What's going to happen to grocery stores in 20-30 years?

I'm in my mid 20's and virtually everyone I know doesn't buy fresh vegetables. Whenever I go shopping (at different times of the day/week too), it's always 80% old people buying the fresh vegetables and 20% around my age. At most they'll buy those plastic pre-made salad packs. Even the ultimate basics like garlic, onions, etc., all get replaced by the powdered version (if they even get that). Most normies I know who say they can "cook" are just buying boneless/skinless chicken breast, ground meat, or shit cut steaks, and pairing it with white rice or a boiled potatoe. Or a mealpack like hamburger helper. Don't even get me started on spices and herbs.


Are they just going to start pre-packing everything or what?

>Are they just going to start pre-packing everything or what?

That's already started. You've got your subscription/delivery services like blue apron. And many supermarkets sell "kits" as well. My local chain has been stocking "stew kits" for a couple years now. You get a pack that contains the pre-cut meat, as well as the veggies and such all ready to go.

I honestly worry about this a lot too, its become increasingly awkward asking for shit like suet too, because most people (even those employed) have never heard of it.

see I will admit that I do not always buy fresh veggies. If canned goods are on sale I will buy them (especially tomatoes) and keep them in my pantry since we only go to the store once a week and canned tomatoes (diced, whole, sauce, etc) if cheaper than buying fresh. Same with beans, but those are also for the convenience factor.

For fresh I almost always buy a sack of potatoes, a bag of onions, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, celery, etc.

Take a trip down the freezer section and look at the ready made meals section. I think they're called Voila, or something similar, literally a cup of penne pasta, some frozen veggies, and a scoop of alfredo sauce all for around $7. Don't even get me going on the frozen crockpot meals. Sure there has always been frozen pizzas, lasagnas, pot pies, and meals for one, but the number of dump-it-and-forget "meals" is appalling.

too long; didn't reddit: cooking real food is a dying skill. just pay schlomo his shekels for cancer causing food and STFU

You must be from a flyover area or red state where people are fat and ignorant. Here millennials are always buying fresh produce.

> just buying boneless/skinless chicken breast, ground meat, or shit cut steaks, and pairing it with white rice or a boiled potatoe

That covers like 80% of entire meal possibilities. What is your problem?

Honestly I have tunnel vision in the grocery store. I like to get in, load up, and get out with minimal distractions. Not autism, I just don't see shopping as a social experience. Its business.

Don't worry, OP, your flyover anecdote is irrelevant.

In reality, people are actually buying more fresh produce than ever before, to the point that packaged food companies are being forced to downsize.

In 20-30 years aisles and the shelves of grocery stores themselves will be fully automated.

When the censor on the shelf reads too low, aisles will be automatically replenished from the back of the shelf which will be accessed from above which is where the store room will be.

Robots will roam about on the second floor unloading pallets and moving the goods into self loading shelving magazines which will load items from second floor down to shop floor via the backs of the shelves.

Sounds like you might live in a podunk shit town in the midwest.
I still live in the midwest but I'm 27 and only buy fresh shit. My real friends are the same way but I don't have any friends who live here so I don't take note of anyone around really.

>That covers like 80% of entire meal possibilities. What is your problem?

If that really does comprise 80% of your meals then you must have a very bland and boring meal plan.

>thinks he's king shit of a town he's too good for
>wonders why he doesn't have any friends

wew desu senpai

100% this.

If we're going to generalize and group people as "everyone" then you don't know a whole lot of people OP. There are plenty of people who buy fresh and/or grow fresh. I feel like you're a teenager who just got out of mom and dad's house and went shopping on your own recently or you're an autistic sheltered adult who is baffled people do different things to get through the day/week/month with food. First of all, why does it matter to you? Do you just like the anonymous attention you get from a cooking anime board? Are you that stupid of a person you can't fathom that everyone has a different life outside of yours? Who gives a fuck. Let people do what they want with their time and money. Why don't you focus on more important things OP?

Fresh vegetables require commitment. You have to use them before they go bad, and many can't be eaten as is - they must be washed, chopped and cooked somehow. Someone who is lazy and/or inexperienced in the kitchen will find these processes intimidating or unpleasant. Nut I don't think it's an old vs young thing as much as it is a singles vs couples thing. You have much more motivation to cook meals using mostly fresh ingredients when you're cooking for someone else who appreciates it. I do that almost every day. But when my wife visits family out of town and I'm left alone my diet takes a more NEETish turn, - convenience and ready to eat things because I'm not motivated to spend 45min to an hour cooking just to feed myself.

