Smart Grocery Shopping

Submitted by Serena Mason on August 2, 2010

Smart Grocery Shopping: Being health conscious is not all. It might be said that good nutrition begins by making smart choices when it comes to grocery shopping. Cooking the right meals can happen only when you have the right ingredients in your kitchen. Shopping for groceries can be a very tedious chore considering reading all the labels and figuring out what is the most nutritious and the best buy. With so many choices around it can really be a daunting task.

In addition, it often seems that the grocery bill itself is enough to cause high blood pressure. To top it all the markets are such that they tempt you to buy almost everything, and instead of eating less one ends up eating more. It might often seem that that buying nutritious food means spending more money.

However, the fact is that you need not sacrifice nutritional food for reasonable grocery bills if you go by a few smart tips.

First of all, plan your shopping. Make a list, plan your meals and only then set out for your shopping trip. This can take up some time but it is far much better than running back to the store for missing ingredients or buying things that you don’t need.

Do not go shopping with an empty stomach. When you are hungry, you end up making impulsive decisions. There is a possibility that you might end up making some unhealthy decisions.

When making your list, try to meet the food pyramid guidelines. Add whole grains, lean meat, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, fish and poultry to your cart. Do not be monotonous. Try to get some variety in your diet. Do not go for ready food or frozen food. Try to add more fresh fruits and vegetables in your meal. Remember one important rule – do not try to save money on essential nutrients which are available in fruits and vegetables. Money spent in fruits and vegetables for your family is well spent. To save money, cut down on unhealthy food such as biscuits, sweets, and junk food – these can have a limited quota. Instead of using cash or cards, use coupons. Look for sales and check if there are any grocery ads.

To save time, make your list department wise. Instead of spending most of the time in the center of the store where most of the junk food is located, spend more time on the periphery of the store where fresh foods such as vegetables, fruits, poultry, meat and fish are located. Opt for food which is least processed. Try not to buy food which has more than five ingredients, food with chemical preservatives and additives, or perhaps even food with names which cannot be pronounced. Stay off food with cartoon characters on it. They are usually junk food which you don’t want for your kids.