With the cost of food on the rise and two kids with growing appetites, our weekly trip to the grocery store is getting increasingly expensive.

What’s more, my son –  who strangely loves to grocery shop – and my daughter – who hates the experience and complains that I never buy anything good – have both become a lot more vocal about what they want. Suffice to say, it’s not my most favourite activity.

However, armed with BMO SmartSteps for Parents parenting expert Alyson Schafer’s advice on capturing the right moment for teaching our children, I’ve started to turn our contentious weekly shop into a cart full of lessons.

Label literacy

My son can’t yet make sense of the price tag on products, but he’s become adept at spotting sales and recognizing local produce simply by looking for signage and reading packaging. He now knows that local fruits and vegetables, while not always cheaper, may very well find their way into our cart — corn on Styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic in early July will not. 

I know there’s no way he understands how much money we’re saving by the choices we make, but I do feel like he’s making conscious choices or suggestions based on a defined set of rules. He can choose the cereal of the week, provided it has nutritional value and acceptable levels of sugar — and it’s one of the ones on sale.

Doing the math

For my daughter, I’ve been focusing on value. As grocery stores struggle to capture consumer dollars, we’re seeing more buy-two- (or three or four) to-save deals advertised. Whether it’s her youth or her inexperience as a consumer, my daughter seems naturally drawn to these offers. Surely, more is better.

Or is it? As my daughter can do basic math in her head, I’ve started putting her to the test. Is it really a deal? Will we use two or will we end up throwing one out? How much more cereal is actually in the family size box? Would we have the same amount if we bought two smaller boxes? Don’t know? Do the math.

Granted, I don’t think this makes our shopping trip any less excruciating for my daughter, but it’s certainly made it more entertaining for me. And when Wednesday rolls along and they groan about dinner, I can say, “Don’t complain, it was your idea.”