People watching in the supermarket
Posted by yabbitgirl on May 21, 2007 · Member since Apr 2006 · 14266 posts
Surely I'm not the only person who people watches based on what people have in their carts! I have caught myself thinking "what a waste of money" when I see a cart full of sodas, cheeze curls, chips and other junk...and the sight of kitty litter and pet food in a cart always makes me smile!
I spend more time watching the belt to make sure there is no milk or meat juice on it than to worry about their lifestyle or eating habits. Could be I am just paranoid.
Me too! I've refused to place my items on the belt until they cleaned it. The checkers get really pissed at that but I don't care. I was a checker for many, many years & I absolutely hated when the belt got all gross. I would frequently ask my next customer to please wait while I cleaned it off. You know, in every case the customer was happy to wait.
I'm too busy reading who's sleeping with whom in those gossip rags to bother with what people have in their carts. ::)
i always wonder how can people put so many chemicals into their bodies???
and how is that called food???
:D
i always wonder how can people put so many chemicals into their bodies???
and how is that called food???
:D
Yes! I tend to look at the person ahead and separate in my mind all the processed, packaged, artificial junk from the "real food"--and I've discovered that the more expensive and upmarket the supermarket, the more junk they seem to buy! I only go into our local chain for their "fivegrain" bread (and occasionally new earplugs, DH snores) and the "junk quotient" there is much higher than at the local LIDL. I used to shop regularly at the chain when they first opened, but can no longer afford it.
They just did a survey here in Spain and it is discovered that the mammoth "hipermarkets" actually sell fruit and veg that, as well as being poorer quality, are on average 20% more expensive (at least) than in small greengrocers! So much for "big store, lower prices."
this is how i make friends. i ove striking up a conversation with someone who is obviously vegan based on their grocery basket. espesh when it's a cute earthy boy with a nice muscles ;)
I shop at co-ops, so alot of times i will end up with a great recipe or idea from peeping out somones cart and asking a question. :)
this is how i make friends. i ove striking up a conversation with someone who is obviously vegan based on their grocery basket. espesh when it's a cute earthy boy with a nice muscles ;)
Harr!! ;D
When I was young & single I worked in a grocery store right by the university. I got asked out all the time. No kidding. Years later, when I got married & started working in a office, the young women complained how hard it was to meet men. I told them to get a part time job as a checker at a grocery store or a hardware store. ;)
We buy 4 tubs of tofu at a time since I started baking it. That always gets comments from someone! They are not used to seeing someone buy that much tofu at one time.
I like this thread, because now I know I'm not a freak for doing this same thing! Or if I am, at least I'm in good company. :D I make up all kinds of stories in my head about who the person is, how they live, what they're going to do with the food in their cart....I of course realize my conclusions could be way off from the truth, but it's still interesting. I also try not to be judgemental at all (in life too!).
I like this thread, because now I know I'm not a freak for doing this same thing! Or if I am, at least I'm in good company. :D I make up all kinds of stories in my head about who the person is, how they live, what they're going to do with the food in their cart....I of course realize my conclusions could be way off from the truth, but it's still interesting.
Love it! I'm not the only "supermarket superintendant!" Some of us should get together and form a writers' club...we could call it "A Basket Full of Lives" or something. I'm sure it would be a best-seller!
I also try not to be judgemental at all (in life too!).
I know, it's so easy to make a snap judgement about people just from the way they dress, walk, eat--or shop...one of my LA Lit professors once said that each person is a secret world and we really will never know about them because even they don't know themselves. "We are all unexplored territory." Wise man, Dr. Muñoz...
(my SO is a meat eater). I buy his meat items once a month or so in bulk
I do this too. Meat is SO expensive here, that I go to a particular market for it and buy a month's supply for him. I'm so glad our "stash" should last till he can go with me, I hate that place normally because you either have to get in quick when they open or stand in line at the butcher's forever, staring at the chunks and smelling blood! But going in with him at least means no pushy person is going to try to jump the queue ahead of the "stupid foriegn woman who won't notice" (yeah right) and I can get home ASAP. Then I bag up the portions of meat for freezing, and wash my hands...and wash my hands...and wash my hands...and we're safe for about another month.
Faunablues: Isn't "chubby" the most degrading word in the language to apply to a child! When I was a kid my mother made my clothes (urg) and all of the patterns she bought for me were marked "Chubbee" (as if the 2 e's made it "cute" instead of stupid!) Not bad enough my mother had no colour sense and didn't give a darn what other kids were wearing--I had to see that "label" every time. No wonder I hate to shop for clothes!
A few yrs ago I was given a bunch of photos from my childhood and after being labelled "fat" all my life, I discover I was just big for my age, tall and broad. The sewing pattern people just hadn't kept up with the shift from the 40's-50's pattern blocks to the 60's. I now have living proof that I wasn't indecently obese. Trouble is, I learned to think I was, and later became so. Sigh!
