Grocery Shopping
 

I went grocery shopping today. Ugh. Thankfully I didn't need much. Definately see some price increases. Bought a few extra items to stock up, because I foresee alot higher prices before long.
Anyway. I was in the checkout lanes behind a lady watching as she unloaded her cart. The only thing that I saw that needed cooked was a 5# bag of potatoes. Cookies, crackers, snack pudding packs, microwave meals, flavored coffee creamer. $90 worth!
Here I was with a gallon of vinegar, frozen and canned vegs, meats, spagetti, items that required cooking. I see more and more convenience/junk items in people's carts. I work 40+hrs a week but we still cook. Are we in the minority? I look at the prices for many of those items and it turns my stomach. Are people really relying on that much processed foods? No wonder society is a health mess!

might have a youngster that shes not comfy cooking,and needs to do for self well shes working.

Might be for the hubby?

I cook well and from scratch but sometimes its not possible.
sometimes its all about convenience.

I too am boggled by the amounts of convenience foods. I see carts just loaded down with pre-packaged things.
I have gone around and looked at the prices and it makes me shudder.
A family of 4 each gets a frozen meal (individual size) and that is about $16!! for one night's meal.
I understand that folks are busy etc.. but allowances adn changes can be made.
I used to do a week's worth of cooking on Sunday and put it in the freezer.
I worked 2nd shift adn wanted to make sure the man and boy had good food and DH didn't ahve to work all day and worry about cooking too.
It got to be a routine and I could knock it out in pretty good time.
Chop all the onions, carrots, peppers, potatoes etc.. at once and portion them out into dishes. All things in the oven at once etc..
I feel really bad for those that have to spend adn spend for convenience foods.

i buy alot of pre-packaged. you won't see many "cooking" items in my cart, because my pantry is already full of them. the rest is just straight convenience

We buy at multiple locations and buy the staples in bulk so sometimes when we check out it looks like we're soda and junk food junkies because that's all we need from that particular store. There are lots of people who don't know how to cook. DW didn't when I met her even though her mom only cooks from scratch. I can see how some people may try to cook but get frustrated by having to throw food out after failure so they just give up and buy easy button meals. Cheaper and quicker than throwing out meals that no one would eat after 1-2 hours of cooking. It does take some time to learn to cook good with ease.

That's what happened to us a couple of weeks ago. The local health food store is where we stock up on the handful of processed food we keep in the house (so it is at least made with real food ingredients). We were adding to the hurricane / sick kit and that was all we bought, I actually said something to DH about it being funny (since it is a healthier food store).

If you looked in our cart you would have been appalled - but we don't need to by meat, veg, eggs, or dairy since we raise that ourselves :) Salt, flour, and other staples come from a restaurant supply house.

Same here, I cook every day (unless sick or something), but 2 weeks ago, I went to Publix and bought all junk! It just lined up right that coupons matched sales for things we love and rarely get, so I loaded up, thinking we may not be able to afford these things again if price outlooks hold true. A cart full of Klondike bars, lobster stuffed chicken breasts, Publix sodas, Coffeemate, you name it. I felt a little guilty, but knew it was unusual for us. Even our favorite cashier said "Oh, you got a little of all the sales", I said "Yup, all the junk food you had" and she laughed. Truthfully, since I was paying for it, and we don't normally eat this stuff, so it will last a while, it didn't matter what anyone else thought. But I am not sure how people afford this kind of stuff all the time?

We cook just about every meal and shun processed foods as a personal choice for our own health. But I don't have any qualm with someone buying garbage. It is their choice. Many older people have slaved in the kitchen for decades, and now will gladly eat anything that requires something as simple as 3:00 in the nuker. My mom is one. As long as she is happy, I am happy.

The divide is about 50/50 at Costco. The divide is also straight down the line. There are carts loaded to the max with fresh veggies, healthy food, things that have to be cooked. There is no junk food on those carts. The closest thing to convenience is the occasional bag of pre-washed salad greens.

Then the other half of the carts are loaded to the max with microwave meals, junk food, sugar cereal, sweets, chips, soda. And never anything healthy on that cart, except for perhaps, occasionally, a bag of apples.

It looks like people either eat healthy or they don't care if it is healthy, only if it is convenient and loaded with sugar.

I'll admit there are some pretty good convenience foods at Costco if you don't want to cook, but I have yet to see a cart with healthy convenience foods and healthy items all on the same cart.

we don't make any of our own crackers or snack chips so that is all bought. school starting I have to get stuff for the boys that is not needed to be hot. they donthave microwaves. cold sketty is not apealing to them? anyhoo.. sosmetimes my cart looks like a trash heap with the packaging. life gets nuts sometimes and I cant cook or dh gets left alone and needs heat n eat. I am just too stressed and need 30 min or less. the junk fool pre prepared food is helpfull but at the same time we eat more instead of just skipping a meal or eating what is on the counter. fruit.

