I totally do that too. It's hard to avoid!

On a related note... Why don't you make your own "primal ranch dressing*?!"

Just take a cup of plain full fat yogurt and add:

• 1/2 teaspoon dried chives
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Avoid all those yucky bad oils!

*Adapted from this recipe.

I do that too. But sometimes I look in my cart, and I think, I don't have meat or eggs in my cart because I have "farmer" sources. I wonder what people are thinking about my cart! Haha

And then there are days, that my daughter needs "snack" food for their school. There is a rule now that no homemade food is allowed. I guess someone screwed that up for the rest of us. Makes me mad. But I am kind of embarrassed that I have a bag of chips in my cart by my daughter's request. I know there are other choices, like packaged fruit and beef jerkey. So, in defense of "other people's cart," they may be buying for someone else.?? But, by the looks of them, it does give it away too, who it really is for. Just my 2 cents.

Ok, I thought this was solely my own secret obsession. I saw a father with his 4 kids all under the age of 6 at walmart (i hate that place and only go for undies/socks, paper products), their cart was full of boxed foods, not even canned veg, just boxed meals. This guy paid $150 on his EBT card and another $200 in cash for a load of crap. Im thinking that cart is only going to last 10 days at the most since the food there is not nearly as filling as real food. How in the world do people afford to eat this way? And those poor kids!

I also feel this way when im parked near a fast food joint. I was waiting for my husband to get off work and watched people going into McDonalds. Elderly folks, pregnant women, mothers with young children. What kind of nourishment do these people think they are getting? I know everyone isnt as aware as we are but for pete's sake, they have to know this food is not nourishing!

I do it. Hopefully I don't show my disgust on my sleeve.

Yes I totally do this! It makes me so sad to see parents with overweight kids and a cart full of crap :( Sometimes I kill time waiting in line by playing "Find The Vegetable"- searching the carts in front of me for any produce among the boxes and cans ;)

I sometimes want to give unsolicited advice to obese people who are buying "diet" foods. I don't imagine that any of it would be well-received.

I do this pretty much every time I am in the store. I like to pretend I am collecting data, although I know I am more observing from an incredibly subjective position. I've noticed a lot of the same things that you have. The thing that makes me the saddest is people in motorized carts filling the basket with not one single item I would consider real food. Sigh.

The other day I was waiting in line, scanning carts like always, and noticed a group of presumably vegan punk rock kids in their early twenties openly mocking the food choices of the people behind them in the express lane which made me feel like my covert peeking and post-shopping conversations with my boyfriend about it (he does the same thing) was way less questionable a practice. (btw--what superior products were the loud meanies buying that obviously everyone around them should have been buying for health, too, you ask? tons of candy, bread and canned organic vegan soup! i rolled my eyes at the eye-rollers for sure.)

I've had a few uplifting experiences, lately, though. I've started going to the store later than I used to and it seems to coincide with shift change at the nearby hospital because I keep ending up in line with lots of nurses in scrubs. Trim/fit nurses whose carts are loaded with red meat and full fat dairy and little processed carbs. It's nice to see.

I absolutely do this, BUT I know my cart is a mess. The rest of my family is not Paleo and most likely will not change. I just hope people see how fit I am and assume the crap food is for someone else.

My mother used to entertain us in the store by having us tell her something about the people waiting by what was in their cart.Were they single?Small household?Young kids?Still find myself doing that game to this day without realizing it.

I try not to judge other people by their carts.There is so much misinformation out there, and I think that a lot of people get frustrated,tired, and just give up.The majority of us had to go through the same process at some point.The only BIG peeve I have is food stamps paying for non nutritional foods like sugar water "juices", candy,cookies,soda ect.Welfare is about what you NEED, not treats.No excuse for not setting it up like WIC,where you can only buy certain items.Hell, they already block ready to eat hot foods and energy drinks.Why not the rest of the garbage?

I generally stay away from grocery stores but I'm at the farmers market every week and so make it a bit of a pastime to pick out vegans and vegetarians in the crowd. Vegans are either thin, frail and sallow or obese and sallow. Vegetarians usually have terrible dry skin and muffin tops. I get to chat with lots of people so I'll often actually casually ask if they're veggie or vegan and my suspicions are pretty much always correct.

It's also fun to observe that the only stalls that ever get huge line-ups are the baked goods vendors - people are addicted to bread and pastries like crack. We'll have two bread vendors in one day (4 hours) sell out and people complaining that we don't provide enough bread. Meanwhile I stock up on delicious tasty meat and free bison marrow bones, amongst other delights.

It can be incredible watching the things people give to their children. At 9 am they'll be handing their young kids and even toddlers pure maple syrup on a stick (I actually heard one mom scolding her kid for not finishing his maple syrup, so bizarre), or apple chips, or dried cherries, or fruit roll-ups. Cuz they're fruity, and natural, and organic, and therefore healthy!! Aaannd they're pure sugar. Poor kids.

A cashier recently remarked that she "didn't realize I have kids" because I "don't have any kid food" in my cart. I was shopping alone, and I can only imagine the garbage she thinks of as kid food. Sad huh?

I do. And I've heard comments that it's so expensive. My husband and I have commented back on different occasions - It's not as expensive as Doctors and drugs.

I had to chuckle when a clerk was surprised at the chicken and steaks in my cart once. She thought we were vegetarians. I guess when you get the bulk of your meat from the farmer, it's easy to make that assumption.

I don't spend nearly what I used to on food. I shop at the farmers market for one, pack my lunch always, and don't buy all that extra junk food any more. My sister-in-law has asked me about eating paleo, and the $$ is her excuse. She eats fast food for nearly every meal and their pantry is stocked with crap!

...and yes, I look in carts and judge.

I am at my worst and most judgemental when I look at other people's shopping, or when I am in a food court watching people eat various awful foods. I feel sort of guilty - so am glad to know it's not just me!

I agree that I am hardly in the supermarket anymore - buying from farmers and the greengrocer means those trips are few and far between. I do go in for some 85% dark chocolate though. ;-)

Oh yeah, I certainly do! I never ceases to amaze me how much processed junk is in most carts. I've seen some where the whole cart is piled with junk and there's not a nutritious thing in sight. One cart I saw recently was full of sugary drinks, snack cakes, sodas, frozen pizzas, and chips. The folks pushing it certainly looked like that's what they ate, and it's sad. Most people have no idea what's in the food they eat.

On another note, I had one cashier look at my cart at do a double take. She must have been wondering what the heck sort of "diet" I was on! ;-)

HAHA!! All the time...I am so bad.

My cart has butter, meat, organic produce. All the cashiers know me. They know I am allergic to Food colors, preservatives and additives. If I buy something to take somewhere that is not paleo...they raise their eyebrow... "It is not for me! I say" I feel like I am poisoning people when I serve grain or soda at my house. I am new to this. I do ok for myself but am not doing too well with deciding what to make for guests. Meat salad,eggs, fruit.

I go to a vegan-oriented health-food grocery store for my fruit and veggies, and get all my meat and fish elsewhere, so to other people paying attention, I probably look like a no-junk-food vegan, or perhaps even a raw no-junk-food vegan. Not a bad vibe to give off in at a vegan-oriented grocery store, really, especially since the place has a pretty limited selection of stereotypical fake vegan food.

But yeah, I do that too, though it's not as fun anymore as it was when I still went to a normal grocery where almost everybody around me got mostly fake food you get in a box. It was always interesting seeing the correlations between what crap they ate and how they looked, or perhaps how they stayed OK by supplementing with some real food (though usually low quality farm-raised stuff).