A fun game to play...

[venta]

Not a desperately complicated game, but it keeps me amused in check-out queues. I watch what other people have in their trolleys, and try and make guesses about what else they'll have in there, and about their general lifestyle.

In front of me this evening was a girl who appeared to eat quite healthily, but also had a weakness for Haribo. She had lots of the small packets, so I'm wondering if maybe she takes a packet to work each day as part of a packed lunch. Her vegetables belonged in what I think of as the designer category - nicely packaged littlle boxes of potatoes and pre-chopped stir-fry stuff - for no readily obvious reason this makes me assume that she'll be rather fashion-conscious, and some other quality where I know exactly what I mean[*], and am completely unable to explain it. She also had tinned rhubarb. I didn't even know you could get tinned rhubarb.

The couple behind me were more entertaining - they had a trolley half full of fresh fruit, vegetables and lean meat, and half full of things like tortilla chips, salsas and frozen pizzas. And, much though I hate to perpetuate stereotypes, it was very obvious that it was the slim, fashionably dressed girl who'd put the healthy stuff in, and the slightly scruffy bloke who wanted the rest.

Things like this kept happening:
He puts a tub of Doritos salsa onto the belt.
She moves it off and puts it to one side, saying "no, you don't like that"
He replies "yes I do", and puts it back.
She tries to grab if off him, saying "you don't want that"
He confirms that he does, and tries to keep hold of it.
She looks slightly more grumpy.

And he seemed to be paying for the shopping, anyway. Credit to the man for patience, even I wanted to give her a good slap after about two minutes.

I wonder what anyone made of my basketful - 4 bacon chops, 8 bottles of beer, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant.

[*] This isn't really a footnote as such, more a separate train of thought...

I define it as the personality trait "buys pre-chopped vegetables". And I know exactly what I mean by that. Oddly, it doesn't particularly involve laziness, which may well be a factor...

Some time ago, I realised that I use odd phrases to describe particular aspects of personality - usually where there isn't really a word for what I want to say.

For example, there's "can keep a sheet of paper flat". Any of you who know Samantha, she's a good example of that one. Which is odd, because she isn't always good at keeping papers in order. However... in order to describe what I mean, I'd have to start using words like "fussy", and "particular" which to me are rather negative words, and don't convery the correct information.

Similarly, there's a quality which I only ever associate with blokes: that of being long-haired, short and amiable. This is pretty much embodied by Adam H who, although long-haired and amiable, isn't really particularly short. Chris C, though long-haired, amiable, and no taller than Adam, doesn't have this quality. Anyone who can suggest a word which basically means "like Adam H" is welcome to try :)

There's lots more of these phrases, which I only ever use internally, as I don't expect other people to understand what I mean by them (not surprisingly). I don't think I've ever assigned one consciously...

Comments

Guilty

[wimble.livejournal.com]

narenek and I went to Tesco on Easter Saturday, having just defrosted the freezer, and immediately before I went to my parents. 100 pounds, and no vegetables later...
Actually, a sizable chunk of the 100 quid was me buying Dark Side of the Moon and By The Way. narenek bought a bottle of Glenmoraghie.
You see what you're missing by not coming over for food?

Re: Guilty

[venta.livejournal.com]

You see what you're missing by not coming over for food?

Er... CDs poached in whisky ?
Thanks. I think I'll stay home and gnaw the carpet :)

Re: Guilty

[wimble.livejournal.com]

You lose ;-)
The giveaway food of choice is... popcorn!

(Although I think I could probably stretch under pressure. )

Re: Guilty

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

I could probably stretch under pressure

Surely you squish under pressure, and stretch under tension?

Oh never mind.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I / our family buy packs of pre-chopped, pre-washed veg to stir-fry about 1-2 times per week, FWIW. The advantages are (a) laziness, obviously, (b) variety and (c) it means we don't have to bother with the decisions of what to include in the stir-fry. Now admittedly sometimes I will add further veg (half a pepper or some finely sliced spring onions) quite frequently but it's just nice not to have to think about it.

I guess you can compare it as a purchase to Lean Cuisine pre-prepared freezer microwave meals, except with greater guilt about the amount of vegetables in the diet.

