15 Grocery Store Employees Share Behind-The-Scenes Secrets They Wish More People Knew
It's easier to turn a blind eye to the inner-workings of grocery stores. After all, if we really knew every little details about where our food is stored, would we still want to buy it? Some secrets are better left unsaid. But these grocery store employees think the public should be a little more informed, which is why they are sharing their juiciest grocery store secrets. If you'd like to learn some behind the scenes grocery store stories, then read on!
- 110 VOTES
The Store Brand Is Just As Good As The Name Brand Products A Lot Of The Time
From Redditor u/Shay_da_la:
Buy the store brand/off-brand basics, (milk, eggs, flour, etc). It's literally the same exact thing from the same exact place as the more expensive brand name stuff. When I worked at a grocery store, we would occasionally get products with a label from another store mixed in with our stuff. Also, quite a bit of store brand/brand name stuff is made at the same facilities (with differences in recipes) This is not always the case but it happens more often than you think.
- 27 VOTES
Ice And Bread Are The Most Profitable Items
From Redditor u/ChiSoxguy01:
The single most profitable items in the grocery store are a bag of ice and a loaf of bread from a bakery. Ice can have a 100% mark up, and bakery bread can be 90% mark up. People just don't understand where grocery stores make their money.
- 312 VOTES
Food Gets Thrown Out When Is Not Aesthetically Pleasing
From Redditor u/gpecho19:
I used to work in a produce section of a grocery store back in the day. So much of the food gets thrown out as soon as it's no longer aesthetically in its prime.
- 45 VOTES
Sometimes Food That's Past Its Expiration Date Stays On The Shelves For Way Too Long
From Redditor u/Gentlemon4:
I would say check the expiration dates. Sometimes there is a fresher product right next to one that is about to expire. Also one time there was an apple pie that was apparently in the cooler since 2015 and was found in 2018.
- 527 VOTES
There's Always A Chance You'll Find something Disgusting In Your Food
From Redditor u/high_priestess23:
I worked for a customer service of a big supermarket chain. People could call us and complain when a product wasn‘t satisfactory. Then they‘d have to send pictures of their complaint and they would get a coupon/an apology.
Things I came across:
Pieces of glass and plastic and metal in processed food
Bugs and maggots in processed food (if it was in fresh vegetables they would only get an apology because that is to be expected. But they were also in flour and bread and TV dinners!)
Human hair, nails and teeth
a whole chicken head between nuggets
a whole bird with feathers and all in a salad
a whole mouse
Moths and their maggots in flour/cereals/nuts were very common.
So is human hair or pieces of plastics.
- 626 VOTES
Lettuce Is Usually Crawling With Spiders Before It Was Washed
From Redditor u/MiikeCan:
Your green leaf lettuce was full of spiders and various other insects before we cleaned them. Pretty sure we got all of them.