Photo by Camille Brodard on Unsplash
In short: Healthy grocery shopping gets simple when you stop deciding everything in the shop. Keep a basic list and a well-stocked cupboard, plan a handful of easy meals rather than a perfect week, let the season choose your vegetables, and read the ingredients list rather than the promises on the front of the packet. And never go shopping hungry.
It’s Saturday morning and the car park is full. Inside, the music is loud, the aisles are long, and every packet seems to be shouting at you: high in protein, low in fat, no added sugar, gluten free, natural. You fill the trolley with good intentions, a few things that were on offer, and something sweet that jumped in at the checkout. Back home, you unpack it all, and on Wednesday evening you open the fridge and there’s still nothing for dinner.
Does that sound like your week? Then let me reassure you straight away: you don’t need to become a meal-planning expert, and you certainly don’t need a list of forbidden foods. What you need is a simple way of shopping that does most of the thinking for you, so that a good meal is the easy option on a tired Wednesday. That’s what I’d love to share with you here.
Why does grocery shopping feel so complicated?
Because a supermarket is designed to make you decide, and decide again, and decide again. Hundreds of products, each one with a promise on the front. Offers at the end of every aisle. The smell of fresh bread at the entrance and the chocolate by the till. None of that is there by accident.
And every decision uses a little bit of energy. By the time you reach the last aisle, your mind is tired, and a tired mind goes for whatever is quick, familiar or cheerful. Willpower has nothing to do with it. It’s simply how we’re made.
So when I work with someone on their shopping, I never start with “buy this, not that”. I start by taking decisions out of the shop. The fewer choices you have to make standing in an aisle, the better you’ll eat for the rest of the week.
What should I buy to eat more healthily?
Here’s the simplest guide I know: buy mostly foods that still look like where they came from. A leek looks like a leek. An egg looks like an egg. Lentils, apples, a piece of fish, a bag of walnuts, a pot of plain yoghurt: you can picture the field, the tree or the animal behind them.
Then think of your plate rather than of single “healthy foods”. A meal that keeps you going usually has four things on it:
Vegetables, as many colours as you can (I wrote about why colour matters so much in Color your plate with nutrients).
Some protein: eggs, lentils, chickpeas, fish, chicken, cheese, yoghurt, tofu.
Some carbs that keep you full: potatoes, whole grain bread, buckwheat, oats, rice, squash.
Some healthy fats: olive oil, nuts, seeds, a little butter or cheese, sardines.
If your trolley has those four families in it, you can make dozens of meals. Everything else is a bonus. And of course, what suits your body may be different from what suits your neighbour’s: your digestion, your energy, your history and your tastes all count. That’s what I call bio-individuality in practice.
How do I plan meals without spending hours on it?
Forget the beautiful weekly planner with a different recipe every night. It looks lovely on Sunday and is usually abandoned by Tuesday. What works much better, in my experience, is a handful of anchor meals: simple dishes you like, can cook without thinking, and can vary with whatever is in season.
For example:
A big pot of vegetable soup, with lentils or beans stirred in, and some cheese and bread on the side.
An omelette or frittata with whatever vegetables need using up.
A tray of roasted vegetables with chickpeas, sausages or a piece of fish.
A grain bowl: buckwheat or rice, leftover vegetables, an egg, a handful of seeds and a good dressing.
Overnight oats or yoghurt with fruit and nuts for breakfast (I explain why I love overnight oats here).
Then, before you shop, ask yourself only two questions: which anchor meals will I make this week, and what do I need for them? That’s your list. And cook once, eat twice: make double the soup, roast two trays of vegetables, cook more lentils than you need. Your future self, on Wednesday evening, will thank you. You’ll find more simple ideas among my recipes.
Is it worth shopping at the market?
I love markets. The vegetables have been picked recently, you can ask the producer how to cook that strange squash, and you naturally buy what’s in season, because that’s what’s there. Seasonal food tastes better, it’s often cheaper, and it changes your plate through the year without you having to think about it. In autumn that means leeks, squash, cabbage, apples, pears, chestnuts and walnuts. I wrote a whole guide to eating with the seasons, with a warming autumn soup.
But please don’t feel you’ve failed if the supermarket is what you have. A bag of frozen spinach, a tin of chickpeas and a tin of sardines can make a very good dinner. Frozen vegetables and fruit are picked and frozen quickly, and they’re wonderful to have in the freezer for the evenings when the fridge is empty. A farm box or vegetable basket delivered every week, if there’s one near you, is another lovely way to eat with the seasons without even having to choose.
How do I read a food label without getting lost?
Here’s my secret: turn the packet over. The front is advertising. The back is information.
Look at the ingredients list first. Ingredients are listed from the largest amount to the smallest, so the first few tell you what you’re really buying. A short list of things you recognise and could find in a kitchen is a good sign. A long list full of words you can’t pronounce tells you the food has travelled a long way from the field.
