6 Simple tips for a healthier grocery shop

As I’ve mentioned before, most supermarkets are set up intentionally to make you buy as much unhealthy food as possible. These foods are made from low grade ingredients that provide retailers with the greatest profit. So here are my 6 simple tips to help make your grocery shop healthier.

1. Always take a shopping list and stick to it

A shopping list works best if you’ve already planned the meals you’re going to cook. You can then ensure you include on your list all the ingredients you need for these meals. This method will help you save time and money. It will also help to stop you buying ‘ready meals’ and foods that distract you from your healthy eating goals.

Keep your list somewhere handy in the kitchen so that you can add items to the list when you use something up.

(for more tips see 1 quick step to healthier eating)

Check out these great shopping and meal planner pads to help keep you organised.

2. Never shop on an empty stomach

If you’re starving then everything in the cake aisle will be screaming your name!

When you shop with a full stomach, research shows you are much less likely to make poor food choices and you’ll buy less food overall.

3. Don’t be afraid to skip aisles

If you’re trying to eliminate certain foods from your life such as cakes, sweets and chocolate, then avoid these aisles. Willpower is a limited resource so if you are not near these items you won’t need to rely on your willpower to resist them. The same principle works in the home too – don’t have food items in your house that you are trying to avoid. If they are not accessible it’s a lot easier to avoid them.

4. Start your shopping in the fruit and vegetable aisles

Seeing and smelling healthy fruit and vegetables will put you in the right mind-set to fill your trolley with good stuff. Then, when you carry on shopping you will be less tempted to pile in unhealthy foods. There will also be less room for unhealthy stuff!.

5. Buy fruit and vegetables that are in season

Firstly, seasonable fruits and vegetables are much cheaper so you can load up with more. Plus, they are usually fresher which means they are more nutritious and better quality.

6. Remember to check the nutrition labels on any packaged foods

The traffic light system on food packets in the UK is a helpful tool that displays calories, fats, sugars and salt levels, but not all food producers follow this system. This means that you have to carefully study the nutrition labels. It can be really time consuming and not always possible when you have children in tow. If you can’t check the labels whilst shopping, spend some time checking them when you are at home with more time. When I do this and realise a product isn’t as healthy as I thought, then I just make a mental note to not buy that item again.

See my rant about labels in ‘a rant about misleading food packaging’

I hope you find these tips helpful. Let me know if you have any other helpful tips you’d like to share.