My guess is as your generation couples off more people in it will do actual cooking from fresh.

Hopefully not.

Who the fuck said it was a social interaction? The op just noticed a change in tides. He didnt say he went up to these people and asked why they were doing what they were doing.

Your the one creating the autism!
YOUR THE ONE RUINING SUPERMARKETS!
MOTHER FUCKER IF YOU JUST KEEP YOUR NOSE DOWN LIKE A BETA KEK ALL YOUR LIFE YOU CANT EXPECT ANY CHANGE.

FUCK YOU

Nice pepe you got there. Are you up for a trade? I have some rare ones.

sure gimme some good pepes stanger!

Im more annoyed at old people, housewifes and unemployed buying all the fresh shit while i only get the leftovers.

Holy shit these are immaculate. Here is the rarest pepe I have. So far, it has only appeared once in 87,345 pepes. Please use it wisely.

that is truly a shit pepe, i will not be doing business again nor saving that trash, good day sir.

I feel bad that that user ripped you off for those pepes here have this

Leave

They are shopping at co-ops or having CSA boxes delivered

I'm in my twenties and every single person I know buys fresh vegetables.

Then again I'm not a Burger.

Amazon will probably kill off grocery stores like they're killing off retail. They already own Whole Foods and Sprouts. We'll buy all our food from Jeff Bezos with Zuckerberg issued ration cards.

>I have tunnel vision in the grocery store
mah nigga

It goes in cycles. Remember back in the late 50's early 60's when canning and frozen were first available the abominations created then make today's food gourmet.

Yes, the trend of blue apron, etc will happen, but it will go through cycles as well. As efficiency increases logistically at least in urban areas it will be possible to get fresh ingredients in manageable amounts.

Yes, it will be priced at a premium. But it will eventually be only a bit more then other conveniences.

people are too lazy to go cook
that's it, really

anyone can get a rotisserie chicken and some rice and some whatever other pre-made shit to go with it and bam, dinner
and canned goods keep for ages, so you don't have to remember "oh shit, I've got so and so in the fridge"

It wouldn't surprise me if all of the bitching about GMOs and shit ended up making grocery stores focus less on available fresh produce.

The user earlier was right - I can't be bothered to buy a bunch of fresh produce as a single dude. Most of it goes to waste. And seeing as I don't plan on getting married or having kids, and more people my age seem to agree, I think it's just going to become less and less common, and shift toward pre-prepared foods.

Which I'm ultimately fine with. Cooking is a skill you should have on a basic survival level, but making shit that tastes good or impresses people shouldn't be that big of a deal.

There will still be a poor motherfucker chained to a cash register, because people want to interact with people/have someone to bitch at.

They still will not be allowed to sit down.

Produce, incidentally, is one of the HUGEST waste sections of a store. A store will throw away thousands of dollars in produce, for various reasons: damaged in shipping, expiration, just doesn't look pretty enough, etc

It just goes into the land fills and rots.

>They still will not be allowed to sit down.
honestly, this shit will still never not be retarded

I just buy a package of prewashed spinach (for hamburgers), lettuce (for burritos), tomatos, and onions. That pretty much covers all the vegetables i need and use. Sometimes some celery or potatos. I would like to buy more fruit but its always overpriced. Vegetables just take to much work to make them good, or you have to add so much salt and oil that you might as well just go out and get some fast food. My wife does most of the cooking however, shes the only one besides my mom who ive seen make vegetables palatable. Even our kids love em

>>censor

Kill yourself

I'm not noticing that here in Minnesota. The St\. Paul farmer's market has gotten so busy shoppers are willing to pay $5 for valet service.

>EEEEK THAT BANANA IS ROTTEN THROW IT AWAY

I live in uk (scotland) and honestly we have more options and variety than ever before. They are even starting to sell more genuinely Asian shit in Tescos (although it's a rip so I just go to the Japanese supermarket)

...

Nothing will happen to grocery stores.

In 20 or 30 years, the people whose diets consist solely of prepackaged food, bags of chips, and sleeves of cookies washed down with soda and booze will have died or be too obese to leave their homes, leaving those of us who actually eat fresh produce.

