Grocery Shopping Myth

Don't shop when you're hungry. Use a calculator. Make a list. It's common advice that still holds true, but I'm starting to realize that the worst piece of advice I consistently keep hearing is, "stick to the perimeter of the store." Apparently that's where all the best food is. Everything you need to stay on budget and live a healthy life is at the edges of the store, the experts say.

I walked into a Superstore, one different from the one I usually shop at, and a false perimeter was set up. Due to the way the cash registers are set up, shoppers are forced to head toward the non-grocery section of the store, and if they don't need anything there, they can turn and head toward the groceries forcing them to walk passed the longest, aisle of chips I've ever seen! Unless you want to go totally out of your way, the only way to get to the food was to go down this aisle.

If you made it through the chips without adding too many temptations into your cart, you round the corner and into the refrigerated section. First thing you encounter is the puddings, and Pillsbury cans. If you can get passed that, there's the usual cheese, yogurt, butter, milk, juice type stuff. But there's also displays set up in between the aisles and those displays are filled with cookies, crackers, and kids cereal.

Okay, so you make it through that trap and come up on the meat section. It's not all fresh meat. You are forced to pass by a frozen section of appetizers and breaded meats. Trying to get to the fresh produce meant passing by the deli meats, bacon and hot dogs.

Not even the fresh produce section is safe from goodies. All the bulk foods are there, and bins filled with candies and chocolates are on display in large quantities right beside the fruits and vegetables.

Leading out of the produce brings you to the bakery. Grabbing a loaf of bread isn't that simple. They keep it at the back in the corner, so you are forced to tread through pies, cakes, cookies, donuts and various other delicious, sugary baked goods.

You finally think you're on the home stretch, heading toward the checkout. As a last ditch effort you are bombarded by more salty and sweet snacks. There's a display with yogurt covered raisins, chocolate covered pretzels, mixed nuts, and flax corn chips.

Finally, you're waiting in line at the checkout, reading the headlines on the trashy magazines, exhausted from pushing your heavy cart filled with the best foods you can afford and there's the chocolate bars and gum and soda right there for the taking. You could even open it right there because you know you're about to pay for it.

That's the perimeter.  The grocery chains are on to us.