The horror of grocery shopping

[SteveDallas]

Like most adult Americans, I spend a certain portion of my non-working hours doing various chores to keep my life on track: mailing a check to the electric company periodically, washing clothes, taking the trash out. It's fair to say that I don't consider any of these things to be particularly fun. But none of them inspires in me the same loathing as the weekly trip to the grocery store for food and other items.

Why do I hate it so much? Hard to tell. It's irrational--or is it?

I drag myself out to the store (when I'm alone--doing it with the kids along is a whole other ball of wax). Of course I can't do that till there's been a complete inventory of what we have and what we need for the following week, which includes at least minimal consideration of what we're going to serve for meals.

There are inevitably some things that I want that aren't there--either not in stock, or not carried. God forbid I should ask somebody who works there for help. "Guacamole? I dunno. Hey, Fred, do we have Guacamole? Hmm. Not sure. But if we do it's with the produce somewhere." I could always go to a different store, but it will have a DIFFERENT selection of items I don't want.

After I have made my way around and gotten what I need (a task made harder by presumably intelligent people who will simply sit in the middle of the aisle, oblivious to the fact that they're blocking traffic on both sides), it's time to check out. In this case I'm at the mercy of the store. There may only be one checkout lane open--with four people in line, each with a cart full. The stores generally provide a special lane--or two or three--for those who are buying just a few items, but don't do much that I can see for those of us who may be dropping $150 or $200. On a really bad trip, you may have no bagger, when means you either bag it yourself or you wait while the cashier finishes ringing up your order and then proceeds to bag it. (I usually choose the former just to get out faster.)

And of course once you get home you have to unpack it all and put it away.

Am I just whiny? Or is the weekly expedition to Super Fresh, Acme, Giant, or whatever's in your neck of the woods also the bane of your existence?

I am a big fan of Harris Teeter, and it's not all bad.

Certainly all the aspects you describe are those of the sucking variety, and those are pretty uniform over all grocery stores. But Harris Teeter does a few things to keep the dissatisfaction down.

For one, they have an excellent selection of "different" stuffs - lots of sushi, guacamole, etc - that means that finding something for a meal is relatively easy.

They also have self checkout lanes, which I find to generally be uncrowded (the longest I have ever had to wait is for one person to finish checking out) and fast and easy to use. I'm able to usually get through checkout in about five minutes, including the wait. I don't consider this to be too bad.

Since I bag when I check out, I do a smart job of it and keep all the cold stuff together, freezer stuff together, double bag as appropriate - and this cuts down on my hassles, both with picking up cans from a bag that split in the driveway and in putting things away. Since it's all grouped, once I'm done the freezer, I don't have to run back there. It makes it much less frustrating than putting one thing up here, another down there - hey, this goes over there! - etc.

I certainly don't look forward to going to the grocery store, but my experiences now aren't as bad as the ones you describe.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Timing is critical. Trying to get there with the least customers but the most stock. Of course when the least customers are there is when the asiles are blocked with pallets and stockers. Oh, and the guys cleaning the floors too.
It seems Pathmark and Acme both know what I want and put them as far as possible from each other with lots of stuff I don't want in between.
Once I learn where everything I normally buy is located, they rearange the store.
The person at the desk can help. Just wait for them to take care of the people picking up photos, buying cigarettes, lottery tickets, sending a UPS package and bitching about a bad cart when there's 3000 more to choose from.
One one that gets me is when I buy 10 packages of frozen fish. They're all the same price but the cashier (well, most of them) scrape the ice and frost off the UPC code to scan each one instead of scanning one and punching in 10. Of course it's still faster than catching and cleaning them.

[Whit]

     I'm with Bruce on the timing idea. Personally, I solve almost all those problems by going at one am. The hassles of other shoppers is at a minimum and since the only employees actually working are stockers they do know where stuff is. Oh yeah, and since management has nothing better to do the graveyard shift cashiers will demand back-up over the PA if two people get in line. Good stuff.
     You still have to bag it your self, but as Dave pointed out this is a good thing. No eggs under the canned goods, but on top of the bread that way.

[SteveDallas]

Timing is also important for stock. If you show up on Sunday evening you're going to have your choice of what's left after everybody else picked the place clean from the weekend!

I used to like Harris Teeter too, when I lived in NC. They have self-checkout here too, at least some of the stores do, but I've found it's a bad idea if you have a lot of stuff. For a small number of things, sure, but for me at least very little (if any) time is saved if I've got a whole cartful, and the setup (at least at Super Fresh, where I go most often) is not really big enough to stash that many groceries. And there have been times when there are 6 or 7 people waiting in line to use the self-checkout kiosks.

Maybe it's not me... maybe it's just that the stores around here suck!

[perth]

i love grocery shopping. i prefer going early in the morning or late at night to avoid big crowds. but i find it therapeutic, finding the best produce and choosing the right ingredients for the right meals.

i think the nicest thing, for me, is that grocery shopping is a series of very simple decisions. what kind of lunch meat to buy? what kind of cereal? its nice to be presented with a bunch of decisions that require little thought. i spend a great deal of time making difficult decisions at work, so grocery shopping is a refreshing change.

some of my best recipes, especially soups, are found by simply wandering through the store and thinking about the potential of different items on the shelf. i try to write down only the bare necessities, preferring to come up with meal ideas as i move through the store.

but maybe thats just me.

