Budget-Friendly, Nutrient-Dense Grocery Shopping
Does grocery shopping overwhelm you?
Grocery shopping right now can feel a bit overwhelming.
How do we make a healthy way of living budget-friendly?
For me, it’s all about fresh produce, organic or high quality meats/seafood, and healthy fats.
Some people think it’s too expensive — but there are ways of doing it!
We’re all doing groceries in a different way right now; some of us are ordering them and picking them up, or getting them delivered, while some of us are going in directly while staying as safe as we can.
But overall, whether it’s these complex times we’re in, or not, I encourage you to do what you can to keep it simple.
Here are my top 5 tips for budget-friendly, nutrient-dense grocery shopping.
Tip 1: Limit new recipes.
Everyone is different in how they do their groceries. You might make a detailed list, or not.
But oftentimes, when we’re going through a new phase in your life, turning a new leaf, we want to try a bunch of new recipes at once! And I would, across the board, discourage you from doing that.
Limit new recipes, even if you have a new cookbook that you love.
Try to do maybe one a week, maybe one or two a month, and instead, get in the habit of shopping the perimeter of your grocery store, because that’s usually where the healthy foods are.
Tip 2: Stay on the perimeter.
The produce, the protein, the more basic and hearty foods are in the perimeter. Often, the processed foods are in the middle.
Once you get the hang of it, you don’t really need a detailed list.
You can go in, shop the produce, see what’s in season, what’s on sale. Get several items, do the same with the meat and seafood, and go home to prepare some simple nutrient-dense meals.
When you shop around the perimeter of the grocery store, you’re getting what I call ‘real food’: fruits and vegetables, meat and seafood.
Tip 3: Get fiber and flavor from abundant, budget-friendly veggies.
There are vegetables that are bigger and bulkier. I call them abundant veggies.
Abundant veggies include:
broccoli
cabbage
cauliflower
zucchini
carrots
onion
sweet potato
leafy and hearty dark greens
other root vegetables
These are veggies that I end up literally running a knife through, and throw them in the oven, and voilà! I have 2 sheet pans, and I roast them, and then I have an abundance of roasted veggies.
That’s what I have in my fridge to use in the following days. I toss them in my omelets. I pair them on my plate with my grilled meats. I eat them as snacks.
And it’s so much fiber!
Some people think they can only get fiber from certain carbs. If you eat your vegetables, you’ll have all the fiber you need.
Try it, give it a shot. It may be different than what you’re used to, but your body will thank you. Your brain will thank you. You’ll be shocked by how good you feel!
I made this change in my life about 10 years ago when I was quite ill, I had to. I found out I had to get rid of most of the foods I was eating. My doctor sat me down and had this hard conversation with me, and he told me about this new way of eating, focused primarily on produce, meats/seafood, and healthy fats. And I cried in his office. But I made the change. It took me a while. And I’m so glad I did! And I’ve been coaching others on how to do it. And many people have made the change, and I’ve noticed a lot of success with folks.
Tip 4: Choose high-quality proteins, and diversify.
Next, when it comes to high-quality meats and seafood, here are my personal go-to’s.
These are items that are affordable (for the most part), that I can find wherever in the country I am, and if not, I have some recommendations online sources I can recommend (email me or check the resources page on the website).
Affordable organic protein:
I go to www.localharvest.org to find local sources for meat, wherever you are. This is the best choice. When possible, buy local meat. The smaller the farm, the better. You might think they don’t exist, and I’d say, generally, they’re everywhere in the country!
chicken: thighs, in-breast
turkey: ground, thighs, drums
lamb: ground, shoulder, stew
grass-fed beef: ground, steaks, roasts, slow-cooker cuts
bison
wild seafood (learn more at www.seafoodwatch.org)
pork: only clean, local, source known (my recommendation)
duck and other fowl
organ meats
Diversify your proteins! Not all of us are doing food testing where we’re seeing a health practitioner to see how our body is reacting to certain foods. We don’t always know where we might have a slight food intolerance. In order to do the best by our bodies, it’s important that we diversify our proteins, and all of our foods really.
We get in the habit, since we’re children, to eat the same things all the time!
If we eat meat, most of us eat too much chicken.
Instead, we can choose to have turkey one day a week, lamb one day a week, etc. If you have freezer space, keep a variety of meats in the freezer.
With seafood, try to just focus on wild seafood. When we’re shopping at the grocery store and have no idea if a fish is safe to eat, we can pull up our smartphone and go to seafoodwatch.org.
Tip 5: Use component cooking.
I teach component cooking. Which means we prep veggies, meats, and sauces; put them in the fridge, and then, throughout the week, these components are spun in different ways, and you get really yummy, tasty, yet nutrient-dense and healthy meals!
This is food that can be comforting, and you don’t have to be in the kitchen every night preparing meals. I’m talking about prepping twice a week or so, and being all set! :)
In summary: Simplify, and focus on real food.
With real food, we strengthen, re-build, cleanse, and harmonize our beings.
We allow our bodies to work as they were naturally built to work.
In doing this we can simplify shopping and cooking. It’s possible to totally throw out the window the way we’ve been doing things, when they don’t fully work for us! I encourage you to try a new perspective, look at your refrigerator and the pantry as just a few categories. Because all we really need is produce, meats, and seafood.
Prioritize healthy, simple, flavorful meal preparation.
My number 1 tip? Simplify, simplify, simplify!
PS: Inspired to transform your health through food? As your Nourishment Coach, I’m here to help you create a nourished lifestyle that works uniquely for you: from learning how to cook delicious nutrient-dense meals, to developing healthy habits and a supportive mindset.
I specialize in working with food-sensitive diets, due in part to my own health and dietary restrictions. Learn more about nourishment coaching here, and contact me to get started.