When it comes to groceries, we all want to shop smarter and eat better. This has spurred many tips intending to help consumers navigate the sea of food marketing tricks. It’s a bit of an oversimplification to assume that shoppers are bumbling oafs prone to falling for slick sales tactics and that food retailers and manufacturers alike are heartless defenders of their corporate greed. Profit is an understandable priority for all businesses. It is unfairly antagonistic to paint them as evil entities who are out to sabotage the customer’s health or budget to boost their own bottom line. As someone who has studied nutrition and worked in the grocery business, I’d like to challenge some of the oft-repeated “hacks” here. The objective isn’t to vilify well-meaning tips that exist to help shoppers, but to offer an approach to food shopping that is based on a little bit of insider knowledge and a good dose of common sense. It gets a bit long, so I have broken it into a few entries.

1. Mind the store layout: We are told that the most frequently purchased items (e.g. milk, eggs, and bread) are intentionally placed in the very rear of the store to get customers to walk past, and therefore potentially purchase, high mark-up or impulse items. Customers can supposedly counter this “trickery” by only shopping the store’s perimeter, staying close to the fresh items like produce, meat, and bread while avoiding processed goods like carbonated beverages, high sodium canned soups, or fatty snacks in the centre aisles.

The reality is that perishables are often merchandised in the back of the store because that is where the electrical outlets are traditionally located to support dairy refrigerators, meat freezers, and bakery ovens. Shelving frequently purchased goods near the back room also allows for replenishment without interfering with customer traffic. Some supermarkets have caught onto this “stick to the perimeter” advice and begun putting their produce or bakery department front and centre. Besides pushing shoppers to change their planned path and therefore increasing their exposure to more merchandise, the colourful sight of fresh produce and the enticing smell of warm bread certainly help to draw customers into the store. So yes, sometimes stores do map their layout to steer shoppers to particular sections. 

However, it makes little sense to think of entire sections of a store “good” or “bad.” There are unhealthy options in meat department (looking at you, frozen breaded chicken nuggets) or produce section (hey you, high fat dressings in prepackaged salads) or dairy aisle (hello, sugar-loaded yogurts) just as there are healthy choices among dry goods – whole grains pastas instead of white starches, plain canned tomatoes instead of salt-laden prepackaged sauces, or canned fruit packed in juice instead of syrup, just to name a few. Instead of skipping parts of a store entirely, a more sensible way to shop is to be aware of our own impulse purchase triggers. If you are likely to hoard junk food when you shop hungry, have light snack like a piece of fruit (guess what, some stores even sell them right in front now!) before you start piling items in your cart. If you are easily tempted by sales, stick to a shopping list (I like the Flipp app, which shows deals in your area when you put an item on your list). If you are prone to just over-buying in general, choose a wheel-less shopping basket instead of a cart. In addition, many larger grocery chains (such as Loblaws, Superstore, and Sobeys) now have in-store dietitians or shelf labels that can help guide you to healthier choices. It is also important to keep in mind that, cliché as it sounds, moderation really is key – unless you have a very specific health concern, getting the occasional bag of chips or bottle of pop isn’t going to kill you.

We will discuss more in tomorrow’s Part 2.