Susau Sapeta resides in Nadawa with her extended family and regularly shops at the nearest shopping centre in Valelevu, Nasinu.
With multiple family members contributing to household needs, grocery shopping is a shared responsibility in her home.
Each week, Susau puts aside a budget of $100 for essential grocery items to support her family.
These basics include staples such as sugar, rice, flour, cooking oil, potatoes, milk, noodles, tea, toiletries, and other daily necessities.
“Budgeting carefully, I always made sure that the family’s essential needs are met while keeping expenses manageable,” she said.
When it comes to choosing where to shop, she prefers Shop N Save Supermarket in Valelevu.
She said the supermarket stands out due to its convenience and comprehensive product range.
“Shop N Save Supermarket has everything under one roof and it is also very convenient,” she shared.
This accessibility makes her shopping experience smoother and less time-consuming, especially given her busy household schedule.
Living in a large family setup, Susau said she also values smart shopping practices.
She believes in reading product labels carefully, understanding ingredients, and checking nutritional value before adding items to her cart.
She said this is an approach she emphasises to her family members to adopt as well.
Susau also makes weekly trips to the Valelevu Market to buy fresh vegetables and root crops, as her family does not have a plantation.
She spends around $50 each week specifically on leafy vegetables and root crops to support her family’s dietary needs.
She mainly buys a heap of cassava on every market trip, which she usually spends $20 on.
“I would carefully ration the cassava to ensure it lasts the entire week, as we are a large family and it is always good to ensure everything is budgeted and balanced out,” she said.
Susau said stretching what she buys helps maintain a balanced and sustainable household routine, especially when feeding a large family.
She said healthy living starts at home, and she makes it a priority to prepare nutritious meals for her family.
Her cooking often includes leafy vegetables, soups, and other wholesome dishes, which she says are not only healthy but also delicious and satisfying. She emphasises the importance of incorporating a variety of vegetables into the family’s meals to promote overall well-being.
Susau shared that she prefers shopping in Valelevu for both groceries and market produce because of its proximity to home and the overall convenience it offers.
For her and many others living in the area, Valelevu is an ideal location that meets all their shopping needs without requiring long travel or additional expenses.
She specifically chooses Shop N Save Supermarket as her go-to grocery store due to its wide variety of products and the fact that everything she needs is available under one roof.
“From basic food items, I find everything I need in one place, saving both time and effort,” she said.
“Shop N Save is convenient and has everything I need and I don’t have to go looking anywhere else.”
Her advise to shoppers is to always choose quality over quantity.
She said most of us tend to rush and pick out what we see rather than reading carefully what it contains.
Susau says a smart shopper is someone who takes time to go from isle to isle and carefully takes into consideration what they’re taking home for their family to consume.
