To ask if anyone else finds supermarket shopping stressful?

[Cathkidson36]

Just been to Asda and it was hell, entire families doing the shopping, kids running up and down aisles and screaming at top note, groups of young teenagers shouting and messing around, it's just a stressful environment.
I have misophonia which doesn't help but I don't think kids should be allowed to run up and down supermarkets shrieking.

I don't know it really puzzles me because there's been loads of threads like this over the years.

And when people suggest the obvious, the OP's normally say "Oh yeah I'll try ordering online then".

😳

I live in rural Essex, which has become a hellishly overcrowded place. I now have to time my trips to Tesco very carefully. I would never dream of going at 11am on a Saturday, for example. I'd spend the entire time sat in traffic or fighting through crowded aisles. Even driving across town is now an ordeal. There are just too many people in this country. Actually, there are just too many people on this planet, full stop. We've gone from one billion people in 1900 to eight billion today. For an introvert who hates noise, the modern world is hell.

I also have misophonia, so I sympathize. Almost every night I am woken by the screeching of modified cars. When I hear one of those car exhausts that bang and crackle, I could commit murder.

8am on a Saturday morning is a good time to go if you're awake at that time. It's quiet and the shelves are fully stocked.

I like it.

I find it reassuring there are massive places full of food. I like seeing all the different stuff I can chose from.

I grew up rurally and we basically lived from a big chest freezer. There were always huge arguments when something important ran out.

Not really I've used the same supermarket for donkeys years and know where everything is unless shifted but admittedly I go midweek in the morning wouldn't go Saturdays.
I like doing the shop and picking up new stuff to try especially biscuits 😋

I’ve not been in a supermarket for about a decade. I use Ocado, I pick my groceries on line, nice person brings them to the door, job done. Better things to do than the supermarket.

Yes, I absolutely hate it. People seem to have no spatial awareness. Entire families making a day out of it with their kids running rampant, people blocking the way with their trollies, and I hate to say it but the elderly seem to be the worst offenders for getting in the way. A big pet peeve of mine is people breathing down my neck in the queue, there's no reason for it. My blood pressure goes up every time I do a shop.

I enjoy going to the shop as well over online. I like browsing and buying stuff on a whim. Last trip to Lidl they had little crates of fat juicy cherries, they were divine.

Exactly that

I go at 9.30 to Aldi on a Sunday morning and it’s blissful
by the time I get to the till the chaos is happening behind me and it’s time to get out!

I haven't been to a supermarket on a Saturday for a long time, it is the worst time to go. Always loud and busy.

Same here

So do I. I won’t do it on line as long as I am physically and mentally capable of doing it in person.

My local Sainsbo opens the tills @ 10.00 on Sundays, but the doors open before then so you can get your stuff & be ready to unload when the tills are open .
It's always very quiet then.

why?

Waitrose, Tesco, or Aldi, they are all the same.
Aldi is worst because they don't offer online shopping 😂

I enjoy going to the supermarket, but:

• I usually go alone and am usually only getting food for one person (me!)
• I only go when it's quiet, i.e late evening or early on a weekend morning

I don't find it stressful at all. In fact I quite like food shopping.

Scan & go is the best option for me.

This is why I have used Ocado for the last fifteen years. Why take time out of my life to do that? What do I gain?

I go either first thing or about 2pm. Seems to be quieter then. Always with a list. Not my favourite pastime.

Yes, I prefer online. The thing that does my head in is the layout is always bloody changing and each supermarket does it a bit differently. Why can't there be a map you can download so you can find things, or even put your shopping list in and it will plan the route for you. I spend the whole bloody time walking from one end to the next. One percect example was in M&S this morning, I went down an aisle that said yogurt, cream and milk....there was no cream that was on the end of the aisle. In tesco the other day I was doing laps trying to find caster sugar which was not in the baking aisle!

Asda is the worst. For some reason everyone else in there seems to stink of BO in our town. They do sell deodorant! I sometimes wonder if I really smell as I walk over the threshold??

We tend to do online Tesco as a result but I've noticed that the online stock, despite being picked at our local Tesco is far smaller than the actual shop and they remove low cost items. So they won't have value tomatoes online for example, only the vine ripened pricey ones. So the shop is a lot more expensive. I don't think you'd notice if you only shopped online so they're very sneaky!

Problem is I literally have no time to go in person. Around work and housework it would mean going down at 4am before the DC got up.

I go to Aldi in my small market town and it’s great. There is literally the same people there each week.

big Tesco - hate it!

No, not stressful unless I'm in a mad rush and that's then my fault for poor planning. It's just other people existing. So many threads now abound with total inability to tolerate other people in public spaces doing anything other than moving like shadows in total silence. I'm 100% on board with headphone use, active parenting, and being considerate but we seem to have developed a society where encountering other people going about their day is anxiety inducing to the point of making it impossible to function.

I agree with you about children not behaving and parents not doing anything to improve behaviour.

I know the quieter times so shopping is not a bad experience for me.

It's my night out! I go on a Saturday night and have half an hour in Sainsbury's with the same few people who are there every week, empty car park, and then onto Aldi for about 20 minutes and have a nice wander and a chat with the checkout lady when I'm done. Why people go at busy times I'll never know. The thing I would find stressful is online grocery shopping. I would be enraged if I got things with rubbish use by dates or replacements or something. I like to look at the stuff and choose what I want.