'Times are tough': Shopper notices hilarious detail in Coles display

But now there have been calls to make this a permanent fixture. Do you see it? 

I was out shopping at my local Coles the other day when I noticed something that made me giggle. 

In the fruit and veg section, there was one of those 'Free fruit for kids' crates, and it was filled with all the usual suspects - bananas, apples, mandarins, etc.

The sign itself even had a photo of fruits like bananas and grapes. 

But as you can see below, there were also carrots, which, last time I checked, were not a fruit.

And no, they're not one of those sneaky vegetables like cucumbers that 'technically' are fruits because they have seeds.

It's just a plain old root vegetable trying to blend in with a bunch of fruit.

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Image: Supplied

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"Next up, broccoli!"

Look, I'm all for getting more veggies into our kids, and the old grated carrot in the spag bol trick can only be done so much. But it made me think - was this a reflection of the current cost-of-living crisis? Is Coles intentionally using the humble, cheap carrot to bulk out their free fruit offering? Or am I reading into this?

I am definitely reading into this. 

But to confirm, I snapped a photo and sent it to the work group chat, a.k.a, my sounding board for absolutely everything.

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"Times are tough, next up broccoli!" joked Liz.

And Carly quipped: "I'm rooting for more free veg in supermarkets. Haha, get it? Rooting?"

"Where's the hummus? Missed opportunity, in my opinion," Em said.

Hmm..

Look, they're not always the most helpful lot for serious investigations like this. 

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"My son will be stoked"

Wanting to dig deeper, I took my investigation to Facebook to see what other parents really thought. 

"My youngest loves carrots, he’ll be stoked," one wrote on my post in a popular supermarket group, while another added: "My seven-year-old would choose the carrot hands down... he wouldn't eat most of that fruit selection."

Someone else also suggested, "Lots of kids will take the carrots now cause they do the fruit break at lots of schools. I never would have chosen that as a kid, but I know my kids would."

Others said they endorsed the concept but had a couple of concerns.

"Raw carrot is fine, but it would need a peeler at least!" said one mum.

"I saw carrots in our store's free fruit box once, and I just poured some water over it to give it a rinse (I made sure not to make a mess) and gave it to my daughter," shared another. 

Meanwhile, others called for vegetables to become a permanent addition to free fruit boxes in supermarkets.

"It's a good thing, all stores should do this," said one.

"My store puts anything they have in there. I once saw celery and I reckon every Coles/Woolies should do a mix of fruit and veg," a different person concluded. 

Originally published as 'Times are tough': Shopper notices hilarious detail in Coles display