What are your unusual rules for shopping?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I always buy cage-free eggs. I used to have chickens as pets and the thought of keeping chickens in cages so small they can’t even flap their wings horrifies me. It’s worth the extra fifty cents to me.

I almost exclusively buy Sonoma County wine. (I do like Rosemont Estates, which is Australian.) If the front label isn’t specific enough, I check the back label for the winery location. It’s not really a wine snob thing - I’m from Sonoma County, so I like to make sure my money supports my home economy, and not those jerkfaces in Napa. (I kid! Sort of. There’s a little rivalry.)

What are your unusual reasons you buy the things you buy?

2

I buy free-range eggs too, for the same reason.
I get traceable Irish meat and chicken where possible, real butter and seasonal fruit and veg.

I buy Kikkoman Soy sauce and the most expensive balsamic vinegar the supermarket stocks…it’s not worth saving money by buyng cheap condiments.

3

No unusual rules that I can think of, apart from fresh is best. Real butter. Not many generics.

Posh toilet paper.

4

Unsalted butter. *

The expiration date on the milk must be minimum 3 generations from now **

Same with yogurt.

  • I get enough salt in the diet anyway.
    ** I will paw through all the cartons and jugs to find the one with the furthest expiration date. Can’t drink milk that is near the date, so I want to give myself some buffer room before I get the ‘ohgawdthemilkisOLD’ shivers. Brrrrrrrrrr.
5

My house goes through milk pretty quickly so unless we’re going to be out of town I don’t worry about being one of Dante’s milk maids.
I will dig through the stack to find the smallest piece of cheese, but that’s usually because we buy several different kinds. I will also buy the smallest veggies, on the theory that fetal vegetables taste better.

6

The funny thing is, I’ll skimp on anything but my condiments.

Only Plochman’s mustard, only Heinz Ketchup, only Valassic pickles and only LaChoi soy sauce (Kikoman’s is too salty).

As for milk, butter, eggs, meat, whatever’s cheapest is what I get.

7

Eggs in cardboard cartons, not plastic. Free-range if possible.

Oh, and bag it all in single paper bags, please. Not plastic, not plastic and paper, not double bagged. One dam paper bag. If it’s too heavy for a single paper bag it’s too heavy for me to lift anyway.

8

I grew up poor and we had to make do with generic products, so as an adult I’m wildly extravagant and must have brand name potato chips, soda, cereal, etc.

9

I will buy store brand anything, and I do mean anything, with one exception. I will never, ever, ever drink store brand cola. I will always buy diet coke and regular coke, or if I must, pepsi, but never any others.

Oh, and in general, I’ll buy ethnic food in markets of the correct ethnicity. My soy sauce and sesame oil are from Chinatown, my Thai stuff from the markets in Lowell where no one speaks English and my Mexican stuff from either the stores in Waltham or the Victory there, which is close enough to ethnic for me, as their Mexican section is about three isles wide.

10

We don’t buy store brand anything, because it usually sucks - especially soda. We must have Coke or Dr. Pepper. From experience, we will only buy Northern Quilted toilet paper. Dill pickles must be Ba-Tampte kosher half sours. No substitutions! My wife will only buy Tyson Popcorn Chicken Bites, because “all the other kinds are gross.” That’s about it.

11

Store brand soda is the worst, though generic Cheetos are certainly a close second.

12

I always purchase the box behind the front one on the shelf.

13

Ah, “Front Box Contamination.” I just realized that I do that as well.

So, are the respondents here abandoners of unwanted goods or do you faithfully return unwanteds to their correct place?

14

I always take mine back where I got them. And I always put my cart back in the corral, or I will take it back in the store and put it with the others.

15

I drop the groceries off wherever it is I decide I don’t want it within reason. I’ve seen produce in the freezer section and ice cream in the bakery and that’s ridiculous. I have no problem leaving a box of cereal in the snack food aisle though.

And so far as my habits go, I don’t really know… the only brand of food I’m really loyal to is Best Food’s (Hellman’s) mayonnaise. Nothing else comes close. Otherwise, I’ll try most any brand of anything. Even store brands except when buying soda. Like gfloyd, I only buy brands I’m familiar with there unless I’m specifically wanting to try something new or regional, like Jone’s.

16

hmm. guess i’m less discriminating in my tastes than i thought. i don’t have problems with things like store-brand soda copies–actually, i prefer one store’s lemon-coke-clone to the Real Thing (smirk). now, if they’d just get around to doing the lime-flavored version…
the one thing that WILL drive me up the wall, though, in both grocery stores and any other kind, is to display interesting merchandise and not display the price for it anywhere! :mad: if you’re going to make me hunt down someone to find out what the frickin’ cost is, or hope that i’ll just buy it and wait for the surprise at the cash register, well then SURPRISE yourself! i ain’t gonna bother.

i’ve passed up on more than one interesting item, just for that little irritation.

17

I almost always go through the store in the same order, walking back to the back for drinks first.

I almost always buy generic versions of everything, except (usually) cheese. I also splurge on deli meats/cheeses.

18

I always buy Newman’s Own products, mostly salad dressing (Caesar or the Balsamic Vinegar) and popcorn.

And if there’s a choice I buy “Best Choice” products (except, of course, if Newman’s Own is an option). They’re cheaper and usually taste the same as the bigger name brand stuff.

19

Kyla, I do exactly those same things for exactly the same reasons (free range/organic eggs, Sonoma County wine because I’m from there). Except if I’m buying wine that isn’t from the US (Australian, etc.) I don’t mind so much. Penfolds Thomas Hyland Shiraz 2001 is fantastic.

I also only buy organic carrots and organic nonfat milk.

20

My main rule is to not do grocery shopping. If I do, I’ll buy the one or two things I want, and the blow another $10-15 dollars on impulse purchases.