Eastern students can learn about smart shopping skills from the Health Education Resource Center’s Grocery Store Tours.

The tours take place at the Charleston Wal-Mart and are led by a HERC staff member, who takes students around the store and teaches them about nutrition facts and how to spend on groceries.

The beginning of the tour starts out in the fruit and vegetable aisle. Fliers will be handed out that explain what fruits and vegetables are in season and what produce is cheapest in each season. During the tour, groups will explore many different aisles around the store such as dairy, meat, grains and bread.

The main focus of the tour is how to identify the most nutritious and cost-effective food items at Wal-Mart.

Stephanie Mumby, the nutrition promotion coordinator at the HERC, hosted the tour for her first time Tuesday.

Mumby said buying pre-made items is going to be more expensive than buying food to prepare at home, and instant meals are more expensive than food that takes time to prepare. During the tour, students will also learn about hidden ingredients in food and how to find them on the food item’s nutritional label.

Mumby’s goal is to debunk nutritional myths and to make grocery shopping easy for the students at Eastern.

“I want to show you that you can buy healthy food on a budget,” she said.

Students can sign up for a tour at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 9 and 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13. Those interested must register before attending.

More information is available at the Health Education Resource Center’s web page.

Group sessions are also available. To book a tour, contact the nutrition promotion coordinator directly at [email protected] or call (217) 581-7786 to set up a date and time.

Lee Mayhood can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].