Do you shop for groceries? If so, you’re the gatekeeper who decides which foods come into your pantry. Decision-making at the supermarket impacts your family’s health and budget.
Here are a few tips for packing your grocery cart full of nutritious eats:
1) Never go to the supermarket hungry. Your rumbling tummy will impact your decisions and you may toss extras into your cart because they appeal to you at the moment. Guess what most of us reach for when we’re impulse buying? Junk food!
2) Stock mostly items from the perimeter of the store: fresh produce, dairy, eggs, and meats. Venture into the interior aisles for staples such as nuts, pasta, legumes, brown rice, cereal, and whole grain bread.
3) Check what coupons you have in your stash and skim the store flyers to see what’s on sale. But try to avoid convenience foods, even if you do have a coupon or they’re on sale. Processed foods are laced with salt, additives and colorings – yuck.
In today’s economy, using our food dollars wisely is critical. Bringing wholesome foods home feels good, plus it’s an investment in your family’s health. So … what’s on your grocery list this week?
Blessings to you,
Beth Bence Reinke, MS, RD
Beth, thanks for reminding me of these things. I have heard many of them, but I often tend to go for what’s easy or most convenient. Then I’m always pleasantly surprised to realize the nutritious whole foods really don’t take that much more time to make and they’re so much more flavorful. I love these health related posts. They really help keep me on track.
Linda, I wrote this post to remind myself as much as anything else – LOL. You’re right, it’s easy to slip into buying what is convenient, but it feels so much better to eat fresh, whole foods.
) Thanks for reading!