Shopping List

Whether you’re trying to eat healthier or save some money, grocery shopping should start with a list. Wandering into the grocery store without a plan can be awfully dangerous, especially if you’re hungry. There are many strategies that you can take to approach this, but the key is to make a list and stick to it when you’re in the store. Avoid adding things to your cart that are not on your list unless it’s something that you truly need.

Meal planning is an easy way to guide your shopping list. Take the time to sit down and plan out what you plan to eat throughout the week. Plan your breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but don’t forget to also consider healthy snacks to have on hand. Try to pick recipes that might use similar ingredients, especially produce. So, if you are making something that calls for a half a head of cabbage or half a bunch of cilantro, plan another meal that week that will use the remainder. The same concept can be applied to items that you already have in your fridge that you want to use before they expire. Try to find inventive ways to utilize these so that they do not go to waste. The more you cook, the more creative you will find you can be with incorporating and bringing some of these ingredients together. Think of it like your own weekly Chopped challenge.

The lists themselves can take many forms. Many grocery stores have lists built into their smartphone apps for their reward programs. The reminders app of your phone can also be helpful. Create a separate list of reminders and add groceries to the list as you think about them. This is especially handy when it comes to spices; when you have nearly or completely run out of one just add it to the list. Then again, you can always go old-school and use simple pen and paper, though, in my own experience, when I arrive at the grocery store is typically when I discover that I am much better at remembering to bring my phone than the grocery list I wrote and left on the kitchen counter.

Thrifty is Nifty

I think it’s safe to say most everyone enjoys saving money. Most, if not all, grocery stores have some app where they advertise their weekly specials and can even offer personalized deals based on your own shopping preferences. If you’re trying to save some money, browse through items that are on sale and think of ways to build meals around these items. I usually start with more perishable items first, such as produce or meat. If one of these is on sale, I add it to my list and then evaluate items that I already have in the pantry to determine what else I need to purchase. I look at the canned goods and other non-perishables that are on sale, as these can be easily purchased while on sale and stored in the pantry for later use. Although, it is important to keep an inventory (either mental or a physical list) of your pantry items so that you are not buying something you already have in the pantry that has gone unused thus far.

Depending on how much space you have in your pantry and freezer, buying in bulk is also a good way to save some money. However, when it comes to items with a shorter shelf-life, especially produce, it might seem like you are saving a lot more money buying the 5-pound bag of broccoli, but will you really eat all of that before it spoils? Non-perishable items are easier to buy in bulk. For instance, I will normally buy my canned tomatoes and black beans in bulk, because they store easily in the pantry and I find them useful to have on hand. Meat is another item that can easily be bought in bulk and frozen for later use. It is best to divide the meat up into appropriate portion sizes for your recipes and wrapped in freezer paper to avoid freezer burn. Label the meat with the item, the weight, and the date it was put in the freezer to ensure it does not stay in the freezer too long. Most meat can be kept in the freezer for up to a year.

Produce and Perimeter

Having moved a handful of times, I am keenly aware of the frustration that comes with learning a new grocery store, becoming familiar with the lay of the land and acquainted with where familiar ingredients are located. This is primarily with the items that are found in the middle aisles of the store. However, what I can always count on is the perimeter of the stores. These invariably contain the staples: produce, meat/seafood, dairy/eggs, and baked goods. It’s a good idea to start with the produce. The key here is that the more produce you fill your cart with, the less room there is for extra junk food.

After checking off items on your list from the produce section, make your way around the perimeter to get any meat or seafood, dairy products, eggs, and bread from the bakery. After you’ve made your way around the perimeter, you can make your way through some of the aisles that have staples, such as canned tomatoes or beans, dried herbs and spices, and various other pantry items. You do not have to wind your way through every aisle, which may lead to purchases for junk food or extra items that are not on your shopping list. Those aisles that have calorie-dense snack foods devoid of any nutritional value are typically clustered together, as are the more processed frozen and pre-packaged meals. The earlier you fill up your cart with healthy food from your shopping list, the less likely you are to add unnecessary products.

