Eating in the grocery store

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  • New_Hope
    New_Hope Posts: 84
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    There's a Starbucks in our Hyvee and I've bought a Tall Mocha Frappuccino Light and walked around the store drinking it while I shopped, but I've never taken anything from the store and consumed it while shopping. Though I have seen lots of parents do things like that with their children.
  • Uk_Yogini
    Uk_Yogini Posts: 167
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    I do it all the time, open something and eat it if I'm hungry. I see other people do it also and have never really considered it to be odd, but that's just me !
  • AngelikaLumiere
    AngelikaLumiere Posts: 862 Member
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    Once when we had been out in the sun all day and we were 25minutes from home we went into a grocery store to get food for dinner and stopped by the cold drink aisle first. I got a cold bottle of water to drink while we were shopping and it tasted so good. We also put our empties in the cart and paid at the counter. Normally I wouldn't do that but I am not sorry I did that day.
  • ritajean3
    ritajean3 Posts: 306 Member
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    If I want my children to eat something I will go and get fruit and pay for it before I proceed to shop rather than a packet of something simply because you need to weigh it. I have no issue with giving my children drinks that we will pay for anyway while shopping but I don't do it myself. When the twins were little there was times I couldn't see my son over the baby seats and he opened many a packet.

    I pay for it all and if it keeps my children from bothering other people I am sure they don't mind
  • crosa527
    crosa527 Posts: 35 Member
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    I have not, personally walked around eating something, but I have given my kids something to eat and then paid for the empty at checkout time.
  • elfie9863
    elfie9863 Posts: 337
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    I HATE HATE HATE it when your going up and down the grocery aisles...and there are icky, stinky wrappers, half full bags of whatever, cups or bottles of stuff spilled all over the place, sticky crumb like items stuck to your shoes... Geesh really?

    I have never eaten in the store (except for a Starbucks which was paid for first and taken out with me) or let my kids.

    Each to their own!!
  • capriciousmoon
    capriciousmoon Posts: 1,263 Member
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    I haven't done it and I would have thought of it as wrong, but it's interesting seeing people's reasons for it.

    I would only wonder... what if you somehow came up short on cash? I've had times where I had less money than I though I did because some of it was actually Canadian... lol. I also don't think the store's security would be a big fan of people eating things before paying, I think they could call you out on stealing? Since they have no proof if you planned to pay or not. It could also cause a bad example for kids if they miss the part about paying for it before you leave.
  • cabaray
    cabaray Posts: 971 Member
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    Done it a few times with drinks, never food, and only if I was realllllly thirsty. I always pay though. I used to be a cashier, it didn't bother me.
  • jessradtke
    jessradtke Posts: 418 Member
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    I've done this lots of times, especially when we have to shop during dinner time. (Not with Cheez-Its though. Blech.) If it's something that needs to be weighed, I'll pay for it first, but if it's something that has a set price we just eat it while we shop and pay for it with everything else. Having a snack while we shop keeps little ones occupied and keeps me from over buying because we're all hungry.
  • AmazingStace
    AmazingStace Posts: 92 Member
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    I did it once when I was pregnant and having terrible all day sickness. I found eating saltines helped keep me from throwing up. We were at the store, and I caught a smell of the seafood area, which set my stomach off. So I grabbed some crackers and ate a few. I paid for them, of course.

    When I shop with my kids, I always pack snacks in the diaper bag or my purse so I don't have to open up boxes at the store.
  • mommared53
    mommared53 Posts: 9,543 Member
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    Wow, looks like I'm very much in the minority. I see people eating something in the store before paying for it all the time and I always think to myself, that's stealing! I can't imagine my mom ever doing that or allowing one of her kids to do it when I was growing up so I guess it's just the way I was brought up. The exception would be the free cookies the bakery hands out to kids or the free samples that grocery stores offer.
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    I will taste a grape to make sure they are good before i get them but no i have never done it. I know someone that has done it because they said they were hungry while shopping and would end up filling the cart with stupid stuff because she was shopping for her stomach rather then for the week. But she said she was munching on rasins or something. She paid for it too.

