It’s *GOOD* to Take My Kids to the Store

Many mothers would rather leave the kids home when they go grocery shopping. When they are, oh, I don’t know, between the age of crawling and about 6, I agree *grin*. It’s even more difficult when you have more than two. Not that I’d really know much about that, since I only have two.

My kids are older –almost 16 and almost 13 {wish I could just say they *are* 16 and 13…but soon, soon enough} so I find it is good to take them to the store.  On our last trip to the store, for major grocery shopping, dd asked me if I would teach her how to shop. You bet!

Although being at the store isn’t necessarily making a home, what you bring home certainly is. It is a skill that a lot of people do not have any longer with the fast food consumption in this country. This post will be about what I am going to do not what I’ve actually done.

I already include the kids in figuring out what we need to put on our grocery list to take shopping with us. Perhaps how to make an appropriate list is worth ‘teaching’ at some point also. Most of the time they are really good about being sensible. Very rarely does “candy” seriously make it to the list {and it doesn’t make it into the cart even if it did}. After the list is made –and checked more than twice {I always forget something!}, we head out.

I do try to get the best for my money but I don’t often do coupons. Perhaps before the time comes for me to actually ‘teach’ my oldest how to grocery shop, I will get familiar with it. I know many who get great deals with couponing.

I’d suggest to my dd that she go to a store that she knows will have the majority of the items she needs, if not all, so that she doesn’t waste fuel. Driving around town can often eat up the money saved using those coupons. Perhaps find coupons for that store to help save.

So here is what we will do:

• Grab our list. Seriously, we will be checking it a few times. Right up to the point of walking out the door.
• Grab a calculator. If I don’t have one {honestly I don’t usually take one} I will make sure I have a piece of paper and a pencil.
• Grab our bags. We have a nice collection of BYOB {Bring-Your-Own-Bags}. We don’t always remember them and sometimes I do *need* the plastic ones from the store for kitty litter. Which reminds me, I want to start switching to paper bags for that.

Once we are at the store we will go about it in this order:

• Boxed, dried, non-perishable foods first. This is bread, juice, crackers, canned foods, etc.
• Frozen foods. Veggies, frozen dinners {we don’t get those often}, etc.
• Fresh fruit.
• Fresh meat and veggies. I don’t put fruit in this category because generally they can stand to be ‘out’ longer than the meats and fresh veggies.

In each category as we shop we will do this:

• Compare brands and sizes. We’re not generally picky brand-only people but sometimes there is a definite difference between the ‘off brand’ and the ‘name brand’. Only sometimes will I choose name brand over generic. Usually price wins. And sometimes it is more cost effective to buy in ‘bulk’ but not if it’s not going to get used. We aren’t going to buy a brand-name smaller size item that costs more than a generic larger quantity item {unless it’s one of those items we just ‘cannot’ buy generic lol- thankfully I have weaned my hubby of this almost completely *wink*}
• Check unit prices. Most stores now have the handy price per ___ on the shelf tag but there are some that still do not. In those cases, the calculator comes in handy.
• Add the cost to the our tally sheet. Do not forget an item. Budgeting isn’t something we’ve really gone over in our house {yet} but all know that the amount we have for food is all we have.
• Get all that is needed first then go back for the ‘extras’ if there is enough funds left over. Sugar is a nice luxury but we don’t need it like we do toilet paper.

And finally- and I do think this is important- if possible, bag your own groceries. I can’t even recount how many times a shampoo will end up with my meats.  Also when you bag your own, you know that like foods/items are going to be together. No peanut butter with the string cheese {not too bad…}or bread under the apples. *shudder*

Since my kids have been going with me to do the shopping for many years now, I think all the above tips are something I take for granted that my kids know. As it gets closer to the times that they will move onto taking this into their own hands, I will definitely be more diligent about my ‘teaching’ in this area.

I’m linking this post up with Making a Home at Linda’s Lunacy, where we can share posts about homemaking ideas, recipes, crafts, decorating, cleaning tips, basically anything that has to do with caring for a home and family.