By PHOODIE
My grandmother was sick last week and when I called her to see if she needed me to grab her anything from the shops she told me that she was fine. She said that she had everything she needed because she’d forced herself out of the house the day before. After that she said, “Marie, (‘cause that’s my name) do you know that we actually touch every single one of our groceries six times before they find their spot in our homes? Six times. I would never normally notice this but because I haven’t been well and each movement of my arms has been a strain, I ended up counting.” I cross-checked and she was right. First touch; shelf to trolley. Second touch; trolley to checkout. Third touch; checkout back to trolley. Fourth touch; trolley to car. Fifth touch; car to kitchen bench. Sixth touch; kitchen bench to fridge or pantry.
When it comes to groceries and food shopping the number of times we touch each item is not the only quirky point up for discussion. There are so many other idiosyncrasies, and (in my case), confessions associated with food shopping, and it wasn’t until I sat down to write this post that I realised just how many there were! Below is a list of the main ones that I could think of. I’d love to hear your thoughts on them and I’d be interested to see how many of them you can relate to. Also, definitely let me know if there are any other crazy food shopping behaviours and habits that I may not have mentioned that you think should be on this list!
Phoodie’s Food Shopping Habits, Quirks and Confessions
1. Daily shop vs. Weekly shop
Strangely, I am both a daily and a weekly shopper. I generally buy dinner on the day that it is being eaten, however, I have a huge list of “weekly shop” items that I buy once a week, normally on a Sunday. These include items such as milk, eggs, cheese, yoghurt and fruit. Being a SAHM that walks daily with two kids in a pram I have lots of opportunities to go to the shops, I realise buying dinner on the day of it’s consumption would seem ludicrous to many!
2. Creature of habit
Let’s rewind the clock back to 1998. The year when I well and truly overdosed on tinned asparagus. I tend to do that with foods. I ate tinned asparagus (in salads, on sandwiches, by itself) every day for pretty much the entire year. Then one day I woke up and said to myself “Enough with the asparagus. Enough.” I haven’t eaten it since. Even though that incident is behind me I tend to be a little repetitive when it comes to most things that enter my shopping trolley. From one week to the next my list, if I wrote one, (which I never do) would pretty much look the same as the week before. Is this boring? Is it unhealthy? Is it normal? Who knows. It’s just the way it is.
3. Try before you buy
I am pleased to say that I don’t try grapes, nuts and the like before I have paid for them. It makes me feel a little icky when I see others doing that. That said I am totally a feeler and squeezer of produce that I have not paid for, which I guess is just as icky and unhygienic. Welcome to Hypocrite town. Population: Phoodie. Speaking of trying before you buy, a friend of mine, who always has a bite or two before she pays, said she was at the supermarket once and she snuck a couple of grapes in her mouth to see what they were like prior to loading up a plastic bag full. All of a sudden another lady was basically on top of her pointing at her aggressively shouting “THIEF! THIEF! THIEF!.” That story continues to crack me up to this day.
Top Comments
We love it when you do that! It's the people who shove everything on the conveyer belt with no order at all that are annoying. It's takes us a lot longer to try and pack!
Me too - I call it good "carma"