There are plenty of things to stop doing at the supermarket, but shopping is not one of them. Because even if it is one of the most boring household tasks that can exist (and I am weighing my words), it is still necessary to eat. Fortunately, there are little tips that can make this ordeal a little less boring than it is (it won’t be an outing to the carnival either, but listen, we do what we can). Here are the tips to apply in your favorite supermarket to spend a moderately pleasant, but effective time.
1. Plan your menus in advance
Yes, that’s the trick to not wasting 150 years on the shelves wandering in search of meal ideas: establishing your menus for the week in advance allows you to know exactly what you need to buy and therefore save time on site. And it will allow you to diversify your dishes, because we see you eating carbo pasta every week, don’t you think.
2. Really check your cupboards before making your list
To avoid wondering about the meaning of life and the presence of this product in your cupboards during your shopping, check before leaving what you already have at home. This will save you from ending up with three tubes of curry, but having forgotten the cotton swabs again. Because cotton swabs are important.
3. Make a real list
Making menus without making a list would be like eating a cake without having a stomach. You get the idea. List precisely the products you will need: already, it will save you from going back to shopping if you have forgotten something and it will especially allow you not to buy anything just because you have made an eye contact with a product within a radius. Yes, it is also a health tip.
4. Go shopping on a full stomach
All nutritionists will tell you (and I know a lot of them): you shouldn’t go shopping while having the slab because it makes you want to buy too much junk food. Of course you’re going to buy chocolate-filled cupcakes instead of spinach without sauce if you haven’t eaten for more than 12 hours. It’s scientific. So think strategy and have a bite to eat before doing your little shopping.
5. Follow the Rays
Unless you feel like walking miles to hit your 10,000 steps on Rewards, it’s a lot less of a hassle to avoid trips to the supermarket. To do this, simply follow the shelves and take what you need. Oh yeah, that’s well thought out anyway.
6. Use lots of shopping bags to separate products
So as not to waste all your organizational efforts since you started your shopping, take bags to store the products correctly: one for fresh, one for frozen, one for drinks… This will allow you to do everything well. tidy up efficiently once at home. Yes, I am also thinking of your future.
7. Compare prices
Big pliers tip but tip all the same: to save money, don’t forget to look at the price per kilo, because even if a product A is cheaper than a product B, it’s useless if the quantities don’t are not the same. So place all your trust in the price per kilo to make a selection worthy of the name.
8. Look down the shelves
This is where the cheapest products are usually found. And we don’t forget: if we bend down, we bend our knees, bunch of inconsequential people with back problems.
9. Bet a max on foods that keep for a long time
Shopping is such a daunting task that the world can only be better off by saving on trips to the supermarket. To avoid spending your life there and founding a new civilization there, take foods that are long-lasting or that can easily be put in the freezer. One evening of great laziness and an empty fridge, you will have enough to sustain yourself.
10. Take frozen food last
If you followed your SVT course in 4th grade, you have not forgotten the principle of the cold chain, which states that the more frozen food is exposed to heat, the more likely it is to develop bacteria. Taking the frozen food last means that you don’t have to wander around all the departments for an hour. And suddenly you also have to put them away first when you get home (hence the idea of separate shopping bags, what unstoppable logic).
11. Buy the products you eat all the time in large format
If you eat more rice than you brush your teeth, it will be much more economical for you to buy this commodity in large quantities. If you have clearance or wholesale stores not far from your home, go for it, your wallet will erect a statue of you.
12. Do not forget your little promotions
If the cashier gives you ten thousand papers with lots of discounts, it’s not fair to blow up the planet. It is also to relieve your bank account and it would therefore be a waste to forget these little promotions at the bottom of your bag. Believe me, you will say thank you when you can finally go to the Bahamas.
13. Shopping alone
Shopping with a crying kid or with a completely disorganized partner is the worst thing you can do. It will just make you want to leave the store as soon as possible, which will therefore force you to take the first things that come to hand (you can see the terrible consequences coming). So make sure you have peace of mind when shopping, even if it means being single until the end of your life.
14. Join a loyalty program
If you go to the same store (or the same chain) all the time, it is therefore in your best interest to have a loyalty card which will offer you a whole host of advantages, in particular monetary (which is nice) and will give you the feeling to finally belong to a community. For that, life is worth living.
15. Find the determination to repeat this unbearable task every week
Certainly the most difficult part of this exercise. Who really wants to spend 100 bucks to waste an hour in cold, too bright rays several times a week??