# Buying the wrong food item **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [July 29, 2025, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453 "2025-07-29T04:34:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/41 "2025-07-29T19:55:20Z")
Just to inform South American Spanish speakers that to be a _chorizo_ in Spanish from Spain means to be a thief or a crook. The right way to say that would be _soy un chorizo_, but we say _es un chorizo_ - meaning someone else is a crook, not us - much more often. You know the joke about the wife saying “go to the bakery and buy a bread, and if they have eggs, buy six” and as they had eggs I bought six breads? Something like that happened to me, only whith croissants. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/42 "2025-07-29T19:56:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IME mistake purchases make much better trash can filler-uppers than anything else. Struggling to find an alternate use for a $3 goof is simply piling guilt and inconvenience on yourself. It’s self imposed principle, for sure, and I think the filters are like a buck. They say reusing is the best form of recycling but those poor filters never got used the first time. And it’s not like I’m scraping cheese off to reuse a pizza box. Say, can I interest anyone in my newly announced series of disposable liners for automotive cupholders? Lily white, attractive pleating. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/43 "2025-07-29T20:10:44Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Say, can I interest anyone in my newly announced series of disposable liners for automotive cupholders? Lily white, attractive pleating. I bet if you spent 1 person-hour on each embroidering them with $5 worth of embroidery floss each, you could sell them for, IDK, a quarter a piece. Some Doper will happily try that project. Not me. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/44 "2025-07-29T20:30:47Z")
It happens to me all the time, especially at unfamiliar stores. Because I want to minimize the amount of time I spend in any store, I rarely stop to read labels. The idea is to get in and out as fast as possible. After I get home and realize my mistake, if it’s edible or potable, I’ll hold my nose and consume it. If it’s something really disgusting like artificial sweeteners or skim milk, I’ll usually just throw it out. Returning it to the store isn’t worth it because I live so far away. I consider the waste to be an acceptable cost of my method which really does save a lot of time over carefully reading every label. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/45 "2025-07-29T21:03:16Z")
I’m fairly good at reading labels. But if the mismatch is subtle or I am grabbing a pile of stuff from a place where most are labelled correctly, I’m apparently not quite as good. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/46 "2025-07-29T21:19:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > A few months ago I accidentally bought garlic salt instead of garlic powder I’ve done that. And when I needed individual creamers (to take somewhere without refrigeration), I’ve accidentally bought a sweetened type when I wanted non-sweetened. > [@needscoffee](#): > > As others have suggested, they literally _can’t_ resell returned refrigerated food items. It’s a violation of food safety codes. Well, it is _now_ (in the USA). I wouldn’t count on that continuing here, what with the general ‘let’s free businesses from burdensome regulation’ atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/47 "2025-07-29T23:47:56Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Returning it to the store isn’t worth it because I live so far away. I would find it odd if you thought that taking the time to read the labels while you were in the store wasn’t a good use of your time, but driving back to the store in hopes of doing an exchange _was_. If I bought the wrong thing through my own careless error, I would probably not try getting a refund or exchange—_definitely_ not if it was something they couldn’t resell. Partly because I wouldn’t want the hassle, partly because I’d be too embarrassed, but mostly because it seems like a dick move to make someone else eat the cost of my own mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/48 "2025-07-30T02:04:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@jnglmassiv](#): > > > > Wrong Food Item: I bought 200 of the mini 4 cup (?) coffee filters by mistake. I guess I could use them as rough napkins or maybe food safe firestarters? > > IME mistake purchases make much better trash can filler-uppers than anything else. Struggling to find an alternate use for a $3 goof is simply piling guilt and inconvenience on yourself. Don’t do that. If its edible, feed it to a pet if you have one, or to the dumpster if you don’t. Even if you’re on a very tight budget, figuring out some way to (mis)use a mistaken purchase doesn’t put the $3 back in your wallet. You might get a few cents of value out of it, but probably not. Coffee filters make great superfine strainers (of anything that you might otherwise strain using a paper towel or tea towel, etc.). And a box of 200 of them isn’t going to take up much storage room, and is never going to go bad. No need to psych yourself up into throwing away something like that; it’ll come in handy someday and be essentially no trouble to deal with in the meantime. Bonus **Kimstu** yogurt cheese recipe: Whack a coffee filter into a fine mesh strainer, dump some full-fat plain yogurt into the filter, plop a china bowl into the yogurt to weight it down some, set the strainer over a larger bowl, leave in fridge overnight. You now have some delicious tangy creme fraiche/cream cheese type stuff that can be flavored and used for all sorts of eating purposes. Plus some expressed whey that adds tangy flavor and a tiny bit of casein smoothness to soups and stews and what not. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/49 "2025-07-30T02:54:18Z")
Many years ago, I worked with a woman who had purchased some TV dinners, back in the day when you peeled off the foil, and all of them were moldy. She put them in a bag and returned them to the store, piping hot mold and all! She did get a refund. A while back, I picked up a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes with habanero, not jalapeno. I didn’t think to read the label until I took it out of the cupboard to use it, and while I did eat whatever I made with it, that stuff made my scalp sweat! I’m MUCH more cautious now. As for the skim vs. fuller fat milk, could it be used in cooking, or partialed out and frozen, or even offered to a friend or neighbor? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/50 "2025-07-30T03:03:13Z")
