NOW I’M NO EXPERT on grocery shopping. Most husbands need to take lessons, and I’m lucky to have an experienced instructor.
A simple trip to the store to pick up some milk, juice, bread, soda, lettuce and toilet paper requires a short course in organization, data acquisition and strategic planning. To accomplish effective and economic purchasing, the shopper must be informed about certain essentials:
The ads. All of the weekly ads for stores in the area must be carefully scrutinized. The trained eye can spot bargains in seconds.
The language. Sales promotions can be misleading, so it is important to know how to interpret them. Listen to the instructor:
“This store has orange juice for $1.99. The chain store’s price is $3.99 BOGO.”
“BOGO?”
“Buy one, get one free. There’s no saving, so patronize the local merchant.”
“Here’s another store that advertises two-for-one. Isn’t that the same?”
“No, because you really only have to buy one at the reduced price. See? Let’s move on.”
The list. Don’t leave home without it. A seasoned shopper will organize the list by store and by location of the items, so you don’t have to crisscross from produce to frozen foods and back again. The list will include details (quantity, price, brand name if necessary). It is important for a husband to remember that if one store doesn’t have a certain item, don’t substitute or buy it at another store. The instructor knows which store has the best lettuce and which one doesn’t carry her choice of bread.
The discounts. Many supermarket chains issue plastic cards that provide cost savings. These are presented at checkout and they should be easily accessible to avoid glares from customers behind you in line. Also, you must know which stores have senior discount days, and which store is Tuesday and which is Wednesday.
The coupons. As important as the list are the coupons which have been carefully clipped and organized by the instructor. Don’t come home without using them, especially if it’s a store that doubles the value of coupons.
The selections. On completion of basic training comes the field test. The hardest part of shopping is facing the wide variety of choices for various products. That’s where a detailed list saves time and worry. Take milk, for instance. Besides whole, there’s low-fat, reduced fat, 1 percent fat, 2 percent fat and skim. Orange juice can be made from concentrate or not and comes with no pulp, some pulp, lots of pulp and calcium. Sodas are regular or light, with or without caffeine. Your ice cream will melt while you’re deciding between butter lettuce, iceberg or romaine (that’s if you made the mistake of buying frozen items first). You never knew toilet tissue had so many plies, textures and patterns. One final decision: paper or plastic?
Here’s hoping husbands called into shopping service might benefit from all this advice. And we won’t even talk about self-service checkout.

Copyright 2004 050402