What, and What Not, to Buy...
For a lot of people dinner is a new crisis every
night. What will I make? Do I even have anything
to cook in the house? Will the kids eat it? I
give up, let’s just order out...
Trips to the grocery store are a ritual ordeal of
corralling the kids, trying to remember what it
was I needed, finding the best deal, waiting in
line, and that damn candy display in front of
every register tempting child and mom alike with
sweet artificial goodness. Trying to winnow out
nutritious, healthful food from the vast array of
pretenders and charlatans is no easy trick, and
doing it on a budget is even harder.
Here’s the number one clue I’ve found: shop the
perimeter. The majority of fresh, unpackaged
goods are found around the aisles, not in them.
Produce, dairy, fresh baked goods, meat, and fish
are all to be found around the edges of the
store; this is where the least money buys the
most nutrition.
Even in a health food store or
Co-op, where you’ll find
way more healthful choices than a
conventional supermarket, there is always at
least an aisle or two you need never visit.
I call these the “guilt free” junk aisles
because the marketing behind these products
touts their superiority over that “other”
junk food. The chips may be organic, the
soda free of high fructose corn syrup, and
the chocolate fair trade, but none of these
things are necessary or beneficial. You and
your family can just as easily become
diabetic on organic cookies as on
conventional ones.
The best strategy for saving money, eating
healthfully, and reducing the impact of our diet
on the environment is to buy whole, unprocessed
foods and cook them ourselves. Figuring out which
of our many food choices best fits these criteria
can be tricky, so I’ve broken it down for you in
every category I could think of. Read on to learn
how to save your money, improve your health, and
better your community and world...
Green on a Shoestring:
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