No order for me! I try to keep light squishy things to one side or on top, but other than that, there's no order other than the order I pick them up in.

I do limit myself to a hand held basket rather than a shopping, for nearly all trips. The main grocery store I go to is 4 blocks away, and it's just silly to drive the car. But it's too easy, with the cart, to buy more than I can carry home!

About the only organizing I do is to put the fragile stuff in the kiddie seat and then put it on the conveyor last. The baggers have their own ideas about what to pack with what and I've learned to live with their system.

I follow a similar fashion to you. All frozen things I try and keep together; then meats, cold things (like dairy), produce, canned items and boxed items. I try and keep any cleaning agents away from the produce & meats; and things that are are easily crushed go in the seat. Bulky things go on the bottom of the cart. Now, if I could get the baggers to understand my system, it would be wonderful!

I only organize my cart a small amount. I place all of the cold items together because we put them in coolers in the car. The fresh produce is separated from other cold items. Then I make sure the eggs and breads go on top.

Oh my gosh, Maryanne! I look at carts like yours and shake my head in wonder. I am just not that organized. My shopping cart is like my life, haphazard, things bumping into each other, nothing where it should be (loaf of bread under a melon), but filled with good things. Come to think of it, it is a pretty accurate analogy.
The only time I am somewhat neat is when I have to pack my cart at BJ's after it has gone down the belt. And that is only because the person at the door has to see everything. But then into the back of my SUV it goes...
Jo

Maryanne,
I do sort mine as I go, however I continue to sort as I place the items on the belt. But with a large order, most times it all for nothing when the items get all mixed up as these items go down the belt & the baggers just lump it together w/out any sense. If I'm able to bag it myself, then I'll bag the way I had intended it when I placed on the belt.

When I place the items on the belt, I put the heaviest on first so it will be the 1st bag in the cart, nothing worse than having it crush all that follows. Then continue to sort into categories as to where it will end up once I'm home.

Lucy

Loose order much like Beverly. Cold things together, produce together. Eggs, fragile things, and bread in the kiddie seat. Detergents down below, away from the food. But it looks rather jumbled at a glance. I have seen ultra tidy carts, I have also seen super tidy refrigerators and kitchen cupboards. But not at my house!

Good heavens NO!!...I just grab what I need....and by the way the store is arranged it pretty well is all together...
Produce first, which goes into the kiddie seat ( unless it's 10 pounds of potatoes or a watermelon) then canned stuff...meats at the end of the aisles and lastly frozen and dairy.
It's bad enough sorting it when I get home let alone sorting my cart!
Linda C

Now if I could remember to tell the bagger to put the watermelon in a bag so it has handles, life would be simpler. It's like carrying a weird shaped very heavy bowling ball, takes two hands and a trip all its own. I don't know why they don't bag watermelons. And then the darn thing rolls around in my trunk and squishes the bread at times.

I'm not ultra tidy at the store; there are a lot of steps between there and my pantry. (I do tend to put squishy/delicate items on the belt towards the last.) Once I put it away, of course. The time the groceries spend in my shopping bags is minimal; it doesn't really matter to me, since I lay it all out anyway to put everything away.

You sound like a person who needs a lot of control in your life. If that means a tidy shopping cart, go for it!

They don't put watermelons in bags because it would probably take two, which might not hold it anyway. If you take your own bags (with handles), they're happy to do whatever you want! If it really bugs you, that's a situation that's easily controlled...

I organize the cold and frozen things together; the squashable stuff goes in the kiddie seat; the rest gets fitted in where-ever. I ask the baggers to put all the frozen together and all the cold together.... which I have already put on the conveyer belt that way. In the high heat of summer I actually take a cooler(s) into the store with me and have them put all there right away.

I put the cold and frozen (which I pick up last) together, eggs and bread in the kiddie seat and try to keep the canned goods etc. together. Put like you said the bagger doesn't always put things in the bags the way I would. LOL
Once they put the boxes of canned soda on top of the ice cream and I left it sitting on the table over night.....the ice cream had to be thrown out. I was so mad at myself....

Linda

I put the heavier uncrushable things at the bottom and the smaller things on top of them or to one side.
Smallest delicate things and breakables such as eggs and tomatoes go in the kiddie seat.
I am sort of organized and look carefully where I place things.
Most supermarkets here don't have baggers, so you do it yourself.

SharonCb

I'm like most of you. I try not to put the detergent on top of the eggs or the soda on top of the bread.

I put stuff I'm considering putting back on the child seat.

I do sort on the conveyor belt -- refrigerated together, the "3 for $1" items together, stuff I want to eat in the car together!

I will give the baggers credit. They also keep cold items together, put the meat in its own plastic bag and generally keep the eggs and bread on top. I help pack the bags and the ones I pack are usually too heavy and stuff is going every which way. For the two minute drive home, it's okay.

My pet peeve is too many plastic bags. I HATE them.

Nope, I just toss them into the cart, helter skelter. I seldom buy bread, so I don't worry about squishing it and I have my own eggs, so those aren't broken. Other than that, my only sorting is cleaning supplies go in the seat or on the bottom, I want them separate from food items.

Of course, I live half a mile from the grocery store and I usually walk there for things I need. It keeps my grocery shopping to a minimum because I know I'm going to have to carry the stuff home.

Annie

It does cut down on the impulse purchases, doesn't it, Annie?

well, it looks like i'm not alone in this, i sure didn't think i was.

clare de luna - i certainly had to laugh at your statement: You sound like a person who needs a lot of control in your life. If that means a tidy shopping cart, go for it!
come on over and see that my house in no way reflects my shopping cart LOLOLOLOL i just consider it the smart way to shop, stack and sort.

maryanne

I seldom buy cleaning supplies - maybe I haven't been doing enough cleaning, but I don't run out that often.