~james

[perth]

also, although i rarely do it, i much prefer getting produce and meats from whole foods stores. invariably, the produce is better, the meat (especially fish) is fresher and it makes a neat change of environment from my local king soopers.

~james

[vsp]

Local rundown:

* Acme - the local 900-pound gorilla. Decent all-around performance, though relatively no-frills compared to some of the recently-remodeled competitors. Occasionally puts some things on sale without linking the discounts to invasive shoppers-club cards.

* Shop-Rite - Much better than they used to be, but still somewhat second-tier. Pretty good produce section.

* Genuardi's - Formerly privately owned, took a nosedive when Safeway bought them out. Hot-food counters are so-so, though bigger Genuardi's (like the one in St. Davids) are better. Too many house-brand (Safeway) products, though their selection is okay in most areas. I'll go there for specific things on sale or if it's convenient, but they're no longer my first choice.

* Giant - Tons of hot-food and to-go counters, with the Chinese take-out counter being the best. Pretty good produce. Not a bad choice.

* Clemens - bad news. Tons of house-brand products, iffy produce, smaller stores and the same prices. Generally avoidable.

* Super-Fresh - Rapidly disappearing from the area. Can't say that I miss them that much. (Caveat: the local Super-Fresh was somewhat mismanaged and definitely undersized, and others may be better.)

* Wegmans - There's only one in this area, and it's ludicrously OVERsized; its site used to be a Hechinger's hardware center, and you need a golf cart to go from one side to the other. Surprisingly scattershot selection of products for its size (there are lots of things I find at Acme that I don't find there). Average prices in general. Big to-go/hot-food areas. Extensive "world foods" section in the back. Their produce section _does_ rock. Normal-sized Wegmans may vary considerably, of course.

* Zagara's - Used to be Genuardi's high-end outlet, bought by Safeway, then SOLD by Safeway to private investors who are now running it the old way. Specialty groceries -- a massive by-the-bottle soda section, large hot-food/to-go sections, nice meats, but high prices (you get what you pay for). A bit on the foo-foo side, but they carry lots of things that are hard to find elsewhere.

* Whole Foods Market - the king. Moderately high prices on some things, but they excel in many areas -- killer produce, nice meats, unparalled cheese, good hot-food/to-go, the best price around on my cherished Reed's Spiced Apple Brew, GOOD house-brand sodas, and friendly service. If they carried Charmin Ultra instead of only recycled-paper products for my bathroom, I'd go there almost exclusively. (That, and it's a twenty-minute drive.)

* Trader Joe's - deliberately idiosyncratic. Tons of house-brand products (the majority of their offerings), yet most aren't bad. They dropped two products I used to go there for (the Reed's line and non-diet Hansen's Natural Sodas), so minus points for that. Meat section is quite small, presumably for freshness purposes. Lots of organic stuff. More of a curiosity/impulse stop than a dedicated supermarket.

[xoxoxoBruce]

VSP, I've been buying recycled paper products fromSeventh Generation for years. First by mail then online. Excellent products and excellent people to deal with. Delivered to my door means a lot more room in the grocery bags from the market.

[vsp]

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
VSP, I've been buying recycled paper products fromSeventh Generation for years. First by mail then online. Excellent products and excellent people to deal with. Delivered to my door means a lot more room in the grocery bags from the market.

For most paper products, I won't argue against recycled paper... but when it comes to things that come into direct contact with my anus, I am VERY particular. There's soft, and then there's declawed-six-week-old-kitten-with-no-teeth soft. Said kittens are hard to come by, hence I use Charmin Ultra.

[Tobiasly]

Fuck that ultra-soft toilet paper. Leaves too many dingleberries. I like a nice rough toilet paper, where you can actually feel that it's doing its job.

Of course, my wife likes the soft shit, and since she uses toilet paper in more areas (and more often) than I do, I concede to her on this issue.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I concede to her on this issue.

OK but don't let her put the roll on the wrong way. You have to take a stand sometime.

[Uryoces]

I went camping with my dad and my uncle near Mt. St. Helens last year, and my uncle tossed me a pack of baby wipes. They worked great! I felt pretty darn clean.

[warch]

I have not lived in Austin, TX since 1997 and I still miss Central Market. A beautiful grocery store concept of the HEB mega chain, it was designed to take on the homegrown Whole Foods juggernaut. And they rock. It is like a playground for grownups, oh yeah, and you can pick up your French Roast beans and a carton of milk. Great produce, organic and conventional, meat, fish, cheese, (yet the regular store stuff you need like Charmin). Samples out the yingyang. Fresh breads, great fresh tortillas, sushi, flowers, a massive good hot food take out area, a cafe with a zillion food choices that are family friendly, Beer, wine, live bands- an occasional jazz combo playing in a loft area inside while you browse, a rock/folk/blues/country band outside on the shady patio, cooking classes.....I imagine it has only continued to thrive and spawn new stores.
Sigh. I love Central Market.

[e unibus plurum]

Originally posted by Tobiasly
Fuck that ultra-soft toilet paper. Leaves too many dingleberries. I like a nice rough toilet paper, where you can actually feel that it's doing its job.

Of course, my wife likes the soft shit, and since she uses toilet paper in more areas (and more often) than I do, I concede to her on this issue.

I concede to YOU on this Tissue!