Food Shopping During a Pandemic

You may not be able to take your clients on a supermarket tour, but we have the next best thing. Use our 6 Grocery Shopping PowerPoint Tour Guides to hold virtual food shopping workshops. This kit contains PowerPoint shopping lessons for every audience:

• MyPlate Interactive Shopping Tour
• Shopping Smart for Diabetes
• Shopping Smart for the Heart
• Shopping Smart for Weight Loss
• Healthy Shopping on a Budget
• Shopping Light

With COVID-19, people will have questions about food shopping. Below are teaching tips for two topics people are most concerned with right now -- budget and safety. Healthy shopping on a budget during COVID-19: Many people who have never needed food assistance now find themselves in need. Be ready to help them find and use resources such as --

• SNAP information by state
• Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• Incentive programs like Double Up Food Bucks, where SNAP users can get a dollar for dollar match on fruit and vegetable purchases
• Supermarket digital coupons

Safe shopping during COVID-19:

• It's safer to shop online for curbside pickup or delivery, but some people don’t like the idea of a stranger picking out their fresh produce or meat. What to do?
  • Remind folks that most stores have trained employees to choose well. If you're not satisfied, plan a short shopping trip to purchase the fresh items on your list. For everything else, use pickup or delivery.
  • Shop farmer's markets, roadside stands, and smaller specialty stores for fresh produce, as long as safety protocols are followed. This way you can choose your fresh items without having to walk through large, crowded supermarkets.
  • If you’re a senior or have a high-risk condition, take advantage of early shopping hours specifically for you. Stores will be cleaner and less crowded.
• People worry about getting coronavirus from touching items in the store, but they really need to be concerned with high touch surfaces like shopping carts, door knobs, and credit card machines. Keep your hands off of your face while shopping, use hand sanitizer when you leave the store, then wash your hands when you get home and again after putting away groceries.
• Check out these resources from FDA: Shopping for food during the COVID-19 pandemic (article) and 12 Tips for Grocery Shopping During the Pandemic (video).