I put soda cans on the bottom and a few delicate items in the kiddy seat, but otherwise there is no organization. I don't buy that much at a time anyway, since there are only two of us. At Gelsons, the baggers are very good at putting cold items together, and they put frozen items in special insulated bags. They also have small paper bags with the produce, which allows me to put mushrooms in paper bags from the beginning, and I don't have to rebag them when I get home.

Lars

I fall into the semi organized range and then more organized when I unload the cart at the checkout. My freezer is in the garage, so I like frozen together so I can put it away before even going into the house. I don't like to fish through bags for refigerated things, so I watch that they stay together.

Nancy

Maryanne, I shop just like you. I prefer going thru u-scan. When I go thru the regular lane, eveything is grouped together on the belt and I tell the bagger exactly what to put together in bags. Even then, it doesn't always happen, so now I usually just tell them I'll bag it myself.

Jayne

I don't group in the cart but I do group on the belt. Then I bag myself, since I bring my own bags. When baggers do bag things up for me, they do a good job keeping cold with cold, heavy on bottom, light on top and cleaning products separate.

Organized? I organize everything.... Frozen things together, produce together, non-food items together, etc. I take them out of the cart so they get baged together too (in the cloth bags I bring), which makes it much easier for me or the bagger to bag. It makes putting them away much quicker and easier. I only work on logic and lean management principles, so this makes nothing but complete sense to me. It's all second nature to me, and until I read the question, I'd never thought about it.

My mother was the exact opposite. She shoved a weeks worth of groceries into the kiddie carrier portion, never used the rest of the shopping cart.

-Grainlady

I am pretty much like Alison and just shop for a few items at a time and the total is usually around $25. But I do try to keep the produce together and crushable items in the kiddy seat.

Detergent and other non-food items I buy at Target, Sears or Walmart.

Michelle

When I'm by myself, I organize the cart - cold stuff together, cans together, breads up in the seat. But all bets are off if my husband tags along to the store with me - he just puts stuff in there.

As for our baggers - my daughters have both worked as "courtesy clerks" (i.e. baggers) for our favorite grocery store - it was a first job for each of them. One got actual training but the other (a year and a half later) was told, "Bag groceries as if your mother was standing there." So my daughter knew right away - Mom likes the cold stuff together in the same bag, paper goods separate, canned goods on the bottom and cushy stuff on the top. On her FIRST day of work, she was commended by a customer for good bagging. He told her, "You did a good job, just like I like it. Who taught you to bag?" "My mother." He winked at her and told her, "Tell your mother she did a good job." The cashier stood there and held back a laugh, I guess.

So I guess maybe I'm picky. :-)

DonnaR/CA

My shopping cart is arranged the same way every trip. Cleaning products under the cart, kiddie seat (left to right) personal items, small dairy, jars, cans, eggs on top of personal and small dairy, bread on cans and jars, fruit and veggies along the back of the kiddie seat. Main cart (starting under kiddie seat and going left to right) line 1 is milk and paper products, line two is meats and frozen foods, deli on top of frozen stuff, cereal on top of paper products.

At the checkout I start with cleaning supplies, then paper products, then dairy, meat, cans, jars, frozen, veggies, fruits, deli, eggs, bread. My husband knows the order and puts the stuff on the belt while I watch the prices. I do most of my shopping at Meijer where they bag the items right after scanning so they go in the bags in the order they are on the belt. Sometimes I am bad and toss a magazine or some tic-tacs on top! âº

It is good to know there are other people out there who organize as they shop, my husband thinks I am a bit uptight (not the word he would use) and should just toss everything in willy-nilly. He also thinks I spend waaaaay too much time choosing certain items (meat, fruit, veggies...). But I would rather spend a little extra time choosing carefully in the store than finding soggy looking green beans in my fridge when I go to cook dinner.

I don't consciously sort but I always pick produce first and keep fridge stuff together pretty much, keep fragiles on the kiddy seat, the rest gets tossed in but I never need to pile stuff on top of each other as I go to the grocer when I need a few things. I add a few staple items as I go but never fill the cart as I see some people do. I buy few, if any, processed items. Most of my items are from dairy, meat, produce, bread departments and the baggers always do a very good job sorting alikes in separate bags.

I sort of group things together. The only one I really insist on is putting meat on the bottom of the cart. Heaven forbid it leaks, I don't want it dripping on anything!

Other than that, I unload the cart in the order I want the bagger to put the stuff into the bags, so I guess I get my organization there. All cleaning products go together first, so they are bagged together for ease of transport and unloading, then produce, frozen, etc. Meats are always last - again because of the drip/leak potential I do not want to put anything I am buying in a puddle of meat juice on the conveyor belt either (shudder!).

I place meats together in one place on the bottom also. To resist leaks I bag each meat item in it's own separate see thru bag which is there for that purpose.

Since I shop on an almost daily basis, I never have a full cart. About the only thought I give to organizing is not to put something heavy on something that is squishable (sp). Other than that everything just goes into the cart.

When I place the items on the belt though I do try and group items together (loosely) to make it easier for the cashier to bag.

I also don't shop "organized", aisle by aisle. I will go from one end of the store to the other and back again in no particular order. I hate shopping with a list so I just roam and pick up things I want or need or things that I know I am running out of.

I love grocery shopping.

Ann

I shop all the time too and love it also. I do make a list but frequently forget it. However, the process of writing it down encourages recall. I don't organize things except to keep things from being crushed, frozen or defrosted but I try to organize the bags a bit as the cashier bags things.
Meat must have its own bag! Same with milk as it also leaks.
All chips must have their own bag too.