Shopping grumps

[ladyofastolat]

Is it just me, or does food shopping get ever more complicated? I tried to buy tinned sweetcorn a while ago. Presumably we hadn't bought it for a long time, or maybe Pellinor happened to do the shopping the last time sweetcorn was on the list, or maybe the World of Sweetcorn, formerly simple, has recently acquired new complexities. I expected a choice between Brand Name, Another Brand Name and Own Brand. Instead, I found what seemed to my poor overloaded brain to be at least 127 subtly different sweetcorn choices. Which one is normal, old-fashioned sweetcorn? I wailed. Which one is the ordinary, classic, common-or-garden, original, newbie sweetcorn? No help was forthcoming.

It's even worse with toothpaste, where each brand name comes in about 105 different versions, all claiming to do something that sounds like a Good Thing, but none claiming to do all of them. Overwhelmed, I just buy whatever happens to be on special offer. And this week, I ended up bonding with an elderly lady over our shared Olive Oil Angst. Side by side, we surveyed the 20 foot wide display of all manner of olive oils, as we tried to work out which one was normal olive oil for cooking. I used to laugh about old ladies who stood around in shops loudly complaining about the price of carrots nowadays, or the shocking new-fangledness of the quiche. Now I seem to have become one.

What supermarkets need is some sort of walkthrough for confused newbies. ("New to tinned sweetcorn? Here's where to start!") Or maybe a clearly coloured shelf sticker that denotes the normal, regular, non-confusing version of a thing.

And while I'm busy grumping about shopping:

Why do so many clothes shops make it impossible to find clothes? Go into somewhere like Debenhams to look for trousers, and you have to look in 105 different places. At least it makes sense in Debenhams, because of the way the shop works: lots of different brands under the same roof. But M&S does the same thing now, with all their different ranges. I just want to browse trousers! I don't care if they're Per Una trousers, or Indigo Collection trousers, or M&S Classics trousers, or any of the other ranges they now sell. Why are they going out of their way to make things difficult? Well, yeah, I expect they're deliberately forcing customers to walk every inch of the shop in the hope that they get tempted by other items en route, but it's still very annoying.

As is the habit train stations have of only selling crisps in extra-large bags. After an early start and a long journey, I might feel in need of a small snack, but I don't want a large one. If they sold normal sized bags of crisps, they would probably get some money out of me. By only selling large ones, they ensure that I walk straight out again, feeling grumpy, negative thoughts in their general direction, and my money remaining unspent.

Comments

[leesa_perrie]

Yes, yes and yes again! You're not the only one who feels this way at times (though I will admit to occasionally buying the large bags of crisps, because I get really hungry when travelling for some reason)!

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I very occasionally buy the larger packs, too - although I feel grumpy as I do so, on the principle of the thing - but I'm still in diet mode at the moment, losing the *guilty look* 7 pounds I put on between my birthday and New Year, so while I could justify 169 calories for crisps (up 2 hours early, brisk walk to ferry etc. etc.) in this case, I couldn't justify the bigger pack. Shame. :-(

[torkell]

The sandwich shop round the corner from where I work started that a long time ago. I quite like Doritos, but not when they only come in too-large-for-one sizes.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I imagine their profit margins must be greater on large packets, or something? But I wonder if they take into account the custom they lose by removing the option of buying smaller packets. It's like one of our local foodie pubs that serves vast portions. We stopped going to it years ago, since the portions were too big to eat but I was brought up to feel guilty about leaving food, and I've spoken to loads of other people who avoid it for the same reason. Yet still they do it.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

We have discovered that our local Indian is quite happy for us to order a starter-sized portion of something followed by another starter-sized portion of something. This makes their meals manageable.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

That's good. Pellinor and I once spent a good few miles of a long walk solving the obesity crisis, at least as it relates to eating out. Making doggy bags the norm was the key proposal, but I was also strongly in favour of all restaurants being encouraged to offer smaller options. I felt it could even be in their financial interest. They could rebadge their normal-sized meal as the "large" option, and put the price up a little, while also offering a significantly smaller version for just a pound or two less.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Re: Clothes shops. Try TK Maxx. They (and I'm now admitting that I only have knowledge of the menswear section; the womenswear might be different) have the brilliantly simple idea of sorting everything by type then size. Want a medium t-shirt? Look on the medium t-shirts rail.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

We do now have one of those on the island. I remember everyone getting really excited when it was announced that it was coming, but I'd never heard of it. I did pop in once, and was put off by the fact that there were clothes dropped all over the floor, but maybe I should take a second look.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

They sell a lot of crap, but they also sell a lot of really nice clothes really cheaply. Apart from trousers (which I tend to buy from a shop in Tavistock because they do free alterations, and I _always_ need trousers shortening), I buy more clothes from TK Maxx than anywhere else.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I do hope you have a grumpy old lady stick to wave about while you do these rants.

My problem with toothpaste is that I strongly dislike the taste of mint. In any British supermarket, I am typically confronted by 80 different flavours of mint toothpaste, maybe two super-sweet kiddie fruit flavour toothpastes, and not a single cinnamon, fennel or clove toothpaste. I guess the figures must prove that I am the ONLY person in Britain who doesn't like mint toothpaste, but it still seems odd to have to resort to ordering non-mint flavours online like some sort of bizarre fetish.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no, but since it was cold outside, I was wearing a silly furry hat, which hopefully counts a little?

Strange that mint is the One True Way for toothpaste, and all other flavours must be smuggled in via an underground toothpaste railroad, and kept hidden in clove-scented priest holes. Other Flavours Are Available in mouth wash, so why not toothpaste?

Maybe you should apply for the Apprentice, with a business model based on bringing toothpaste flavour choice to the mass market. Your focus group was entirely in favour and enthusiastic, you can tell them, not revealing that your focus group consisted entirely of you.

[rubygirl29.livejournal.com]

Bad shopping week, m'dear? I, too, remember when it was much more simple. Now the multitude of choices can leave me baffled. Don't get me started on yogurt!

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Not a bad shopping week, as such, just that I had to go to a meeting on the mainland yesterday, and the train times didn't mesh with the meeting times, so I had plenty of time hanging around at stations, failing to buy crisps, and killing time in a strange town centre, failing to find trousers - and, in most of the shops - failing to find the stairs and escalators, which they always seem to hide, and arrange in deliberately awkward lay-outs. Grr!

*resisting urge to ask you about yogurt* :-D

[inamac.livejournal.com]

And flour. My Mum used to have a bag of Plain and a bag of Self Raising in the cupboard. I currently have eight different kinds of flour and keep picking up the wrong one by mistake (pancakes accidentally made with Strong Bread Flour just taste *wrong*)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I think that about butter. I'm sure my Mum always used to just have generic "butter," which was used for everything. Now there are vast arrays of the stuff with varying levels of salt, and the like. As I agonise over which butter I should buy for my planned baking session, I remind myself that my mum and grandma just used "butter," and their cakes tasted just fine.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I went to the supermarket for a topup shop this evening and bought four different varieties of salted butter.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does. I am fine with things I buy regularly, but if it's something I don't buy very often, it can be tricky.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

Oh don't talk to me about toothpaste. My brand of choice is Colgate Total, but suddenly it isn't just the lovely standard Total, you have to chose between fresh breath, cavity protection, pro-enamel, sensitive and probably more. Maybe I should invest in a tube of each and blend?