How to Shop for Groceries In-Store During COVID-19 Pandemic

Grocery shopping is one of our essential routines in life. Ever since the coronavirus outbreak happen, we have to change a few steps of our shopping routine to keep us safe!

Shelter in place orders limit our movement and our grocery shopping trips. However, with more and more cities, counties, and states reopening, people can't wait to go out and go back to their normal life after staying at home for too long.

The BAD NEWS is we are not even close to go back to our normal life! The GOOD NEWS is we can still go out and shop for daily essentials.

How do we shop safely?

We still recommend you to follow the tips from before reopening. We shouldn't let down our guard just because the government is reopening economy activities.

Step 1: Limit how often you do grocery shopping.

You should not shop for groceries daily. You should change your routine to weekly or bi-weekly. You should only buy essential items that you and your family need. Get used to having a shopping list as your new habit! With your shopping list, you can finish your grocery shopping faster and more efficiently; you could even save money by avoiding buying random items not on your list.

Remember: Every time you go to grocery shopping, you are potentially exposing yourself to COVID-19.

.

Step 2: Wear a face covering

We already know there is evidence that the COVID-19 virus can be spread by asymptomatic carriers. Therefore, wearing a face covering is a very important habit; this easy task protects people from you and others wearing a face covering will protect you from them!

I know, wearing a face covering is quite annoying and uncomfortable; however, it has been proven to cut down the risk of disease spread!

Step 3: Avoid touching your face

It is very simple! Avoid touching your face as much as possible. The COVID-19 virus can enter the body through mucous membranes in the face (e.g., eyes and nose) from your hands after touching a contaminated surface.

Step 4: Keep physical distance

Even while wearing a face covering, we still recommend keeping physical distance of at least 6 feet in all directions from people not in your household at the store.

Step 5: Designate one person to go grocery shopping

We love to shop in groups; however, right now is not the time to do that! To protect yourself and your family, it's best to send just one person to do grocery shopping. Avoid send high-risk people from your household to go grocery shopping! These people include people over 65 years old, people with diabetes, high blood pressure, and other chronic diseases.

Step 6: Shop quickly and efficiently

Again, do not forget your shopping list mentioned in Step 1. Take your list, follow that list, grab, and go! Do not wander around the store to shorten the amount of time you are at the store and around other people.

Step 7: Limit the surfaces you touch

We tend to touch a lot of surfaces when we go out. Avoid grabbing items from the shelf you will not buy, touching shelves, tables, fridges, and other surfaces.

Step 8: Wash your hands immediately after you get home

Finally! Time to go home. We recommend to have hand sanitizer with at least 70% alcohol in your car (it's even better if you can carry it around with you), so you can disinfect your hands before you drive home.

Do not forget to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds and make sure to cover all surfaces of your hands.

Step 9: Disinfect your items

Some people wonder if they should disinfect their items. The answer is YES! Set up a "Dirty" area to disinfect your items and a "Clean" area to set the cleaned items. Make sure you keep uncleaned items away from the Clean area at all times. To clean your items, simply wipe down packaging with a disinfecting wipe, 10% bleach solution, or 70% alcohol solution. Do not disinfect fresh produce!