You've eaten something to help you shop with your list, so now it's time to go to the store!
If you're doing a major shopping trip, where your order is likely to fill more than one cart, choose your shopping partner, and get going!
You can make shopping more enjoyable by being friendly with both other customers and store personnel. The advantages to this are:
- It's more fun to be nice and polite
- Store personnel respond better to pleasant people
- If you're miserable and grouchy and need help with something, you'll be less likely to get it
Get a shopping cart that works! That will save you time and a lot of frustration.
Shop the outside aisles of the store first. Usually, that's where you find fresh produce, meat, fish and poultry, dairy and a few other items. The ends of aisles usually hold specials (called “loss leaders” in the industry), overstock or closeout specials. If any of these items are on your list, fine. If they're not on your list, keep going. A bargain is no bargain unless you need it!
If you followed the tips in “Large Family Shopping Tips - Before you go,”
You're ready to go through the aisles with your list. I scratch items off my list as I put them in the cart. That lets me know the things I still need. (It also helps when I finish the aisles to see what I put in the wrong order on my list so that I have to go back and get - there's ALWAYS something!)
Healthy tips
If you buy low fat or salt items, check the sugar content! Many canned or prepared items contain extra sugar as a flavor enhancer.
You can substitute ground turkey for ground beef in many recipes if you add about a tablespoon of no-salt beef bullion to give it that beefy taste. Its texture is a little less dense, but you really can't taste much difference.
Frozen vegetables often have a higher vitamin content than fresh vegetables because they were frozen right after picking, and didn't lose their vitamins by sitting in storage, traveling and then sitting in store display cases.
Money saving tips
If you're planning soups, stews or casseroles, store brands are often just as good as brand names.
Buy only what you need!
Coupons are good, but only if it's a brand you regularly use or really want to try. Using a coupon to save twenty-five cents on something where the store brand is just as good and fifty cents cheaper does not make sense.
Never go shopping when you're hungry - you'll just spend more than you want on items you don't really need.
In the checkout line
If you have about six hands rather than two, you were smart enough to pull out each coupon you plan to use as you put that item in your cart. I only have two hands, so I use my time in line to pull out my coupons.
Hand the cashier your coupons and your frequent shopper card (if you have one).
Place your items on the counter in the order you want them packed as much as possible. Keep the eggs, bread or anything that will squash or crush separate.
Ask for double bagging when there are a lot of cans or glass bottles. Bags do break sometimes, and cleaning up messes or chasing after rolling cans is not fun!
Personally, I don't like shopping, but following my own advice makes it fun and interesting. My usual shopping companion says, “Shopping with you is always interesting and fun.” Thank you J.W! Your shopping trips may not be quite as much fun, or as interesting as some of mine, but if you follow at least a few of these tips, you can eat both cheaper and more healthily.
