May 9, 2008 - Found Lists (Part One)

And now, as promised, part two of the Shopping Cart game. First, a little background.

When I went grocery shopping with Mom, we liked to play a little game. We used to peer into the carts of fellow shoppers and try to figure out things about them. If someone, for example, stocked the cart full of hot dogs, hamburgers, buns, and charcoal, we'd surmise the shopper was planning a barbecue. Someone buying sugary cereals and brightly-packaged treats either had a small child at home or a chronic sweet tooth.

So let's play Shopping Cart with some shopping lists found while walking our doggie, Una.

The first list is written on a square piece of paper from one of those memo cubes. Everything's crossed off. It reads:

Heavy Duty trash Bags 42 gallon
Bacon
Sausage
Eggs
Scrapple
Soap
T-paper water
Wheat Bread
Potatoe Bread

In the margin next to the meat is written, "X fast Meat" (I think.)

Single male

This shopper is clearly not a vegetarian, we'll say. Either this is an incomplete, middle-of-the-week sort of list or they don't eat anything but meat and bread. Probably a single guy. Or somebody who had a traumatic childhood experience with broccoli.

Everything on the next list has been checked off. It reads:

(2) Boxes Corn Muff Mix
Chicken
large Box Rice
hot sauce
1/2 dozen eggs
(2) Boxes chock. tasty cakes

Single female

Yet another list consisting of little more than carbs and protein. Given that it's chicken instead of red meat, and that the list also includes chocolate, as well as a mix that, while simple, involves some preparation, I'll hazard this is a single woman, cooking for herself. And there will be no side dishes.

On a sheet of notebook paper, I found a numbered list labeled "Tara Hoagie."

Clearly, this is someone's order for a hoagie. It appears to be written in a feminine hand, so either Tara wrote it herself or her errand person is a woman. The list is very organized and seems to be written in the order the items would be added to the sandwich. Whoever wrote this list is a very analytical, organized sort of person. Possibly a Virgo (and I should know!).

This shopper is a dog lover. So much so, in fact, that "dog food" is near the top of the list, above even "meat." I'm guessing this shopper also doesn't like to cook. "Enchila stuff," a mistake for "enchilada," is at the end, almost as an after thought. This shopper would much rather take a furry friend to a dog park than spend time in the kitchen.

A yellow piece of legal paper, which had been folded into four quarters, was apparently used on several days for different trips to the store.

~~Cornish hens~~
Ham                                                           Toiletpaper
Oven stuffer                                            Soap - Zest & dove
~~ground beef~~                                            Paper Towels
beef short ribs                                       Soap powder
~~Chicken - Legs, thighs~~ & wing dings
pork chops
Steaks
London broil

Chicken Nuggets - 2 bags
hot dogs
French Fries
Vegetable Oil
Oatmeal - Variety
Cereal - Frosted flakes, Cheerios
1- box pancake mix
1-box Rice                                             Onion Soup mix
~~Spaghetti Sauce~~                                   ~~frozen String beans~~
~~(UNREADABLE)~~                                  ~~margarine~~
~~Syrup~~                                                       ~~hugs - juice~~
~~barbecue Sauce~~                                   bread
~~broccoli~~                                                  mayonnaise
~~margarine~~                                              ~~Spaghetti~~
                                                                    ~~Sugar - 2~~
Bread       ~~Bags~~                                       Kool-Aid
~~Mayo~~        Ham                                      ~~Ketchup~~
~~Water~~                                                       Potatoes
~~Kool Aid~~                                                  Sweet Peas 6 cans
Potatoes

Right off, I'm going to guess this person is probably a mother shopping for the family, having already decided on possible meals for an entire week. She varies the type of meat for each meal, but probably doesn't try for much variety in terms of recipes: after all, there are no spices on the list. At first, I thought there were no vegetables either, but there is broccoli and six cans of sweet peas. Her kids also get sugary drinks (Kool-Aid and Hugs), but I don't notice any other sweet treats. All in all, this is your basic meat-and-potatoes family.

$199
Dip Sour Cream OIP
Oat meal pies cream
O L Soda
Sugar daddy taffy
Cheese doodle blue bag
Cheese popcorn

A shopping list for snack food? Really? This is either a child or somebody planning a food binge. Let's just hope they don't spend the entire $199 on this stuff.

The next list, written in red ink on a small piece of notebook paper, is similar.

dish detergent
minke n nites
~~Milky~~
tylenols PM
pretzels 3f
Buleberry muffins
humbuba gum

Mmmm. Buleberry muffins. I love muffins, but buleberry is my favorite. I have no idea, though, what "Minke n nites" are. Again, I would have suspected this was a child's list, except that kids are unlikely to purchase dish detergent or "tylenols P.M." Maybe it was written by a LOL cat. Let's hope so.

The next list is not only a shopping list, it is a "Save a lot list," for the nearby discount grocery store, with the second half of the list to be purchased at the Dollar Store. It looks like the same piece of paper was used for multiple shopping trips.

bread
bacon
Pack hamburger
pack Chicken Thighs
oil
mashed potatoes
macoronie
box suffin
box burgers
Chicken nuggets
Chicken fingers
Sugar pack Kool Aid Snacks

10 case diaper              Dollar Store
Pullups   Wipes              Wipes
distergent                        Soap
Soap                             Dish Distergent
Tissue                           Apple Juice
Laundry delogent           Tissue
Trash bags                     Laundry detergent
                                      bleach
                                      Trash bags

Given that the back of this list contains a doodle in pink marker, clearly by a child, and there are both diapers and pullups on the list, this is the mother of a toddler. This mom is on a budget, though, so she does her shopping at the cheapest stores, sticking to frozen meats and carbohydrates. I found it interesting that, after misspelling it three times, she finally figures out how to spell "detergent." Maybe she finally looked at the bottle.

Yet another parent, probably a mother. After all, childless adults don't typically purchase "binky holders." I mean, I don't think I've ever even heard of one. This is a pretty short list, probably just a few mid-week items. She definitely understands the importance of hydration: five of these nine items are beverages, and another is soup!