I buy a lot of both. My kids hate everything that I cook so I have to have something as a backup so they don't starve (yes, I've tried the "go hungry or eat what I make" tactic, doesn't work). Plus when school is in, they are home for a couple hours alone and I don't want them running the oven so I have a few nukeable tv dinners on hand in case they are going to absolutely die of starvation (my kids can be such drama queens!)

I never learned to cook. My mom made a lot of bland, overcooked stuff and she was Norwegian which meant ketchup was considered hot sauce. I am teaching myself now but I never know how it will be received by my oh so picky offspring.

It sometimes depends on doing the buying.

I was surprised that Aldi's had so much microwavable foods, until i realized that so many of their customers were either handicapped or elderly. They would be buying these things because cooking would be hard for them.

On the good side, a TV dinner would give them meat, vegetables, and so forth.

on the down side, the elderly should not eat that much salt.

I got funny looks last trip as all I bought was fresh veggies and fruit, a couple baking staples and ONE can of pop. I was pretty pleased with myself! we have our own dairy, eggs and meat, and I am trying very hard to ony have a dessert/treat once per week, on sundays. and that we makes, brownies, a small cake, cookies.

but that cart op seen, well, its pretty 'normal'. I'm not sure after all this time eating real food I'll be able to go back and eat that stuff, as I did when I was young and single. a fresh scrambled egg and a piece of fruit is just about as quick and much better. even buffets dont' hold as much appeal as they once did, the stuff is so processed and gloppy. maybe i'm just spoiled! :)

Well, all I know is, I go to one of the local grocery stores and go to the meat aisle, and I find that OVER 50% of the meat section is taken up with pre-made,microwave foods and dinners. And that's not even counting the premade microwave dinners in the frozen section AND on the shelves!

Won't be too awful long and your ENTIRE meat counter will be 15 foot long and manned by one person who will cut your meat when requested...at an appropriate price, of course.

Mon

this seems to come up here a lot. honestly..I've never noticed what anyone was buying in the grocery store. I'm usually too bored waiting for check-out. I guess I sort of don't care, either. I think every person has the right to buy with their money what they want. I know I feel that I have that right. AND..people do shop for different things at different stores, so judging isn't really fair.

I don't mind pre-made foods in the deli for people that simply have to work and maybe this is good for them. I don't care about microwave foods for people (like my single son) that like that convenience. I don't judge. bigger things in life to fret about, ya know?

You'd also see a lot of convenience food in my cart. I have a freezer full of beef, veggies, and fruit. I have chicken, fruit, and beans, and such, in jars, and we have fresh milk and eggs.

So I don't need to buy much of those things at the store. Well, except fruit. The kids are spoiled to having fresh fruit.

Yesterday I stopped at the grocery on the way home and most of what I bought was icecreams, tv dinners, and fresh fruit.

I have young adult sons at home who eat at odd times, as does DH if he's working on a fence or something. If they don't want to heat up leftovers, they are welcome to heat up a tv dinner.

Seems like life is hectic for most people these days. Cooking takes not only skill, but time. I know I devote a good portion of my day to food preservation or preperation. If one has a job it would be difficult to do everything, every single day. Sometimes it is about mindset. If there were absolutely no pre-made foods around, people would not starve, even if they had to eat a piece of corn bread or an apple, they would figure something out.

You caught me! I wonder what the people behind me as well as the cashiers think of my purchases. Today, I bought 4 bags of peanutbutter chips, 4 stacks of aluminum pans, 3 bags of marshmallows, 4 cake mixes - yellow, 4 cans of peanuts, corn syrup, 2 gallons of milk, 2 gallons of ice cream, 1 container of icing - chocolate, 2 boxes of rice crispies, potato chips, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 3 candy bars. But, I'm cooking for a dessert auction tonight.

Have you noticed how little shelf space is devoted to canned fruits or veggies now? When I was a kid, you criticized others if they had those things in their carts. And a boxed cake mix- for shame! Nothing home canned? We're also coming full circle on the bags. Stores started foisting those horrible plastic bags on us and we had to ASK for paper ones. Then, all you could get was plastic. Now, they're ask if I want paper or plastic again.

i am an extremely good cook and I LOVE to cook from scratch, but my husband with his head injury will seldom eat the good food I cook, he basically lives on snacks..

I'll have a frig full of good precooked food that he can grab and warm up (as he is generally up all night and sleeps all day)..but he won't, he'll grab storebought snacks..

I'll even make him homemade of the same foods that he prefers storebought (cookies, cakes ice cream, etc..) but NO he wants a specific brand of storebought and IF I DON"T BUY IT HE"LL GET IN THE CAR AND DRIVE 20 MI one way to pick it up himself..and he shouldn't be driving !! and we don't have the $ for him to do that..so I have to buy it for him.

I hate doing it..

