Something I noticed while at the grocery store...

Why can't they smarten up? Because it's impossible to THINK coherently when you've fed your brain nothing but JUNK for years?

My step-grandchildren (school-age) didn't even recognize plums and had never eaten grapes. Their mother didn't even MAKE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them...had to BUY them frozen. SO dumb she probably didn't know HOW.

Living on the gulf coast her where the oil spill effected us all. All the locals know our way of life is ruined. I hope all the ones responsible burn in hell(with their own oil of course!). We have casinos here also-and they are always full??? I have found at the local walmarts that they are understocking. There are sales. I buy my meat from Winn Dixie-they have great meat sales and buy one get one sales. Home sales are down and people are just trying to hold onto what they have. But new homes are everywhere and older homes are selling w/no takers. I do believe in someone controlling the weather-no hurricanes? I think the gov't Bp are afraid it would wash all the oil up from the bottom and make people release its' still there. Good Luck everyone! God bless...PRAY!

I might assume you were referring to my post, however, the major thing to realize is that I am not a female poster, rather, a recently let-go senior level healthcare executive (male).

This should not be construed into some warped male/female issue, as what I am about to say has nothing to do with genger.

My reporting in NJ, has to do with my personal interactions with many people, male and female alike, as I am used to talking to complete strangers with ease.

The one fact I reported was that what appeared to be a high influx of male shoppers doing their homework and figuring out how to almost "make money" shopping by doing diligent research on their coupons. Not sure if these folks were bankers, investers, etc, but certainly, they were keen on their math. The only reason likely that they were so frank and open with me is because I was ONE OF THEM. Just another DAD shopping and trying to find a good deal. Just as I am sure many multitudes of Moms do every day.

I will also add this, now that another has posted it, that checking expiration dates on meats, dairy and canned items is imperative. More than a few times, in major food suppliers, I had to report out of date items. I thought little of it then, as it is likely easy to have outdated items pop up as I am sure there are no "date checkers" for each and every item in every supermarket. However, I am willing to bet that this is not an anomaly, rather, a way to sell outdated goods without the public knowing.

Now, I look at each and every item. If I buy 20 of the same thing (such as canned tomatoes, etc) you bet I am looking at the dates on each can as well as for dents, etc.

For those "survivalists" out there.... here's a little tip:

1. Whole grain products like "real" brown rice and whole wheat pasta are usually a good deal if you know where to look. And, as unpleasant as one might think, you can chow down on the stuff uncooked in the even water becomes an issue. The good news: You will be fuller longer, the carbohydrates in these complex starches will burn off slower and keep a steady blood-glucose level, and, even better, the by-product of the human body burning CHO3 (Carbohydrates) is H20 (water).

2. You will need to invest in canned nuts... no joke. Or bottled.. either way, you will need a complete protein source, and nuts will do it, along with the "good" fats as well. They will also trigger your hunger-center to register as full pretty quick, so, a few ounces of nuts go a long way and will give you the nutrients you need.

3. Cheap Multivitamins: Buy em now.... don't wait. You can easily go to Dollar General and get generic multivitamins to last you 4 years for less than $20.00

4. Canned Beans: Another complete protein... stock up... they are generally cheap, filling and will give you all you need without the need for cooking should that be the case.

5. Bleach. It's cheap... it kills nearly everything, and with the proper research, you can sterilize nearly everything with it and make it edible.

Have not read all the post but just wanted to put my two cents in. Live in small town USA. About 2500 people. We have a wal mart and one other grocery store. For the last two years and especially this last year our wal mart is not being stocked the way it used to be. Many items they do not carry anymore and only a few cans on the shelves. We have to drive at least 30-50 miles to get to a larger town to shop, so I really don't understand why they would not keep ours full.

Also hiring freeze at our wal mart and the isles are a mile wide now. Saw an older gentlemen with a cart and the only thing he had in it was dry beans, different kinds, and corn bread mix packs, eggs and milk and two breads. No meats, no frills, I know he must be hurting for food. So sad.

I think it is just another sign that we are not doing as well as they want us to think. Keep the illusion as long as possible. My kids don't listen to me so one day they may wind up at my house just for food. LOL

This post tugged at my heart strings. I work in a school in NY and I have discovered the same thing. For so many kids, the school represents the only nutritious meals, the only clean bathrooms and the only kid-safe environment many of them have now. Some are living in shelters as single parents have lost jobs/savings etc. Last year we bought socks and sneakers for a little guy that came to school with his older brother's dress shoes on. They were a few sizes too big and he stuffed toilet paper in them as they were hurting his bare feet. :( We made sure to do it as anonymously as possible so as to not to embarass his mom, who was working so many hours out of the day to keep it going. She was tearful and grateful none-the-less. Please, always do your best to watch out for the little ones. They need us more than ever.

that's b/c it's not real butter

i loathe aldi's....i'm 30 and my mom forced us to eat that crude from the time i was 8 until 17...never again will i consume that low budget crap

i'll stick with my local farmer's market, whole foods

QUALITY first

Re Paying in cash.

