Tag Archives: grocery shopping

The Ultimate Paleo Grocery List: Prepping Your Paleo Meals Made Easy

If you’re following the Paleo diet you already know that grocery shopping and meal planning are going to be key to your weight loss success.

The Paleo diet, also known as the Caveman Diet, only permits foods that were available and consumed 10,000 years ago, during the Paleolithic era. Because there was no agriculture at this time, the Paleo diet prohibits most foods people rely on – and in some cases, eat exclusively – in today’s society, like grains, sugar and dairy. Simply put: if a you couldn’t eat it as a caveman, you can’t eat it on Paleo.

Ok, to do the diet you’re going to need to know more than that. We’ve got you covered.

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Posted on January 8, 2024 by Health Buzz

Idaho has Cheapest Groceries, Virginia Most Expensive: Can You Feed Your Family a Meal for $15?

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Do you think you could feed your family a healthy meal with only $15? It all depends on where you live, and what you’re willing to buy.

To get the ingredients to make a simple meal at home, you would spend an average of $15. That’s compared to an average of $6.50 for a single meal from a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s. When looking at base cost, fast food certainly seems like the cheaper option, and that’s appealing to a family crunched for cash.

However, the ingredients you could get for $15 would make a meal for four people — we priced chicken breasts, potatoes, apples, and milk — and the meal would be better for you than a cheeseburger and fries from the nearest drive-through.

5 Family Menus for $15 or Less

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to fresh ingredients, nor can everyone afford them. In some states, the cost of a meal’s worth of groceries is far more than $15. In Virginia, for example, you would need nearly $30 for the same amount of food you could get for less than $10 in Idaho. How is it possible that a family can have more or less affordable food depending on where they live?

Food inequality is a growing problem in the United States, as shown in a recent study released by the Harvard School of Public Health. Though diet quality has improved among people of higher socioeconomic status, the same cannot be said for those on the other side of the spectrum. (more…)

Posted on November 4, 2023 by Elizabeth

3 Questions You Must Ask Your Fishmonger, according to Whole Foods

I went to a killer wine, cheese, and seafood tasting event at my local Whole Foods Market yesterday. It’s not often you get access to an intimate Q&A session with their top specialty pros.

Surprisingly, I am new to the world of seafood as I was clinging to my childhood repulsion of fish for a few too many years. Thankfully though, I have learned better and am paving the road to changing my ways. As a newbie, I feel a bit intimidated approaching the fish counter at any grocery store, especially higher end ones. But the fishmonger at the tasting debunked all of my worries as he walked our group through the best questions to ask.

Now, you can help them help you! Here are the top three questions to ask at the fish counter this summer. (more…)

Posted on July 8, 2023 by Katie McGrath

10 Food Trends Proving Health is a Major Factor in 2024

Food in 2024 is taking a turn for the healthy; and we think it’s about time. Though the shift started in 2024 when 58 percent of surveyed consumers said they thought a lot about the healthfulness of their foods and beverages, it’s predicted consumers will become even more focused on health throughout this year.

We try our best to predict the food trends for the upcoming year, and we successfully predicted health being a major factor in food for 2024. Now that we’re a quarter of the way into the year, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and Dr. Elizabeth Sloan—a food trend guru—have decided it’s time for some of those predictions to turn into actual trends. Here, a list of what to expect (and most likely, what you’re already experiencing):

Getting Real Food
The majority of consumers check the ingredient list for ingredients they recognize. They also specifically look for foods made with simple, real, and natural ingredients.

Specialties Aren’t So Special
Specialized diets are becoming mainstream, and consumers who once relied on nutritional supplements are now turning to fortified foods instead. According to IFT research, most adults are making a strong effort to take in more nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

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Posted on April 24, 2023 by Elizabeth

The Right Way to Read a Food Label: Don’t Overlook the Fine Print

Clients love to tell me about the new snack bar or cereal they found at the grocery store. They tell me how it’s all natural or full of whole grains. I hate bursting their bubble when I ask how much sugar it has.

In your quest to be a healthy and fit you need to be a vigilant food detective. You can’t trust the health claims on the front of the box. You have to read the back of the box, the ingredient list in particular, to really understand what is (or isn’t) in the oatmeal or protein bar you’re about to buy. Unfortunately, it’s not easy deciphering food labels. Without sounding too much like a conspiracy theorist, I think they do it on purpose.

The marketing team believes if they highlight the words “natural”, “light”, or “reduced” on the label we, the consumer, won’t look any further than that. We will simply trust that the product is good for us, load up our carts and go on our merry way.

