healthy groceries

How I went to the grocery store without freaking out

posted in: Featured, Health | 0
During our stay-at-home mandate, I put off going to the grocery store as long as I could. I had tried ordering groceries online, but that was a total fail. After having my items sit in the Whole Foods shopping cart for days with NO delivery slots available for the week, I finally decided that I had to go.
I had some ideas on how to go about it, then read an excellent article that confirmed my plan and gave me other suggestions.

Strategy:

  • Pick one store – although I usually go to several stores, I picked one smallish, organic market.
  • Go less frequently – if possible, shop for two weeks instead of one.

Items I took with me:

  • Paper list
  • Pen to mark off items
  • iPhone with Apple pay in my back pocket
  • Travel-size hand sanitizer (the only sanitizer I own by the way)
  • Face Mask
  • Car key in a pocket – I left the purse at home

Guidelines while shopping:

  • Practice social distancing
  • Wear face mask
  • Disinfect shopping cart (my store does this to prep for the next customer)
  • Commit to buying before touching – Don’t touch anything you aren’t going to buy. This seems obvious, but I saw a woman do this more than once!
  • Don’t use your phone. Keep it in your pocket to avoid contamination.
  • Stay calm and collected.

Checking out:

  1. Put all items on the conveyor belt
  2. Use hand sanitizer
  3. Get iPhone out of pocket
  4. Pay with ApplePay (I didn’t have to sign or touch the store pad)
  5. Put iPhone back in my pocket

Leaving the store:

  1. Push the grocery cart to the car
  2. Load grocery bags in the trunk
  3. Put away grocery cart
  4. Use hand sanitizer
  5. Get in the car and go home

Reflections on the experience:

  • Plenty of food. In no way did I feel like this was a shortage situation. The only item out of stock was TP, which luckily I didn’t need to purchase.
  • People were respectful. Most people I encountered were polite and careful to adhere to six-feet of social distancing.
  • Confident in my immune system. My husband and I have been paying close attention to what we eat and are doing our best to take care of our immune systems. I realized that being sure of my health helped me feel less stressed when out and about.

Photo credit:
“Healthy Groceries,” greggavdon.com
If you are looking for more information, here’s the article I read to prep for my outing: