Efficient Grocery Shopping
’Going to Market’ Today Means Saving Time and Money at the Store
Regroup, reorganize and get excited again about the weekly trip to the grocery store.
It rarely makes the Top 10 Favorite Chores of stay-at-home parents, and it's one of the few things that can't be hired out. Yet, grocery shop you must.
And when it's done, in the blink of an eye, you're out of milk, your son needs a red folder by yesterday, your daughter needs hairspray right now, and your husband has changed his mind about Saturday's dinner menu.
If you find grocery shopping monotonous and frustrating and you’re two aisles away from ramming a newlywed couple with your cart, regroup, reorganize and get psyched up about going to market.
Be all about The List
Stop wandering aimlessly through the aisles. You’ll end up with a pantry full of foods you were hungry for an hour ago, and nothing to fix for dinner tonight.
Start a list and use it faithfully. Start with a master list of “must buys” - items you buy weekly without fail.
Keep a paper clip on your refrigerator and encourage your family to jot down items as they’re needed. As you use the last of the oregano or pull out the last roll of paper towels, write it on the list. Before you head to the grocery, make your final list, using the master list, the refrigerator list and your menus for the week. Then take a look at your upcoming calendar. What else do you need? Baking cookies for the bake sale? School projects due? Think through your week and anticipate your needs. Reduce your trips
Once-a-week grocery shopping is a formidable task, especially if you have more than one child. If you can manage it, however, you’ll save money and time.
According to the Ideal Bite, buying lots of groceries at a time saves on electricity (a full freezer and frig use less energy than half-empty ones) and gasoline, as well as helping the environment and cutting down on impulse buying.
Running on Empty
You can't entirely avoid the midnight runs for bread, milk, diapers, bananas and other necessities. But you can do without many things for a few days. Tell your family that large bag of pretzels has to last the week. Once it’s gone, stick to your guns and live without them.
Avoid running out of non-perishables, cleaning supplies and paper products by having two of everything on hand. When you finish one, bring out the spare, write it on the list and pick up another when you next shop.
Cost savings
The cheapest way to grocery shop is to go wherever the savings are, even if that means hitting two or three different stores. If you’re shopping with children, it’s not practical to pick and choose, but do it whenever you can. Don’t fall for more than the bait, however, and buy more than what you went for.
Don’t make any assumptions about prices at a particular type of store. If you shop at bulk stores like Costco, Sam’s Club or BJ’s, compare the per unit price with your regular grocery store. Sometimes the store brand at a grocery is cheaper than the name brand at a bulk store. Decide if you must have the name brand; if not, buy the cheaper one wherever it is.
The same goes for coupons. Look at the price of the name brand with coupon and compare it with the off-brand. If the coupon price is more expensive, toss the coupon.
Plan your shopping trip
There is software for making shopping lists aisle-by-aisle, but you can easily make your own. The next time you’re grocery shopping, jot down the sections in order of how you shop. Make your shopping list section-by-section and you’ll get through the aisles much more quickly and efficiently, and won’t have to backtrack for things you forgot.
