Twitter Has Lots of Thoughts About the Best Way to Organize Groceries on the Conveyor Belt

This week, Twitter was aflutter with strong opinions regarding the very niche topic of … grocery store checkout aisle etiquette. The conversation starter was none other than Charles Hunter III, a personal chef and the blogger behind The Salted Table, who prompted the discussion with the following question: “Do you organize your groceries on the conveyor belt or are you a monster?”

Clearly Charles is Team Organize, keeping heavier items like yogurt, heavy cream, and eggs separate from (copious) bags of kale and Brussels sprouts, amongst other assorted produce items. As Joanna and Clea of Netflix’s runaway hit, Get Organized with The Home Edit, would say: “It’s a system.”

The tweet instantly prompted self-reflection, mostly among fellow pro-conveyor belt organizers.

I asked Charles to explain his process further and he broke it down for us:

 “I organize the items in my shopping cart as I go so that I can unload everything quicker when I arrive at the checkout line. I typically lead with the items that are frozen or refrigerated. (Raw meat has to be placed in a plastic bag prior to going in the bag with the other chilled items. You know, to avoid getting home to find your fridge items covered in meat blood.) Then, I divide my dry items into pantry goods and cleaning products /toiletries, so that anything chemical-related is bagged separately from the edible stuff. I always pack fragile items like eggs, bread, and soft fruit (especially ripened avocados) last to protect their integrity on the drive home,” says Charles.

Of course, I had to open up the question to the rest of the Kitchn staff, who happen to be in full agreement: Groceries should be organized when they’re put onto the conveyor belt. How that’s done, well, we didn’t agree so much there.

“I organize by location in my kitchen: freezer stuff up front, dairy right after, etc.,” says Features Director, Ariel Knutson.

Studio Food Editor Amelia Rampe agrees: “I organize frozen with frozen, fridge with fridge, pantry with pantry, produce is always last.”

The Super MVP of the conveyor belt organization conversation is Christine Gallary, Kitchn’s Food Editor-at-Large who has a two-fold system: “I load up the conveyor belt by weight, then when I put into bags I go by location in my kitchen.” Now that’s advanced.

Food Editor Meghan Splawn feels the same way, with one additional note: “I’m always really upset (internally) when the cashier or bagger doesn’t keep things together.” For what it’s worth, this was a common theme amongst the Twitter replies as well: Almost everyone on Team Organize prefers to bag their groceries themselves, too, which perhaps isn’t so surprising.

If you organize the items while you put them on the conveyor belt, you’ll save yourself precious time door to door. Your heavy items won’t crush delicate things like chips and eggs. You can put, say, all your produce in the crisper drawer at the same time. And, most of all, you’ll get a head start on making dinner once you have your groceries put away. So thank you, Charles, for reminding us why this is such a great strategy in the first place.

Do you organize your groceries on the conveyor belt? Or do you just throw them onto the belt all willy-nilly? We wanna hear in the comments below!