being nosey about the contents of other people's groceries carts.... - Page 2

[tlc4tots]

I like to look at other people's carts to get idea's for meals. The funniest is when your child asks "why do they get junk food and we don't" right in front of the person.

[doulamoon]

Once when I was too broke-broke-broke to camoflage them with other stuff, I went through the checkout line with a box of tampons and a plunger, both serious emergency purchases! LOL! I was embarrassed but told myself that someday this would make a funny story! Hurray!

[Dovesong]

To clarify about Ocean Spray: they make both fruit drinks with 20% or less fruit juice but they also make 100% fruit juice. Obviously fresh fruit is the best way to get your juice, but when you think you have to have carbonation, selzer mixed with 100% juice does it for me. I have these cravings every 6 months or so. My sister tried to tell me selzer is a s bad as regular soda because it still has the phosphates and sodium. I said, "look at the bottle, Sis. None of that here."

[Attila the Honey]

This thread is so funny, because I do this and I always feel so guilty about it! I am not perfect either, we eat our fair share of frozen pizzas, but I always make the distinction between a cart full of white bread, sugary juices, frozen foods, and only iceberg lettuce and bananas and those carts that have plenty of fresh fruit and veggies and some junk. I've been embarrassed by my own cart at times, and actually put stuff back because I didn't want anyone to see me getting too much junk. :LOL

And it goes the other way too - I do most of my shopping at a whole foods co-op, and when I am behind someone who has an entire cart of miso, oats, brown rice, dulse, and tofu I am seriously awed. I buy all that stuff TOO, but I still gotta have my vegetarian ham and cheese burrito and soy dream, ya know?

Worse yet, I do this all the time at the all-you-can-eat chinese buffet we go to. It's seriously shocking the piles of deep fried meats people can eat in one meal!

[mamaduck]

yummmmmm....... deep fried meats. Sigh. My big downfall.


I'm so sorry about the ocean spray comment. Nobody has to feel a need to defend themselves! I was just noticing this guy had 4 huge bottles of Ocean Spray cranberry juice and NOTHING else to drink. Making it seem it was his family's main staple -- to be drunk at every meal.

I usually buy several bottles of soda for my dh.

[Elphaba]

mamaduck, someone in his family may have had a raging UTI! that's what i would have thought. or someone really likes to drink seabreezes.

[whateverdidiwants]

Originally posted by chalupamom
I'm always looking into people's carts and feeling bad for the kids who apparently get lunchables every day (you know, the kind with a beverage and a dessert included!).

I worked at a grocery store for 3 years, so peeking into backets is just second nature for me now. The Lunchables bother me, but not nearly as much as the frozen breakfasts (toast, eggs, bacon or sausage) that people would buy. I saw kids who never got a non-processed meal at all - heck, you can even buy frozen PB&J sanwiches with the crusts cut off now!

[Chelly2003]

I never pay attention to whats in other peoples carts, I'm normally too busy running after a 3 year old.

On the UP side, when I was younger, my favorite thing was to slip some condoms into some unsuspecting cart! It was SO much fun!!

Chelly

[mamaduck]

We bought condoms at the grocery store once. The clerk didn't take the security tag off, and the alarm went off when we left the store. We had no idea why though. 3 employees spent a good 10 minutes rumaging through our bags and checking stuff against our receipt. Our kids were fussing, etc. They finally came across the condoms and all 3 of them looked MORTIFIED. I turned around and left with the kids. DH stayed to deal with it. They were so embarassed. Real quickly deactivated them and apologized for the inconvenience.

[blueridgewoman]

Originally posted by Laurel
...the checker says, "So was it good news or bad news?" I had no idea what she was talking about. Then it dawned on me... it was the same checker that sold me the pg test. It was none of her business, for one thing. To ask anyone, much less a feisty infertile woman, a question like that (in front of other customers, no less) was totally out of line.

I had almost the same type of experience... I was 18, just had sex for the first time, and was paranoid that I was pregnant even though I knew I wasn't... Went and bought a pg test and took it to the checkout line. I have always looked young for my age, and when I got up there and put the test on the belt (on a busy Walmart Saturday) the checker looks at me and, in front of everyone else in the line, said, "So... Are you READY for a baby?"

Edited for typo!

[MamaMonica]

I only look when I am in a long line and am totally bored. Then I check out the people and the cart contents. Sometimes totally healthy-looking people have a cart full of ground beef, chips, soft-drinks and candy bars. I have to admit I do this rather than read the magazines at the checkout when I am in line. :LOL

[granolagirl97]

Originally posted by bestjob

I find it hard to be in the store and have my children ask if we can try something like Froot Loops or some other junk food masquerading as real food. My kids always ask "why" when I say no, and then I have to say that I think the stuff is sugary junk. It is, but then I feel like I've insulted the people who are buying it.

My big rant about the quality of food is not so much that people are trying to sell my kids candy, ice cream and chips. I can handle the idea that sometimes it is nice to eat something only because it tastes yummy. What I can't stand is stuff being advertised as being healthy when it really isn't. Chocolate chip granola bars are cookies. Nutrigrain bars are cookies. Froot Loops are candies. Pudding tubes are for dessert. Snack crackers are salty and high in fat just like chips.

I don't worry so much about insulting others. I explain a bit more without calling it junk, saying that it is just a bunch of sugar on cereal and not a real food that will help them (my girls) grow. I figure that if someone is buying it as cereal - to feed as an actual meal to their children - not as an occasional treat (as you mentioned, bestjob) - they need some serious educating.

