Shopping List

When I push myself enough to finally make a date to go to the supermarket I start my task by making a list. I sit comfortably in my living room and make a coffee to fully enjoy the activity. A list is normally made with a piece of paper and a pen or a pencil and by giving it a title accordingly to its function. In this case I write the letter “S” and then in cursive I write the words “Shopping List.”

The first item I write is Toilet Paper and that’s because I fear I will forget it. I then slide down my pen on the paper to write the second entry of my list: “Cheese”. Being vegetarian, cheeses have become the main element of my diet and usually even though I only write “Cheese”, I buy different kinds of cheeses. My favourite is Camembert or Caprice des Dieux but I also get goat’s cheese, Greek feta and Boursin. I obviously also buy a big chunk of mild cheddar for late night snacks like cheese on toast or quesadillas.

Next on the list come vegetables and fruits, which are usually the first stand of goods in the supermarket anyways. I visualise myself getting salad stuff, courgettes and ready to eat spinach, potatoes and tomatoes. Then, I think of taking many plastic bags from the hanging boxes on the side of the stand and making my last selection that includes carrots and exotic mushrooms. As for fruits, I always hope to find good papaya and pineapple or great mangoes but I end up disappointed sticking to bananas, apples and oranges. Sometimes the oranges are great and even though the bananas are always too green, they are OK to eat with cereal. So I write “Cereal” and “Cookies”, they are the next items in my list.

“Hummus, Butter, Pasta, Canned tomatoes, Crackers, Bread to frieze, Marmalade (Bonne Maman), Coffee (Fair trade), Yogurt, Eggs (Free range), Tortillas (Flour), Shampoo”. Even though I write “Shampoo”, deep inside I know that I will also get a couple of other things in that aisle. Then I continue writing “Dishwasher powder”, “Washing machine powder”, “Conditioner”, and “Cleaning Products”. At the very end of my list come the juices and frozen pizzas. What I love about making lists is that it involves imagining everyday actions and subsequently imagining a route predisposed by insignificant quotidian needs. Also, they make me feel safe; it is a way of documenting my very basic existence. There are always distractions on the route and fortunately always room for unexpected new encounters. However, spontaneous decisions and diversions only happen as I make it to the Supermarket.

As I enter the shop I instantly feel the cold and dry temperature of the location. On the left side there are many piles of blue plastic baskets and rows of carts. Since carts need a pound coin deposit to be freed from their alignments, I introduce my pound to a sort of lock and then push the chain that locks it to the cart behind. Baskets are for free. On the right there is a small cashier where people buy cigarettes, chocolates, sweets and tablets and can also pay for the newspapers and magazines displayed in the centre of the foyer in between the carts and the cashier.

I pass the electronic barriers and see the flower stand. The bouquets are rather skinny and not very appealing but they are only a couple of pounds so people buy them once in a while. I bought one once and put it in my living room; it stayed there for a couple of months. Today I don’t get any flowers and walk directly to the fruit and vegetables. I get lettuce, spring onions, courgettes and salad stuff, and I also grab a bag of “washed and ready to eat” spinach. I then take many plastic bags from the hanging boxes on the side of the stand until I finish the bags in that particular box. I grab a few more from a box in the next stand where the onions and potatoes are. I start making my selection. I take some leeks, broccoli, one avocado and some peppers. I get a bag of three- one red, one green and one orange because I can’t find one that includes a yellow one. I have two more bags to fill and instead of returning them to the box I get four carrots and some funny looking mushrooms.

I then walk to the third fruit aisle where the exotic fruits are. I see a Hawaiian papaya but it smells like plastic and is super expensive, the pineapples are too green to ripen in the right way and mangoes are out of stock that day. I decide to stick to bananas even though they are too green too. I also get apples and oranges. The oranges are big and have an intense orange colour and I always forget to eat the apples and end up turning them into compote. As I prepare to leave the fruit and veg area I get some garlic and onions which are not in my list because I never forget them.

I then enter the first aisle where the meat is. I don’t eat meat so I go straight towards the end of the aisle where I find the hummus. Next to it, they have tzatziki, guacamole and taramosalata and although I am tempted to take the latter I leave it because it’s got 37% fat. As for the other two, I can make them better than Sainsbury’s.

I then turn towards the left to get the upper side of second aisle where the cheeses and butters are. I look for different cheeses and buy Edam, Philadelphia and Boursin. Also, I get a medium chunk of mild cheddar for some midnight snacks such as cheese on toast or quesadillas. I get some Flora because is healthy and some Lurpak because it is tasty. In the same aisle I choose some Yogurt from the Lee Valley and also some mousse au chocolate with only 3% fat.

