Doing your grocery shopping at the market can help you save money.

A large number of Italians – more than 25 million, the majority being women – regularly visit the market once a week to buy mainly fruit and vegetables and fish.

You can enjoy savings as the market traders have lower running costs and you also have the chance to compare prices with the other neighbouring stalls. Normally, markets offer the widest choice of “seasonal” products with respect to early fruit and vegetables, and “typical local products from less than one kilometre away”. In addition, the market also involves more direct and personal relationships, rewarding loyal customers and honest traders.

In Italy, there’s always a market within walking distance, both in smaller towns and larger cities – in Rome, for example, there are more than 100 markets. Here is some advice for making the most of the savings available:

1) make a shopping list to avoid excessive spending;
2) take a look around at the start of the morning when the stalls aren’t too busy and the goods are more visible, so you can seek out the best deals;
3) make your purchases half an hour before the market closes, when the traders are more open to offering significant discounts on their unsold, perishable goods – even up to 50%.

Using a shopping trolley allows you to effortlessly carry around up to 20 or 30 kg of goods, making sure that you put more solid foods (e.g. watermelon or melon, but also potatoes, onions, courgettes or apples) at the bottom, followed by products with a medium consistency such as peppers, aubergines or bananas in the middle, leaving the most delicate items such as strawberries or cherries for last.

Fish, meat, cheese and eggs must be well sealed in their bags and preferably kept in the freezer compartment of the bag – where available – in order to keep them in one piece and fresh during the journey back home. On the other hand, the ideal place to store a bunch of flowers is in the outer net pocket included on many models. Discover Gimi’s range of trolleys that are ideal for shopping at the market.

A little bit of common sense is always useful: check the amount of the product that will be thrown away, as is the case for celery or artichokes; watch closely when the market trader puts the product in the bag to avoid the effect of “choosing the opposite”; check that the weight on the scales matches the amount you asked for and, lastly, have a look at your receipt – which must of course be provided by law – when you pay.