Grocery Shopping

[liuzhou]

The things you find in China (though very rarely!)

Edited January 11, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

The things you find in China (though very rarely!)

Thanks. Nice reminder that I’m out of the stuff and I need to add it to my shopping list. It is amazing the things some people can manage without. 

[Katie Meadow]

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

The things you find in China (though very rarely!)

 

So, I never heard of this sauce and didn't encounter it when I was in London, but I was just a tourist. I looked it up on Amazon to get an idea of the ingredients and read a few reviews. Here are two of them:

 

ONE REVIEW: "I saw a Canadian streamer put this on his french fries and I was dedicated to try some. I was super pumped of this mystery sauce and I ordered a batch. As a true american I thought it was crap and it tasted like thick A1 sauce but by god was the adventure worth it. I enjoyed the experience"

 

AND ANOTHER:: H P Sauce is an iconic condiment in England. It is by far the best “brown sauce” in the world and has been granted a “By Appointment of her Majesty the Queen” designation. Needless to say, Her Majesty knows her sauces so this product is highly recommended to any “Colonial” who wishes to “up their game”. Perfectly packaged and competitively priced, I can vouch for this seller wholeheartedly and look forward to further interactions at our mutual convenience."

 

The first one is just plain hilarious. And btw, what is a Canadian streamer? @Anna, weigh in. The second one is just plain scary, in a variety of ways.  Many revolutionary textbooks  have been written on "colonials upping their game" so I won't even go there. However I would indeed agree that the queen knows her sauces, and on which side of the bread to put them. 

 

 

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

 

The first one is just plain hilarious. And btw, what is a Canadian streamer? @Anna, weigh in.

 

I'm guessing that would be some sort of Internet personality who streams live video. Most are pretty obscure, though a few have become "internet-famous" and actually make a buck from it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The delicatessen counter at Shoprite was quiet when I got there.  Someone was working on a machine but he was totally self absorbed.  I waited.  And waited, and went to the next area to ask for help.  The two people there walked over to wake him up.  The first slice of salami was too thick.  As was the second.  He presented the third with a little too much force.  The slice traced an impressive arc before it hit the ground.  I said it looked about right from what I saw of it.  He apologized, turned, and hit his head on the metal rack holding the plastic bags.  The other employees were much amused.

 

At check out there was only one customer ahead of me in the express lane.  She had 37 items for over $203.  In the express lane.  Not counting a couple things rung up that she didn't want.  Then there were the carrots she forgot.  She eventually came back with carrots but with okra too.  Quite a lot of okra.  Groceries were spilling on the floor because the cart could not hold all her stuff.  But there was a coupon problem.  Then she paid part in cash and part on card.  She was able to get rid of a lot of coins.  The card did not go through the first time; somehow I was expecting that.

 

By this time there was an impressive line, though I did not stay to watch.

 

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

By this time there was an impressive line, though I did not stay to watch.

With grocery shopping like that you can cancel your Netflix subscription. 

[liuzhou]

It always stuns me in supermarket checkouts how many people seem totally surprised that they have to pay and then scramble around trying to remember where they put their cash or other payment methods. Here, 90% of payments are made by cellphone, but only 2% seem to know how their phones work!

[heidih]

We are awfully backwards. My sis laughs and can not stop saying "what! a checkbook" - but we still do here in Los Angeles. Maddening. Funny how you foot tap with your dominant side. Gotta practice tapping with my left foot to even things out

[chromedome]

11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

At check out there was only one customer ahead of me in the express lane.  She had 37 items for over $203.  In the express lane.  Not counting a couple things rung up that she didn't want.  Then there were the carrots she forgot.  She eventually came back with carrots but with okra too.  Quite a lot of okra.  Groceries were spilling on the floor because the cart could not hold all her stuff.  But there was a coupon problem.  Then she paid part in cash and part on card.  She was able to get rid of a lot of coins.  The card did not go through the first time; somehow I was expecting that.

 

Many years ago I ran a retail store in a senior-heavy neighbourhood of a senior-heavy small town. We all learned to dread the words "Now I know I've got the right change in here somewhere...." as one of the old dears began scouring the nether regions of her purse with shaky hands. I was pretty patient about it overall, though less so in mid-December with a long lineup waiting to be served.

