AIBU to wonder about the contents of other people's shopping trolleys?

[BruceAndNosh]

Yesterday bloke in checkout queue behind me had 8 sliced loaves and a tray of dog food tins.
And 3 bottles of orange squash

The sandwiches at his kid's party are going to be dreadful

weve just come back from aldi and we are an older couple just two of us and my shopping came to £188 but apart from top up stuff i only buy once every four weeks i fill the freezer and fridge but anyone behind us whos used to weekly shopping would think we were feeding about ten kids

I've done bag packing in our local supermarket in aid of our Scout Group a few times, and the trolley loads are fascinating. We've often got 23rd December, which is manic, and a real mix of "the end of the world is nigh, buy everything" piled high, just the luxury items like flowers/bubbles and a side of salmon (hostess gifts?), just the regular weekly shop types, and a few who only have a handful of big items (a turkey, ham, side of smoked salmon and 2 family-sized lasagnas with a spare bottle of milk and cream thrown in).

Also, while I never have to do the shopping for our Cubs (we have a great parent who looks after that), I have noticed a few times trollies that definitely look like shopping for a residential trip - loads of bread, stacks of packs of sliced ham and ready-sliced cheese, at least 2 jars of nutella, 2 boxes of cereal, 5/6 bags of fruit and 4/5 multipacks of crisps, 10 cartons of juice and 20 litres of milk, only 1 jar of coffee but a large box of teabags and 4 jars of hot chocolate powder.....

An adults' residential trip tends to have less cheap stuff (and fruit), and more sharing bags of crisps, mixers, alcohol and things to nibble (nuts, pesto and hummus, breadsticks etc), and the makings of either a fry up or fruit and pastries breakfast (and a LOT more coffee!!).

A little while back in the summer I was behind a guy circa late teens/early 20s in the self checkout queue.

I really wanted to high five him, he had:

1 x pizza meal deal

1 x cheesecake
2 x bottles of wine
1 x bunch of flowers
1 x packet of durex

I always smile remembering a young guy in front of me a few years ago, he was probably no more than 20. Bottle of wine, flowers, two ready meal curries and a pack of Durex. I hope they had a lovely evening!

Oh x-post! Maybe we saw the same guy on different days

"An old woman in Home Bargains was in front of me today and bought about 25 packets of custard cremes. I am guessing she has a lot of grandchildren!"

Old people have lives, volunteer, work etc. As said food banks get cash donations and buy things like lots of loaves etc. My sister (who'd be considered as old) is part of a church which puts in Easter/Christmas dinners for anyone who needs one. There's also local community groups. Ours give out packed lunches during school holidays. PTs make up boxes for their students, which could explain multiple chickens. It's sometimes cheaper to buy from supermarkets or discount shops. They make up parcels for people to take home as well.
Some people buy to donate to local city farms etc.

@BearSoFair

Oh x-post! Maybe we saw the same guy on different days

Oh my god that's so weird! Maybe it's a craze we aren't aware of? 🤣

@OldTinHat

I had my shopping delivered a couple of days ago and, as you know, they're not in bags anymore, just in crates and you have to 'decant' them into bags in the doorstep.

As soon as the delivery driver knocked my door, my elderly neighbour opened her door. She then proceeded to watch me empty each crate and commented on almost every item I'd bought! She then told another neighbour the next day (in front of me) what I'd bought!

@OldTinHat could you just carry the crate to the kitchen and unload it all onto the counter and hand them the empty tray back? It would save packing bags then unpacking them again (and your neighbour being nosy) -I accept not everyone could do this but it was our driver that suggested it to us one day. He must have been fed up of us taking items out of the tray and putting in bags I suppose.

I always wonder if someone else has noticed the contents of my basket of I've got a random selection of items. Last shop I had 2 packs of bacon, a birthday card, some batteries, a cabbage and a maths set (protractor, ruler etc). Only popped on for the card & the maths set.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

I'm a Scout Leader. I'm very used to the odd looks at the contents of the trolley. Like 16 broom handles. Or 30 Easter eggs.

