How to Win at the Grocery Store 2

How to win at the grocery store, part 2:

1. Have you heard the one about only shopping on the outside edges of the store, because that's where all the healthy food is?

That's nonsense. That's where the produce is, but that's also where the meat, cheese, alcohol, baked goods, and all the most manipulative temptations are.

Inside the aisles you'll find beans, rice, oats, organic soup, cereal, dried, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, coconut oil, nuts, etc. etc. etc. There are lots of healthy foods in the aisles. So, throw that one away.

2. Arm yourself with knowledge so you can narrow it down. This is why I like superfoods, the top 3 things that I like in each category, and 21 meals in a week to figure out.

This is a great time to practice new strategies. Going to the grocery store only once every 10 days has been a really good reboot of my habits around shopping. It's easy to let your guard down when you are running in 5 times a week to pick up a couple of things.

3. They follow the money. Reward your grocery store for every good choice, and you will get more choice, and better prices. They are manipulating you, so you get to manipulate them right back. In every way that you can stretch your budget to buy for the world you want, DO.

Here's how:

4: Don't be fooled by jargon. "All natural" doesn't mean anything, it is a marketing term. Certified "organic" is a process, there is a big difference. If it doesn't say organic, look for NON GMO, that is often the same thing, or very close to it. It costs a lot to be certified organic, so I reward that as much as I can, but when it isn't there, I can still read the labels, ignore the jargon, and think about the process. How it is grown, and where, and how it is processed, and how many ingredients - those are the things to look for. You can get a sense of a company's values from the packaging.

5. Insist on fair pricing by walking away from products where the gap is too big between healthy and not. Don't buy either one. The number crunchers who are watching every purchase will figure it out. Talk to the section managers, tell them what you want.

6. Buy local. The big chains get the cheapest foods from the biggest providers. Force them to buy American by doing that yourselves. Support small farmers in your region and spend your summer dollars at farmer's markets as often as you can.

7. Don't ignore the store brands and the unknowns. Not only do you reward them by purchasing their often superior products, you force the big players to get healthier too. Campbell's soup wasn't the first organic soup on the market. It was the last. And we forced them to, by not buying their poison when there were better products at comparable prices on the next shelf. You have as much power as they do.

8. Check the baby food aisle. Sounds a little weird, but if you like those high end squished food packets, or yoghurt covered dried fruit or healthy cookies and cereal - the prices on baby food are often way better.

Any others?