The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

Top 25 supermarket shopping tips that will save you money and nerves

'16.06.2022'

Source: Life hacker

Many people know about these secrets, but not everyone follows the simple rules and remembers them only when they come to the store.

Photo: Shutterstock

Before visiting the supermarket

1. Plan the menu for the week

If you know exactly what and when you cook, you will be able to determine what exactly you need to buy, and what is in the refrigerator, and so in abundance, suggests Life hacker. This will save you from rash purchases and at the same time from painful thoughts about what to cook for dinner during the week.

2. Check discounts

Look at the supermarket website and scroll through the virtual catalog, use special applications to search for discounts. If you find great deals on long shelf life products, you might want to add them to your shopping list to save some money.

3. Make a list

Even if you have a great memory, you should not rely on it in this matter. Write down on a piece of paper or put in the smartphone a list of products that you need to buy.

Look in the bathroom and the cabinet under the sink: you may have run out of laundry detergent or trash bags. So you can buy everything you need at one time.

4. Grab the player

Paradoxically, but true: slow background music increases sales in stores by 38%. Less meditative melodies, sounding from headphones, will help not to fall for this bait.

5. Eat

It is not difficult to seduce a hungry person with food, and he will fill the basket much more actively. Scientists even calculated how much: if you do not eat in advance, spend on average 64% more than with a full stomach.

6. Choose the right time

To run for bread after work, you will most likely have to rush hour. Large-scale purchases better plan for a more suitable time. Then you will avoid huge queues and narrowness in the aisles, and the shelves will not grieve gaping emptiness.

To calculate the right time, consider when going to the supermarket is the most inconvenient. By the way, some stores offer additional discounts for purchases on special shopping days and hours, look for information at the information stand.

7. Park closer to the exit

You enter the supermarket light, and any distance is within your power, and you leave already with huge packages or a heavy cart. Therefore, the return trip should be as short as possible.

On the trading floor

8. Limit time

Set a goal to make purchases in a certain, but reasonable time. Hard timing will not allow “something else to see” and spend too much. In addition, the category “something else” rarely includes something that is necessary.

9. Walk only on specific rows.

If you need pasta, cabbage and milk, go to the vegetable, dairy rows and to the shelf with pasta. Slow wandering around the supermarket makes you buy something that was not in the plans. And so that you are not afraid to forget to take something, you have a list.

10. See below and above.

The shelves at eye level are reserved for the most expensive products. So you should lower your eyes to find products with a more reasonable price. Please note that cheaper does not mean worse. Just compare the compositions.

By the way, not only closer to the floor, but also at a level above 170 cm, there can also be excellent inexpensive goods.

And even higher it is necessary to look for products that ended on the shelves: it is possible that the stock simply did not have time to shift the sauce out of the packages to the right place. True, to get it, it is better to call the employee of the supermarket.

11. Read labels

Pay attention to the expiration date, date of manufacture, storage conditions and do not forget about the composition. For example, cheese and cottage cheese should not contain vegetable fats. And low-fat yogurt can be higher in calories than regular yogurt, which is important if you're buying it for dietary purposes.

12. Check the conditions of the promotion

If you are interested in yellow price tags, treat the selection process thoughtfully. First, check the expiration date of the goods, perhaps, as the supermarket sells illiquid. Secondly, specify the conditions: it is possible that the promotional price is valid only when buying three products of the same name, but you do not need three houses for a cat.

13. Pay attention to the price.

This advice sounds like Captain Obvious, but many do not look at the cost of goods that they buy regularly. You are used to the fact that a carton of milk costs a small amount, and you just put it in the basket. But it may turn out that the goods have risen in price for a long time.

If you don't know the price of a product you frequently buy, you're depriving yourself of the opportunity to save money.

14. Examine your own supermarket brand

Many chains produce goods under their own brand. They are distinguished by nondescript packaging, low price and the absence of any advertising. Among such products, you can find both terrible and wonderful goods. You can find out the quality by carefully reading the labels and, alas, by trial and error.

15. Calculate the cost of a weight unit.

Some supermarkets write on the price tag not only the cost of packaging, but also the price of goods for 1 kg or 1 pound. If they don’t, do it yourself. It is this figure that most eloquently speaks of the real value of the goods and helps to choose the most profitable option from several.

16. Round correctly

$199 is $200, not $100. With 10 items with a “small” difference, almost a thousand dollars will run in - imagine how this will affect the budget.

17. Look deep into

You buy cottage cheese for the whole week, but on the shelf there is only a product that expires the day after tomorrow. Look at the packaging in the second, third row, and so on up to the wall.

Sellers put more fresh goods back, and this is logical: since buyers first will disassemble products, the shelf life of which is about to expire.

18. Take care of pre-packaged goods.

On the packaging of chopped sausage or cheese, you can often find only the date of packing, which is easy to change along with the plastic film. And not a word about the date of manufacture. So such purchases are at your own risk. Especially since most supermarkets already offer to cut products like cheese and sausage, just ask the seller for this.

19. Weigh the fruits and vegetables yourself

It's nice to have someone do the dirty work for you, but there may be spoiled vegetables in the bag. And fruits on a plastic substrate are usually more expensive than their relatives from the box. However, there are exceptions. For example, single bananas in polyethylene. Fruit torn from the bunch spoils faster, so the supermarket is interested in selling it first.

20. Buy seasonal vegetables and fruits

The gifts of nature from the surrounding gardens and fields are usually cheaper, as logistics costs are less.

21. Use packages

Flour, fish preserves, meat and other similar items should be put in a bag before you put it in the cart. At the checkout you will most likely be offered to pack these goods additionally anyway. But to have time to fill the entire contents of the basket treacherous pickle from some mussels may be earlier.

This is not a completely eco-friendly solution, but you do not mess all the products. If the soul hurts for nature, put in one package several similar products at once and use it several times.

22. Do not buy too much food.

Even with a list, you can buy extra things, such as taking a bag of carrots instead of two for soup. You use as much as you need, and the rest is in danger of spoiling.

According to statistics, the average family throws away 20-25% of food. So be moderate.

At the checkout

23. Keep yourself in hand

At the checkout there is a dangerous zone of spontaneous purchases. An agonizing wait in line can make you want to reward yourself, and right there on the shelf is a chocolate bar. Then you suddenly need wet wipes, hard candies to soothe your throat, and lemonade to wash down the sweetness of a chocolate bar.

This is what marketers are counting on. So show steadfastness yourself and take the child with something different from the contemplation of the shelves.

24. View the contents of the cart

Conduct product reviews. Perhaps you grabbed something from the shelf without thinking. It's time to lay out the excess and not spend more than you need.

25. Check the receipt

Some products can break through twice, some - to be not at the price you expected.

Dispute may arise because of the goods on the stock. When you indicate the wrong price, you will be kept at the cash desk for a long time, and then you will be led to a shelf on which a new price tag will already be on. And you just can not prove it. Therefore, it is better to first go to the trading floor and photograph the price tag, and then find out the relationship.

By the way

Did you know that the cashier's checks that people hold in their hands every day contain poisonous substances that cause severe illnesses? Ulcerated skin and hair that has fallen out are the symptoms that patients who have worked with cash registers for a long time turn to doctors. How do they deal with it in America? read our news.

To throw away less purchased and prepared food, use these helpful tips - we know how to calculate the number of products.

And here - six standard errorswhich most women do after buying vegetables and fruits in supermarkets.

Happy shopping!

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