Here’s A Nutritionist’s Grocery Shopping List August 21, 2016 Aug 21 2016 Do you feel like a deer caught in headlights when you enter a grocery store? Do you get overwhelmed by all the options and and feel nervous about buying something that might not be healthy after all? Yep, totally normal! It’s not easy to navigate aisles of colourful packaging vying for your attention, but trust me it becomes much easier over time once you get the hang of it. That being said, this week I wanted to make it super easy for you give you an insight into what my weekly (and monthly) grocery shopping list looks like. For some reason people think that it’s really complicated, or that I buy mysterious things like fermented, sprouted, organic magical greens that are far out of their reach. (Nope! I mostly buy regular old items like bananas and apples). I hope this list will help spark some ideas for you, serve as a rough guideline for a basic grocery list, or even reassure you that you’re on the right path. First and foremost, a few things to note: My husband and I are pretty simple. We rarely make complex or intricate recipes (there’s no “would you like some edible flowers on your acai berry ganache for dessert my love?”), and we’re pretty easily satisfied with the basics. Big city living, ain’t nobody got time for that. I try to buy organic as much as I can, but if I’m a supermarket and they’re out of organic lemons, I’m not going to run around town trying to find them somewhere else. I’ll just buy the regular lemons. The only items I never break the rules with are animal products e.g. organic chicken, grass-fed beef. As it is, you can’t control what you eat at a restaurant, so I’d like to make sure my animal products are free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides at all costs at home. I’m not perfect, no-one is. Sure, homemade almond milk is much better to make the boxed stuff, but if I’m in a pinch I’ll occasionally buy the boxed version to save time. Our weekly list looks something like this: Bananas Mix of berries e.g. blueberries, strawberries, raspberries Avocados Sweet potatoes Greens (rotate between spinach, field greens, kale, swiss chard, arugula) Mix of veggies I feel like throwing in my salad or need in a recipe e.g. radishes, red cabbage, cucumbers, bell peppers, cilantro, parsley, carrots, zucchini Organic eggs Sunflower Kitchen hummus (or we make it at home) Thai Kitchen organic full-fat coconut milk Almond Preference organic almond milk Essential Baking Company gluten-free bread Our monthly list looks something like this: Wild-caught salmon or mahi-mahi Organic chicken Grass-fed beef or lamb Frozen organic fruit for smoothies (wild blueberries, mango) Grass-fed butter Larabar or Hemp Heart Bar boxes Mary’s Gone Crackers Live Organic Raw kimchi Our quarterly (or basically when we run out of stock) list looks like this: Modena organic balsamic vinegar Terra Delyssa olive oil Nutiva coconut oil Nuts To You tahini Bragg’s apple cider vinegar San-J organic tamari sauce Almonds walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds Red lentils Grains e.g. rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour, arrowroot starch Eden Organic canned chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans Organic Traditions chia seeds Manitoba Harvest hemp seeds Gold Top flax seeds Dutchman’s Gold raw honey NOW or Canadian Heritage Organics maple syrup Organic Traditions coconut sugar Navitas Naturals raw cacao powder Simply Organic vanilla extract Ginger people organic minced ginger Derlea organic minced garlic Frontier Co-op or Simply Organic spices Impulse buys: Fresh fruit that is in season, especially from a farmer’s market Nuts To You nut butter Dark chocolate e.g. Chocosol, Giddy Yoyo, Camino Snacks from a health food store e.g. coconut chips, organic blue corn chips, gluten-free cookies Ta da! There it is. I hope you’re found this healthy grocery list helpful and if you have questions about any of the products please message in the comments section below. Happy shopping 🙂 LEARN MORE: Did you find this helpful? If you’d like to learn more about my grocery shopping habits, I’ve put together this comprehensive guide to healthy grocery shopping, teaching you exactly what’s healthy and what’s not, and putting an end to confusion once and for all! About Alina I'm a Holistic Nutritionist based in Toronto, Canada and my official title is Certified Nutritional Practitioner (CNP). I received my diploma in Applied Holistic Nutrition from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition. I'm a coach and an educator. Follow Alina on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