I hated "chubby" because (1) it was code-word for fat and (2) my mom seemed bent on convincing me I wasn't obese by using the term (if you don't want me to realize I'm obese, then stop buyin' the Chips Ahoy!)
One thing I noticed while working at Albertson's was the contents of people's groceries if they had WIC (Women, Infants, Children I think? a food-stamp like program specifically for women and their kids). It seems like with WIC you can get 2 gallons of milk, a box of eggs, and one damn box of cereal. One box of cereal? The whole idea of the program is to allow kids to get healthy foods if they can't afford it, but where's the bread? Rice? Beans? God forbid we give them a coupon for fruits or veggies?
I know some people refute the idea that poor people are in poorer health because of fewer healthy options (since most supermarkets have fruits, veggies, and healthy foods too), but if they only get coupons for free animal products plus a token box of Honey Bunches of Oats... come on...
You're right, FB! When I was a kid, somehow they could buy some junk-type foods with food stamps (Velveeta for one, just gross!) but fruit and veg I guess were "luxury" items. My mother was oh-so-disparaging about overweight women on foodstamps, but hey, when what they offer you is unhealthy, and then soda is cheaper than milk or fruit juice, you fill up on empty calories and fatty stuff.
I agree. My sister was on WIC. All she got was milk, fruit juice (that's even a shocker), one box of cereal (sugar-filled nasty stuff) and eggs on it. Bogus ..... :( She's not vegan, like me, but even that was not healthy for her or my nephew (she had one kid at the time ...she now had three). I wanted to GIVE her money to get more healthy stuff, eventhough I was also poor at the time and not vegan. But I still knew how to eat better. WIC is bogus. They should hire REAL people that know what HEALTHY eating is.
I thought of this thread today while at our grocery down the street (most of my shopping is done at the co-op and farmers market, so honestly when I shop at my local grocery store, it's a crap shoot as to the "healthiness" of my purchases...ie. beer, olives and enchilada sauce for today's trip).
Anyway, I passed this poor kid, maybe 8 or 10 y/o, obese, shoving a donut from the deli case into her mouth between swipes of cheese chunks from the sample tray by the olive station.
I wanted to go up to her mother and shake her.... :P
(BTW, thanks Litte2ant for the enchilada recommendation, you're right, fantastic!)
Refresh my memory? What enchilada did I recommend? Cheesy Bean?
Hope you are silently refreshed!
BTW I am SUCH a grocery cart snob! I see people that I think I might want to be friends with at the regular grocery store, until I look at their CARTS and then I turn the other way. Not that I would ask someone to be my friend at the grocery store anyway! ;D
Sometimes when I am feeling brave, I recommend things to people. This one guy was looking at eggnogs this winter, and he already had Silk milk in his cart, so I suggested the Silk eggnog and he bought it! I have also recommended Earth Balance to ladies who were searching for a "healthier" butter, and they bought it!
I thought of this thread yesterday while in line at Meijers... I typically do all my grocery shopping on one day and hit 3 or 4 stores to get everything that I need since they are all very close to each other. I was at Meijer (some things are just much cheaper there than WF or TJ) and really took a look at what was in my "neighbors" carts... Processed, packaged, hydrogenated chips next to the diet coke, fiber supplements next to the hot dogs, and some carts piled high with strictly "junk" food, not a fruit or veggie in sight... It makes me so sad really...
I have never paid attention, but I bet I got a lot of weird looks as I pushed my cart around containing only soymilk, organic bananas, pineapple, cantaloupe, and tomatoes.... I know what we think about what is in "those other" carts, what to you think they are thinking when they look at us??? :D
I like when people ask me about the things I am buying. I love to turn people on to new and healthy food items! I wish the food network would give me my own Veg show.... I think that is my dream job 8)
I was just at a local grocery store and found a shopping list in my cart:
grape jelly
shake and bake chicken mix
milk
cookies
beef
lobster rolls
ham
apple juice
I was just at a local grocery store and found a shopping list in my cart:
grape jelly
shake and bake chicken mix
milk
cookies
beef
lobster rolls
ham
apple juice
Some people. ::) Let's hope at least that the juice was 100% natural.
I always check out the stuff people buy, when they are standing in line ahead of me. Amazing some of these people are still walking around and haven't died due to vitamin deficiency yet. Somtimes the most healthy item they have is a carton of organge juice. Now when I still lived in the DC area and had a great health food store to shop at, the food choices of the customers there were so much better! Amazing really - the difference!
I too check people's grocery carts at the grocery store. Not that my cart is always healthy because it isn't. What amazes me is when I see a huge person with over weight children and there is really notthing healthy in their cart. They have chips, ice cream, processed lunch meats and on and on. I need to lose 10 or 15 pounds but my cart never is ONLY full of cr*p. I nearly always have meat in my cart and people must wonder why I have veggie meats and then meat. Also have salmon, mackerel or sardines. It is of course because I home cook for my critters.