Now of course my own mother is battling Parkinson's, so I'm on the other side of that equation when I take her shopping. It took me two solid years of lobbying to get her to just use the tap instead of trying to insert her debit card, and no sooner I had her trained than one of her friends scared her into having the tap disabled, lest someone make away with her card and drain her account in $100 increments. She mostly uses cash anyway, so I just keep my mouth shut and let her do as she wants. She's my mother, not my child, and gets to make her own decisions.

[kayb]

15 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

The delicatessen counter at Shoprite was quiet when I got there.  Someone was working on a machine but he was totally self absorbed.  I waited.  And waited, and went to the next area to ask for help.  The two people there walked over to wake him up.  The first slice of salami was too thick.  As was the second.  He presented the third with a little too much force.  The slice traced an impressive arc before it hit the ground.  I said it looked about right from what I saw of it.  He apologized, turned, and hit his head on the metal rack holding the plastic bags.  The other employees were much amused.

 

At check out there was only one customer ahead of me in the express lane.  She had 37 items for over $203.  In the express lane.  Not counting a couple things rung up that she didn't want.  Then there were the carrots she forgot.  She eventually came back with carrots but with okra too.  Quite a lot of okra.  Groceries were spilling on the floor because the cart could not hold all her stuff.  But there was a coupon problem.  Then she paid part in cash and part on card.  She was able to get rid of a lot of coins.  The card did not go through the first time; somehow I was expecting that.

 

By this time there was an impressive line, though I did not stay to watch.

 

 

Sans the deli experience (Kroger's deli kids are almost uniformly excellent), this sounds like the self-check lane at Kroger. And I worry that people get impatient when I take time to put my reusable shopping bags on the bag stand and then tell the little computer, yes, I'm using my own bags.

 

Self check at Sam's, on the other hand, is grand. Use the little scanner gun, leave everything in your basket until you get to your car.

[heidih]

21 minutes ago, kayb said:

 

Sans the deli experience (Kroger's deli kids are almost uniformly excellent), this sounds like the self-check lane at Kroger. And I worry that people get impatient when I take time to put my reusable shopping bags on the bag stand and then tell the little computer, yes, I'm using my own bags.

 

Self check at Sam's, on the other hand, is grand. Use the little scanner gun, leave everything in your basket until you get to your car.

 

I love self check at Ralphs (Kroger)  The software is well written - intuitive, They always have a person watching the 4 stations so if you hit a wall they are right there. There are some sales clerks I like so if there is no line I will do that just to converse. Like the guy who fishes and likes to discuss "what is biting". 

[CantCookStillTry]

I am trying to cut down on my grocery shopping bills with meal planning etc. 

But. I suck at it. Impulse buying at tiny rural supermarkets is Expensive and, frankly, where I am, poor quality. So this weekend I went to the big town and bought a meat pack at a popular butcher to stock the freezer and hopefully get me on track. 

 

It was intense! 

 

 

For $205 AUD I got: 2kg pork sausage, 2kg of Beef sausage, 1/2 kg Cheerios, 1kg of big Bacon, 1kg rib fillet steak, 1kg rump steak, 1kg y bone steak (probably feeding animals), 1kg porterhouse steak, 2kg minced beef, 1kg steakettes, 1 kg pork loin chops, 1kg lamb bbq chops, 1kg beef schnitz, 2kg leg lamb, 2kg boned rolled pork roast and 2kg of silverside. I think I did ok. 

 

Also partly driven by my hubs Dr's recommendation that he eats more meat... for a jaw issue... that he also shouldn't chew for... Meatshakes anyone? 😂🤦‍♀️

[rotuts]

I have tremendous sympathy for Seniors in the Markets.

 

every penny counts.

 

they may not understand or have the resources for a " 2 % cash back " credit card.

 

and no , you don't really save 2 %.  you get 2 % back on the prices of everything in the store

 

to cover the 4 - 5 % across the board price hike modern credit cards demand.

 

and no , the Slime and Scum in Your.Gov  refused to allow a cash discount at

 

any store.  have to keep those campaign contributions from Visa.com coming in.

