Shopping for Nutritious Food

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March is National Nutrition Month, a yearly campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The month presents the perfect opportunity for learning to make better food choices and for developing healthy eating habits. The theme this year is Personalize Your Plate.

I created a month long series around National Nutrition Month. Last week I posted Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods. It shares the benefits of eating highly nutritious food. Find the list of foods there.

This week is the bridge between knowing what to eat and preparing delicious, highly nutritious meals. I went shopping for nutritious food, using last week’s list as my guide. Next week, you get a peek at those daily meals and snacks. And finally, during week four, I’ll share tips for keeping the nutrition habit going.

Shopping for Nutritious Food

Using last week’s list of foods as a guide, I created seven days worth of meals. I plotted out breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks for each day. From the meal plan, which I’ll share next week, I wrote out a shopping list.

Although I initially intended to set a budget for groceries, I decided against that idea. I still shopped carefully, choosing my local Aldi store because of low prices yet high standards for produce and products.

I also appreciate that Aldi is dedicated to sustainable business practices while supplying quality foods at affordable prices. They have in place a doable plan for reducing their environmental impact including reducing packaging and moving to 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

Aldi is eliminating styrofoam from packaging by the end of this year. And they’ve never offered single use plastic shopping bags at checkout. Shoppers may purchase or bring from home reusable bags, purchase brown paper bags or use the assortment of cardboard boxes that the store makes available.

The Grocery List

Today I shopped from my list and only deviated from it when I found a cream colored ceramic tea cannister for sale in the store. I unsuccessfully looked and looked for one recently and felt such delight today in finding the last one available in the store.

So that my shopping receipt accurately reflected what I spent on nutritious food, I bought the tea cannister separately.

Based on last week’s nutritious foods list, and the meals I planned around that list, here’s exactly what I purchased today:

Veggies

• yellow onions – one bag of six
• kale, chopped – one bag
• leafy lettuce – one bunch
• grape tomatoes – one package
• baby portabella mushrooms – one package
• radishes – one package
• yellow, red and orange sweet peppers – one package
• green bell peppers – three
• sweet potatoes – one 3 lb bag
• potatoes – one 10 lb bag
• asparagus – one bunch
• Brussels sprouts (fresh) – one package
• celery – two bunches
• cauliflower – one head

Fruits

• bananas – one bunch of six bananas
• apples – one 3 lb bag
• Cara Cara oranges – one package of six oranges
• blueberries – one carton
• strawberries – one carton
• avocadoes – three
• frozen mixed fruit – one medium package
• frozen strawberries and bananas – one large package

Beans and Grains

• canned black beans – one
• brown rice and quinoa pasta – one package

Miscellaneous

• vegetable broth – one carton
• tomato paste – one small can
• diced tomatoes – one can

On Hand at Home

I already had these items at home:

• broccoli
• lemon
• dry navy beans
• dry red lentils and dry brown lentils
• brown rice
• gluten free oats
• walnuts
• almond milk
• sugar free peanut butter
• olive oil
• salsa
• non GMO tortilla chips
• assortment of spices, herbs, sea salt, black pepper
• assortment of teas

Amount Spent

The total for my shopping trip today…$63.20, including tax. This nutritious food will sustain and nourish two people for at least a week. The meal planning is for seven days however some of the items will last longer than that.

For seven breakfasts, lunches and dinners, for two people, that’s about $1.50 per meal. It’s actually less than that when I factor in two snacks per day, for two people as well.

Next Week – Nutritious Meals

I bought everything on my shopping list at Aldi this morning. Typically I shop at three different stores: Natural Grocers, Walmart Market and Aldi. Today other shopping excursions were not required.

Tomorrow is Day One of seven days of nutritious meals. Next Wednesday, which is Day Seven, I’ll share those daily meals in another blog post.

I’m excited to show the variety that is possible when eating highly nutritious food. Stay tuned!

Cooking Helps from Amazon:

 

 

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