I then remember to cross off some of the items I have bought already. I first cross off the “Fruit and Vegetables” that are not the first items on the list and the “Cheese” which is second in the list, the hummus that is fifth in the list, and finally the butter and yogurt, which are towards the middle of the list. I the look up again and realise I am in the pasta aisle. I get pasta, canned tomatoes and flour tortillas, because although the corn ones are more authentic they are too thick and they are hard to digest. I eat quesadillas as a midnight snack they have to be light so that I can go to bed right away. I continue to walk and cross the middle aisle to get to the cleaning products, toilet paper, and dish washing liquid and washing powder.

I decide to stay in the south part of the shop and skip the next aisle, which has the dog food and the next one that has the baby stuff. I then get to the Shampoo for normal hair and also get conditioner both by Herbal Essences because they have a buy one and get one free offer. I then look over and see the body scrub with hydro-balls that leave your skin smooth without drying it, Simple Facial Swipes100% oil and alcohol free, and a facial exfoliation cream.

After this small beauty trance, I go back to the needs dictated by my carefully made list. I ask the man arranging the Kit Kat bags in the chocolates and sweets aisle where the eggs are. He stops his task and walks me towards the right aisle mentioning that it is aisle number 9. Only then do I realise the aisles are numbered and think next time I will make my list more functional by linking the products with numbers. We chat on the way to aisle 9 and then I thank him as he returns to what he was doing. Next to aisle 9, I get my six free-range eggs because I don’t have space to fit 12, there is aisle 10 where the friezable bread and the raspberry marmalade Bonne Maman are.

I get to the final part of my list when I get to the juices and I get one apple and one orange juice. As I walk towards the cashiers I see the freezers and get frozen pizzas. I get two margueritas with pesto by a German brand and then continue my journey towards the exit.

I get lucky and there is a cashier with only one person so I queue in that one. I take the little thingy that divides people’s shopping in the moving counter and start putting my stuff on it. Then the woman whose name is written on her tag with the Sainbury’s logo starts taking my shopping and passing the items through the machine, which then emits a sound that goes Peep! I read my list.

I first direct my sight to the title, which is the first line. It reads “Shopping List” in cursive font. Then I scroll my eyes down and see that all the items of my list are crossed off. Even though the names are crossed out, I can still decipher the products underneath. I read “Toilet Paper” which I didn’t get first but I wrote first because I was afraid I would forget it, then “Cheese” (this time I got Edam, Philadelphia, Boursin and a medium size chunk of cheddar for midnight snacks), “Fruit and Vegetables” – salad stuff, bananas, oranges and garlic and onions- “Hummus, Butter and Yogurt, Pasta, Canned tomatoes, Crackers, Bread to frieze, Marmalade (Bonne Maman), Coffee (Fair trade), Yogurt, Eggs (Free range), Tortillas (Flour), Shampoo”. The Coffee! I forgot the coffee so I quickly tell the woman, whose name appears on her tag but I haven’t really read, that I will run quickly to get my coffee.

She doesn’t really care and thank God there is only one guy behind me to whom I smile apologetically. He doesn’t care either. I run through the toiletries aisle and get to aisle 13 where the Kit Kats are. The man who helped me is not there anymore so I run towards aisle 10 where the bread is and I think that obviously the marmalade and the coffee should be placed together. I get to aisle 10 and the coffee is not there so I take the middle corridor back towards the first aisle. I pass aisle 9 where the eggs are, aisle 8 where the cereals are, and aisle 7 where the sugar is and take a turn into it to cross to the other aisle. I can’t see the coffee but I encounter a man who is arranging the PJ teas and ask him where the coffee is. He stops arranging the teas and with a big smile points them out to me. It is literally under my nose. I then quickly choose a Colombian fair trade medium roast coffee for French caffetières made by Sainsbury’s and run back to the cashier that once only had one person behind me.

When I arrive there are two more people waiting for me to come back and one of them- a big lady with a crying kid- seems very pissed off. I quickly go to the beginning of the queue where the woman with the nametag who is biting her nails, and then receives my Colombian coffee, scans it and emits the last Peep! The last thing to do is to pay the bill and get the receipt from Nisha that lists everything I have bought in the order I put it on the moving counter. I always mean to check it but never do. I put my bags in the trolley and as I get out I see the CD charts. They are only £9.99 but I have never bought one. Maybe one day I will.