How to save money on groceries — by Kate Stein

Long story short: "Shop faster."

Her informative piece appeared on the Op-Ed page of the April 15, 2009 New York Times, and follows.

•••••••••••••••••••

Shopper 46 is making a decision. Stopwatch in hand, I observe her from behind a cereal display. Shopper 46 has been contemplating bananas for four minutes and 43 seconds. Finally, she moves to place one with minimal brown spots in her cart, changes her mind and quickly deposits the unfit specimen back onto the pile of fruit. Shopper 46 exits the produce department with a bargain tub of banana pudding instead.

Interning as a consumer behavior researcher last summer for Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, I observed thousands of supermarket patrons in situ from Whole Foods to Safeway. In this economy, people are increasingly trying to save money by eating in. As Americans make the transition from restaurant tables to supermarket aisles, they are making mistakes that translate into unnecessary expenses at the checkout lane.

Grocery shopping might seem like a mundane, mechanical activity, but look around next time you’re in the store: Despite our best intentions, we buy food impulsively and irrationally.

We go to the supermarket resolved to watch our pennies and choose healthful foods. But we become disoriented when we’re confronted with thousands of products and brands. So we end up spending $3.49 on an accidental bag of Doritos, $1.99 on M&M’s. And besides the calories, these wasted dollars add up fast.

You might think that browsing slowly through the store would help you pick out the best products. But our research shows that’s not the case.

The shoppers I studied who took the longest, examining packages, stopping at whatever caught their eye, invariably spent more money. They tumbled stray, often unhealthy, items into their baskets, and later, when questioned, couldn’t cite a reason for the purchases.

It turns out that making up a precise list beforehand and getting the errand done as quickly as possible is the best way to save money. Cutting time cuts costs, as well.

Bananas? Check. Special on Kozy Shack banana pudding? If it wasn’t indelibly marked on your grocery list, control your instincts and move on quickly