'm at the grocery store and I'm not doing a major purchase (like every other Saturday) and I go in for just an item or two or maybe some snacks for writing a paper or something, I usually feel very guilty about my non-healthy foods versus the healthy ones in my neighbors' carts. I see someone with greens and chicken breast and asparagus and I have a nice frozen pizza for my Friday night laziness.

Each to his own, man. Each to his own.

LTH,

Slightly off subject, but I was recently in line at Whole Foods, and my order consisted of seven lbs. of Plugra butter (still $3.99 per lb).
The seventy-something woman in front of me felt compelled to explain to the big fat f*** behind her that butter wasn't healthy. I thanked her for the advice and replied to her that it was good for baking.

riddlemay wrote:I'm sure we've all been "there." I have. I'm pretty sure there have been times I made a trip to the Jewel when all I needed (and all that was in my cart) was a 12-pack of Charmin, a box of All-Bran, and Citrucel. And I'm sure someone is observing this in line behind me and thinking, "Geez, is your life about nothing but THAT?" And I want to assure them, "No, see, it's just that this is all I needed today!" But they'll never believe me.

This made me laugh so hard I almost cried!

Evil Ronnie wrote:LTH,

Slightly off subject, but I was recently in line at Whole Foods, and my order consisted of seven lbs. of Plugra butter (still $3.99 per lb).
The seventy-something woman in front of me felt compelled to explain to the big fat f*** behind her that butter wasn't healthy. I thanked her for the advice and replied to her that it was good for baking.

Ha! Now see, Evil Ronnie, that cart would prompt me to want to get to know you better. I'd look at you and raise my eyebrows and go, "Mmmm...Butter!". Especially for Plugra.

Ok, 4 lbs of plugra and a wedge of stilton.

But I had asparagus.

My first job was as a "personal shopper" for Peapod back when they were still in Jewel stores.

I'll never forget seeing an order that came in with just two items on it: condoms and a bunch of bananas.

Scout's honor it really happened. (If I was making it up, wouldn't I have used cucumbers?)

whiskeybent wrote:My first job was as a "personal shopper" for Peapod back when they were still in Jewel stores.

I'll never forget seeing an order that came in with just two items on it: condoms and a bunch of bananas.

Scout's honor it really happened. (If I was making it up, wouldn't I have used cucumbers?)

Sex-education teacher, maybe?

I was doing some shopping for a shut-in once.

I grabbed what was on their list. After putting it on the belt I noticed I was purchasing:

a fifth of whisky

a bottle of cold medicine

a package of razor blades

2 bags of candy

Did I mention it was the day before Halloween? I thought I was going to be arrested in the parking lot.

AngrySarah wrote:I was doing some shopping for a shut-in once.

I grabbed what was on their list. After putting it on the belt I noticed I was purchasing:

a fifth of whisky

a bottle of cold medicine

a package of razor blades

2 bags of candy

Did I mention it was the day before Halloween? I thought I was going to be arrested in the parking lot.

hilarious, either that or a business card for a suicide hotline.

We always get the "Are you having a party or what" at Costco... I guess 2 1/2 gallons each of Jack, and Absoute, 1 of Cuervo, and two cases of beer will do that.

Then we go to the grocery to get the healthy stuff that no one knows about.

We really do not have a problem!

sarcon wrote:ok, I try not to observe and judge (I said TRY) what's in my neighbor's cart, but there was this one time...

a very well dressed business lady, in her early forties I think, purchasing at least a dozen Glade plug-ins at jewel. She seemed to be in a hurry (she kind-of sort-of butted in front of me in line).

it took all my will power to refrain from asking "yeesh, how bad does your place smell, lady??"

Hey now they were on super mega clearance!

(this may or may not have been me. I hope I don't look 15 years older than I am).