Smart shopping

Heather Little-White, PhD, Contributor

As you grapple with stretching your food dollar, you should make every effort to be a smart shopper in the supermarket. There are strategies you should use to enhance your shopping experience for smarter purchases.

Nutrition

You can be sure of more nutritious foods when doing your selection, if you take time to read labels carefully. Educate yourself on nutritional issues and read labels to get exactly what you want, and ignore marketing ploys.

Shopping list: the old advice of making a shopping list is still useful. The list keeps you focused and prevents you from buying things you do not really need. It also saves you time, instead of wandering idly down the aisles. It is efficient to keep a running list in the kitchen so you itemise items as they run out.

Supermarket specials

The weekly specials published in The Gleaner's Food section should guide your menu planning for the week. Remember to ask for a rain check if the store runs out of the items you need. Clip and save coupons and you may substitute the brand on special for your regular brand.

Buy fresh produce

Buy fresh fruits and vegetables to get your five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Buy produce that is in season as the prices are lower and the produce has more nutrients and flavour.

Foods on special can be substituted for what you want to make. For example, if you are making a casserole, chunky tuna may be better than solid-packed tuna.

Size matters

If you can use a family pack or products packed in bulk, this is a better buy over the economy pack. Remember, though, if you have to throw out food from this large packaging, you are throwing away money. Plan to freeze extras when you have them, or take some for lunch the next day. Share food purchases in a family pack with a friend or family member. You could give some to a charity.

Compare prices

Check unit prices of different products on supermarket shelves. The unit price, as in the measurement of the product, may be cheaper than another product when you compare to the package cost. Store brands or generic brands are cheaper than 'brand names' as they usually have less promotional costs.

Discount days

Take advantage of discount days for in-store promotions, especially those for seniors and other niche-market groups.

Canned foods

Stock up on canned foods and other non-perishables when they are on sale. They may come in handy for a 'Ben Johnson day', or when there is a hurricane. Be sure to use those foods you have purchased first under the 'first in, first out' rule.

Convenience foods

While these are handy as sliced, precooked or prewashed, they may be more expensive because of the preparation done.

Hunger and impulse buying

One of the rules of smart shopping is not to shop when you are hungry, as this leads you to buy items you do not really need. Some of these items may be more expensive and less nutritional.

Check-out: pay keen attention at the cashier. Though not intentional, prices advertised may not be credited to your bill and very often your purchases may be packed with someone else's groceries, creating great inconvenience when you get home.

heatherl@cwjamaica.com