Adventures in Grocery Shopping
Ever go to the store to pick up 5 items and spend an hour because you had spent 10 minutes per item comparing the prices?
I have this compulsion to get the best price on the shelf for the item I’m buying. Of course stores recognise this and try to confuse you. One brand will list price per ounce and another will list price per serving. Even in brands where the price per serving is listed, both will have different serving sizes.
For example, the wife sent me to get some tomato puree. Great! There are about 8 different brands. On top of that theres canned tomato sauce and tomato paste on the same isle. So now I have to pick up all the different cans and read all the ingredients to figure out what the difference is. Some of the cheaper brands list corn syrup and either fructose/dextrose/maltose as ingredients. That just means they put 2 or 3 different types of sugar in to avoid having to list Sugar first as the major ingredient. Of course these need to be discarded. But then there’s still the problem of finding the cheapest per ounce from the remaining contestants. Of course at that point the difference in price is probably marginal but I still would like to see which product is truly cheaper than its competitors.
Does anyone else have these sort of “issues” or am I the only one who gets upset over buying tomato puree?
And what the hell is catsup?
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February 25th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
hahahah how is it that hard? Just look at the price per ounce. Say if you are purchasing water. Just look at how much they are chargin per house. I found out that this one bottle that APPEARS bigger in a fancy container is about 40 cents MORE than one in just a flimsy gallon milk jug
February 25th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
ah! thats where they get you. you think you’re comparing the same units but you’re not.
but you’re right you pay way more for fancy. And paying for water is a ripoff too!
February 27th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
How is paying for water. The way I think of it you really aren’t paying for the water you are paying for the filtration of the water (wink wink)
February 28th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Unbelievable I have this same problem! Takes me 2.5x as long to do the shopping as my wife. Too many things to compare and decisions to make. I just can’t do the shopping unless it’s a small list and I stick to the list… I don’t think it’s a real problem, but I even look at the vegetable cans to see if sugar is listed and stupid things like that. It’s not our world to be in. It doesn’t bother my wife so I consider it her world!
March 23rd, 2006 at 3:14 am
Adventurs,
I take a while to shop, too. Often because I’m comparison shopping and looking for the best deal.
In part we’re all just learning how to do it more efficiently – I think practice is the key hear. Remember how long it took you to change the oil in a lawn mower the firs time (or at least I remember how long it took for me)?
Actually, to be truely more efficient, I think you have to question where you are shopping. Specifically, geography and venue.
There’s a chain of stores out of Germany with very inexpensive private label products called Aldi – I went there while visiting a cousin once. It is amazing. Prices are about 15 – 40% less. I wrote down a number of prices and found that their average cost per unit competed directly with Costco!! However, you had more control of the volume you purchased!
See if there’s an Aldi near you. The brands will be almost entirely foreign, but you’ll really enjoy the savings.
Also, another tip, find where the Mexican immigrants by their groceries – especially green grocers. They really know their produce and the prices can be 50% lower.
Regards,
Making Our Way
http://moneyshaker.blogspot.com/
March 26th, 2006 at 1:19 am
Great post. I ALWAYS to do quick mental calculations that take into account 1) price and 2) VALUE. I will not buy tomato paste with sugar in it no matter HOW cheap it is! Blechhhh…