Getting food and other household items for your family doesn’t always have to be a hassle. By finding ways to simplify your grocery shopping, you’ll be able to buy everything that’s needed in a calmer, orderly fashion. These tips can help make shopping for your family at the grocery store a lot easier.
Buy in Bulk
Buying items in bulk can save you from having to go to the grocery store as frequently. With careful planning, you might be able to buy an entire month’s worth of groceries for your family. Large packages of bathroom tissue, household cleaners, and frozen foods can often be found at cheap prices. You can also stock up on nonperishable items, such as rice, pasta, and powdered milk. Fruits, vegetables, and bread are usually not good to buy in bulk, as these items can spoil quickly if not consumed within a few days.
Protect Your Health
With COVID-19 and other viruses and germs that are prevalent nowadays. It’s especially important to take additional precautions so that you don’t get sick from the grocery store and suffer illnesses that could make working and tending to your family needs more difficult. It’s best to limit your time in the grocery store as much as possible and use disinfectant wipes to wipe down shopping cart handles and some of the other items in the store that you may touch. Wearing a facemask and gloves is also advisable while shopping. Parents.com additionally recommends going grocery shopping alone to limit your family’s exposure to germs and viruses.
Consider Shopping Online
You can save yourself from having to go to the grocery store altogether when you buy your groceries online. Some stores even feature online specials that can save you money over buying certain items at their brick-and-mortar locations. Many big-name and smaller grocery stores allow customers to place orders online and fill their virtual shopping carts with all the food and other household items that their families need. Beginner Food recommends contacting food suppliers which normally deliver to restaurants, too. You can check if they’re taking residential orders for meat, poultry, produce, and other foods. Your groceries can then be delivered to your door, and you can often select the delivery day and time of your choice with ease.
Rent a Grocery Locker
Renting a grocery locker will allow you to pick up groceries that you’ve ordered online at a designated location instead of having to go to a store to shop for the items. This can be an especially great alternative if having groceries delivered to your home will cause difficulties because of your family member’s schedules. You can go to your locker to get your groceries whenever it’s the most convenient for you. Many of these grocery lockers include freezers and other climate zones to keep certain food items fresh.
Go Shopping at Off-Peak Times
If you need to go to the store, it’s best to go during off-peak times to avoid the larger crowds. Weekday evenings and weekend mornings are often good times to shop if you want to do so with fewer people. Some stores are also open 24 hours a day, which gives you the option to shop at night if you choose. Certain stores have even designated specific times when they only allow seniors and people with medical conditions that put them at greater risk for catching illnesses to shop. Also, you may be able to go shopping during these times if you’re in either of these categories.
Use Grocery List Apps
Writing down all the items that you need from the grocery store can create additional hassles. You may accidentally scribble something that you’ll have difficulty reading later. Or the paper on which you wrote your list could get lost, torn or damaged from the rain or other elements. Thankfully, there are grocery store apps that can be used on mobile phones that can save you the trouble of having to write everything that you need on a sheet of paper. Virtual checklists that list all the items that you need in an organized, easy-to-read format can be created with your app. Certain apps will also let you list items by category so that they’re easier to organize.
Following any of these tips can help minimize your stress the next time that you need to grocery shop for your family. Taking the strain out of grocery shopping can make your experience of buying the items that your family needs more enjoyable and productive.