SOS Tips: Smart grocery shopping

With a bit of organization, some resourcefulness and some basic knowledge about cooking, you’ll see that it is actually possible to eat well and healthy without putting stress on your wallet!

1. Plan your grocery shopping at home, with the help of flyers

• First of all, you should check the contents of your fridge and in your pantry, to avoid wasting food.
• Keeping in mind what you already have at home and what is featured in the flyer specials, prepare a detailed list of what you need to buy for the week.

If you make the most of the specials listed in the flyers, you can save up to 30% on your bill. But for that, you would have to go to several grocery stores. If you limit yourself to 1 or 2 grocery stores, you can still save between 15 to 20% (on average) on your bill.

So, if your weekly grocery bill works out to around $300/week for a family of 4, you can easily save $50/week using the flyer specials, that is, if you plan well in advance.

2. Find out the actual prices of food

• Be vigilant: Just because a food item is listed as “on special” doesn’t necessarily make it a bargain!
• That’s why you should know the prices of the foods that take up a large portion of your grocery bill, like meat, fish, fruits or fresh vegetables.
• Some prices are easier to remember than others.

Here are some prices to remember:

* When the meat is offered at this price, it makes sense to buy in bulk and freeze it. Often, the low price is offered for a family pack, but even singles can benefit from it. Simply rewrap it in individual packages before freezing.

This is all great, but how are you supposed to remember all of these prices? By simply checking the Save Money section at SOSCuisine.com.

3. Go for non-processed foods and … cook

Meals that are cooked using fresh, non-processed products not only taste better, but are also healthier options for your body and your wallet.

Instead of spending $2 on 200g of potato chips, it makes more sense to spend it on 5kg (25 times more) of potatoes!

4. Adopt a sensible attitude at the grocery store

• Don’t do your grocery shopping on an empty stomach, as this could result in impulsive buys that are dictated by hunger pangs.
• The private label items are usually priced better than the bigger name brands.
• Check out the foods that are placed on the top and bottom shelves. This is where you’ll normally find better-priced products.

5. Teach your children to become informed shoppers

A recent study has shown that grocery shopping with the kids in tow adds more than $100 per month to the bill.

So, if these little impulsive shoppers come with you to the grocery store, you should give them a choice: to either select a little treat or snack for their lunches; or they can be given $3, which they can use to buy themselves something that’s not on the grocery list.

6. Check the price twice

• Check the expiration date on the label.
• Also make sure that the price that appears on the monitor at the checkout is in fact the right price (especially if the item is on special), because sometimes the checkout cash systems are not up to date.

7. Buy foods that are in season and stock up your freezer

In winter, just as in summer, it makes sense to buy food items that are available for sale in large quantities at low prices. At the end of summer, you can easily stock up for winter, without too much hassle.

You can roast peppers on the barbecue or in the oven, peel them and put them into small bags in the freezer. You can also make ice creams or sorbets with strawberries or other berries. Or how about freezing blueberries on a tray and then, putting them all together into a freezer bag? Making soups and apple sauces are also other ways of storing seasonal foods.

And all this at a fraction of the winter prices. You can see this using peppers as an example: they cost $11/kg in winter and $1/kg in summer.

Read our companion post SOS Tips: Stocking up for winter.

This text was prepared for the July 2, 2009 episode of Par-dessus le marché. Watch the corresponding video.