Smart Grocery Shopping Tips
Turn on the TV or read any news outlet and you’ll see photos of never-ending lines of people at grocery stores, each of them pushing an overflowing cart of stuff.
At the time that I am writing this, COVID-19 is taking a toll on the world. Many of the world’s biggest cities are on lockdown. We’re supposed to stay home and practice social distancing, but grocery shopping is something we still all need to do. In a time like this, people resort to hoarding in an effort to prepare themselves to quarantine at home for the remainder of the pandemic. It’s completely understandable to stock up on groceries to avoid going in public as much as possible, but is panic buying the answer?
Panic buying is not the way to go, even if the entire country is on lockdown. When people hoard and buy in excess, it can cause massive problems for the supply chain and shortages for people who actually need things. It is always our responsibility to shop smart when grocery shopping, but it’s especially important nowadays.
I love food and shopping, and so grocery shopping is really fun for me. Though it’s just a chore for most, I’ve realized that there is definitely a smart way to grocery shop.
Today, I am going to focus on smart food shopping. I love going grocery shopping and have discovered some hacks for shopping smart when it comes to food.
Tips & Hacks for Smart Food Shopping
Controlling Temptations
Make A List And Use It
You should never go grocery shopping without a grocery list. It’s easy to be tempted when you are in the grocery store surrounded by huge colorful signs. Make a comprehensive list of items you need beforehand and try really hard to only get those items. This way, you’re also less likely to forget something too!
Don’t Go Grocery Shopping Hungry
Basically everything sounds good and looks good when you’re hungry. Don’t let your hunger make you buy literally everything you see.
Watch Your Cart Size
If you aren’t planning on getting a lot of things, or are planning are buying small items, opt for a basket or nothing at all instead of a cart. Having less space in your container will help you fight that urge to fill all the space in that cart with things.
Limiting Waste
Buy Fruit at Varying Levels of Ripeness
This is one of my favorite tips I learned from my parents. If you really love fruit like me and want to stock up on it, buy different them at different levels of ripeness. For example, if you want to buy bananas to last your family a couple of weeks, buy some that are ripe and ready to eat, but also some that look like they’ll be ready in a week, and maybe some that look completely green. This way, you can buy a lot of fruit at once and have it last a long time!
Be Realistic When Buying in Bulk
Food waste is a huge problem in our society. Wholesale retailers like Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club are touted for their quality and cheap prices, but they contribute a lot to the global food waste problem. Their products are so cheap because they sell everything in bulk. I’ll be honest, I love going to Costco and buying huge boxes of snack packs and pillow-sized bags of lettuce. But let’s be honest, sometimes I don’t end up finishing all of the food that I bought in that value pack and it ends up going to waste because it has gone bad. It’s important to be realistic when buying in bulk. Even if the per-unit costs of buying bulk is cheaper, it likely won’t be cheaper if you end up not being able to finish the food. On top of the costs, there is no need to waste food when it is easily avoided. Therefore, if you buy a huge pack of something and don’t finish it in time, don’t buy it again. You won’t finish it.
Bring Your Own Bags
We should all know by now that plastic bags (most commonly used in grocery stores) do not always end up being recycled and end up polluting our world. Bring your own reusable bags when grocery shopping to reduce plastic waste. Many stores are moving to charge for single-use plastic bags or offering discounts for bringing your own reusable bags, so you might even save some money too!
Saving Time
Go Straight To What You Need
Grocery stores are actually purposefully designed so that you are tempted by everything you don’t need before you get to the essentials. This is the reason why the basics like the dairy and the produce are often in the back of many grocery stores. If you have to pass through so many products to get to the one you want, it will be harder to resist picking some things up along the way. Go to the grocery store with a list premade and go straight to those items to avoid distractions.
Avoid Peak Hours
I’ll admit, this one is pretty obvious. Grocery stores are often busiest on the weekends and around the time of rush hour, when people get off from work. If you can, go during times when the grocery stores are less occupied. Avoiding peak hours will make the whole experience so much faster, from traffic on the streets to in the stores.
Saving Money
“Shop” Your Fridge First
Make sure you look at everything you have home before you go grocery shopping. It’s crazy how often my family used to question if we had any milk or eggs left in the fridge while we were already at the store. Chances are, you probably won’t remember everything you had at home, and so you’ll buy it at the store just in case, only to find out that you already had it! Avoid buying things you already have at home by remembering to simply check before you leave the house!
Use Coupons
It’s pretty expensive having to feed yourself. Food is a necessity, but we should still try to save some money on it where we can. Stores like Costco and ShopRite often have books full of coupons that come out often and offer a wide variety of sales. I’ve found that this applies more for non-essential items, where I can wait for it to go on sale before I try it or buy more. Something I’d like to emphasize in using coupons at the grocery store is that there is no need to stock up on groceries when they go on sale. Typically, these sales make their rounds and that item will go on sale again soon. At the same time, don’t buy things just because they’re on sale too!
Food shopping is something that we all need to do. It’s often seen as a chore or something we dread, but hopefully, with these tips and hacks, you can shop smart and enjoy it a little more too!
Originally published at http://merakibeans.com on April 12, 2020.