The problem is a lot of people do just that. This is where they often get into trouble. You have to read the label to get the real story of what’s going on. Even on products you buy regularly you need to check in every so often to make sure they haven’t changed anything without telling you. Do a quick scan of the products going in your cart and look for these 5 things:

Serving Size
Don’t be so sure that a bottle of juice or a small bag of granola is just one serving. More often than not what appears to be a single serving package of chips or beverage has at least two servings. You could take in double or triple the calories without really even noticing. (more…)

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Pamela

“Hungry Girl” Shares Her Top Tips for Eating Smart on a Budget

You want to eat healthy, but you don’t want to have to dip into savings to fill your belly with good food. There is a better option, and shopping smart is easy once you know how. Lisa Lillien, author of the new book The Hungry Girl Diet and founder of Hungry-Girl.com, spills her top tips for saving money while scoring healthy groceries:

Bring a list! Stay on task and avoid those impulse buys for the sake of your wallet AND your healthy-eating habits. (Here’s HG’s most updated supermarket list, if you need some inspiration!)

Two words: Virtual couponing. Sure, you can clip from the circulars, but you can also surf the Internet for online coupons—they’re everywhere and they could save you lots of cash! Also, ALWAYS apply for those supermarket discount cards. (more…)

Posted on April 2, 2024 by GuestBlogger

15 Ways to Take Your Family Recipes from Health-Hazard to Just Plain Healthy

By Layne Lieberman, RD

We all know it’s better to cook at home than rely on restaurants to satisfy your stomach and take care of your health. Restaurant chefs and cooks are trained to use salt, sugar, and fat to add flavor to most dishes.

Unfortunately, a lot of recipes—particularly ones that have been passed down from generation to generation—rely on these same unhealthy tricks. The good news is that even your most gluttonous go-to comfort food recipes can be altered to be healthier. It simply takes a few substitutions and healthy cooking techniques to do the job.

Here are my 15 favorite recipe rules which I use to make any homemade dish healthier. (Need some initial inspiration? Browse my favorite recipes!) (more…)

Posted on March 20, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Save Yourself a Trip (or Five) by Planning Your Meals in Advance

We all know the feeling: the rushed, slightly panicked sensation when standing in the middle of the grocery aisle after work trying to find something healthy for dinner. Why not relieve some of that stress?

Our friends over at Shape Magazine have a great meal plan full of delicious-sounding recipes like Roman-Style Roast Chicken or Herbed Rice that can be made with simple fridge and pantry staples. The best part is, everything can be purchased ahead of time, so you just have to make one trip the grocery store a week. All it takes is a little planning ahead and you can avoid a “what am I having for dinner” moment or an emergency fast food run.

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Posted on March 19, 2024 by Elizabeth

The Daily Table Wants to Sell You Old and Ugly Food

Would you buy expired or ugly food? That’s the question being posed by the former president of Trader Joe’s, Doug Rauch.

The food in his new store wouldn’t actually be expired, but instead would be food that is past its “sell-by” date, making it unusable for sale in traditional grocery stores.

His store, The Daily Table, is set to open in Dorchester, Massachusetts in May and will be part grocery store and part cafe. It will specialize in making healthy, inexpensive food available to those who might not otherwise have access.

“When I run down to meetings in the city in Boston,” Rauch told Salon. “I’d say most families know that their kids need to eat better. Most families know that they’re not giving their kids the nutrition they need. But they just can’t afford it, they don’t have an option.”

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Posted on February 10, 2024 by Elizabeth

Amazon Fresh’s Grocery Delivery Needs Some Work

Amazon has come a long way over the years and has certainly changed the way consumers shop. And with their recent launch of Amazon Fresh, they are slowly attempting to tackle the online grocery shopping industry as well.

For the past five years the service has been available only in Seattle, where Amazon launched the pilot grocery project and tried to work out the kinks. To be fair, this is one of the longest-running tests in tech history. But based on recent reviews about its newest expansions to Los Angeles and San Francisco, it sounds like maybe they should have kept trouble-shooting for a little bit longer.

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Posted on February 5, 2024 by Katie McGrath

Why Do (or Don’t) We Eat Healthy Food?

The minds behind Sullivan Higdon & Sink’s (SHS) FoodThink are at it again, and this time they’re taking a good look at the how and why of eating healthy. Their new white paper, “Our Appetite for Healthy Eating,” covers everything from attitudes about healthy foods to our attempts to eat right.

According to research conducted by SHS, 61 percent of Americans make the commitment to eat healthy. Of course, there’s a lot of variation in that claim.

From “Our Appetite for Healthy Eating”: Organic shoppers, for instance, are 31-percent more likely to say they’re committed to healthy eating. On the other hand, those who believe their cooking skills to be sub-par are 13-percent less likely to say they’re committed to healthy eating.

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Posted on February 4, 2024 by Elizabeth

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