Just to clarify my previous comments about paying cash. Its not that I am buying anything other than general groceries. It is that I read a story about an incident in New Orleans.

The article stated that there was a person who had a few weeks previously stocked up big time. They paid by credit card. During the emergency they were "visited" by the police who confiscated the food stuffs citing the emergency and accused them of hoarding (lol)

I doubt if this story IS true, but I wouldnt want my purchases logged on any computer. I Dont use my local stores when buying in bulk either, I would rather not bump into any locals.

In center city Philadelphia many people are still dining out (at least on weekends), but I think Center City and University City are little bubbles serving students of the many Universities and staff of many hospitals and a few corporate headquarters.

I live in a working class area of the city that ranges from extremely poor to lower working class. Crime is really bad, quality of life is nil, trash is everywhere but the grocery store is always crowded. I can't say for sure, but more times than not, the person in front of me pays with access card, and they are white.

I am employed by one of the aforementioned and for the most part feel that my job is relatively secure (so long as I remain a loyal slave type, not union). I have been trying to leave and enter the private sector for the past two years to no avail. My industry usually supports easy job migration. Sorry for going all over the place, just my little window of perception on state of economy in my world...

LOL..Are YOU the guy that stole our carton of smokes when I was buying scratch-off lottery tickets?!!
For real, we had that happen last year....had them in the basket, paid for, and someone walked by us, and lifted them out of the cart without us seeing them.
Whomever they were...they were very good at it, because we didn't have a clue, until we got home and couldn't find them anywhere.

Walmart hasn't ran a "weekly ad flyer" in two weeks....this morning I checked and read this...

"Come back on October 10 to see the new Local Ad."
[link to www.walmart.com]

I live in Arkansas and WEEKLY FLYERS have never DISAPPEARED?

...for you and your family on the Gulf.
Y'all sure are having a tough time these days...my heart goes out to all of you guys down there.
Thanks for responding... :)

OMG, people who can't even make a sandwich??

Dez Bryant picks up $55,000 dinner tab for Cowboys' teammates
[link to content.usatoday.com]

Deacadent...
1. characterized by decadence, esp. culturally or morally: a decadent life of excessive money and no sense of responsibility.

Pretty much sums it up....

Hi Philly...:)
I appreciate you sharing with us...
Every report, gives us a better overall picture of the truth, what is really happening in our Country.
The G'mint and the Bankers are lying to everyone ...saying it's all getting better..
I think this thread is a very good example of how obvious their lies are, when ya start walking around with your 'eyes open'....you can see the reality of our situation.
The 'big picture' appears very grim, unfortunatly... :(
I don't see how a Rebellion is going to be avoided, if things continue on their current path.
In my heart, I feel like people are going to be 'pushed to the point' of either having to lay down, and accept being a Slave, or they are going to get mad, and rise up against the 'opressors'.
There aren't many other options that haven't already been tried.
I worry though, that not many are going to 'get mad, and stand up for their Sovergn(sp?) Rights'
I think it's going to be the only way to stop the G'Mint from continueing to stomp the people down.
THEY need to know who THEY are working for, THEY seem to have forgotten!
It appears that THEY have managed to grind the Middle Class into the dust....and are now working on the 'last rung ' on the ladder people, the last ones, before there is only Kings, and Slaves....no one else, inbetween.
There are some that get the importance of what is happening now....like the Air Force guy Salas that held the press conferance this week about how the UFO's are real.
He said something very wise when he was speaking that I think most people missed.
He said that 'we, as a people need to stand up as a Sovergn Nation and demand that the G'Mint stop lying to us".
He gets it...the only way to end all these lies, is to 'Take our G'Mint back"..because these people are working for us!
Do we as a people want to continue to let these 'Elected Officials" keep lying thru their teeth to us?!
Keep lining their pockets with OUR MONEY, and destroying our lives?!
I'm hopeing that people will wake up, before we're all shoved in boxcars, and sent to some Slave work camp.

Yeah, on $55,000 I could pay all my bills and eat steak at least once a week feeding a family of 5 for a year.

Wow! thanks for telling us about that!
It does sound "far fetched'...but these days, I wouldn't doubt that it didn't happen!
I have no doubt that THEY are keeping track of stuff, why else would they ask for a zipcode when you are buying stuff at Home Depot?
It's how they are going about it, that's so sneaky...makes me sick...:P
A good example of how THEY watch how much and where we are spending our money...is how when using a credit card, " You suddenly get a notice from the Credit Card Company asking about a specific purchase, wanting to know if your card has been stolen...because they say that the 'activity' is not normal for your account".
I don't own a credit card...but it happened to a guy I was dating a couple of years ago.
He got the notice, because we'd been out, and decided to stop at the Adult Book Store, and pick up some movies for that night.
The purchase of the videos, triggered the "Notice' about his 'spending habits', wanting to 'verify" that he had purchased the tapes himself.
It wasn't like we went out and spent thousands of dollars on the tapes in a single day.
It was less than a hundred bucks, total!
THEY weren't 'try to help'...they were 'verifying', that he's considered a 'deviant' because we purchased those tapes.
I have no doubt, it went into a database somewhere.

