Grocery Store Confusion

SandiW02

So I thought we could discuss how we shop for our food. Shopping can be confusing and maybe we can share so advise of things we have learned to make another's shopping experience easier.

What do you buy/What makes you select this product?
Do you eat frozen, fresh, or can veggies/fruit?
Do you eat a lot of packaged foods?
Where do you get the best deals?
What snacks do you stash?
Do you shop by caloric intake?
Are you a Natural/Whole food shopper or do you go to the local Wal-Mart/grocery store?

Tell us about your grocery experience!

miranda823

I usually have to visit Wal Mart, Fry's and Sprouts before I'm done grocery shopping for the week. My biggest challenges are budget (poor college student here with two kids) and the fact that my son is on a gluten free- dairy free diet. I do my best to make sure dinner is a gf/df meal that is healthy for everyone, but because of crazy school schedules we rarely eat together...the crock pot is a big help. That being said, we eat quite a lot of prepackaged foods, but I do buy fresh produce. When I'm shopping I'm choosing brands by what their ingredients are (mostly checking for the gluten and milk) and we try to plan meals out before we go to the store. I'm not fantastic at healthy eating, but I'm trying to find a good middle ground for my family.

Afura

What do you buy/What makes you select this product? Sounded good?

Do you eat frozen, fresh, or can veggies/fruit? I eat frozen vegetables (when I remember) as I cook for 1, so whole veggies don't always make it. Fruit I rarely eat because I find it makes me more hungry. But I eat both fresh and frozen.

Do you eat a lot of packaged foods? No, I try and avoid processed foods. That's not to say I don't have the pouches of instant rice, and some deli meat. And you may pry my dairy from my cold dead hands. I tend to try and stick to the outsides of the stores, and rarely venture in to the dreaded 'middle'.

Where do you get the best deals? At the grocery store? It varies, I buy a lot by sales, but I rarely shop because of sales.

What snacks do you stash? None. I was raised to be a habitual snacker, I will just eat and eat snack foods.

Do you shop by caloric intake? Sometimes, I usually buy full fat dairy for the calories, as I'm usually short

Are you a Natural/Whole food shopper or do you go to the local Wal-Mart/grocery store? I shop at local grocery stores, and Whole Foods (no Sprouts within about an hour of me )

SandiW02

So my pantry is a mess! That's right - while I am on this journey I still have candy, chips, and all that yummy stuff hanging around. Why? Well I have a husband and 2 kids. If I did not stock the stuff my husband would go buy it himself and it would be worse than the amount I limit in the house. I do have low calories snacks too when I get an itch...

I am switching currently to frozen veggies. I still buy cream corn for the kids - but most of the time they get reg corn. I eat a lot of spinach with mushrooms, onion, and sometimes feta. I am limiting the amount of prepackaged food (oh but I just bought 6 boxes of Gorton's fish - but I will get to this in a minute). We only eat these is a real time crunch or when I fall with a migraine and there are no leftovers. So the frozen fish thing - I know it is high in salt but I try to limit my salt intake so I can enjoy these treats since I don't know (and truly unwilling) to make it fresh.

I try to coupon my groceries but most coupons are for the crap. So I try to buy by sales and shop at the commissary. I like Target sales, Wal-mart is ok, commissary, and Whole Foods.