Woman’s gripe with supermarket bags sparks wild debate

All she wanted to do was complain about the sorry state of her groceries. She was given a lesson in shopping etiquette instead.

A woman’s familiar gripe with supermarket paper bags has sparked a wild debate about the correct way to pack your groceries. 

The woman recently went shopping at ALDI and put all of her groceries in a single paper bag. As she walked inside the house, the dreadful sound of paper ripping hit her eardrums. 

Suddenly, a large tear formed at the top of the bag, splitting down the side and spilling her groceries all over the ground.

She couldn’t grab the food as it hit the ground; she could only watch in terror as the groceries flew out of the once-secure bag and onto the tiles below, now doomed to be ant food.

Glass jars lay shattered on the tiles, the woman’s gherkins strewn across the ground, utterly destroyed. Tins of food rolled away, and vegetables were centimetres away from escaping their plastic bags.

It was a catastrophe. 

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The woman was shattered by the state of her shopping bag. Picture: Facebook

“Am I the only one that insists on separate bags?”

“Honestly, the worst paper bags EVER,” the woman angrily shared on Facebook.

It was a sad sight and something most people have seen in their lifetime. After all, are you truly Aussie if you haven’t complained about supermarket paper bags at least once in your life?

RELATED: ALDI fans point out 'sneaky' detail in Woolies paper bags

Alas, this isn’t a story about the sorry state of the grocery bag.

While the Australian woman was probably expecting to hear a few people echoing her sentiment, that wasn’t the response she received.

Sure, many claimed the bags are “absolute rubbish” that “always break” as soon as you’ve stepped one foot on your property. 

And hearts, much like the half-empty jar of pickles on the ground, were shattered by the sight, with many expressing sympathy for the heartbroken woman. 

“Not the pickles!” read a comment. “THE PICKLES NOOOOOO,” cried another. 

“Ohhh no! Not the gherkins,” a woman added. “Looks like you’re in a bit of a… pickle,” a fourth joked. “I hope you didn't need those pickles for dinner,” a mum commented. “And hoodlums, no tiny toes stepping on that glass.”

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Some suggested the bag may have broken, not because of its “terrible” quality, but because she filled it to the brim with groceries. “That's a lot for one bag,” someone pointed out. “You put too much in - it was too heavy for only one bag,” another agreed.

A woman commented: “This is a two-bag load for sure.” 

For reference, a paper bag from Woolies bags can carry a load of 6kgs, as can a paper bag from Coles. Kidspot has reached out to ALDI to confirm the weight capacity of their paper bags.

However, the majority of people couldn’t get past the way she packed her bags - specifically for putting “cleaning products with food” - an obvious faux pas. 

“I’m waiting for the don’t mix your chemicals with food comments,” someone laughed. 

“Am I the only one that insists on separate bags?” a person queried. “Nope, I am the same!” a person agreed. Her comment was met with a flurry of others who agreed that the way the woman had stacked her bags was completely incorrect. 

“The jar, tins, onions and bananas alone are enough to fill the bag’s weight capacity,” one woman wrote. “Other items can go into another bag.”

RELATED: Aussies shares solution to 'annoying' supermarket bag problem

“Grow up, don't be so scared of the world”

To add a little fuel to the fire, I decided to gauge my colleague’s opinions about the “correct way” to pack your groceries. 

“I just pack everything so that it fits in one bag and doesn't crush anything,” one team member said. “Shopping for two and shops are two mins walk, so no need to plan and pack.”

According to another colleague: “The way you pack your bags at the supermarket will determine how easy it will be to put away when you get home.

“That being said, it's always cold items together, toiletries/laundry items together, non-perishable pantry items together, snacks together, and meat together,” she added. “All in separate bags.”

But for one co-worker, she could “either spend time organising the bags at the supermarket or an extra minute or so when unpacking at home trying to figure out what goes where”. 

“You wouldn't want to hold up the line because you're being meticulous that the bleach doesn't go in with the fruit,” she wrote. “Like, grow up, don't be so scared of the world. The bleach isn't going to randomly explode.”

Another colleague said she’d been getting her groceries delivered for a few years, which is “always sorted home/perishables/meat/fruit and veggies”, so she figured “that it’s really a thing for most people”. 

“But back in the day, going from the supermarket to home takes 10 mins max,” she continued. “The chances of a cross-contamination catastrophe are pretty small... so I never fussed about it at the checkout.” 

For future shopping trips, some informed the woman she should avoid holding the bag by the handles and only cradle it “like a baby” when transporting the groceries. 

“Always carry paper bags like a baby under the bum," a person suggested. "Do not trust!” 

Originally published as Woman’s gripe with supermarket bags sparks wild debate