An aisle-by-aisle guide to grocery shopping

Grocery shopping is a Herculean task, but you don't realise that until you get to do it by yourself. It might be the time when you have to move away for college, or when your parents are too busy with work so they just heave the responsibility upon your shoulders. Of course, I'm no grocery shopping expert, but here are some of the things that I learned from my experiences.

MAKE A LIST

Not only will it save your time, but ensures you have got everything you were supposed to buy. Trust me when you are shopping without a list, you might feel like you have bought everything that you needed, but then you'd return home to discover you missed something. Always happens to me.

CHOOSE WHERE TO GO

Since the title mentions "aisle-by-aisle," I'm going to start from the very basic. I know most of us think of large departmental stores when we think of grocery shopping, but your local kacha bazaar counts too. If you are grocery shopping on a budget, then the kacha bazaar is a convenient choice to bargain for the freshest items, given that you're prepared to stream through the indescribable purgatory that it can be.

RECOGNISING THE FRESHEST FOOD

There is no use in buying fruits and vegetables that will change colour and turn squishy in just two days. To get your hands on the freshest stock, it is a good idea to go grocery shopping in the morning. Check fruits if they are mushy or seem weird; don't buy if they are because they might be too ripe or adulterated. If you want to figure out which fruit is juicier, heft them. The heavier they are, the more likely they are to be juicy. You might also want to buy seasonal fruits more since they tend to be tastier and cheaper. While buying fish, press your finger in its abdomen to check for firmness. If soft, it's likely the fish is not fresh.

CUT UP YOUR POULTRY

Kacha bazaars and supermarkets will cut up your purchased chicken and duck if you ask them to, so neither you nor your mom will have to listen to the endless nagging of your domestic help. However, from what I have seen, supermarkets usually separate the liver and some other organs from the chicken and sell them separately. Kacha bazaars don't usually do that.

KNOW YOUR SPICES

Even though the sales personnel and labels will help you, there is no harm in knowing. As for freshness, check the manufacturing dates if present.

AVOID IMPULSE BUYING

At departmental stores, impulse buying will most probably end up as a waste of money. Hence, leave the store as soon as you are done checking and paying for items on your list, or you'll end up buying an overpriced and calorie-crammed chocolate bar, cracker, or fizzy drink, only to regret later.

Zarin Rayhana likes to spend her time by pondering over alternative theories about the universe instead of studying for school. Send her your theories at fb.com/zarinrayhana.n