Grocery shopping is one of the most routine exercises that any homemaker takes upon. It could be a monthly or a weekly ritual and probably one the most mundane and usual things wherein you think you do not have anything new to learn. But is it really the case? Though grocery shopping is the exercise all of you take upon regularly, more often than not you are actually caught on the wrong foot here. You may buy a farrago of items that you might think you need, but it could be sitting on your shelf for months, before you decide to throw away the entire bunch. You may get the pack sizes wrong too. Your grocery shopping should be kind of one wherein you have all the items in the kitchen in quantities that they are used in. You should not have excess of anything lying unutilized, nor should you run out of items that you use frequently.

What are the factors that you should keep in mind while grocery shopping?

  • Make a list: This is an absolute first. Do not go grocery shopping randomly and pick the things that you think you do not have, only to come back home and find a pack of the same item lying stashed somewhere. Do a proper stock-check before you go shopping for groceries.
  • Define the period that you are shopping for: Preferably make your exercise monthly. By this way you will not have to run again and again to the departmental store to pick up handful of items every now and then.
  • Define your budget: Make sure you have the items and the budget specified before you step out to shop. Defining your budget beforehand will prevent you from picking up items that you find in sale. Such purchases seldom make sense in shopping for groceries. Generally such items are near their expiry dates and come in big pack sizes. So even if you happen to buy some of these, you may end up cooking and eating the same stuff continuously for a number of days just to finish it off! But that does not mean that you should not take a look at the discounted products. Do go through them carefully and pick only the ones that you need to buy.
  • Do not buy big packs of the ingredients that you are not familiar with: This especially applies to exotic items. You may have heard or read about particular items. If you decide any of these, go small on such items. You may or may not take a liking to such food items and more often than not, these are expensive as well. Therefore, if you plan to rustle up something new, buy only small packs of such items.
  • Do keep a check on the bill and items packed: To err is human and it is possible that certain errors may crop up while billing or packing your items. Do make sure that you oversee your cart being billed up.