It also amazes me when I see really slim people and their cart is full of cr*p. Why are these people not bigger? >:(
One thing I am bad about and am going to make a real effort on, is I tend to buy too many fruits and vegetables. They look so good that I over buy. Then they rot and end up being thrown away. I really should go to the store more and buy less. Then I could buy and use what I have.
The funniest one for me is bananas. I love them but they have to be flawless or the look of them makes me sick. Hence, I will never be able to make banana bread or muffins.
Thank goodness, Cali loves bananas. My holistic vet said they are very good for animals. When my BF comes over, he gives Cali a banana and he gives her the ones I am thinking about not touching. The other day, Cali took a big piece then dropped it. I told him the banana could rot on the floor because I wasn't picking it up (I couldn't, it was yucky). Thankfully, Cali dropped it hoping she would be given more. When she realized that was it, she ate it.
Like someone else posted, I always turn my veggie products the way the people in line can see them. I am ovo lacto so still buy milk, cheese and eggs. I buy organic milk and organic, free run hen eggs. I make sure all of that is very visable to others. Same goes with soy milk etc.
Considering North Americans are some of the most over weight people in the world, it is shocking to see what people buy.
That being said, I have to shape up to and start making some more healthy choices. There is always room for improvement.
It also amazes me when I see really slim people and their cart is full of cr*p. Why are these people not bigger? >:(
One thing I am bad about and am going to make a real effort on, is I tend to buy too many fruits and vegetables. They look so good that I over buy. Then they rot and end up being thrown away.
I sometimes have this problem because the fruit shops here make the displays so attractive that you "eat with your eyes" as the saying is, and I go intending to buy say some onions and come home with half the shop! (Last week I went for 2 lbs of lemons and came home with everything but lemons! Had to go back the next day!)
Considering North Americans are some of the most over weight people in the world, it is shocking to see what people buy.
This brought back memories of the time about 15 yrs ago when I was an omni; I interpreted some conferences for 2 weeks in the States, they were international and I was staying in a house with some people from El Salvador. Our "house mother" was very rotund and an unhealthy eater (irony of ironies, she was a nurse) and she mentioned that the Salvadorans didn't seem to eat very much, and did I think they didn't like American food. My response was, "Did you ever stop and think maybe they're not used to having all that much to eat?"
On the way to my mother's house from the conferences I was driven by another rotund lady, of the sort who has so much food-related anxiety that (to quote what she said) "When it's time to eat, I have to eat!" She wasn't diabetic, just programmed to eat at 12 sharp! She drove me to one of those all-you-can-eat steakhouses. Having lived for several years in Spain, I was not prepared for, as well as the steak-and-potato-and-Texas toast-and salad, a) a salad bar b) a dessert bar, and (for some odd reason) c) a Mexican food bar!! All of these, all-you-could-stuff, included in the price of a steak dinner! I sat down with my single order and she and her friend made several trips back and forth until their side of the table was covered with food. Watching them "guzzle" their food was an experience. After spending 2 weeks talking to people from truly poor countries, what was in my mind was: Over half the world's population doesn't have enough to eat, and the rest of them are on diets--or should be.
The mind truly boggles. :o
I was thinking of this thread when I was out shopping at Whole Foods. I don't normally go there, because it's not as easy to get to and tends to be oppressively crowded. So I normally buy my staples (produce, soy milk, beans, rice, bread, tofu) elsewhere, and just go to specialty stores like WF for items I can't find other places.
These items tend to be more prepared, not so healthy items, unfortunately. My cart today contained (not making this up, unfortunately) boxed vegan mac n cheese, earth balance, vegan ice cream, and cocoa baking powder. I kept thinking what someone would think if they looked in my cart. ::) "OMG that girl's going to kill herself eating like that!!!" or "I always thought vegans were supposed to eat healthy." Kinda embarrassing :-[
She drove me to one of those all-you-can-eat steakhouses. Having lived for several years in Spain, I was not prepared for, as well as the steak-and-potato-and-Texas toast-and salad, a) a salad bar b) a dessert bar, and (for some odd reason) c) a Mexican food bar!! All of these, all-you-could-stuff, included in the price of a steak dinner! I sat down with my single order and she and her friend made several trips back and forth until their side of the table was covered with food. Watching them "guzzle" their food was an experience. After spending 2 weeks talking to people from truly poor countries, what was in my mind was: Over half the world's population doesn't have enough to eat, and the rest of them are on diets--or should be.
The mind truly boggles. :o
Yes, I didn't realize buffet stood for, Binge Until Freakishly Full - Eat Tons
So many people think they should get their moneys worth so they eat until they could burst.
"Over half the world's population doesn't have enough to eat, and the rest of them are on diets--or should be." You are absolutely right Yabbitgirl!
I chuckled about the lemons. I do that all the time. Go to the store for something and the only thing I don't buy in the store is what I went for!
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