I, too, look in others carts. Frankly, it makes me feel better about the amount of money that I do spend on our food and that at least it is REAL food that will keep us healthy (fewer doctor/dentist bills), strong, and able to do all the incredible things our bodies can do when they are treated well.

I do feel for the children that are fed a steady stream of crap and I am OFFENDED that much of what is marketed as "food" is just that. I DO think adults can and should educate themselves on the effects of food, though I do believe that there are many who really do not know (WHY that is is another question and why many are so gullible - though I know marketing schemes feed on this and can entice the strongest opponents from time to time). But children have little say in what is brought into the home and from what they have to choose to put into their little bodies. Those are the ones I really feel sorry for.

[Mere]

If the line is long, I definitely look at other people's food - how can you not? Anyhow, it *IS* depressing how much junk food is available, what sorts of examples are being set for kids, etc. Before I got into buying organic meat and produce, I was able to shop at a cheaper grocery store where I saw a lot more junk food being purchased. I can really see why people buy that stuff though! THink about it - if you're on a limited budget, you have a family of 5 to feed, and you need to buy, say, breakfast cereal. Are you going to buy one box of whole wheat Chex for $4.99 or are you going to buy two boxes of Oreo Cookie Cereal for $4 total? My point is that eating healthily is usually more expensive. I know, there are people out there who can do it for not much, but after seeing the grocery bill thread, I think that most of us spend quite a lot to get good quality food.

[Chelly2003]

Originally posted by doulamoon
Once when I was too broke-broke-broke to camoflage them with other stuff, I went through the checkout line with a box of tampons and a plunger, both serious emergency purchases! LOL! I was embarrassed but told myself that someday this would make a funny story! Hurray!

I always send my DH for those kind of emergency purchase's.... he doesn't seem to mind at ALL. Where as I'm in my 30's and I still get embarassed!! (so silly really)

Chelly

[kama'aina mama]

I often notice other carts. And I judge my stinking brains out. I often think of something a girlfriend of mine opined in college while surveying her own fridge, "Look at this crap! There's no food in our food!"

[granolagirl97]

Originally posted by Mere
I THink about it - if you're on a limited budget, you have a family of 5 to feed, and you need to buy, say, breakfast cereal. Are you going to buy one box of whole wheat Chex for $4.99 or are you going to buy two boxes of Oreo Cookie Cereal for $4 total? My point is that eating healthily is usually more expensive. I know, there are people out there who can do it for not much, but after seeing the grocery bill thread, I think that most of us spend quite a lot to get good quality food.

Mere - I gently disagree. Instead of cold cereal, one could eat cooked oatmeal or other grains (cheaper in general and WAY cheaper when bought in bulk), homemade pancakes (can EASILY be made in large quantities on a day off and frozen), toast or morning sandwiches, eggs... heck almost anything is going to be cheaper and more nutritious than Oreo Cookie "cereal."

[nernie]

I am pre-proclaiming myself the Queen of Judgementalism, but softening the blow with this disclaimer: I, too, have been on food stamps.
I, out of necessity, shop at the cheapest grocery store in town. I do not buy "non-food". Produce, grains, beans, juice, "ingredients" like chalupamom said. I am only able to spend about $45 a month on groceries. At the cheap-o grocery store, on the cheap-o end of town, EVERYONE else but me is on food stamps, and EVERYONE else but me is buying CRAP food! It is frustrating to see $300 of my tax money going to feed kids corndogs, soda, and chips. It is rare to see a basket with any whole foods in it. People buy a month's worth of groceries without a single piece of unprocessed, nutritionally sound food. It is so sad. And aggravating.
Also one time I was getting my WIC foods at Fred Meyer, and I ppicked up a couple of other things - natural yogurt (on sale) and a box of Gardenburgers. . .the little old lady in line behind me commented to her little old lady companion, "look at that - on Welfare and buying that special food. Why should she have that expensive stuff when she's on Welfare?" I gnawed a hole in my tounge not responding to her that WIC is NOT welfare, and even if it was, must people on welfare feed their kids CRAP just because it happens to be cheaper? Even though it causes disease and behavioral problems? When I am benevolant dictator of Nernerica, this will all change.

[hydrangea]

I can't help but check, but I try not to be too judgmental. My own cart at the regular grocery store often doesn't look so great. That's because I do most of my shopping through a co-op, at health food stores, and at the farmer's market, and I get my vegetables for 5 months from a CSA. When I go to the grocery store, it's usually to buy a few convenience foods to keep in the back of the freezer for emergency meals, things like frozen pizzas and frozen tortellini. I also buy fake meats (tofu pup-type stuff) there because my 6-year-old will hardly eat any other protein foods and they are cheaper at the grocery store than the health food store. I rarely have vegetables or fruit in the cart since I get most of those elsewhere.

Then I have had the occasional pre-party cart that was pretty embarassing. I serve plenty of healthy food at parties, but I do sometimes like to have some juice and snack foods, so I'll go and load up the cart with those (I get 100% juice and the healthiest chips I can find), and there might be a case of beer and some ice cream in there as well. I'm always quick to explain to anyone who looks anywhere in the direction of my cart that I'm having a party, .

I also have a pregnancy test story. I went to buy some at a drugstore once. They kept them behind the counter so I had to ask to see them. I looked at two, compared them and their prices, and told her which one I'd take. She rang me up for the other one (which was basically the same but cost a few dollars more), and I politely reminded her which one I wanted. She was obviously annoyed, and she said with a huff, "well, you sure are pregnant, aren't you." :