A few suggestions on being mindful in the supermarket

This weeks’ post is about being mindful as we shop in the supermarket. It’s come about as during the week I was chatting with a few girlfriends about food shopping – seeing as last Friday was my first day this year going to the local farmer’s market. Now, it’s only very small (5 stalls) but it’s nice to buy from people who produce their food with passion. The butcher there, who sells free range pork products, said he is deliberately keeping his prices at supermarket level as he would rather sell 11 pigs than 2 to make a living. I think that sort of attitude is great as it’s important to understand that lots of us don’t have as much disposable cash as we used to and even if we do – we don’t want to spend it.

Speaking of spending – one of the biggest drains on family/personal finances is the food bill and whilst it might be nice to buy all food from markets and artisan producers …the ol’ finances just will not allow it [at present]. Now, I enjoy as much as the next person cruising around the supermarket putting all the pretty labels in my trolley; lulled into a consumer cocoon by an army of retail psychologists. What I don’t like is the amount of money I seem to spend each week on the stuff when with a bit more thought [yes, this is where the mindful living kicks in] I could enjoy the food just as much, be nicer to the environment and save me some spondooleys. All by incorporating a bit more mindfulness into the before and during of my shopping trip.

Now as you may or may not be aware, supermarkets [especially the big chains] spend a lot of money to assist us in emptying our wallet as much as possible. That’s fine, it is a business after all providing us with a service and products we choose to use. However, by keeping our wits about us as we shop we can overcome some of the tactics which are employed to make us part with our cash.

A few suggestions to help us be more mindful as we shop:

It’s an oldy but a goody – shop with a list … and stick to it! [I’m good at the first bit but not so good at the later – something I am working on this year]

Make sure you check out the top and bottom shelves for better value items. Research shows that most of us mostly look in the eye to waist level areas of the shelving. So naturally all the big names are going to be there & therefore the big prices.

Always look at the price per kg cost, not the unit price. Surprisingly, sometimes it’s actually cheaper to buy two small sizes instead of the bigger size. Looking at the per kilo cost also helps you to see which brand is better value for money as sometimes it can be hard to tell between different sized/shaped bottles and packets.

Always check your docket before you leave the store!

Last but not least….If you see something on special always check the grams/mls on offer and all the product details against the specials label on the shelf. Sad to say but I’ve noticed this ALOT as I walk around …it’s the putting of products which aren’t actually on special above the tag saying the special. For example: sometimes when the 250g is on special they will put the 500g there or last week I saw in the frozen aisle some frozen fish fillets that were a completely different brand with the specials tag under them. Now, when we are gliding around in our little supermarket world sometimes we just see the special price, assume everything is alright and pop it straight in the trolley all smug that we have a bargain…. so please double check you are actually getting one.

So let us be aware when next we go to the supermarket … By being mindful of our choices and noticing what is going on us we will probably save ourself a bit of money.

If you’ve noticed anything else we should be paying attention to as we stroll through the supermarket please share it in a comment below

UPDATE ON LAST WEEK: How are we all getting on since last week with being more aware of our appliances and light usage? I know myself, it made me especially notice some areas I could improve on…like turning the kitchen light off when I went in the next room to watch telly or have dinner…and I found a radio that is left on standby all the time too! Small things but they do all add up.

Photo by Harris Walker via Creative Commons