Planning ahead when shopping for healthy food can help you avoid the temptation of adding unhealthy items to your cart and unconsciously sabotaging your own efforts to get healthier. Utilizing a strategy for your shopping may be a little more time-consuming than just haphazardly choosing whatever looks good from the grocery store shelves, but it is well worth the effort.
Step 1
Determine your budget, both in money and time. Decide in advance how much money you want to spend on food each week. Your time budget is as important as your money budget, since cooking foods from scratch takes more time, and you might end up choosing unhealthy options instead of something good for you if you find yourself too busy to cook.
Step 2
Plan meals for the week. Before setting out to go grocery shopping, plan out your meals for the week using one of the many available food pyramids, such as the USDA MyPyramid, the Mediterranean Diet pyramid or the Vegetarian Diet pyramid. Be specific in your plan as to what vegetables, fruits, whole grains, protein sources and fats you will use each day. It's fine to use the same foods on multiple days or to schedule leftovers of a healthy dinner as another meal later in the week.
Step 3
Take stock of your pantry and fridge. Determine what ingredients you already have on hand and what you'll need to buy. Make room for the items you'll be bringing home from the grocery store by ridding your cupboard of old foods you haven't eaten and likely never will.
Step 4
Choose your grocery store. Check out store fliers to see if stores have any of your listed items on sale. You can often find these supermarket circulars in the Sunday newspaper, at the front of the stores themselves or online. If a particular item is on special, you might want to revisit your menu plan for the week and change it to take advantage of that specific food. You might also try choosing a grocery store that carries a variety of the kinds of healthy foods you like. If you're using the Mediterranean Diet pyramid to plan your meals, for example, you may want a grocery store with a good seafood section. For a vegetarian diet, you may focus on a store with a lot of produce options.
Step 5
Make a shopping list. Write down everything you plan on buying, arranged by the sections in the store. This way, you can shop by section and avoid the temptation of aisles full of junk food.
Step 6
Go shopping. Now you are ready to implement your plan and stock up on healthy foods for the week.
Things You'll Need
- Notepad
- Pen
- Store fliers
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