Grocery Shopping

Going to the grocery store doesn’t need to be stressful. By following some general guidelines, you can save yourself both time and money. 

Prepare

Plan a weeks worth of meals or main dishes. By planning ahead, you eliminate time spent each day deciding what to eat, looking up recipes, and checking the pantry for ingredients. Planning also saves on calories. When we’re hungry, we choose items that are convenient and less healthy, or we hit up a restaurant. Save time and reduce the day's dirty dishes by spending one day prepping foods for the upcoming week. For example, marinate meats early for extra flavor, chop all vegetables, or cook a large batch of rice to be used throughout the week. 

Make a list. By making a list and sticking to it, we reduce the likelihood of impulse purchases. The grocery store wants us to make impulse buys. Items are located in easy to reach places at eye level, encouraging us to toss them in the cart. All grocery store lay-outs have the most common items, such as milk and butter, in the back of the store. This forces us to walk through the entire store to grab what we need, in turn, increasing the likelihood of impulse buys.

Don’t go to the store hungry. When we’re hungry, our eyes are larger than our stomachs. Going to the grocery store hungry will result in an impulse buying catastrophe. Your budget and your waistband will be blown. 

Check out this website for low-cost recipes. 

http://www.whatscooking.fns.usda.gov/search/solr-results/im_field_term_program/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap-162-

Practice Food Safety

The “Temperature Danger Zone” or the temperature range at which bacteria in food multiplies the fastest is between 41° F and 135° F. Food should never be left in this range for longer than 2 hours in order to prevent food-borne illnesses.

This may seem like a lot of time, until you add up the numbers. Lets say you toss a package of chicken breast in the cart at 3:15. You leave the grocery store at 4:05. It takes you 15 minutes to drive home, you arrive at 4:20. It is another 10 minutes to carry in groceries and 5 minutes to put the groceries away. By the time you put the chicken in the refrigerator, it’s 4:35. That chicken has been in the danger zone for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The next time you take the chicken out of the refrigerator, you only have 40 minutes left to cook it before the number of bacteria has grown to an unsafe level.

To minimize the time food is left in the Danger Zone, always make the grocery store your last stop, and always grab frozen and refrigerated items last, and put them away first. 

Fruits and Vegetables

Look for produce that’s in season and buy it fresh. Out of season fruits and vegetables can be expensive. Frozen and canned options are a better deal for items out of season.

When choosing frozen products, make sure they don’t have added sauces or seasonings, which add sodium and fat. For canned fruit, only purchase the fruit that’s packaged in juices or light syrup. Reduce the amount of sugar further by rinsing the fruit before eating it. The same goes for canned vegetables. Always rinse them to reduce the amount of salt. 

The following website is great to learn which fruits and vegetables are in season

http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/whats-in-season-all-year

Fats

Fats can be a healthy part of the diet. Try and choose a liquid fat over a solid fat. Examples include olive, vegetable and canola oil. These fats do not contain the saturated fat that butter has, which leads to high cholesterol. Oils are also high in mono and polyunsaturated fats which help lower cholesterol. 

Avoid trans fats which increase the risk for heart disease. Trans fats can be hidden in items like ready to bake cookies and rolls. Look at the ingredients list. If the product contains hydrogenated oil or partially hydrogenated oil, it contains trans fats. A product containing .5g of trans fats or less can be labeled as 0g on the nutrition facts label, which is mis-leading. For example, if one cookie has .5g of trans fats, and someone eats 4 cookies; they have just consumed 2 g of trans fats and exceeded their Recommended Daily Allowance without knowing it. 

Protein

Look at all cuts of meat and choose one with the least amount of fat. Common cuts lower in fat are the loin or round. Fat from animal products is unhealthy due to high amounts of saturated fats. We want to consume as little animal fats as possible. White meat tends to have less saturated fats than dark meats. For example, chicken breast or wings will have less fat than the leg or the thigh.

Save money by choosing cheaper sources of protein. Eggs tend to be fairly inexpensive and come packaged in the perfect serving size for people who have had bariatric surgery. Vegetarian sources of protein are less costly and are more sustainable for our environment. These sources include nuts and nut butters, seeds, beans, lentils, and quinoa, and whole grains. Try to make at least one meal a week meatless. 

Check out the following link for reasons to go meatless one day a week and recipe suggestions. 

http://www.meatlessmonday.com/about-us/why-meatless/

Grains

Always choose whole grain products to reduce the risk of dumping syndrome. These products contain extra fiber, which makes us feel full and slows breakdown of carbohydrates into sugar. Whole grains also contain vitamins and minerals that white breads, pastas and rice don’t. To make sure the product you choose is whole grain, look at the ingredients list. If the first word is “Whole” then it is a whole grain. You should also double check the fiber content on the nutrition fats panel. Any grain product you choose should have 3-5 g of fiber per serving. 

Take the time to really understand what is in the foods you are purchasing. This can help you eat healthier, loose weight, and keep the weight off.