Think Kit Dec. 2 - Polling my People on Their Grocery Shopping Habits

image via www.kimberlysnyder.net

Day two and I'm prompted to conduct a poll.  So, I asked my friends online:

When you grocery shop, what foods' labels do you look at the most? What do you look for?

I'm a self-made food systems aficionado.  American health and wellness is a vast, complex system of cultural, economic, and physiological variables.  I'm not academically trained in the field but I do like to read and write about it. It's all very fascinating to me.  One such aspect is how we negotiate what makes it into our shopping carts when we're at the grocery.  I fully realize that the sample of people in this very unofficial poll  is not geographically nor socioeconomically diverse. But that's not necessarily a bad thing in this particular conversation.  What I wanted to know was what information the savvy grocery shoppers in my life prioritized while in the aisle. The response was great! Thirty of my friends responded throughout the course of the day on Facebook and here's what they had to say.

Items examined included packaged/processed foods, yogurt, frozen food, and cereal.


What was examined in my respondents included:

Criteria                                           Number of references
Sodium..........................................................11
Sugar.............................................................7
Calories.........................................................7
The first 3 ingredients listed..........................6
Organic.........................................................6
Non-GMO....................................................4
Ingredients you can pronounce.....................3
Carbs.............................................................2
Aspartame.....................................................2
Fiber..............................................................2
Fat.................................................................2
Price..............................................................2
Dyes..............................................................1
High Fructose Corn Syrup............................1


Regarding the specific findings, I was not surprised to see processed foods and cereal mentioned as much as they were.  I did think it was interesting to see sodium rank where it did and high fructose corn syrup so low.  It was also interesting to see GMO food land where it did.

Someone did mention that they were 'quick shoppers'.  I think many of us are, whether we realize it or not.  Perhaps that's why both 'ingredients you can pronounce' and 'the first three ingredients' were common criteria mentioned.  The former, I suppose, is meant to exclude aspartame, galactose, and butylated hydroxyanisole from your cart.  The latter as ingredients are listed in order of the percentage content of the item. I have read that those two perspectives make for somewhat reliable rules if you're in a hurry.

Again, thanks to those who responded!