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24 People Shared Which Grocery Store Items They Cannot Believe People Actually Purchase
Most people probably try to concentrate on their checklist or what to make for lunch when grocery shopping, yet sometimes they can’t help but spot something they see no purpose in or think they would never pay for themselves.
Naturally, though, as pointed out by some commenters, it is mostly about people’s preferences, yet others may still have questions about the purpose, price, or impact on health, which in some cases has a very informative explanation, as with pre-chopped vegetables, given by this Redditor.
Do you have something to add? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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#1
Thinking of opening a grocery store for singles, where you can buy only the amount you actually need of a food item. A single clove of garlic, 2 scallions, 2 carrots, a cup of rice, 2 eggs, etc…. It’s crazy how much food gets thrown out because it gets funky before you can use it. Of course, this place would also have a coffee bar, serve local brews, wines & tapas & have local art and be open till 1 am….maybe some live local music…what do you think?
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#2
It’s worthwhile to consider that a lot of items you see in the grocery store as a useless markup for something someone could do themselves (eg, shrink wrapped potatoes, already peeled hard boiled eggs in a bag) are convenience items for people who do not have the time to cook 100% from scratch for themselves or their families, and/or they are someone with a disability and that item helps ease a burden.
I used to work in the produce section of a grocery store, and we sold these pre-chopped up vegetables. They were annoying to stock, sold out fast, and had fast expiration dates, so us employees didn’t really love those items in our department. I got to talking with a woman who was purchasing them one day though. She said they were for her elderly mother who struggles to chop vegetables up, and the already chopped vegetables allowed her to actually still make fulfilling meals the way she wanted. Working there for longer I interacted with more people buying them for the reasons stated, convenience when they don’t have time and disabilities.
Empathy goes farther than you’d think.
#3
One day, when I was like 38, I was at the grocery store looking at these little tubs of cubed butternut squash.
I was standing there for a minute thinking, “okay. If I’m gonna have (x) tonight and (y) tomorrow, will the squash still be good the next day, or should I come back and buy it fresh the day I wanna eat it?”
The adolescent who worked in the produce department came over and stood next to me, mimicking the way I was standing until I finally looked right at him.
Then I reached for a container of squash and turned it over to look at the date. He pulled out some handheld machine and started punching numbers in, then exclaimed, “look at this!”
He talked at me for a good three minutes about how the whole butternut squash is cheaper, including showing me some calculations.
When he finally came up for air, I just said “right but I have tendinitis in my wrist so unless you’re going to come cut it for me, I can’t actually use a whole butternut squash.”
A lot of you strike me too much like that dude.
#5
A lot of people in this thread are not realizing that some people are disabled and simple stuff like cutting vegetables is not something they can do or do easily.
Egg yolk in pourable cartons, pre-cut veggies/fruits, pre shelled hard boiled eggs, pre-seasoned meals you put in the oven-it’s not meant for you.
#7
As a transplant in Southern Appalachia I cannot get over the appalling amount of soda people will have in their carts. So. Much. Mountain Dew.
#8
Canned mackerel. I bought some to bait a trap for feral cats (for a trap, neuter, return program.)
The smell is indescribably awful, except to say that it absolutely would knock a vulture off a manure wagon.
Feral kitties gave it two paws up, though!
#9
I remember back in the late 1980s I'd wander the canned food aisle (I was trying to lose weight, so I'd walk to the grocery store, buy a couple of cucumbers and tomatoes and sometimes canned white chicken chunks to go along with them. Anyway I always saw these tiny cans of Potted Meat Food Product on the shelf and wondered what the heck it was. Curiosity eventually got the better of me and I bought a can (it was only about 40 cents at the time). Well, it was all you would expect and less from a 40 cent can of "meat"....looked sort of like a mushy liver-colored hockey puck, smelled like cat food. (The serving suggestion on the label showed it being spread on a cracker with a parsley sprig. Maybe the missing parsley was the reason the stuff tasted like Satan's jockstrap when I actually tried it...)
#11
Canned escargot (snails) in dollar stores.
I just imagine that in a venn diagram of ‘people who buy ingredients from the dollar store’ and ‘people who prepare and cook their own escargot’, there wouldn’t be a lot of overlap, no? 🤷🏻♀️
#13
4 cobs of corn, individually wrapped in plastic, set onto a foam tray which is also wrapped in plastic.
#16
two peeled Clementines in a plastic clamshell.
$4.19
You can get a 3lb bag for $4, and they practically fall out of their peel.
#17
I paid $12 for watermelon juice. It just looked so good. It was. But normally I would be like, what's wrong with that person?
#18
For real, sometimes I stand in the grocery store aisle like, "People actually buy this?" Top of the list has to be canned bread. Who even knew bread needed a can? It's like they're trying to preserve the mystery of how bread is born.
#19
My brother once texted me a picture of peeps flavored Pepsi. I don't mind peeps, but that combination just sounds odd
#20
$6.50 cent boxes of cereal when the one right next to it is on sale for $1.99 that week.
Or name brand pasta.
#21
While not a grocery product it's something commonly stocked at grocery stores: any matte-black clad product designed as a "for men" product (labeled with the word/s "Men's" or "For Men" on the label) that isn't different from the normal product besides the packaging.
#23
Bubblegum flavored chips. I haven't seen them in a while but according to google they are still produced and sold. The same company also makes bubble gum flavored ice tea, which I tried, it was okay
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