Show me your shopping trolley and I tell you who you are!

I don’t know if I could actually do that, but I think the content of a shopping trolley can convey a lot about a person. You can tell if they receive a big pay check every month or are shopping on a budget. Do people lead a busy life, or not! You can find out if people cook, or not – the members of the microwave posse! You can tell if people eat healthy, or are more into snacks. And you can tell if people are on a diet or not. Oh, and of course you can tell if people are single or part of a (large) family.
Strangely enough I’d never noticed or thought about that before. I just recently discovered the pleasure of examening other peoples shopping carts…..call me weird ;)

On Saturday’s a lot of people do their weekly shopping (guess you already knew that), which automaticly results in long queues at the supermarket checkout (bet you already knew that too). So, if it’s at all possible I don’t go to the supermarket on Saturday, but most of the time I need to go and get something so, I will end up in the long queues :( In the past this could really ruin my day, but not anymore! First I changed the whole shopping experience by taking my iPod along (tip: make sure you have inspiring and uplifting music on there). I know it’s not very social, but this way I don’t have to listen to the screaming kids, arguing couples and sighing husbands. One note of caution though….make sure you don’t sing along and don’t, I repeat DON’T dance in the aisles, people will look at you funny. Oh, and don’t put Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake on it, it makes you walk like a catwalk model.

As soon as I enter the queue, I strike a relaxing pose (No, not a Vogue one ;)) and start people watching, still with the ipod on of course…..I don’t want to listen to all the sighing and complaining that’s going on! You wouldn’t expect it but the supermarket is a great place for people watching. When I get bored with that, I turn to examening shopping trolleys and it is astonishing what you can find there. So many carts, so many different items, and still so many trolleys that look the same. A lot of people seem to feel guilty when grocery shopping. On the one end of their trolley they have a lot of unhealthy food like: crisps, cookies, cakes, food that needs to be deep-fried, chocolate, pastries, ice-cream, softdrinks, candy bars, desserts, coffee and so on and so on. In the middle there is the stuff that everyone needs like: toiletpaper, dertergent, shampoo, bread, milk etc. Almost ¾ of most carts are already filled now, but there is a little bit of space left for the stuff that I like to call “make up for” food. The food that reduces the guilty feeling. In that section you are most likely to find some fruit, 1 or 2 kinds of (fresh) vegetables, cholesterol-lowering products (yoghurts, margarine, cheese etc.), artificial sweeteners, the light version of soft drinks, decaf coffee and bottled water. In my opinion people would not need so much of this stuff if they would only buy half (or less) of the bad stuff. But hey, I am not with the food police ……

Anyway, all this made me wonder about my own groceries. What do they tell about me? Hmmz… I don’t use a trolley but a basket so that would probably tell that I don’t buy a lot of groceries and that would probably mean that I am not part of a large family. My basket is usually filled with healthy food and necessities (store brands only), in small amounts, this most likely tells people that I am single, shop on a budget and don’t like junk food. Oh, and it would probably say that I do like coffee and tea because I buy coffee and tea a lot. So, I am curious, what does your shopping trolley (/basket) say about you?