You probably don’t need to buy ketchup, and other facts on Philly grocery shopping

You probably don’t need to buy ketchup, and other facts on Philly grocery
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Residents of Philadelphia spend more time grocery shopping and more time waiting in supermarket checkout lines than residents of the other major cities.

That’s the result of a survey performed by online grocery retailer Peapod about the shopping habits of people in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Chicago and Washington D.C.

Three out of every four Philadelphians have never ordered groceries online, according to the survey, which was done on behalf of people who want to change that.

Our journalistic impulse is to take the responses with a grain of salt. A second look yielded some interesting information about how we shop, some which can be used to make our lives easier in a city that definitely has a shortage of supermarkets.

In Philly, the best time to go shopping is on a Sunday night. Just 6 percent of shoppers bought groceries between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sunday. But other times during the weekend are the most crowded. More than half of all respondents said they are most likely to go to the store on the weekend.

There’s a reason you always see people with those collapsible, two-wheeled carts. Philadelphia residents reported the heaviest groceries. When asked how much they think their groceries weighed, Philadelphians guessed the highest, with 15 percent saying their bags weighed 51 pounds or more. The average came to about 31 pounds. New Yorkers reported carrying about 18 pounds of groceries per trip.

Pass the ketchup! Philly residents were more likely to report having condiments in the fridge (89 percent) than produce (82 percent), non-alcoholic beverages (78 percent), meat and seafood (73 percent), deli meats (53 percent), and alcohol (45 percent).

We love to eat at home. Four out of five respondents said they liked to cook at home — a higher percentage than any other city in the survey. In New York, 26 percent of respondents said they prefered takeout.