Hello everyone:

With the new self-scanning that is available in most grocery stores, it is a great idea to organize how you bag your groceries. Here are some tips to help you out:

As you bag things, keep similar items together. For example, bag your frozen food items together so that you can head to the freezer once when you get home (and you won’t forget to put something away). Put food items that belong in the main part of the refrigerator in the same bag or bags, so that you can put them away quickly. Otherwise, an unexpected visitor or phone cal might distract you long enough for the food to start spoiling (like my great-aunt’s bread that hardened like a stone when she forgot it in a bedroom…..for several years…….or the milk that spoiled overnight in my car on a midsummer night).

Do not bag food items with cleaning supplies. You do not want to find a dollop of toilet bowl cleaner on your bread! Your food should not smell like the dryer sheets with which you soften your clothes.

Do not over-bag your items. One time when a oh-so-helpful grocery clerk bagged my items while I scanned, I found she had placed 12 cans of pineapple in a single bag. I could not lift it! If your bags are too heavily-weighted, the bags can burst on the way to the parking lot. This happened to me once- as I scooted after the rolling cans, my cart took off on the sloped parking lot. I grabbed my fallen purchases and high-tailed it towards the cart, catching it just before it crashed into someone’s car.

A nearby male customer who had been too far away to help, shouted, “Nice catch, lady!”  We both had a good laugh over my antics. Lesson learned: do not over-bag or you will regret it.

Best,

Sheri