Quarantine Grocery Tips

During the quarantine, only one person per household is allowed to go outside to run errands for the entire family. The person tasked of running all the errands are at risk of contracting the virus that's why all safety precautions should be done. Before leaving the house, they should wear the proper attire. Face mask for the virus, cap or umbrella for the sun, if they can, long sleeved shirts and long pants should be worn instead of sando and shorts.

Most household has chosen the husband to run all the errands. One of this important tasks is grocery and market day. For a certain time, posts on facebook about husbands going home with either the wrong items or missing items in the grocery list. It is hilarious to see wives ranting about the items their husbands bought. I have a friend who posted her husband bought kangkong instead of malungay, baguio beans instead of sitaw.

While there are some that find humour in the situation, there are some that might have ignited a fight between husband and wife because of incorrect grocery items. And both reactions are perfectly natural. Before the quarantine, I noticed that grocery shopping and market day used to be a wife's task.

There are husbands that join their wives in doing the grocery shopping but they never really paid attention to the list, they're just there to do the heavy lifting. Which explains why suddenly having to do the grocery and market day by themselves is an entirely new task for them.

If you would come to think of it, having my husband do the groceries for us is both difficult for him and for me. Grocery and market day used to be my me time. Less than an hour of solace in the grocery aisles, with nothing but a shopping list, my push cart, and my thoughts was equivalent to less than an hour of solitude. When you're a stay at home mom, these moments are priceless.

On the other hand, dealing with my shopping list is a new kind of challenge for my husband. When I used to do the groceries, I have a system. I have a walk-flow in the grocery store and in the market. And I have memorized the placement of the items, I sometimes don't need the list, I could still go home with a complete set of items. Plus, I have the advantage of having a mental picture of how our pantry looks like when I left home, so even if I forgot to put an item on the list, I'll remember to buy whatever was missing for the kitchen.

Here are some tips that me and my husband came up with in order to make his shopping a lot more successful and less hassle.

1. Complete and organized list. This was his first request on the first two weeks of quarantine. I always multitask when I make the grocery list so I end up with an incomplete list. So to address his concern, I gave extra time for making the list. To help me with organizing, I literally walked around the house with a pen and paper, going to the bathroom first to see what needs to be replenished, then to the kitchen, laundry area, living room, then bedroom.
2. Write legibly. He went home one day complaining about my handwriting. Well, it's hard to write legibly when you're walking around while writing. It also doesn't help that my handwriting was kinda difficult to read in the first place. If we had a printer at home, I could have printed a list for him instead. So, just to be sure, I always rewrite the list so that he could understand my handwriting.
3. Make it a shared responsibility. I make the list the day before his grocery day. To make sure that we don't miss any item, I ask him to double check the list, and the house to see if I missed anything. Remember you are a team. You should both assist each other in everything you do. Grocery list is one of those things.

So far, I haven't been complaining about his shopping. He's a fast learner. I was even surprised when one time, I forgot to list something but he went home with that one thing that I missed on the list. Way to go, Richard!

Some more tips.

1. Choose mid week as your grocery day. Quarantine or no quarantine, I have always chosen mid week as my grocery shopping day. There's lesser people in the groceries and market. That's the only reason I choose midweek.
2. Shop online. If there are items you can buy online, please do so. Although we don't do this much because there's a minimum amount required on some stores - and it's beyond our budget.

Next month, I think we will go on GCQ. I am still scared to go outside. I can see the danger is very real. Either that, or maybe I became a little bit more antisocial over the past few months. LOL