A Walmart produce employee has gone viral on TikTok after sharing money-saving produce tips—in response to another viral video of a customer snipping off broccoli stems.
User JJ (@n.c.lakehawk) uploaded the video after what she calls “Broccoli-Gate,” the viral video from a grocery store shopper whose controversial hack was to remove excess produce before weighing and paying for it. In another clip, JJ endorses this customer’s money-saving method.
“Save your money. Break off the stalks. Peel the cabbage. Separate bananas. We don’t mind!” she wrote in the caption.
In another video, the Walmart worker explains that customers regularly do something similar to the cabbage, removing the outer leaves and leaving them at the display. She says the employees then have to collect these leaves and take them to the compost, however, she notes that sometimes customers request to take home the extra leaves.
She then turns to the bags of grapes, which are also sold by weight. She claims shoppers can customize the number of grapes they’d like to purchase by moving grapes from bag to bag.
“If you only want a handful, you can get a produce bag and you can just take out a small handful because it’s sold by the pound,” she says.
JJ then compares these grapes to the pre-packaged plastic containers of grapes. She urges customers to purchase the grapes by the pound, regardless of the amount they want, as it is cheaper and customizable.
Finally, JJ shares some tomato tips. One tomato the size of her hand is ¾ of a pound and costs $3.26. However, the same-sized tomatoes, packaged in a pair are priced at $2.98. She suggests shoppers go for the prepackaged duo.
JJ wraps up the video with four broccoli in a circle. “So, yeah, at the end of the day, cutting these off,” she concludes, briefly holding one of the broccoli stems, “may only save you the cost of half a pound but that also adds up.”
@n.c.lakehawk Replying to @mimicarter81 Broccoligate and more! Save money, live better. 🙃 Anything else y’all wanna know? #Broccoligate2022 #fyp ♬ original sound – JJ
The video amassed 1.1 million views as of Sunday, and several viewers thanked the TikToker for her tips.
“Thank you so much for this,” one wrote.
“Wish you’d do more produce tips. Thank you,” another echoed.
However, some pointed out some of the hack’s discrepancies.
“Loved all of this EXCEPT my realization at just HOW touched the produce I’m buying is *washing intensifies,*” one viewer noted.
“Wash food for bugs is what I thought. Wash food for people handling before you is what i learned from this video,” a second said.
Others added their own money-saving tips in the comments.
“I used to break the crowns off my broccoli and bag those. Also the ends of the asparagus. I still pick out the nasty grapes, cherries,” one person shared.
“With the grapes I take out the bunch, pour the grapes that are off the vine into another bag and put back the ones that are on the vine in my bag,” a second commented.
“One time i was buying a kiwi package and took a gross one out, the guy said he has to throw that out OR he can slap a 50% off sticker and I can get it,” a third stated.
The Daily Dot reached out to JJ via TikTok comment.
Update 10:54am CT December 21: In a TikTok direct message exchange with the Daily Dot, JJ explained that she’s been with Walmart for 20 years and has worked in a variety of different departments.
“I just realized that a fellow creator was getting hassled about how she saves money,” she said. “And because I work in the fresh dept, I wanted to share some knowledge about how weighable items vs eaches work.”
However, the TikToker says the other shopper’s method of removing broccoli stems isn’t common.
“We don’t typically see a lot of customers breaking up the broccoli, but things such as bananas and grapes do get split up,” she shared. “When items are sold by the [pound], it’s giving the customer the option to buy less or more. Whereas similar items sold as eaches/whole amounts are prepackaged for the convenience of just grabbing and going.”
“I enjoy helping customers. That’s part of the reason why I’ve stayed with the company so long,” JJ concluded.
