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Overseas: Overseas Service Provider Toolkit
Topic: MONEY MANAGEMENT (IOM Bangkok)
Activity: Shopping for Food
Introduction
In the US, shoppers have huge choice in products to buy. Participants will have to learn how to get value for money and how to avoid being drawn in by attractive advertising.
Time
20-40 minutes
Materials
Procedure
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Hand out the ‘Shopping for Food’ questions and pictures. Allot a limited amount of time for this as it is unlikely participants will be able to answer the questions given.
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Have participants work together to answer the questions. As everything in the US is in English only, they will need to read the ads in those languages.
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After the time you have allotted for this, stop the activity and go over the answers.
Processing
Reflection
Generalization
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Are the questions relevant – are you going to need to be able to answer them?
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Do Americans face the same problems in shopping?
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What do you think the effect of advertising is on people’s shopping habits?
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Why do stores have sales?
Application
SHOPPING FOR FOOD
Every week, supermarkets advertise any sales they have through attractive, coloured flyers. These flyers can be found in newspapers or at the store itself. Test your shopping skills by looking at the following page and answering the questions below.
Questions
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Which is the cheapest cereal? Which is the most expensive?
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Why is it to your advantage to buy 2 boxes of cereal rather than one?
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Which is the best cereal for your family?
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What is cheaper, apples or oranges?
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How many kilograms are 3 pounds (lbs) of apples?
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What is the price of one kilogram of chicken breasts?
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Which would you buy – the ‘President’s Blend’ apple juice or the sweet apple cider? (They are both basically the same thing.) Why?
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Which would you buy – ‘Tang’ Orange Drink Crystals or ‘Minute Maid’ Orange Juice? Why?
SHOPPING FOR FOOD
(ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS)
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The cheapest cereal is Corn Flakes – you get 525 grams for $2.99; the most expensive is Crispix – you only get 350 grams for the same price. To watch out for: 1) the size of the box does not necessarily tell you how much product is inside. Often, the boxes are only half full to make it look like you are getting more than you are. The product is sold by weight, so you have to compare by weight. 2) Many canned products sold by weight, such as canned fish, contain water. You want to pay attention to the amount of water in the can as cheaper brands may contain mostly water. 3) Prices such as $2.99; $15.99, etc are common. This is a psychological ploy; it is easy to think that the cost of the product is $2, or $15. In fact, it is closer to $3 and $16. Add tax and it will be well above $3 and $16.
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Read the ad. The ad says that you get a 1.89 litre carton of orange juice, ‘Five Alive Citrus’, or ‘Tropical Beverage’ free when you buy 2 boxes.
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Read the list of ingredients on the box carefully. Ingredients must by law be listed. They are listed in order of the amount contained. Some cereals contain mostly sugar – hardly a healthy breakfast. (Special K is a whole grain cereal containing little sugar; Froot Loops contain no fruit but a lot of sugar.)
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Apples: $1.99/3 lbs = $.66 per lb. Oranges: $3.99/8 lbs = $.50 lb. It is worthwhile to buy a calculator for a few dollars; it will save you more than that during even a single shopping trip.
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One kilogram = 2.2 pounds (lbs). (1/2.2) X 3 lbs = 1.36 kg.
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$14.31. Don’t be fooled by the large print.
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Price: President’s Choice: (1/3.5) X $3.79 = $1.08 per litre. Apple cider: (1/3) X $2.99 = $.99 per litre. The cider is cheaper, possibly not because of the juice but because it is in a cheaper container.
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Learn how to read labels. The ‘Minute Maid’ is 100% orange juice, full of vitamins, healthy fibre, etc. The ‘Tang drink crystals’ have a picture of oranges on the package, but contain no juice at all. Tang contains mostly sugar and chemical flavouring. Words such as ‘orange flavoured drink’ generally mean that there is no orange in the product.
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