Healthy Grocery Shopping Made Easy!

Use the grocery shopping rule of 3's to not only buy healthy foods but stay on budget as well!

Is grocery shopping exhausting to you? Do you find yourself in a crunch for time and are unsure what to buy when you get there? You are not alone, many people find grocery shopping to be stressful and lead to decision fatigue. Not having a plan going to the grocery store can not only be stressful but lead to making poor decisions when shopping. A study done at the University of Minnesota has found that 55% of women have time constraints that prevent them from properly grocery shopping and eating healthy.

Follow these easy steps for grocery shopping!

1. Know what foods are carbs, fats, and proteins

This list below gives you a breakdown of what each food contains most of!

Knowing is half the battle! Start to get familiar with what each food consist of! In order to have a complete and healthy plate, we need all of these aspects.

As you might have noticed, there is some foods that are in multiple categories, this is because they contain both of those macronutrients. Salmon for example contains both fats and proteins.

It should also be noted that this is not a list of food you should only eat or "good" foods. It is just a list of ideas for each of the macronutrients.

While you are at the grocery store grab 2-3 of your favorite foods as well!! This can be dessert (yes, its okay and even healthy to eat dessert everyday!).

2. Now Choose 3 from each categories and purchase them from the grocery store!

Its that easy, for real! Choose 3 carbs, 3 fats, 3 proteins, 3 vegetables, and 3 fruits each week and combine them in different ways to make delicious and nutritious meals and snacks!

When designing your meals incorporate a carb, fat, protein, and vegetable!

Looking for combinations of food to buy to make meals? Here is an examples to get you thinkin:

Week 1 Grocery List:

Carbs:

1. Whole Wheat Pasta

2. Oatmeal

3. Quinoa

Fats:

1. Peanut Butter

2. Olive Oil

3. Whole Eggs

Proteins:

1. Salmon

2. Greek Yogurt

3. Pork Loin

Vegetables:

1. Broccoli

2. Carrots

3. Asparagus

Fruit:

1. Apples

2. Blueberries

3. Bananas

Favorite Foods:

1. Blueberry Muffins

2. Dark Chocolate

3. Extra Cheddar Goldfish

Week 1 Meals:

Breakfast:

• Greek Yogurt with Oatmeal and Peanut Butter and Apple Slices

Snack #1:

• Goldfish and a hard boiled egg

Lunch:

• Salmon with quinoa, and steamed broccoli and carrots

Dinner:

• Pork Loin with whole wheat pasta covered in olive oil with a side of roasted asparagus

Dessert:

• Blueberry Muffin!

Snack #2:

• Oatmeal with banana slices, peanut butter, and dark chocolate!

Also note that you may need to purchase spices and different flavorings for your meals!

3. Let your creativity flow and began creating meals and snacks!

You don't have to make it complicated if you are busy or don't enjoy cooking! Keep it simple, stick to the basics and see what you can create from there. If you find that you enjoy more variety or require more calories, purchase 4 from each category or maybe 5! If you are cooking or preparing for more than 1 person, definitely purchase more than 3 from each category

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and found this useful!