Fun at Walmart

[Imzadi]

I often say the only good thing to come out of the pandemic for me was the discovery of Walmart's curbside pickup. I get all the low prices without any of that lovely walmart shopping "experience".

For years, before the pandemic, I've been shopping online at Walmart for my pantry items to be delivered. A can of corn here in NYC was $2, meanwhile Walmart's store brand was $0.59. (Now it's about $2.50 per can due to inflation. ) No way could I stock up on items with our prices. The pandemic has made buying certain items online even easier. Although it's also made trying to get some items next to impossible as they are never in stock for shipping now.

We usually make big Walmart trips a few times a year. I hadn't realized that Walmart hasn't re-opened to 24 hours again, since the pandemic. Last summer, coming back from the Jersey shore, we had just gotten to the store as they were about to close at 11pm. We were running around filling up our cart like that supermarket game show, trying to quickly throw everything on our lists into the cart.

I do have to wonder where all the people have gone who used to shop at Walmart overnight? We went at 1am, back in 2019, (again coming home from the shore,) and this Walmart's parking lot was turned into a huge, informal overnight RV park, complete with people setting up on the side of their trailers the way tailgate fans at football games set up in parking lots, with food, fresh beer from Walmart, chairs to lounge in, and new friends to be made. Talk about a new Walmart sub-culture "experience" we hadn't known existed before.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I feel bad for the kids, bad parenting is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[mrodgers]

Honestly! It’s so epic compared to stores at home and there are so many things

They do have so many things, but if it's anything like over here, other than food with a date code, everything is old garbage or the bottom of the barrel in quality.

 

[JoanneAZ]

yup...we do it all the time when we can catch a gallon on sale, especially now with inflation. Just make sure to pour some out before freezing, as the container expands when frozen and may leak as it thaws. (Ask me how I know.)

Look for containers like this:



If you tend to buy more milk than you can use before its expiration date, you can totally freeze it — also thanks to those indentations. Like water, milk expands as it freezes. The circular indentations allow the jug to expand as the milk freezes, then pop back into place whenever you eventually thaw the milk out.

 

[MsT82]

They do have so many things, but if it's anything like over here, other than food with a date code, everything is old garbage or the bottom of the barrel in quality.

Quite possibly. I’m just lured in with the 47 different M&M varieties!

 

[focusondisney]

Quite a scene at Walmart last night. There was a family with two holy terrors for kids.

I was walking down a grocery aisle when a kid about 4 had a tantrum because Mom wouldn’t buy him chocolate cake. He was riding in the back of one of those carts with a plastic seat behind.

View attachment 680217
He took off his flip flop and threw it, hitting my cart. Mom apologized but the kid continued to whine.

Then Dad came down the aisle with another whiny kid in the same type of cart.

A few aisles over I encountered Dad again. Kid was sitting on the floor and no amount of cajoling would make him stand up. Dad probably refused to get him Beef-a-roni or something.

I moved far away and continued shopping. But then I met them again at self checkout. Two shopping carts with a combined 5 gallons of milk and loaded with giant sized boxes of frozen junk foods like pizza bites, box of 48 small bags of mixed chips/cheetos, and other crap. But no chocolate cake.

Kids were running around self checkout area while Mom and Dad were scanning items, oblivious to it all.

Ugh. When I see stuff like this, I wonder why 1 parent didn’t stay home with the kids while the other went shopping. I’m sure posters will have several reasons why the parents didn’t. But subjecting other shoppers to that behavior is inconsiderate at the least. Keep the kids home til they learn how to act in public, which of course the parents need to teach first. IMO.

 

[shh]

One year we froze coffee cream to take down to WDW, when thawed and added to the coffee it was "lumpy" (for want of a better word) and looked as if it had curdled. The coffee cream was ok, but it wasn't very appealing to drink it that way. Needless to say, I never froze the coffee cream again, I just take my chances when we get to the resort that they will have it in stock or do a grocery store stop.

yep...cream, even those flavored dairy free creamers, don't freeze well at all. But regular milk does.

 

[shh]

Look for containers like this:

View attachment 680572

If you tend to buy more milk than you can use before its expiration date, you can totally freeze it — also thanks to those indentations. Like water, milk expands as it freezes. The circular indentations allow the jug to expand as the milk freezes, then pop back into place whenever you eventually thaw the milk out.

cool. Never knew what those were for. I just pour out about a cupful before freezing to give the rest room to expand. This was after one developed a leak in the seam and made a huge mess as it thawed - even with those indentations.

 

[barkley]

if you just want to have enough milk to cover you when you run out but don't want to have to eat up freezer space-the shelf stable little bottles are awesome. i bought some of the safeway brand back in march that is good until august perfect if you run out and need some for a recipe, bowl of cereal, to top off your coffee...i used to keep them on hand when the kids were little in case we were running late to daycare. grab one and one of those mini boxes of cereal so they could sit down and eat as soon as they arrived. used to keep a couple in my desk at work as well.

i'm spoiled with milk though-we have ultra pasteurized local stuff that has a crazy long refrigerated shelf life. the half gallons in my fridge right now i purchased at the end of may-they are good until 8/12/22

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Not really on topic but I was at the Walmart by Disney last month while on our trip and I was next in line for the self checkout when an entire family literally pushed me aside and got in front of me and started ringing up their stuff. I said “um excuse me I was here first” and they said “no habla ingles” and ignored me. Well strangely I saw them days later at TRex in Disney springs speaking perfect English to the hostess lol.