Dr. Oz: Supermarket Tricks
Dr. Oz kicked off his show by talking about how supermarkets trick us into spending more. For answers, he talked to expert Phil Lempert, who has been predicting future food trends for more than 25 years. He analyzes food trends to help consumers maximize their purchasing power. His monthly product reviews empowers consumers to understand their food and make smarter choices. His website gets 9 million visitors a year, making it one of the leading food resources on the internet.
Phil said that the supermarkets want you to have a great shopping experience so you spend more time and money there.
Dr. Oz: Milk Tricks
Dr. Oz talked to supermarket guru Phil Lempert, who told us some tricks supermarkets use to get us to spend more time and money in their store.
Phil said consumers should look at milk expiration dates and feel for the coldest milk. But also, it turns out the corner drugstore or convenience store has milk for prices 30 to 60 percent less than the large supermarkets.
Dr. Oz: Using the Receipt As Grocery List
Dr. Oz and Phil Lempert asked a woman from the audience how often she goes shopping. She said she goes at least once a week. She has two kids and a “husband who has an appetite.” She spends about $100 to $125. Dr. Oz showed her a shelf with lots of groceries on it and asked her to choose the foods she felt she really knew the price of in her home. She chose milk, bananas, eggs, and bread.
Phil Lempert said our brains are limited to what we can remember. So before going to the store, take the receipt from the last trip and look around your kitchen to see what you already have. Cross off what you do have and then use this list to buy groceries this week. This way, you’ll have the prices. If the prices are higher this week for something, wait a week until the price comes down and try again.
Dr. Oz: Misters Over the Produce
When supermarkets use misters over the vegetables, the vegetables are absorbing water, which makes them rot faster. Phil and Dr. Oz demonstrated that this water also makes the vegetables heavier, which makes you pay more. They weighed some spinach before putting water on it and the same spinach after dipping it in water and it was almost 2 ounces more.
Phil recommended grabbing the spinach from the bottom at the store, because there will be less water on those bunches of spinach.
Dr. Oz: Lighting at the Supermarket
This was something that didn’t really translate well to viewers at home, so if this is a real thing, it didn’t look like it to me. Phil said at the grocery store, they sometimes light green veggies with a green light to make them look greener and fresh. But then when he lit the veggies with a white light, Dr. Oz gasped. To me, they looked the same. Phil advised bringing a piece of paper with you to hold under the light to see what its real color is.
Phil also demonstrated that two pieces of meat can both look red under a red light, when one is really more brown. This one did sort of translate, but I still don’t feel like this is a big deal. Dr. Oz, however, said this could be a real health concern. Phil said you should buy meat from the top, because meat on the bottom doesn’t get the air and temperature it needs because of all the pounds of meat on top of it.
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