Even though some aspects of grocery stores have changed over the last couple of months, the basics are the same. At its core, a grocery store is a place for you to find and purchase food you need to live. A grocery store is also a place where you can buy food you do not necessarily need but want. Deciphering between needs and wants can be difficult, especially when it comes to food.
To me, nutrition education in our school systems is severely lacking. Because of this, many people do not have basic food knowledge. We should be learning how the body uses food for energy, how the foods you choose effect your health, how to know when you have had enough food at each meal, how to weed out the bad nutrition advice, etc. as kids in school.
The grocery store is a great place to put your nutrition knowledge to the test. I've heard family, friends and patients complain about making impulse buys and feeling lost while grocery shopping. Below are some steps and tips that I hope will make your next food run a success.
Step 1: Make a Plan
Before stepping foot in your grocery store of choice, it's important to have a plan. Knowing exactly what you need means less chance of making those impulse buys in the checkout line or the snack aisle. There are a couple different parts to making a plan. First, think about the week ahead and make a menu. I'll use myself as an example. I eat the same thing for breakfast almost every morning (at least 6 days a week), so I always want to make sure I have enough of those ingredients for the week. For lunch, I choose one recipe I can meal prep on Sunday and take to work each day. I then add whatever ingredients I do not have for the lunch recipe to my grocery list. Dinners are more challenging for me because I, admittedly, do not make a set menu week-to-week. What I do instead is think of several dinners that I could make in the coming days and then add any missing ingredients to my list. I think it would be much easier if I actually wrote out a dinner menu, but, alas, nobody is perfect. For the rest of my grocery list, I fill in the gaps with snacks, drinks, and staples like eggs, milk, peanut butter and bread.
I keep my weekly grocery list on my phone. Other options would include writing a list with pen and paper or taking pictures of your fridge and pantry before going to the store. Choose whichever method is easiest and works best for you, just be sure to have a plan before heading to the store.
One more aspect to add to planning: coupons and weekly specials. My store of choice is Safeway and they have an easy-to-use app that I use to upload coupons and specials to my free member card. I would imagine most big grocery stores have similar apps these days. One of my favorite parts of grocery shopping is having the friendly checkout clerk scan my Safeway card as I watch the money fall off my total. I always save at least $10 by uploading coupons and deals prior to my grocery trip, but I have also had a handful of trips where I saved $20 or more! Does it get much better than that?
Step 2: Stick to the Perimeter (as much as possible)
You may have heard this one before. It really is a good tip, especially if you are trying to eat lots of whole, fresh foods. The fresh produce section is almost always to the immediate left or right upon entering the store, making it a great place to start. Every store is different in what comes next after produce, but other sections usually found along the perimeter are fresh meat and fish, dairy, eggs, and some unprocessed or minimally processed snacks, like hummus or roasted chickpeas.
Obviously, there are going to be foods you need from the aisles. There are tons of good finds in the aisles: frozen fruits and veggies, canned fruits and veggies, cooking oil and condiments, oats, nut butters and whole grain bread. As a creature of habit, I follow the same route in my grocery store. The new directional arrows that have been put up in each aisle actually have made it easier for me to go up and down each aisle making sure I don't miss anything on my list.
Step 3: Read the Nutrition Label
Knowing how to read a nutrition label can really help you out in the grocery store. You may already know how to do this, but I want to go through the process in case you do not. Use the below label from the FDA for reference.
Check the serving size: Serving size is different from a portion size. A portion is what you are served at a restaurant, which is usually much greater than one serving. A serving is a standard amount of food as it pertains to the information on the nutrition label. The serving size information can be found in the blue section on the label above. In this example, one serving of the food is 2/3 cup and there are eight 2/3 cup servings within the product. All of the numbers and information below the blue section are for one 2/3 cup serving.
Calories: If you are counting calories for weight loss goals or special diets for a chronic disease, then the pink section will be one to pay attention to. Here, one 2/3 cup serving contains 230 calories. If you were to have two servings, or 1 and 1/3 cup, then you would consume 460 calories. If you were to eat the entire package of food, then you would eat 1,840 calories.
Nutrients: The yellow section shows other important nutrients in one serving of the food product. These include total fat (plus saturated fat and trans-fat), protein, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, and some vitamins and minerals. The yellow portion shows you the number of grams or milligrams of each nutrient, while the purple strip to the right shows the percent daily value of that nutrient based on a 2,000-calorie diet. For example, this food contains 8 grams of total fat and 10% of the recommended grams of fat per day in a standard, 2,000 calorie diet.
Ingredients: This part is not shown on the nutrition label but will be listed nearby on the package. Ingredient lists on food packages are listed by quantity, meaning the first ingredient listed is present in the greatest quantity while the last ingredient on the list is present in the smallest quantity. My personal rule of thumb when deciding if I want to buy a product is that I want to know what every ingredient is, how to pronounce it, and that there aren't more than about five ingredients total - I don't really count spices, by the way. The less ingredients, the more whole and (probably) less processed the food is.
Step 4: Snacks
Choosing snacks can be challenging. The ingredient lists on many snacks are long and full of hard to pronounce words or weird ingredients, like carrageen and silicon dioxide. There are lots of whole or minimally processed snacks available: nuts, dried fruit, dried/roasted chickpeas or other beans, seeds, rice cakes, natural nut butter, popcorn, cottage cheese, (some) yogurt, edamame, cheese sticks, hummus, (some) whole grain crackers, and (some) veggie chips. If you are a go-getter, then there are also tons of recipes you can find online for making your own snacks.
Step 5: Other Money Saving/Buying Tips
Just a few other tips that would be good to know:
Buy seasonal produce whenever possible as these are priced the lowest. Here is a nice tool I found that allows you to put in your location and the month to find out which fruits and vegetables are in season and should be on sale at your local grocery store.
Buy meat and fish in bulk when they are on sale. Freeze whatever you do not use before the use by date. Another idea for meat and fish is to see what is on sale prior to making your weekly menu then plan your meals around the sales. For example, if ground turkey is on sale maybe chili or tacos could be added to the menu. One of the great things about chili is that you can make a big batch of it then freeze and save whatever you do not eat for later. Then, if you have a crazy day and no energy to cook at night you can re-heat the chili and, boom, dinner is served, and you didn't have to stop at McDonald's on the way home.
Similar to the above tip, stock up on other items like beans and rice when these are on sale. You can usually find a large bag of rice of dry beans for a good price. These are great staples to have around and are needed in many different recipes.
I actually love grocery shopping and look forward to it most weeks, but I understand why it can be overwhelming for some. What you have just read is what I have learned from personal experience over the years. Some grocery stores have Registered Dietitians on staff or contract that can provide one-on-one tours of the store. Also, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has some other useful tips for you, if you are interested.
I hope your next trip to the grocery store will be a little more fun and a little less overwhelming!
-Brittany
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