As much as you would like to stay inside and steadfastly self-isolate, think Incubus’s prophetic hit Agoraphobia, the grocery run is an essential journey.

With a few weeks’ experiences of grocery shopping under movement controls, we’ve put together the Fluxster’s guide to staying safe. Read on!

1. One-stop shop

We have favourites for everything. One place may have the best produce, another may have the freshest seafood. Then of course you may get specialty items such as toiletries elsewhere. Now, however, the safest thing to do is to get everything in one place.

Produce stores like these are great, but may not have other items such as household cleaning supplies

2. Go Off-peak

The best time to go grocery shopping tends to be first thing in the morning or at the latest possible time. This also avoids mealtimes, when people are picking up takeaways or delivery services are in full swing. The fewer people around you, the better.

Fewer people out and about means fewer people for you to potentially come into contact with

3. Maintain Social Distancing

This begins in the carpark. Parking close to the entrance may mean a shorter distance to walk, but it will also mean that you’re surrounded by other cars that are definitely less than a meter from yours. Choose a space slightly further away, and be careful about your path to avoid close contact with other shoppers. This goes for the inside too, always leave some space and stay out of an aisle if it’s too crowded.

Be patient while waiting for your turn to enter, in an aisle or to pay.

4.Easy Access

Everything you need should be within safe reach. Keep your shopping list on a piece of paper which you can discard later, and try to keep your payment method outside your wallet or bag so that you don’t have to go digging around. The fewer things you touch, the better.

You don’t need to be gloved up, just be mindful of what you handle and how you handle it.

5. Avoid Hoarding

Now that the initial days of supply panic have passed, it has become quite clear that there will not be a shortage of essential food and home items. Avoid stocking up unnecessarily to avoid wastage and to be considerate to those shopping after you. The less you take, the less time you spend outside as well.

There is enough to go around. At most, perhaps get some canned goods with long shelf lives to put away.

6. Go Contactless

It goes without saying that it is better to avoid touching anyone or anything if you can help it. Instead of taking a parking ticket, use a parking card or app instead. Same goes for paying for your haul, instead of cash, perhaps use a card with wave-payment enabled or an app on your phone.

Keypads on a credit card reader are handled by a variety of people. Stick to wave payment as a safer option.

7. Clean Up

This is arguably the most important stage in your journey. Get your clothes into the wash immediately and take a shower. Disinfect your mobile phone, car keys and anything else of yours that you may have handled while out. For your groceries, give containers a wipe down with sanitizing spray of at least 70% alcohol content. It may sound silly, but at a stretch you can even get a sponge and clean bottles and containers with dish soap. Raw food items should go straight into the freezer, these will get cooked later which should take care of any viruses present.

Practice good aftercare to minimise exposure to others at home

There you have it. Follow these and you should have a safe and efficient trip to the supermarket. If you have any tips of your own to share, let us know in the comments section below. Stay safe!