Although this is a time when many are focussed on buying Christmas gifts, I’ve chosen to focus on grocery shopping! Whether we live at home or in care, each of us need soap and toothpaste, breakfast cereal, and other grocery items from our local supermarket. Of course, whenever we shop we always take care to get value for our money, don’t we?

I started an awareness of this mundane topic by looking at the small shelf-price-stickers – and had many unexpected surprises: shelf items with a ‘Sale’ price ticket are not always the best dollar value item! I’m not too fussy about who the product manufacturer is – although I favour local manufacturers and try to buy locally grown fruit and vegies. I suspect we all often buy supermarket goods by habit or ‘sale’ prices and fail to consider other manufacturers and whether bigger is always better value. After Christmas, you are likely to have more time to make your own food value studies, maybe it could be your New Year Resolution!

It’s easy: you need only to read the details on the shelf-price-ticket which, by law in Victoria, must also show the price per gram or unit. If you haven’t been checking lately, maybe it’s time for you to read those little shelf labels! We all have our favourite brands, and preferred sized packs, but I am suggesting you take time to read those small shelf label stickers that shows unit pricing information, and don’t be distracted by those big ‘Special’ price stickers….

Take toothpaste as an example. You may be shocked to discover that, even within the same brand, it can cost as much as $14.12 or as little as $2.73 per 100 grams! Yes, there are some different formulations and flavours, but don’t they essentially do the same job? Tube capacity varies, and the size of the packaging (cardboard box) can also be a bit larger than the tube requires (IMHO). Tricky, eh?

Next, breakfast cereals. This time you can widen your sample ‘price-per’ test to include the supermarket’s ‘Home brand’ look-alikes (they may even come from the same manufacturer!). The unit cost range will amaze you, and I doubt you can taste the difference! Try them!

Then there’s laundry liquids. Well, I’m sure you will have noticed the massive differences in pricing there, too. Admittedly I don’t have heavily soiled clothes to test their claims, but it’s my bet you’ll get the same clean outcome whichever brand you choose. There are massive price differences per unit between brands, so check them out, too.

You could then extend your cost analysis to all your other weekly staple purchases. Be prepared to be gob-smacked. Take time to note the unit prices on the different-sized packs and also the competing brands; it is astounding. Be brave, try sampling a different manufacturer’s products. If you are a dyed-in-the-wool brand follower, this will take some courage, but your purse will be heavier when you leave the shop (hmm…who has purses and wallets these days?).

So, two suggestions: the first is to check and compare the shelf ‘price per unit’ information – even on your low cost but frequent buys. The second is to be a little adventuresome and try a different brand when the unit cost will save you money. Just one more thing: make sure you use your supermarket ‘Loyalty’ card. Even with my tiny shopping, I get enough credits to ‘shop-for-free’ every now and then!

Finally, of course, I wish my readers a Happy and meaningful Christmas, and all the best for the New Year, now fast approaching…