Natural selection, baby.

That banana must be very sweet.

This theory would work if not for the fact that people reach reproductive age even before their bad lifestyles can kill them. This goes not only for fatties but even alcoholics and junkies generally.

That's why their numbers are growing. The exact people who lack the ability to make sensible lifestyle choices are also the once who are irresponsible about their reproductive behaviour and breed the youngest and the most.

The most disenfranchised tend to have higher net fertility rates than the successful and healthy. Especially since they're barely allowed to really self-destruct by virtue of all kinds of aid programs.

why should I buy fresh instead of frozen when it cost twice as much and it goes bad after 3 days?

they will all simultaneously disintegrate

when you move out the burbs and back into the city you'll find there's loads of ethnioc grocery stores that carry qquality fruit and veg. Also, farmer's markets are booming. Only tards who just drive to walmart will be left out.

I'm in Boston and OP is correct as far as I'm concerned

People your age
1 - are busy working and not cooking/learning to cook
2 - probably can't afford a working kitchen

Surprise surprise people lifestyle change when they get older and have kids.

I'm from a flyover portion of Florida and OP couldn't be more wrong.

I can't imagine a pure delivery service to work.

Too often i check out an item for freshness or damage and put it back again because I don't wanna buy it. Jewish people would deliver me exactly these things and i would get upset.

First I laughed and then I cried because that's actually 100% accurate.

I used to work self scan machines and people always avoided them bitching about machines taking cashiers' preciousss jerbs meanwhile there's cashiers with disabilities with a modified contract who can only work self scan because it doesn't require lifting etc. and they would otherwise have no place in the store.

A machine doesn't feel good to take your frustration out on though, so I'm sure cashiers will be there to stay

Eh, being a student is super hard, OP.

>have a bunch of medical diagnoses that means I can't drive, very low on energy, hard time with heavy lifting
>am a woman, so walking around after dark (ie when I don't have class on weekdays) is very hard
>full class load, member of a student society, work part time
>grocery store is close, but it's still hard lugging milk, veggies, etc.
>poorfag

All of these things make it difficult for people. I'm working this summer, and I've been cooking everyday for myself, making really yummy meals I'm proud of, lost about 15 lbs, etc. Old people are either retired, so they have all day to cook OR they work a job with set hours (as opposed to school and shift work, which makes managing a routine hard). They've more likely to buy vehicles, etc.

I'm not disagreeing with you, OP, young people nowadays have too many options NOT to cook so it's a skill few have properly cultivated. HOWEVER, I think a lot of people our age will start cooking better when their schooling ends.

I am a poorfag and listen to podcasts which always shill Blue Apron, so I'm probably going to get some free food from there.

With that a said, I don't understand the appeal lf prepacked, precut meals. Microwaveable meals for one are great when you're depressed and need some cheesy slush to watch movies to, but these prepackaged meals AREN'T ready in a minute. You still have to cook them. The only benefit I can fathom is that you're given the precise amount - so you don't have to buy a whole bunch of something and then waste it. If you're creative though, you can shove veggies into most meals and use them up. And I doubt getting less food for the same price or more as the whole thing is really a smart plan.

I think the advertisement in Stuff You Missed in History Class sums it up: "I get to be a fancy cook instead of microwaving something mediorce." These people really lack cooking skills.

You're probably right in that OP is a bit of a pretentious greenhorn, but your spaztic "hurr they dindu nuffin" rebuttal at the end is absurd. It's entirely possible to be concerned with food and nutrition on a sociological scale without being a pretentious dipshit who doesn't mind their own business.

Same here, specially after I discovered a self scan service in my store. No more waiting in line bullshit.

Not sure where OP is from but I noticed people like to order their groceries where I live, or have a subscription for a meal delivery service that bring you weekly veg etc. with recipes to use them for. It is overpriced and overrated really.

But mid twenties as I noticed it, a lot of people still have not fully grown up in the sense that they still do not feel like cooking, they think it takes forever and wouldn't know what to do. Plenty of people (incl. myself) enjoy it and most eventually start cooking later on cause of cash wasting and quality of food but it is mostly cause they still think of themselves as lazy teenagers and want to ignore the fact that they should do something instead of wasting cash on prepacked shit.