A Good Grocery Shopper – Strategy in Grocery Shopping Part 2

At the supermarket:

Here are some typical tips for shopping at the supermarket that we should consider.

When is the best day of the week and time to shop?

It would be better to shop during weekdays especially on a Monday during lunch time. It is around this time that groceries are not crowded and meats and vegetables are fresh. It is advisable to eat lunch early so you make it by noon at the grocery. You’ll be finished in less than 2 hours.

How to start?

As we all know, the interior of grocery stores are arranged for customers’ shopping convenience. Goods are categorized and stacked in shelves that arranged in columns. Aisles are properly numbered and labeled. This design makes is easier to organize your shopping.

The meat section is usually on the right upon entering the grocery. The arrangement of goods should start at the cleaning materials followed by the toiletries, canned goods, condiments, fresh section, vegetables, dairy products and lastly, the meat section.

It is advisable to start loading on the dry goods first. Shop for meat, cold dairy products and vegetables last because you need them cold and fresh. Eggs should also be loaded on the last phase of your shopping to avoid breakage.

What to wear?

If time permits it, wear comfortable clothes and shoes. If you’ll be coming from work, you might want to change into a more comfortable pair of slippers. Remember that you will be pushing and maneuvering a cart the entire shopping time. This perhaps is most applicable to the ladies. A belt bag or a body bag is also appropriate when going to a supermarket to secure your cash and/or credit cards.

Types of supermarket:

In Manila, there are several types of Supermarkets:

• Super stores (wholesaler supermarkets) – products are sold cheap by the bulk. These are supermarkets that look like warehouses. Retail purchase normally is not allowed in super stores depending on the availability.
• Typical Grocery – complete but does not carry all brands
• Hyper Market – complete by brand and by product

We all know that a grocery store has the most complete items that you need but if you want to buy something less than 5 items, better go to a convenience store or mini marts. It really saves time and effort.

Other things to consider:

The grocery is not a place for children below 12 years old unless you want to train them. Most often, children will just distract you during shopping and will most probably ask you to buy things which are not on your shopping list and never ever shop when hungry. This is when over budgeting occurs.

Bongga ka kung walang sagabal!