    I used to "test the grapes" until I realized how much pesticides were on them :(

    I have eaten in the store while shopping, back in the day. I wouldn't do it now, though. I'd be embarrassed by it.

    And it's not stealing if you pay for it. It's just kinda tacky.
  • kendrafallon
    kendrafallon Posts: 1,030 Member
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    I've never eaten food in supermarket/grocery store that I've not paid for. I used to work for a supermarket and found it a little grim to get rid of grape seeds and skin, banana skins and empty crisp packets, muffin cases etc from people who couldn't wait. Maybe I'm old-fashioned or stuck-up but as a kid, when my Dad used to take me shopping we never saw kids being handed things to eat, it was considered bad manners and I still see it that way.
  • asyouseefit
    asyouseefit Posts: 1,265 Member
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    If I'm grocery shopping with the kiddo, I'll take a slice of bread out of the loaf I'm buying and give it to him. As someone else said, it'll keep him quiet! :) I rarely eat myself, except maybe a grape here and there. Or the free samples they sometimes give on week-ends!

    When I was a kid, I used to go grocery shopping with my mom every friday after school. Every time, I ate a whole bag of chips (small one) and drank a can of coke. Was getting a lot of exercise at the time so I guess that was ok.
  • whatwentwrong
    whatwentwrong Posts: 228
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    sometimes i have a little taste of the bulk foods (like candy and snacks, not rice or anything), to see if i like them enough them enough to buy them. i drank a waterbottle in-store ONCE, and i was just about dying of dehydration when it happened. otherwise, no, i think that is extremely weird. i guess if i was dying of hunger i might open up something and have a bite, but how do you get to the point of snacking on an entire box of crackers while wandering around?
  • Nikki582
    Nikki582 Posts: 561 Member
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    Not the same thing, I know, but my local Woolworths has a "feed the pig - Kiddy table" where you feed their piggy bank 50c and you can choose a piece of fruit (normally apples or mandarins) to munch on - it is awesome because it keeps my kids happy and quiet and it's not as bad as buying them something packaged and therefore scannable. :D

    I -have- been known to buy them a pop-top of milk at the start of shopping to keep them occupied for part of the grocery shop, but never beyond the age of 2.
  • vegangirl88
    vegangirl88 Posts: 104 Member
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    If I'm grocery shopping with the kiddo, I'll take a slice of bread out of the loaf I'm buying and give it to him.

    My mum used to give us a french baguette in the supermarket when we were kids and we would break the top of the crust off and scoop out the soft bread from inside. Then we would get to the checkout with me having my arm right inside the bread trying to get the last bits out haha. My mum, obviously, paid for it everytime. I don't see anything wrong with eating on your way round if you are paying for it, obviously different if you went in, ate a box of snacks and then left without paying!!

    Personally I don't do it now, for two reasons. One, its best not to shop when you're so hungry that you have to eat RIGHT THEN because you are more likely to be ruled by your stomach than your shopping list and end up with all sorts of unhealthy snacks in the trolley and two, I'm never in the supermarket long enough to warrant it really. It takes me about 20 mins to load my trolley up with the fruits and veggies/pulses and grains I need, so if I'm really hungry, I know I can wait til I get outside.
  • fragilegift
    fragilegift Posts: 347 Member
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    I've done it, though rarely, and it happened a few weeks ago when I had a friends baby with me. I got something to keep him occupied and paid for it when we left. Now days I like to shop with something in my tummy, but if I had to eat *now* I'd do it again in a heart beat.
  • maria1113
    maria1113 Posts: 508 Member
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    I have never done it and never really understood it. Then again, I live in different country ;) You don't see that too often here.
    My parents never let me (or my sister) eat anything at store (and it never came even to my mind to ask!) when I was a kid.

    I always eat snack before going to the store and go there with shopping list. Only buy the stuff on the list and I'm good to go.
  • statia152
    statia152 Posts: 558
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    I went grocery shopping with a boyfriend once who ate everything: Bag of chips, soda, potato salad ... Then he left the store without paying. It disgusted me! Of course I walked around the store and collected his trash and paid for it. A combination of that shopping trip and walking in my bathroom seeing him with a needle in his arm booting cocaine ended that relationship.:explode:

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