Grocery Store Blues
Posted on August 18, 2005 7 Comments
Grocery shopping always frustrates and confuses me. Here are a few key learnings I can share from my latest trip:
- The ingredients in most generic products are the exact same as premium labels. However, said ingredients are often listed in a different order, simply to make comparing labels more difficult.
- Foaming, scented, solid, liquid, firming, moisturizing, nourishing, with fruit extracts, relaxing, exfoliating, deep-cleaning or clear-rinsing, soap is, and always will be, just soap.
- The difference in five different brands of stewed tomatos? Milligrams of sodium.
- No matter what day I shop, the shelves will be restocked tomorrow.
- 100% juice does not always mean 100% juice.
- Walking down the “chips and snacks” aisle is an exercise in futility. Best to avoid it completely. The sheer number of Oreo varieties can bring a grown woman to tears.
- Store-bought vegetables are never as good as those from my mom’s garden.
- For $1.00 more, I just bought organic eggs laid by cage-free, vegetarian chickens. So what are the feeding the other chickens? (Wait, don’t answer that.)
One store down, two more to go. I hate grocery shopping.
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7 Responses to “Grocery Store Blues”
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August 19th, 2005 @ 1:07 am
What also made me laugh was the chocolate syrup:
GENUINE MILK CHOCOLATE
flavored
August 19th, 2005 @ 2:03 am
Oh! And I totally forgot that the actual syrup, the maple stuff you’re supposed to put on pancakes, that doesn’t even CONTAIN syrup in most bottles. Ugh!
August 19th, 2005 @ 2:55 am
I worked in the grocery business for 9 years. It was actually a lot of fun. Here’s something I’ve always wondered:
Who judges whether cat food is “Now More Tasty” or “New and Improved?” I sure don’t want that job.
What exactly is immitation vanilla?
When companies reduce the sizes of products why don’t they put a “New Smaller Size” sticker on the product?
Who thought up the name Zud?
Why do they build 25 checkouts but only use 3?
Why don’t I get a discount when I use self-checkout?
Those are just some of the things I think about when I can’t sleep.
JLP
AllThingsFinancial
August 19th, 2005 @ 11:38 am
By law, ingredients must be in order (sorted by quantity or percentage of product).
Said that… I love generics.
Whole peeled canned tomatoes, chicken broth, frozen veggies, milk, cream, etc… I get generics.
Regarding home grown veggies: I agree. Right now I am enjoying the tomatoes and peppers. Next in line will be the pumpkins, apples, peaches, and pears that are growing for fall. It is a relaxing thing to do… and saves some money… plus allows you to have an excuse to visit friends (to bring extra produce).
Money and Investing
August 20th, 2005 @ 1:58 am
Cook’s illustrated just had a great article that was a sort of brand name vs. store brand “roundup”. they obviously didn’t test everything, but their findings were interesting. Store brands didn’t always win, but they did often beat the “big brands” in terms of quality/price. A few items, the big name was the winner.
The article pointed out that the stores usually contract with the same manufacturers used by the biggies, but recipes and formulas need to be “tweaked” for contractual reasons. so quality, tastes etc will vary from store to store and from store to brand names. And yet some things are nearly identical.
I will always try the store brand, but I have been disappointed in several items quality-wise (my store’s maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal was inedible for example) and very happy with others (sandwich bags!)
From some of your other bullets I suspect you’d like reading “Cook’s” it’s a great magazine that has great recipes and frugal tips. They often have taste tests that show most “premium” grocery products aren’t always the best and equipment tests that consistently find reasonably priced quality items as alternatives to pricey cookware and gadgetry.
Their info might help ease your grocery pain
September 2nd, 2005 @ 2:26 am
I’ve worked in a grocery store for entirely way to long now. I just got married almost a month ago now. Since I work in a grocery store I get to do all the shopping…I HATE SHOPPING. Just be glad you don’t work in a grocery store. Fun or not, my boss and I when bored go collect coupons around the store to see whats the best deals around and if they’re even worth it. Not really fun but hey she helped me save 90$ on my last grocery shopping spree.
September 10th, 2005 @ 3:47 am
All natural doesn’t always mean what you think, either!