Grocery Shopping Guidelines

Nutrition Tip with Lindsay Mustard, CNP

I hear it time and time again, "healthy eating is too expensive, I don't have the time, I don't know what to buy.." We sound like broken records in between our mouthfuls of chips and burgers that we're eating. 

Eating healthy doesn't have to be hard, we choose to make it hard! ​

When I go to a clients house to teach them how to meal prep, they're blown away by what we can get done in a measly 60 minutes. Set aside some time for yourself every week and dedicate it to being your food prep time for the week. 

Start with whichever items need to either be roasted or baked, get those in the oven first and then move onto recipes that require the stovetop. I make granola, baked chicken and cookies for clients, while those are baking, I'll make chicken burgers and cook them in a frying pan on the stove. While the stovetop items are cooking on low, move on to any item and or recipe that needs to be soaked - chia seed pudding or overnight oats for example. The last prepping priority is anything that requires washing or chopping, such as your fruits and vegetables. 

Follow the grocery shopping guide below to know what to spend the bulk of your money on and what your food priorities should be. 

1. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables over frozen (except frozen fruit for smoothies!).

​2. Shop the perimeter of the grocery aisle. You'll notice that all of the commonly bought items such as milk, eggs and meat are all on the perimeter, that's because grocery stores want to expose you to as many products as possible as you shop.

3. Stay out of the danger zones. The only middle aisles you should be going down is the spice, condiment and healthy snack food aisles. The rest of the items offered are essentially filler foods with no nutritional value and a shelf life longer than your lifespan.  

4. Shop with a list and stick to it. Write down the exact quantities of food that you need for the week and don't get distracted by what's on sale or food items you get bonus points for buying. 

5. Buy a few days before ripe. I like to buy two sets of some fruits and vegetables, avocados and bananas are two finicky fruits that will either ripen fast or take weeks.  I recommend purchasing some bananas that are on the greener side while the second set should be ready to eat. Same goes for avocados, buy one that is entirely ripe and one that should take a few days (you'll know because it will be as hard as a rock). 

6. Buy in season! Vegetables especially will go on sale based on the season. Base your vegetable purchases around what items are commonly on sale during specific months (i.e.: squashes in the winter, greens in the summer), and you'll not only save money, but the food will taste far fresher