I manage to do the same for around $25,000 a year! Says ALOT about the society we find ourselves living in!

Thanks OP. My kids peeked in on the first pages of this thread.

Thanks again.

OP, I've noticed in my area (which sounds very similar to yours in terms of home values,) that the stuff that gets sold out at the store now are the economy-cheapo brands and the sale items. Very weird to see the cheap toilet paper and store brand stuff selling before the better quality national brands. I'm in a part of the country where people would've been embarrassed to have their friends catch them buying the crappy stuff.

Can't remember ever seeing that here before.

Thanks for the article...:)

Yep, I agree, it's a lot more than what THEY are saying!

That's just sad....
But I can believe it.
I see many young people today that really know nothing about food.
They just haven't ever been taught.
So many have grown up on 'fast food' because both parents are working...they have no idea what REAL food is like, or how to prepare it.
Everything they have ever had, was prepared by someone else, whether it came out of a window and was handed to them, or they buy a box of frozen pizza, waffles, egg rolls...
It's all they know... :(

Where are ya?
Thanks for responding...:)
Yes, it does sound very similar...and it is very telling seeing these things happen.
I've never seen this happen before either....and I have been thru a couple of 'recessions' in my life...the 1 in the 70's, then again in the 80's.
It has never been like this before.

LOL! I ran into the Mayor in our Goodwill and she was cool about it asking me questions where to look for things ect.You should see her house they call it "Southfork" HUGE!

That's good! Your mayor is a realist and careful with money.

...for our Gulf Coast peeps.
My heart aches for all of you guys down there.
I wish I had a 'transporter' like on Star Trek...so I could just beam you all, out of harm's way!
I pray for you all, almost every day, asking Creator to wrap you in loving arms, and hold you tight, watch over the lil ones.
I hope they 'Burn In Hell' also...because what THEY have done is so heinous an act, and billions of living things are dying....burning should just be the 'warm up' leading to the greater Punishment!

I believe you're right about them trying to 'steer the Hurricanes' so all the oil isn't thrown up out of the sea, onto the land for all to witness.
They'd rather keep the monster lurking out off shore, in the water....hidden from view.
It's causing problems in other parts of the Country though...all the flooding in Wisconsin, Minn....draught where I am, in KY....:(
Poor Newfoundland, just hit with a Hurricane like they have never had before... :(

The Arrogance of Humans is astonishing!
I bet THEY think that THEY can also 'fix' the now broken Gulf Stream too!

Actually yes I have seen this but also something else.

The grocery store used to mark down the meat about to date expire....down 50%.......no more of that either......now it is only reduced 30%.

Another poster said Arkansas is still good.....I would beg to differ with that statement.

I have a friend in north central AR who tells me ALL the food banks are pretty much dried up so these good folks who couldn't even afford to buy the marked down meats are now not getting anything at the food banks.

Yes it is very telling of not only what has come but worse..what is coming.

.... poor lil feller...:(
Time for the 'Village' to step up and help these poor, overwhelmed, desperate people, so the lil ones don't suffer like this.
It is the lil ones that are our Future...we need to love them, and ensure that they can grow into Adulthood, or we have no future.
I think what you did, was awesome!
I hope others that are in the position to help, are as wonderful about it as you were.
Back in the 90's I lived in a very small town, and there were many 'poor' children in the school system.
It broke my heart to read the "Santa List' that some of them put together, 8 year olds, asking Santa for some new socks, because they none at all.
Needless to say, I ended up buying socks, and leaving them 'annonymously' for that child.
I just couldn't live with knowing that there was a child so in need, and I had the extra money to help them.
It wasn't much, and I know, it meant everything in the World to that lil guy, getting those socks he desperatly needed.
I had a cousin that owned a hair cutting place...I talked with her, and she would go out a couple times a year, and give free haircuts to the lil ones that their parents didn't have the money to have their hair cut for them.
That was in the 90's...it sounds like it is so more widespread than it ever has been, today.
We, as a Village are going to have to help each other with the lil ones.
Time to set aside the stupid stuff, and see what really needs to be done...and just 'do it'.

Thanks for your perspective on Arkansas... :)
It sounds like it has hit the Middle Class very hard, but it hasn't started to affect those "Mini Giants' yet.
Yet, being the key word there...
Very true about what is coming...it's a pretty grim view lookin' down the highway these days... :(

You're welcome..