Ultimately, it’s important to remind yourself that grocery stores are businesses. Their main goal is to get you to purchase items, regardless of its nutritional value. They spend a lot of money to market products to you. Tactics like the placement of items on shelves, displays at the end of aisles, and items found at the register are all strategically placed. This is why having a plan beforehand and sticking to it while you’re in the store is important. It might seem like those croutons are placed next to the leafy greens and salad mixes purely for the sake of convenience, but before you toss those in your cart, ask yourself whether you would have even thought to buy those for your salads had they not been placed there.

Make New Friends

Chances are you probably have one or two grocery stores that you tend to frequent. That means you will come to recognize the clerks and cashiers after some time. I would encourage you to get to know some of the staff, especially the butcher and fishmonger. They are a great source of knowledge when it comes to the different cuts of meat and information about where the meat or fish originated. If you have questions about the difference between grades of meat, they should have the answers. I have also found them helpful in finding a similar cut of meat for a recipe if they don’t have a particular cut I am looking for. Additionally, you can also speak with them about reserving a particular cut to be picked up at a later date. My mom frequently does this with our family’s Christmas prime rib roast.

The fishmonger should also be able to give you information about where the seafood was farmed and how sustainable it is. For instance, Whole Foods uses a rating system to let customers know the sustainability of each seafood product, so customers can avoid buying seafood that is fished in ways that are detrimental to the wildlife and marine habitats. These ratings can change with the season and even year-to-year, so what may have been sustainable last year, might not be this year and vice versa.

Fresh vs Frozen

If you take a look at advertisements, you’ll notice a trend. Advertisers love the word “fresh” and will use it whenever possible. Sometimes, even if it is not fresh, you may still see something marketed at “fresh-tasting.” So, it’s no surprise that a lot of people assume fresh fruits and vegetables are always going to be better than frozen fruits and vegetables. In reality, this is only partly true. Take a look at some of the stickers on your fresh fruits and vegetables and see where they were grown. If this information isn’t available on the product itself or its packaging, you can always ask one of the employees in the produce section. Foods that have had to travel farther are going to have a lower nutrition content, as they were likely picked before produce that comes from more local sources.

One way that we slow down the process of degradation is through refrigeration. By cooling products, we slow down the rate of breakdown that normally leads to a decrease in nutrition content. Freezing products slows down this process drastically. Produce that is found in the freezer section has been picked at its peak ripeness, when the nutritional content is the highest, and flash frozen very soon after being picked and cleaned. Frozen packages are then shipped out to various stores. This is why you should always consider if something is in season or not.

When strawberries are in season in your area, it would make sense to buy fresh strawberries, as the difference in nutritional value between the fresh and frozen strawberries is probably negligible. However, during the off-season, the fresh strawberries have been shipped from a greater distance, so the frozen strawberries are your better bet. This can be extended to some canned fruits and vegetables as well, such as tomatoes, as they are canned at their peak ripeness. However, an important thing to consider with canned goods is their salt and sugar content, as many of these are canned with salt or sugary syrups. This information can be found on the food label, which I will go into elsewhere. In short, if produce is in season, buy fresh, but if produce is out of season, buy frozen.

When it comes to protein, especially seafood, I tend to buy frozen products. The exception being if I am planning on cooking something that evening and don’t want to wait for it to defrost. The reason is that many of the “fresh” seafood on display was frozen soon after it was caught, transported to the grocery store and then thawed before being put in the display. So, your best bet is to buy something that is already frozen and defrost it yourself at home.

Organic vs Conventional

This is a controversial and complicated topic that I will delve into further elsewhere. What I wanted to mention with regards to shopping in the store pertains to the labeling of so-called organic products.

Organic labeling is governed by the National Organic Program (NOP) within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The diagram below provided by the USDA explains the regulations food producers are required to follow for labeling organic foods, based on the organic standards and ingredient makeup of the product. Some key things to point out is that for something to be labeled “organic” it only needs to have 95% of its ingredients certified organic. The only time you can be sure that it is completely organic is when the label specifically says “100% organic.” Even more misleading to consumers are the labels that say “made with organic [ingredient],” which might lead some people to assume that the other ingredients are organic as well. However, that label only requires at least 70% of ingredients to be certified organic. So, just because a product has “organic” proudly displayed across the packaging, does not necessarily mean that it is completely organic.

Labels on packaging are ultimately a marketing tool used to convince consumers to purchase that product. Use a critical eye, look beyond the flashy wording meant to catch your eye, and remember that behind every label is a marketing company paid to entice you into placing that item in your cart.