When it comes to grocery shopping there are a few tips that I follow in ordre to make my visit as guilt-free as possible, organized and self-controlled. I have on occasiona found myself stepping into a grocery store telling myself “I’m only getting enough food for 3 bags, 4 the most” and then I wind up having a cart and a half full of stuff. I love food, and now that I make all of my food during my meal prep on the weekends I am always food shopping! It’s funny how times have changed from spending all my money on clothes and makeup to food and fitness gear. In order to make sure I don’t go broke while trying to stay in shape and healthy I prepared a list of some of my grocery shopping tips as well as my most up to date list of items that I pick up on the regular when I go food shopping for my meal prepping. I hope this will help you and you can even print this page out to take with you to the store to buy your clean eating supplies! If you have any questions just feel free to comment below and of course I will work to do another one of these as my shopping paterns or food choices change (which they tend to do when I get bored). Bon Appetite!

 

Some grocery shopping tips when eating clean:

–          Shop the outside perimeter of the grocery store first. This means you wind up focusing on all the foods that are perishable and therefore fresh. This will usually include your produce, fruits & vegetables, meats, dairy, eggs, yogurts, etc. The more you fill your cart up with raw and fresh foods the less room you will have for processed and packaged foods.

–          When I shop I think in terms of meals and not so much in terms of items. This helps me from picking up random things that I think “Oh I want to try that” but I have no idea what to make it with. It’s like going shopping for just shoes vs going to shop for a full outfit. I like to get an entire outfit instead of buying shoes and hoping one day having an awesome dress to wear it with.

–          I make sure that at least 75% of my cart is fresh foods or raw foods. Some items are not possible to be fresh but I opt for it whenever I can. (obviously oatmeal and pasta aren’t fresh, but definetly select raw produce over frozen)

–          Only buy what you intend to eat. Over time I have learned what I will actually eat in one week’s time vs. what I wind up throwing away or just cooking for the sake of not wasting it. In order to do this I buy only 1-3 of anything (for example I will buy one bunch of asparagus not four and one bunch of brocolli and not two). If I do this then each meal is a bit different and I don’t let anything spoil.

–          Bring your reusable bags with you. Not only is it the eco-friendly thing to do, but it makes lugging the stuff home or up the stairs much easier and will keep you on track to not overbuy. I usually take 3-4 of those with me and try to remain in that budget each trip.

–          When in doubt, leave it out. If you aren’t sure of how healthy something is, don’t buy it. Go home and do your research but don’t buy impulse things that you aren’t sure fit into your diet or your macros.

–          If you have to get anything in a can (some beans, etc) always go for the “no salt added” ones and organic if possible. The canned items are usually loaded with sodium so always keep an eye on that when checking labels.

–          Personally I always opt for organic if there is the choice, especially when it comes to produce and meats.

–          Read the labels, the more ingredients something has the less natural it is. If you get past 10 ingredients I usually wind up putting it back on the shelf.

–          Things I look for on labels: serving size, calories, types of fats, carbs (sugar and fiber) and protein.

Now that we’ve gotten those out of the way, which are just staple ideas to keep in mind when shopping for food in general, below is the list of the current items I pick up usually on every grocery store visit:

Meats:

–          99% Lean Ground Turkey (all natural)

–          99% Lean Ground Chicken Breast (all natural)

–          Organic or all natural chicken breast

–          Boar’s Head All Natural No Salt Added turkey breast lunch meat

–          Applegate Farms All Natural Salami (not for me, but my Yorkie love it so I get this for her as a treat)

o   NOTE: I never cook or make red meat for myself. I personally don’t eat it unless it’s once in a blue moon out to dinner, but even then I usually go with seafood.

 

Seafood:

–          Salmon Fillet (wild caught)

–          Tilapia Fillet (wild caught)

–          Salmon & Lobster Pinwheels (whole foods/stop and shop)

–          Organic chunk light tuna fish

–          Shrimp deveined and peeled

 

Dairy Section:

–          1% no salt added Frienship cottage cheese

–          FAGE fat free plain greek yogurt

–          Fairway Market plain fat free greek yogurt

–          Organic low fat mozzarella string cheese

–          Shredded organic mozzarella cheese low fat

–          Unsweetened Light Almond Milk

–          Go Veggie cheese slices

–          Organic soft tofu

–          Whole foods vegetaria low fat gorgonzola cheese

–          Brown Cage free eggs

–          Hard Boiled eggs premade

 

Carbs:

–          Ezekiel sprouted grain bread

–          Brown rice

–          Yams/sweet pototoes

–          Organic oatmeal (plain)

–          Lundberg Brown rice cakes

–          Sprouted grain pretzels (whole foods)

 

Vegetables/Fruits:

–          Asparagus spears

–          Cucumbers

–          Celery

–          Carrots

–          Spinach

–          Brocollini

–          Cauliflower

–          Avacados

–          Tomatoes

–          Lemons & limes

–          Mint leaves (for water)

–          Salsa (organic, mild)

–          Bananas

Condiments & Extras:

–          Apple cider vinegar

–          Organic mustard

–          Walden Farms: Amazing Mayo, Italian Dressing, Honey Mustard, Pancake Syrup

–          Chopped or minced organic garlic

–          Fat free organic parmesan cheese

–          All natural extra virgin olive oil & spray

–          Extra virgin coconut oil

–          Mrs. Dash Seasonings

–          Cinnamon Powder

–          Pure Stevia (raw, no additives)

–          Cayenne Pepper

–          Sliced raw almonds

–          Organic Green Tea bags

 

If you have any questions about my current diet or food shopping list feel free to comment below and I will reply or you can email me at admin@jerseygirltalk.com

Always remember, in order to stick to new food habits you must like what you eat. Find great ways to spice and season healthy foods so that you enjoy them. If you don’t like your food you will wind up going on a binge and then losing control. Changing your food habits and eating habits is a lifestyle change, not something you do for a few weeks. Trust me though, when I changed to eating more raw and organic foods I felt so much better!

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