Planning your meals in advance is a vital part of eating well and avoiding reactive eating. An integral part of executing your plan is maintaining your grocery list. Without the right supplies, you’ll have a hard time providing quality nutrition for yourself and the rest of your family.
On your grocery list, keep a running list of all the items you need for the upcoming meals that you’ve planned. List some healthy snacks to have on hand, too. Don’t forget to include healthy beverages like distilled water, mineral water, and green tea. Double-check the pantry for any ingredients you need for recipes, and be sure that you have enough staples like olive oil and butter on hand for cooking.
When planning menus and making your grocery list, try to include vegetables in a variety of colors. Different colors indicate different phytonutrients, so make an effort to include red, green, orange, purple, and white plants.
| Target Color | Example Foods |
|---|---|
| Red vegetables and fruits | Tomatoes, red peppers, strawberries, cherries, cranberries, radishes |
| Green vegetables and fruits | Spinach, lettuce, green beans, broccoli, soybeans, green bell peppers |
| Orange/yellow vegetables and fruits | Banana peppers, oranges and tangerines, pineapple, lemons, carrots, papaya, yellow squash, winter squash |
| Purple/blue vegetables and fruits | Beets, blueberries, eggplant, currants, plums, purple onion, grapes, purple cabbage |
| White vegetables and fruits | Cauliflower, pears, garlic, mushrooms, onions |
The following table shows some simple substitutions you can make on your grocery list to improve the quality of your food.
| Instead of This | Buy This |
|---|---|
| Commercial ground beef | Grass-fed ground beef or bison |
| Soft drinks | Mineral water |
| Sweetened bottled tea | Green tea bags |
| Seasoning packets | Fresh herbs, garlic, or onion powder |
| White rice | Brown rice or quinoa |
| Jif, Skippy, Peter Pan, or other peanut butter with sugar and hydrogenated oil | Natural peanut butter or almond butter |
| White bread | Spelt bread |
| White pasta | Brown rice pasta, corn pasta, or quinoa pasta |
