Grocery Shopping
One of the best ways to practice healthy eating habits is to surround yourself with healthy choices. This means preparing before you go to the grocery store and shopping smart.
Before you leave the house:
- Eat something. Shopping hungry makes it more difficult to make smart choices.
- Make a grocery list.
- Collect any coupons you may have.
While you are at the grocery store:
- Stick to the list you made at home.
- Compare prices of name brands and store brands.
- Sign up for your grocer’s bonus/discount card for additional savings.
- Remember large containers (1 or ½ gallon) of milk cost less than smaller containers.
- Use the Food Labels
- Choose foods low in cholesterol, sodium, saturated and trans fats.
- Pick foods high in potassium, fiber, calcium, iron, vitamins A, C, and D.
- Check the calories (more than 400 per serving is high), then check the nutrients.
- Use the % Daily Value (% DV) column. 5% or less is low, 20% or more is high.
Consider lower–calorie alternatives of old favorites. Here are a few suggestions:
| If you usually buy... | Try these... |
| Whole milk | Fat–free (skim), 1% or 2% milk |
| Ice cream | Sorbet, sherbet, low–fat frozen yogurt |
| Sour cream, cream cheese or cheese | Low–fat or reduced–fat sour cream, cream cheese or cheese |
| Coffee Cream or non–dairy creamer | Low–fat milk or non–fat dry milk powder |
| Ramen noodles | Rice or noodles (spaghetti, macaroni, etc.) |
| Pasta with white sauce (Alfredo) | Pasta with red sauce (marinara) |
| White rice | Brown rice |
| Lunch meats: bologna, salami, liverwurst | Low–fat cold cuts, 95%–97% fat–free meats: turkey, ham, roast beef |
| Hot dogs | Lower–fat hot dogs, turkey dogs |
| Bacon or sausage | Canadian bacon, lean ham, vegetarian sausage, turkey sausage |
| Pork (spareribs or untrimmed loin) | Pork tenderloin or trimmed, lean smoked ham |
| Croissants or brioches | Hard French rolls, soft brown n’ serve rolls |
| Donuts, sweet rolls, muffins or pastries | English muffins, bagels, reduced–fat or fat–free muffins or scones |
| Cake: chocolate, yellow or pound | Cake: white, angel food or gingerbread |
| Cookies | Reduced–fat cookies: ginger snaps, fig bars, graham crackers |
| Nuts | Popcorn (air–popped or light microwave) |
| Frozen TV dinners (containing more than 13g of fat per serving) | Frozen TV dinners (containing less than 13g of fat per serving and low in sodium) |
