Avoiding Market Misadventures
Making the most of your time and money when grocery shopping
By Matt Murphy

A welcome sight: the checkout line signals the end of your successful shopping trip	Photo by Kylene Vessel

New grocery store shoppers frequently find themselves with a small budget and little experience in the ways of the grocery store. With a little common sense, a little education, and a bit of planning, a shopper can get in and out of their local grocery in minimal time with minimal damage to his or herpocket book.

Square one begins with assessing storage capabilities—it is crucial that common sense be used. If you have your own apartment you will be able to purchase more items than if you are a student living in a dorm and only own a mini-fridge with a “freezer” section barely large enough to hold a popsicle.

Before heading out to the store, assess your own abilities in the culinary arts. The ability to cook will allow for larger meals to be made, meaning leftovers, fewer meals to prepare, and more money in your wallet. Making your own food rather than relying on prepackaged meals, such as “Skillet Sensations” and frozen dinners, will save tons of money.

Carmella Bach, a graduate from the Culinary Institute of America, offers some advice when it comes to planning and cooking meals.

“Understand your food cravings—you might need to learn how to bake, which will be cheaper than buying ready made cookies and cake, for example,” Bach said.

She also said that cooking enough for two to three meals at a time is a great time saver. This way you can have several healthy meals ready in the fridge for you when you come home. Bach suggests an interesting method to keeping yourself on a tight budget. She suggests limiting yourself to as few visits as possible—for example, one $200 dollar visit every three weeks, depending on your appetite.

“ Every time you go you open yourself up to binge shopping,” Bach warns. “A $20 trip can [end up] costing $100.”

Joan Wierzba, a senior at Michigan Tech, recalls her first experiences shopping for groceries.

“It really sucked starting out because you have to buy all the things that you take for granted at home like ketchup, miracle whip, butter, salt and pepper. All that stuff you use all the time and don’t think about. I think when we first moved up here we dropped like $200 just on that kind of stuff. Talk about starting out in the hole!”

If we take Bach’s advice, however, an initial shopping trip like Wierzba’s may be in order.

“ A well stocked pantry will allow you to prepare any meal any time you want. Going out to eat is expensive! Consider the tax and tips on restaurant meals. With a well stocked pantry, you will be able to prepare most foods when you have the urge to eat them—such as I feel hungry for Asian, Mexican or Italian rather than going out. Regular scheduled trips to the store allow you to maintain your pantry ‘par level.’”

Finally, with shopping list in hand, enter the grocery store. Typically, at the entrance of the store there is a coupon display—check it out!

Max Maddaus, a manager at Kowalski’s Market in Minneapolis, Minnesota, offers some advice when selecting a store to frequent.

Compared with name brands, generic brands have similar products but with reduced prices	Photo by Kylene Vessel

“Don’t shop at a gourmet grocery store. They are not there to save you money, they are there to provide the best shopping experience possible. Shop at Costco or Sam’s Club. It is a well known fact that buying in bulk saves you the most money.”

Remember, while a five gallon tub of mayonnaise from Sam’s Club may be a great deal money wise, storage may become an issue if bulk-buying becomes a habit.

Maddaus offered some additional information on how to save.

“Look for specials,” Maddaus said. “These discount stores have price points that cannot be beat. Likeat Wal-Mart, when you walk down the aisles there are displays in the middle of the aisles. These are called leading price points. You will be hard pressed to find a better deal on these items anywhere in the country.”

Wierzba recommends that shoppers “always check the sale ad, and buy a few if it’s on sale. In Michigan we get returns on our soda cans and glass bottles, so usually we take them in when we go grocery shopping and use that money to help pay for the groceries.”

When it comes time to buy the actual items on the shopping list, there are traps shoppers should avoid. Ignore pre-sliced or otherwise pre-prepared food. These cost far more money. For example: pre-sliced carrot sticks cost $2.98 for fourteen ounces, as compared to a bag of baby carrots that costs $2.98 for thirty-two ounces. Essentially, any product the store offers you that has already been prepared for you is going to cost you extra.

Remember, if you’ve got that good, solid, all-purpose knife that Bach recommends, you should be able to slice and dice all of your own produce. The store shouldn’t have to do it for you.

Maddaus said the real money vacuums in the grocery stores are the convenience foods.

“If I had to pick one it would probably be the deli,” Maddaus said. “The
pasta salads, etc., are very cheap to make and maintain but are very often very
overpriced.”

One of the great debates in the grocery shopping world is the brand name versus store brand. While buying store brand products will save you money, where you shop will greatly affect the quality of your product.

“It all depends on where you are shopping,” Maddaus said. “At Kowalski’s, the store brand items are going to be the best you can find, because Kowalski’s is a top of the line grocery store chain. On the other hand, if you are shopping at say, Cub Foods, the store brands there are not as good as the name brand product.”

Bach contends that there is little difference between most brand labels and their store brand counterparts.

“Most processing companies such as Dole/Del Monte are often the same canners for several labels—so buying store brand canned goods will often be the same product as the name brands, but a cheaper option,” Bach said.

Finally, the checkout line.

If you are a first time shopper the clerk should offer you a frequent shopper card. Much like the coupons at the store entrance, the “Mega Card” or whatever savings card the store offers, will save you money. Plus, it’s free. Consider your shopping card the electronic coupon of the future.