 

did I mention Visa , the company , stock doubled this year ?

 

So I have plenty of patience w Seniors , 

 

maybe because I might be one soon enough ?

Edited February 2, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[fondue]

A half kilo of Cheerios in this context means?

 

  

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, CantCookStillTry said:

1/2 kg Cheerios

Cheerios? From the butcher? 

[CantCookStillTry]

37 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Cheerios? From the butcher? 

Sorry... Australianism.. Again. 

Small red skinned ready to eat mini sausages that are not hotdogs/not saveloys/not sausages ... I'm very good at saying what they're not.

 

If you think calling them Cheerio's is confusing the Southern States call them 'Little Boys'!! 

 

Edit: Excuse the fridge pic. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by CantCookStillTry (log)

[suzilightning]

4 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Also partly driven by my hubs Dr's recommendation that he eats more meat... for a jaw issue... that he also shouldn't chew for... Meatshakes anyone? 😂🤦‍♀️

I feel you.  Johnnybird once had a major jaw infection, underwent surgery and one of my best pot roasts went into the blender.  He said it was delicious.

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Small red skinned ready to eat mini sausages that are not hotdogs/not saveloys/not sausages ... I'm very good at saying what they're not.

 

If you think calling them Cheerio's is confusing the Southern States call them 'Little Boys'!! 

 

 

Sounds like what we might call cocktail sausages, which I would never put into a cocktail!

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

Sounds like what we might call cocktail sausages, which I would never put into a cocktail!

 

Yes. I was thinking "Vienna sausages" but cocktail sausages (or even the less-appealing-to-me term cocktail weenies) is the more generic term. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Yesterday was not Shoprite.  Thanks to a friend I was shopping at a favorite high end market.  Duck a l'orange came to mind for dinner, but the $37 duck had me settle for sole Granville.  So sad.  I also picked up a Berkshire chop.

 

As I wandered past the bakery section a baker was holding a cake on one hand while chatting with a customer.  I couldn't help but notice she got the cake in the woman's hair.  This was not Shoprite.

 

[Okanagancook]

My DH is doing the grocery shopping for me as I get my medical treatments.  I don't want to go to a crowded grocery store with snivelling people around.

 

I gave him my list which he successfully brought home save for a few miscues:

 

Canola oil, No name:  I got Corn Oil but it was no name!

Cilantro AND parsley:  I got one honking big bunch of cilantro and a smaller bunch of, yup, cilantro...he thought it was parsley because it was a different size.  Sigh.

Orange and Lemon Sanpellorino cans:  I got Orange and alas, Grapefruit which I am not allowed.  Darn but I will enjoy the orange now and the grapefruit in the summer.

Green Peppers:  yes, they are green but one has a big hole in it.

Eggplant:  Yes, but it has a few bumps on it.  He gets extra points for this though because he stopped at another store because the first store didn't have nice ones.

 

Clearly he needs remedial shopping class.  But I love him anyways..he had a sense of humour about it

[heidih]

"They know not what they do"  Well intentioned but frustrating. Be well.

[IowaDee]

Boy this shopping thing works both ways.  When we were building this house. hubby would send me to the hardware store for various odds and ends.  More than once, hell, lots of times I came home with the wrong thing.  Nails a wee bit short. screws with a slotted head, too wide a paint brush, you name it.  We finally worked out a solution.  Give me an example of the nail, screw nut or bolt to show the clerk.  If it were something really super complicated, he called ahead and explained it to the staff and they would have it ready for me to pick up.  By the time the house was finished, I had earned a degree in "Hardware Store Shopping" and had my own nail apron so to speak.  I can butter bricks with the best of 'em!  I think I knew I had mastered it when he sent me to the local Redi-Mix place to pick up screeds and floats and I knew exactly what he meant.

[lindag]

I usually gave my hubby a detailed grocery list.

Otherwise it went like this:  Hubby calling me from the store, “Hey, they don’t have ______”

Me: “Yes they do, ask someone”.

[kayb]

I have gotten quite spoiled to the Aldi grocery delivery service. Is it worth $3.99 for me to sit in the couch in my sweats and click and order and pay, and they bring my groceries two hours later, in the freezing cold or the rain? Yes, yes, it is.