Save money grocery shopping in Dubai: What is the best time of the week to buy?

Dubai: When analysing the cost of poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables over the past three weeks, a few useful trends were observed, patterns that can assist a shopper in saving money in both the short run and even more so in the longer term.

Over the last three weeks, it was observed to be cost-effective to buy fresh chicken during the start of the week, whereas halfway through the week, seafood was seen to be largely cheaper, and the weekend was largely viewed as an ideal time when vegetables were cheaper than usual.

Chicken cheaper on Sunday, Monday

The price of fresh chicken has been dipping (about Dh2) at the start of the week, particularly Sunday and Monday - making it an ideal time to buy and stock up on the poultry meat.

Among fish, apart from the cost of Hammour, which consistently cost Dh66 per kilogram the last three weeks, the cost of variants like Seabass, Kingfish, Salmon, Sea Bream was largely observed to have dipped, particularly on Tuesday and Wednesday - making mid-week an ideal time to get some fish shopping done!

Seafood cheaper than usual mid-week

However, the cost of the same fish variants were seen spiking during Sunday and Monday, the start of the week, and also during end of the week, on Thursday. A similar pattern was seen in the price of small-sized shrimp as well, when analysing costs during the past three weeks.

Meanwhile, the price of fruits like bananas, apples, and citric fruits like oranges, lemon and lime, stayed in check during the past three weeks. But for those fruits that fluctuated, like bananas and lemon, prices was seen higher at the start of the week on Sunday and it got cheaper towards the end of the week.

Shop for fruits, vegetables on weekend

The cost of most vegetables like cucumber and tomatoes were seen rising at the start of the week, particularly Sunday and Monday, but got cheaper towards the end of the week.

The price of red onions and lettuce held steady but potatoes were found to be cheaper at the start of the week but pricier towards the end of the week.