An item like Country Crock, or yogurt for that matter, shouldn’t go bad in a month if it’s stored properly. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/51 "2025-07-30T03:04:18Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Is it me? **How often do you inadvertently purchase an unwanted (or lesser) grocery item?** It happens on occasion and it’s usually because the packaging looks so similar to the regular product. Mrs. Odesio recently bought what she thought were extra toasted Cheez-Its but they were some other variation. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/52 "2025-07-30T04:04:36Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > On two separate occasions I have accidentally bought spicy V-8 instead of my usual low-salt variety. Mixing it with non-spicy V-8 made it tolerable. Barely. Somewhat the opposite here. I like V-8, and one day reached for it without looking carefully. When I got the groceries home, I realized that I had bought the spicy V-8 instead of the original that I expected. (Turned out that the supermarket had shuffled all the varieties of V-8 on the shelf, for some reason.) Well, might as well give it a try. To my surprise and delight, I loved the stuff! A serendipitous error indeed. Now, the spicy V-8 is pretty much the only kind of vegetable cocktail I’ll buy. Oh, I’ll buy the original if the supermarket is out of spicy, but that rarely happens. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/53 "2025-07-30T12:05:44Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > … it seems like a dick move to make someone else eat the cost of my own mistake. Liberal return policies (like Nordstrom in the “old days”) used to get my goat, but there are so many ways in which prices are inflated (bonus points, membership clubs, coupons, etc.) I’ve done myself the favor of not giving a shit any more. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/54 "2025-07-30T12:43:14Z")
Back before I retired, I’d bring mistaken purchases in to work. We had a table in our breakroom which was designated as the “free stuff” table. Assuming the food item wasn’t refrigerated, we’d put the unwanted bags of chips, cookies, crackers, regifted candies, etc., on the table and it’d all be eaten up in a few days. At least they didn’t go to waste. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/55 "2025-07-30T15:37:34Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Somewhat the opposite here. I like V-8, and one day reached for it without looking carefully. When I got the groceries home, I realized that I had bought the spicy V-8 instead of the original that I expected. (Turned out that the supermarket had shuffled all the varieties of V-8 on the shelf, for some reason.) > > Well, might as well give it a try. To my surprise and delight, I loved the stuff! A serendipitous error indeed. Now, the spicy V-8 is pretty much the only kind of vegetable cocktail I’ll buy. Oh, I’ll buy the original if the supermarket is out of spicy, but that rarely happens. Unfortunately as I’ve gotten older my tolerance for spicy foods has declined. Which is a shame, because I used to like a little kick in my food. I still occasionally treat myself to Indian and Mexican food, but I have to check the ingredients and descriptions to avoid high-octane peppers. I’ve also found that Saffron Road frozen dinners are not too spicy, but Chef Bombay frozen dinners have a higher heat factor. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/56 "2025-07-30T15:55:22Z")
Country Crock is supposed to have a “Use by” Date (not “best by”) that is 9 months from when it was manufactured. Or at least what I can research on the Internet tells me that. So it doesn’t seem to be a “best by” date (which you can add a bunch of time to). That said, it’s not like the foodstuff magically goes bad on that date. I’d have no problem using it a bit past that date as long as it smelled and looked okay. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/57 "2025-07-30T16:05:23Z")
That Country Crock that I complained about is now two months pass the use-by date. It seems to taste ok, and we’re going to use it all up; that shit is crazy expensive. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/58 "2025-07-30T16:11:44Z")
Not as expensive as butter. I wish me or the kids liked the stuff, but I gotta go hunting for butter sales. We don’t go through that much of the stuff — like a stick, stick and a half — per week, so it’s not too bad with the overall bill. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/59 "2025-07-30T16:55:20Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I regularly eat canned tuna. I once opened a can and proceeded to eat it. Ugh. I only eat tuna packed in water, and mistakenly bought it packed in oil. I’m the opposite. The Genova brand yellowfin or albacore tuna in olive oil is great; the water-packed stuff is gross. And yes, despite the different colored cans, I’ve occasionally ended up with the wrong stuff in my cart. 🤦‍♂️ My complaint about tuna in oil or water is the can is ~40% oil or water and only ~60% tuna. IOW it costs nearly double per pound versus the headline price. Bastards. It’s doubly vexing since we’re mostly buying the clean trimmings, not even the prime center part of the fish. You’d think they’d be willing to sell the scraps for a fair price. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453/60 "2025-07-30T17:08:48Z")
My husband, who does most of the grocery shopping, has a billion food allergies and thus no actual idea what normal people eat. I’ve sent him to the store for salsa and gotten marinara sauce. “Same thing, right?" He claims ignorance on all kinds of regular food. And he routinely accidentally gets stuff that’s gluten free or low fat or pretend meat or otherwise terrible. I once asked for a chocolate bar and I got one that was 95% cacao. That one I made him sample so he could see what he’d done. Still prefer him doing it, though. I loathe grocery shopping. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-the-wrong-food-item/1021453.md?page=4)