He goes through 2 5qt buckets of orange / vanilla ice cream a week, minimum, 5 to 8 packages of cookies, and lots of toast and oatmeal and protein drinks..but won't eat the really really good food ..

everyone else LOVE my cooking, my son comes over for meals and praises my cooking and I love it..but he'll be in the kitchen when the food comes off the stove and say, "I'm not ready to eat now, I'll eat later"....and later never comes, I end up throwing it out or freezing it for me for later..he might eat a real meal 2 times a week..if we are lucky.

drs have talked to him about it but with the head injury ..it just goes in one ear and out the other (short term memory)

I used to garden and cook everything from scratch. Not so much anymore. Arthritis has taken it's toll. Mostly I stick to quick and easy meals now and make enough for leftovers. I really don't like convenience foods, but I will take advantage of some of them, like mashed potatoes. A lot of work goes into making them yourself!

I've noticed the same thing. Week after week after week I see buggies loaded with convenience foods. Mine is full of veggies I don't have right now, canned goods, and other staples. I cook everything from scratch.
Last week we took the first vacation in years. My instructions from the dh were to buy easy foods so I didn't have to cook all week...............we spent more on that one week for groceries than I normally spend in a month! My bp went sky high cause guess what? EVERYTHING is loaded with salt. Even the stuff that's "low sodium" is more than I end up with cooking it myself. We got back home and the kids were like finally.....real food!
I have a decent grocery amount weekly and most of the time I'm down to feeding only 6 and it still gets tight sometimes. I honestly don't know how anyone affords to buy all convenience food.

Good point, Ginnie.
We CAN'T eat processed foods anymore.
Too salty, too much MSG or whatever.
DH's face gets red and he gets grumpy and my mouth burns from too much salt.
And DS can't really digest greasy stuff at all. He bloats up and groans and gags for a few hours afterwards.
Sigh... I have ruined my family.

Many of you gave valid points. I hadn't thought about some of them.

I think on a whole though that most people have forgotten "how" to cook or even "why" they should. Then I hear of people that have no money by the end of the month for groceries and I wonder what they spent their grocery money on. Those convenience foods are definately more expensive than canned goods.
Oh well, just my opinion.

I wonder about the expense thing. I can't make chocolate chip cookies for what we can buy them. Yes,homemade is better. Yes I know what the ingredients in them are - pretty much. If you don't own all the equipment, you can't cook a lot of things quickly and easily. If I didn't have my kitchen-aid or wheat grinder, would I bake bread? Canning season finds my food processor in use every day. Then there's all the pans. If you aren't already in the practice, getting started in home cooking can actually cost quite a bit compared to one person feeding and cleaning up after themselves.

Generally we cook from scratch and that is usually reflected in our cart, however I went shopping with three teenage boys who were getting ready to go camping for a couple of days. When I looked in the cart, I actually hoped nobody thought this was our "normal" shopping list! Chips, pop, hot dogs, etc. stuff we don't eat at home. LOL. (well except for the hotdogs. My kid love chili dogs!)

My cart really depends on what I am buyign I do buy snack crackers and some chips because I am, not making homemade potato chips unless I get back to being a SAHM! Most times our cart has frozen veg, fresh veg, whatever condiment I am stocking up on. I hope to do my first canning job soon of spaghetti sauce but have to find a water canner no one has them in stock here but going to see our daughter tomorrow we will stop at the bulk food place and I am sure they will have soime!!

I tend to buy a case at a time of anything..ever see someones eyes bug out that you are buying a case of tuna, case ot tomato sauce, case of canned corn..its pretty fun to watch people. Usually if it s aconvenience food we buy 1 just 1 of it to avoid too many munchies.

I've gotten my share of funny looks this week at the grocery stores. Wednesday I stocked up on sliced deli ham and roast beef for my son's school lunches because the prices were good.....smoked ham for $1.29 a half pound and roast beef for $3.99 a half pound. I got 5 pounds of sliced ham and 3 pounds of roast beef for the freezer. I also purchased 6) half inch thick ham slices for quick casserole dinners. I also bought corn, potatoes & half and half for corn chowder.

Today's cart was 4) 32 ounce blocks of cheddar and mozzarella cheese on sale for $5 each, 3 bags of Tyson chicken patties (for my son's lunches) and boxed mac and cheese for the teenage bottomless pit.

I've become accustomed to funny looks especially when it's stock up time. Tomorrow I'll make a syrup run, they have 24 ounce bottles of name brand pancake syrup for $1.49 each when you buy 6 items from the mix and match sale. I do what I have to so I can stretch our grocery dollars because we live on a fixed income.

Recently I bought some groceries in the store my DH works at and the checker there said she should pay ME to do her shopping because I "buy REAL food".
I took it as a compliment, even though my kids tend to think I buy "BORING food". :D

My son had a friend over one time and they were looking in the cupboard for something to eat. His friend said, "All you have is ingredients." I had to laugh and it didn't take too long to whip them up something.

thanks for the reminder,.....gotta pick up another gal. of organic vinigar for this weekend's canning marathon.

I'm overdue for grocery shopping and need to get it done in the next week or so. I know prices are going to be higher than last time, so I keep putting it off (like that is going to help).

Except for maybe taco chips and some saltine crackers, most all of what I have on my list are basic ingredients. And, you're right, my cart looks entirely different from most carts! :(