The $216 grocery haul of a Kentucky mom.
Socially-acceptable cart snooping, ft. Hummingirds!
Hello hello!
The Summer Fancy Food Show is right around the corner, and we have so many exciting events to share with you surrounding the show. First up: Hummingbirds’ is bringing the first public taste of their new launch to NYC on Saturday, 6/27 at 12-4pm!
They’ll be featuring live, shoppable Nests curated by us (yay!), plus our friends Amrit from Indie CPG and Emily from Hummingbirds. Nest is basically a product discovery board that consumers and creators can build, share, and earn from in real time—a digital storefront designed specifically for brands that sell through retail.
You’ll see exactly what that looks and feels like IRL, and how it’s the future of measurable word of mouth at the shelf!
Come connect with fellow CPG friends, enjoy great food, discover products from our curated Nest, and kick off your Fancy Food Show weekend.
Welcome to Real Receipts.
We have a very exciting, special edition of Weekly Pickups this week: Real Receipts, powered by Hummingbirds—the brilliant platform that helps brands activate everyday creators in targeted markets and at real points of purchase.
Real Receipts exposes the actual grocery carts of real consumers across the country. If you often find yourself snooping on the grocery cart of the person in front of you at checkout, this one’s for you—and this time (thanks to our friends at Hummingbirds) it’s solicited. 🤝
Time to cart snoop. →
Meet Sam Hughes, an everyday creator on Hummingbirds. She’s a 31-year-old new mom, lives in Kentucky (the ‘burbs of Cincinnati), and self-describes as “a little bookish, a little cookish.”
First, let’s see the receipts:
For Sam, this Kroger $216 haul represents one of her “big paycheck runs,” meaning she had budgeted for this shop, coupon-clipped for some savings, and meal planned out some of the items so nothing would go to waste. It contains items like Spindrift, Liquid Death, Grey Poupon Mustard, and Bonne Maman jam, plus store-brand frozen veg and tons of fresh produce. A full restock of pantry goodness + the building blocks of weekly meals.
Sam is also a Costco stan—partly because it’s cost-conscious, and partly because… “samples and a food court?! That little motivation NEVER misses!” We hear you, Sam.
To supplement her bigger grocery runs at Costco or supermarket chains (Meijer, Publix, or Kroger—all of which have saved “astronomically” thanks to her couponing prowess), Sam loves Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme as “treats”.
When she succumbs to the pull of a natural or specialty grocer, she tends to shop a little differently, too: “Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme, and Trader Joe’s are all shops where we add things to the cart more based on vibes,” she told us, like “internet fads or interesting ingredient lists.”
In general, reading nutrition labels is a relatively new thing for Sam. “As a new mom, you can never be too careful. We’re always on the lookout for nutrients like folate, choline, magnesium, potassium, and, of course, fiber and protein!”
No matter where she’s shopping, Sam self-describes as very brand-loyal. “We don’t skimp on products we love with generic or store-specific brands.” A few tried-and-true favorites are:
OLIPOP: “Strawberry Vanilla or Crisp Apple, ALWAYS (and never Poppi). Whether it’s a case or just one, it’s a nice, sweet lil treat for braving the grocery store crowds.”
Little Spoon Smoothies: “Baby Henry needs some bribing to sit in a grocery cart, but I’m happy about the healthy substitution as a form of bribery.”
Kefir and Noosa Yoghurt: “GOTTTTA STAY CULTURED AND FULL OF FIBER.”
Duke’s Mayo: “It’s got that TWANG!”
Spindrift: “The quality never strays.”
Good Culture: “It’s just better than the rest.”
Shoutout to Sam for sharing her Real Receipts with us and offering a glimpse into what she buys for her family of three! Stay tuned for the next Real Receipts edition, thanks to our friends at Hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds is a community-powered retail velocity platform that connects CPG brands with a community of discovery-driven shoppers and everyday creators. Through creator campaigns, brands drive localized awareness, in-store trial, and real purchase data. The same platform that produces authentic content also closes the loop on what actually moves off shelves. One dashboard, one investment, one story: from community to shelf. Learn how it works or chat with the team to see it in action!
And if you want to see what they’re unveiling next week around retail velocity... grab a spot here.
PS. Check out our most recent episode of The Curious Consumer, where we get into e.l.f's foray into haircare, Tom Brady's Good Nut (this is not a joke), how AG1 is striving to stay relevant, the bubble-free boom, and the derm-as-creator skincare brand that's taking off in Target.
Thanks for reading! Anything you think we should try for an upcoming edition of Express Checkout? Email us at hello@expresscheckout.co