Are you in a rut with your weekly grocery shopping trips?

Can’t find the time to go shopping? Or hate the line ups and end up purchasing too many items you didn’t really need? 

Grocery shopping certainly sets you up to eat healthier and save money, but can be overwhelming!  Our Winnipeg dietitian Susan Watson, was on Global TV to give us some tips on breaking out of that rut. And how to become a savvy grocery store shopper!

Going to the grocery store can be overwhelming, especially for people who already lead a busy life.  

Too many options confuse you!

Bargains and sales to distract you!

Exhaustion sets in, and you end up leaving the store without purchasing what you actually come there for in the first place. We get it!

YOU HAVE TO START WITH A PLAN!

TIP #1: You need to make a grocery list and stick to it!

Make a list of what you need to purchase, and try your best to stick to it! Research shows that 50% of grocery store purchases are unintended! Yes, that is right. Marketing promotions, delicious samples, and impulse purchases all make us feel like we failed at shopping. However, the reality is that grocery stores are designed to suck you in. And keep you shopping so that you will spend more. It is just the facts of life.

PRO TIP!  Make a list of what you need, stick to it, and try not to get distracted!

Organize your list! Break down your grocery list into the different food and department categories instead of one long list. This will help prevent you from running from one department to grab cheese, and then off to the produce to pick up apples, and back to the dairy to grab your yogurt. 

PRO TIP! Save time at the store by organizing your list so that you can whip through each department in record time!

Tip #2: Variety is not always better.

In fact, variety can add to the confusion and stress of meal planning and going grocery shopping. Many people are concerned if they purchase the same ingredients every week that their meals will get boring. And that’s just not the case. When you’ve armed yourself with a plan of how to mix things up, you will have new meals every week. For example, you can switch up chicken every week with different marinades, seasonings and even salad dressings to create a wide variety of flavours for your meals. 

PRO TIP: I love to use all the different salt free spice blends or Signature blends by Club House to create new meal ideas from repeat ingredients! 

TIP #3: Myth buster: Shop the perimeter.

Seriously, who does this? I’m sure whenever you hear advice about grocery shopping you will hear “the healthiest thing you can do when shopping is shop around the perimeter of the store where all the fresh food is”.

Well what about healthy food items like brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain pasta, canned beans, dried lentils, olive oil, dried herbs, and canned salmon?

So yes, there is a bit of a gap in the “shop the perimeter” theory. 

There are plenty of healthy food items in the middle isles of the store, for example, frozen vegetables, which are cheaper than fresh produce, and just as nutritious. 

However, these foods are mixed in with the ultra processed food items too. Again, make a list, and stick to it! 

PRO TIP: Yes, there are more processed foods in the middle of the store then around the perimeter, but not all of the food items in the aisles are less healthy. And there are less healthy food items marketed along the perimeter too like processed meats and end caps with tempting promotions.

TIP #4: Lose the shopping cart and go online! If you haven’t tried online shopping yet, you are missing out.

When is the last time you felt amazing and energized after grocery shopping? Or how about when was the last time you felt like you really “nailed” your trip to the grocery store and purchased only what was on your grocery list without any impulse purchase or unhealthy food you really didn’t want to buy? 

Ya, you know where I am going with this. It’s hard. As mentioned, grocery stores are designed to make us purchase more than we want, and absolutely purchase food and items that we don’t need.

The Buyers Experience

The minute you enter a grocery store, you are entering what marketing specialists call “the buyers experience” They want your experience to have a certain outcome, and that is to purchase more than you intended to in the first place. 

Everything from store design and layout, to the shelf placement of food, and how about all of those end cap deals and checkout add ons.

I am serious when I talk about the “buyer experience” When I use to work in retail, they have this little saying we use to use when we were building a display, “Stack it out, stack it high and watch it fly”. These displays are really designed to make you want to purchase. 

Now that I have started shopping online, I don’t have to fall prey to these marketing tactics. Ordering my groceries online has changed the way I meal plan and made me more efficient. It has saved me at least 3 hours a week, improved the way I eat and cook, and has shaved off at least $50-$80 dollars a month on my grocery bill.

PRO TIP: Try online grocery shopping. It saves you time as it takes only a few minutes to place an order. There are no crowds, no line ups at the store or parking hassles to deal with. You can purchase only what you need, and not be tempted to buy additional items

HOW DO I BOOK AN APPOINTMENT WITH A REGISTERED DIETITIAN?

• To book an appointment with one of our Registered Dietitians or therapists you can:
• Phone: 204-515-7466
• Email: admin@alittlenutrition.com
• Book online: https://alittlenutrition.janeapp.com