If you ever lead a camping trip, consider online delivery at the campsite. My husband did that and it was a game changer.

Yanbu. I'm always pondering other peoples shopping.

Whenever someone buys a ridiculous amount of one thing (like the woman I saw the other day buying what looked like 40 cartons of buttermilk) it's clearly because they have a shop, cafe, or perhaps a church/other religious meeting place they are making food for. They're always buying something (like the buttermilk) that might not have been available at costco or makro, or maybe they tried to order from their wholesaler but it was out of stock. Sorry to be boring but the bread guy here was probably

Yes on busy weekends we get a lot the local hotels (less nowadays obviously) and cafes topping up their milk and bread supplies at Tesco when they run out.

I do this all the time but I work on a checkout in a supermarket 😂

@Grenlei

I had a temp job working in Tescos for a few weeks one Christmas.

The trolley contents were one of the best bits of the job.

One day a man came in and bought some reduced potatoes. Except that's all he bought. And they were the big 10kg sacks. He had an entire trolley full (maybe 8-10 sacks). I'm all for a bargain but what on earth was he going to do with that many potatoes?!

I was stood behind a couple in Aldi the other day whose shopping basket contained:

6 x chickens
6 x lettuces
A big block of cheddar.

I was fascinated

Perhaps he was making vodka. 😉

My lovely DH often does shopping for me when I'm on my period. He said he was having a giggle with the cashier because his basket was sanitary pads, chocolate, curry for one and a bottle of wine and they were asking him about his evening plans!

Sometimes, when the supermarket delivery driver has left my itemised receipt, there is another customer's receipt accidentally attached to the back of it. I am a respecter of privacy by nature, but before I put it in our confidential waste bin even I can't resist having a look through what they have ordered.

@Rugsofhonour yeah 14 yoghurts a week - one in the morning and one in the evening.

They are the aldi brooklea ones so they are really thick too, I struggle to eat one of them.

@Bigassbeebuzzbuzz

Well I need to run out and grab wrapping paper and a cucumber in a bit so god knows what people will think about me

Oh dear, there's going to be a REALLY disappointed child at the end of that game of Pass the Parcel!

Not sure what anyone would have made of my trolley, they have started selling Happy Hippos in hazelnut in boxes of 5 in this country ( soo so happy) my enthusiasm was so remarkable the checkout woman asked if I was hosting a children’s party……. And was I doing the hippo cake and hippo party bags……… fortunately this distracted her from the amount of wine gums in my trolley ……

Said child is 22, lives in the Uk and is not as enthusiastic about Hippos as his Mum is!

My excuse is that I only shop in town ( an hour away) when dh has hospital so have two freezers, two fridges and a snack drawer that looks as if we have quadruplet sugar monsters

Quite often I’ll do a shop for the local food bank. It won’t be the first time I’ve had multiple bottles of ketchup/brown sauce, curry sauces, washing up liquid, washing powder, pot noodles, meat pastes, cooking oil, corned beef. They put a list out most weeks of things they’re short of so I stock up with what they need.

I do this. Mainly boredom at the tills. @MaverickDanger that’s a brilliant story. I clocked a lady last week with a massive cucumber. She saw me looking and gave me a steely look just daring me to say something,

Was there petrol at the supermarket in question?

I ask as I filled up at Asda at 5am yesterday (yes I was that desperate, my light came on last Friday) and because I was there I went in and bought a load of random shit I knew was cheaper than Sainsbury and which I can store.

If you had looked in my trolley you'd have been

🤣 I suppose it’s cheaper than potted meat…

I do wonder sometimes when I see someone with a lot of one particular thing.

I was behind a lady in Tesco today who’d filled a little trolley full of bottles of soda water. Nothing else in the trolley.