Meal Planning-The Grocery Store

Meal Planning-Going to the Grocery Store

Posted on 08. Aug, 2009 by Mary Lutz in Archives, Time Management

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photo credit: muhawi001

For some people, going to the grocery store can be a real pain. It can be loud, crowded, and sometimes it seems as though the manager rearranges all the items as soon as you got to know the previous layout. Here are some tips on navigating the grocery store, quickly and easily:

Try to go to the store on weekdays during the early morning or late afternoon. The store will be busiest during the standard lunch time hours of 12 p.m. – 2 p.m., after 5 p.m., and during the weekend.
The freshest items, such as fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, and dairy items, will be found in the perimeter of the store. The inside aisles will contain the packaged food. If you are trying to avoid junk food in your house, fill your cart with items from the outer aisles first. If you already have a full cart, there won’t be room for the cookies and chips when you get to that aisle.
To save money, buy the items from the bottom shelves. The store will place brand name items on the eye-level shelves and the lower priced generic items on the shelves closer to the floor. Believe it or not, brand name companies actually pay the stores to have the eye level shelves, as they know many consumers will simply grab the first box of cereal or bag of chips they see.
If you are going to try the bulk cooking method of meal planning, you will be buying a lot of food during your trip to the grocery store. Ask older children, your spouse, or a friend to go with you and steer the extra cart(s).
Many stores carry coupon organizers in the planner section of their home office supplies department. You can stick your shopping list, meal plan, and coupons in it and have everything handy when you’re at the store. Some types even have Velcro on the outside, so you can loop it around the shopping cart handle.
Grocery stores are known for luring people in with sales, special offers, and other marketing ploys. It doesn’t matter if you get a great deal on an item if your family won’t eat it.

While the grocery store will never be a vacation destination, it can be a lot more enjoyable if you know how to get in and get out quickly and easily.