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

*nods* The variety/fridge space is a reason why we end up buying 'em too at times. I think I've got it down to a fine art however:

Vegetable shopping list:
- Mixed/traffic light peppers
- Two or three proper onions
- Pack of mushrooms (buying loose seems to mean trying to pick out the unusual ungrotty ones these days...)
- Pack of mange tout/baby corn-on-cob (if these are an offer, otherwise they're extortionate)
- bag of bean sprouts if stir-frying that night (otherwise pick up on the night - they're lovely but do go slimy too quickly to be advisable when shopping for the week)
- Courgette or two if they're in season
- bunch of spring onions if they look nice.
- Lettuce/Cucumber etc

Non-green groceries:
- Noodles
- Pasta
- Rice
- Tinned tomatoes
- Tomato puree
- Garlic puree (for lazyness value)
- BBQ sauce
- A curry sauce (or chinese or whatever)

Dairy:
- Eggs
- MIlk
- Cheese

Bakery:
- Pizza bases
- Bread

Meat:
- Stir-fryable stuff (couple of meals worth)
- Mince
- Ham

Other:
Well stocked spice & flavourings rack

Meals from this:
- Stir fry (mixed veg, meat, noodles)
- Pizza w salad (ham, cheese, peppers + mushrooms; lettuce/cucumber/spring onions/raw peppers etc)
- Spag bol (pasta, mince, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, BBQ sauce, onions, mushrooms, etc)
- Curry + rice (curry sauce, meat, onions, whatever veg you feel like throwing in, rice)
- Spanish omelette (eggs, cheese, peppers etc - aka fridge bottom surprise)
- Pasta w cheese sauce (pasta, milk, cheese. Cunning trick - boil water for pasta from cold, put an egg or two in before the water heats, & leave to hard-boil amongst the pasta, chop into cheese sauce & add some torn up bits of ham. Paprika also nice to throw on before serving)

*grins*

Variety in individual meals, but a limited size shopping trip to achieve it ;)

Pre-chopped

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

The other important factor about lazy veg is that you usually get lots of types in a small pack. I generally prefer to do my own cooking, but by the time you've bought 4 or 5 types of vegetables you've got enough to feed an army. Since I've grown out of believing I will use the leftovers before they go off, lazy veg is a very useful thing.

Re: Pre-chopped

[venta.livejournal.com]

Despite what I said, I'm not inherently against pre-chopped veg; they do some things very well, although I don't often buy them.

I think, despite my poor nomenclature, there are some people whom I believe are the correct personality to buy pre-chopped veg. Other personalities also buy them, and share none of the traits :)

I'm beginning to wonder if I should have kept quiet on this if I couldn't explain it better...

Re: Pre-chopped

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

No, I know what you mean. The sort of person who compartmentalises things a bit, like "Today I will have stir-fry. Stir-fry will have sauce which is in a bottle, meat which is in a plastic pack, noodles which are in a box and vegetables which are in a plastic pack. If I follow the recipe and put the packs into the wok in the right order I will have Meal. It is all there and neat and clean with no chance of going wrong."

Like someone who buys facial masks. My good skin is There - I just need to open it and get the time right and everything will be alright.

Re: Pre-chopped

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Stir-fry will have sauce which is in a bottle, meat which is in a plastic pack, noodles which are in a box and vegetables which are in a plastic pack

This reminds me of the concept of the SI unit of cookery - the jar.

One jar is defined as the quanitity of cookery required to open a jar and heat the contents in a saucepan on a stove. What you've described there sounds to me like a 4 jar meal :-)

Conclusions

[davefish.livejournal.com]

I wonder what anyone made of my basketful - 4 bacon chops, 8 bottles of beer, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant.
Lardy, but clean.

(Gosh I can be so complimentary at times)

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

"I didn't even know you could get tinned rhubarb."

You can get tinned anything if you know where to look.

I used to buy tinned yoghurt...(it's a long story)

Grist for the mill

[condign.livejournal.com]

OK, to give you an insight into the mind of a pre-packed stirfry buyer:

I make lots of stirfry, because it's easy, simple to modify, and I can get a broad range of stuff out of it.

Now, if I'm having guests, I get everything fresh: I buy a pack of three peppers, button mushrooms, fresh broccoli, spring onions, some ginger to grind, lemon grass, whatever else. And because I know I'll be shoving it all in a wok before it goes bad, there's no problem.

I buy pre-packed only if I know I'm probably the only one eating it, because it means I'm not left with half of each of the above rotting in my fridge.

So there you go--pre-packed is a sign of loneliness.