Then look for sugar, because it hides under many names: glucose syrup, dextrose, fructose, maltodextrin, invert sugar, fruit juice concentrate, honey. If one of them appears near the top of a yoghurt, a cereal or a sauce, you know there’s more sweetness in it than you might expect. That doesn’t mean you can never buy it. It simply means you know, and you choose.
And be gently suspicious of big promises on the front. “Light”, “diet”, “low fat” and “protein” are often there to sell, and a low-fat yoghurt sometimes has extra sugar to make up for the taste. A plain yoghurt with your own fruit and a few walnuts is simpler, more satisfying, and you know exactly what’s in it.
How can I eat well on a budget?
Eating well doesn’t have to be expensive. Some of the most nourishing foods are also the cheapest:
Dried or tinned lentils, beans and chickpeas, which give you protein and fibre for very little money.
Eggs, which make a quick meal at any time of day.
Oats, for breakfast, crumble toppings and baking.
Seasonal vegetables, and frozen ones when the season is thin.
Tinned fish such as sardines and mackerel.
Cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and squash, which keep for a long time.
Buying in bulk can help too, but only for the things you really use: oats, lentils, rice, nuts. Buying a giant bag of something because it’s on offer, and then throwing half of it away, isn’t a saving. If you’re eating mostly plants, I share how to cover all your needs in How to meet your nutritional requirements on a plant-based diet.
What helps?
1. Keep a basic list on the fridge
Write your basic list once, sorted the way your shop is laid out, and keep it on the fridge. When something runs out, tick it. On shopping day, you add the things you need for your anchor meals, and you’re done. Here’s a list to start from, which you can adapt to your own tastes:
Vegetables: leafy greens, leeks, onions, carrots, cabbage or broccoli, squash in autumn, tomatoes and courgettes in summer, potatoes.
Fruit: apples, pears, citrus, bananas, berries in season or frozen.
Protein: eggs, plain yoghurt, cheese, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, fish, chicken.
Carbs: oats, buckwheat, brown rice, whole grain bread, whole grain pasta.
Healthy fats: olive oil, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, ground flaxseed.
Something fermented: plain yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut or a good cheese. If you’re curious, I explain how to make your own in Fermentation 101.
2. Keep a well-stocked cupboard and freezer
This is your safety net for the evenings when you’re tired and the fridge is bare. Tinned tomatoes, tinned beans and chickpeas, tinned sardines or mackerel, dried lentils, stock cubes or a jar of vegetable stock, vinegar, mustard, spices (cumin, turmeric, paprika, chilli), dried herbs, garlic, nuts and seeds. In the freezer: peas, spinach, mixed vegetables, berries, some bread and a portion or two of soup. With these, you can always make a meal in a few minutes.
3. Shop for meals, not ingredients
Before you add anything to your list, ask: what will I make with this? If you can’t answer, leave it. That one question stops the trolley filling up with good intentions that end up in the bin.
4. Never shop hungry
It sounds obvious, and yet we all do it. When you’re hungry, everything looks good, and the quickest, sweetest foods look best of all. Eat something before you go: an apple and a few walnuts, a yoghurt, a slice of bread with cheese. You’ll shop more calmly and spend less.
5. Let the season choose for you
Instead of deciding in advance which vegetables you’ll buy, write “two or three seasonal vegetables” on your list and see what looks best. It saves a decision, it brings variety, and over the year it gives your body a wonderful range of colours and nutrients.
What doesn’t help?
Shopping from guilt. Filling the trolley with “virtuous” foods you don’t actually enjoy means they’ll stay in the fridge.
Diet products. Light, low-fat and diet versions often bring extra sugar or additives, and rarely the satisfaction of the real thing.
The perfect weekly plan. Rigid plans break at the first busy evening. A few anchor meals bend.
Buying everything fresh for the whole week. By the weekend, half of it is wilting. Fresh for the first days, frozen and tinned for the end of the week.
Try this for one week
On a calm evening, write your basic list and put it on the fridge. Choose three anchor meals for the week ahead, and add what you need for them to your list.
Eat something before you go shopping, and in the shop, buy only what’s on your list plus a couple of seasonal vegetables that catch your eye.
At the end of the week, look in your fridge. What did you use? What’s still there? What did you miss? Adjust your list, and next week it will fit your life a little better. Little by little, your shopping will start to do the thinking for you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to buy organic food to eat healthily?
No. Organic is a lovely choice if it suits your budget, but eating plenty of vegetables, fruit, pulses and whole foods matters far more than the label. Wash your fruit and vegetables well, and buy local and seasonal when you can.
Are frozen vegetables as good as fresh?
They’re a very good choice. They’re usually frozen soon after picking, they keep for a long time and they’re ready in minutes. Having a few bags in the freezer makes healthy meals much easier on busy days.
Is online grocery shopping a good idea?
It can be very helpful, especially if you’re busy or don’t drive. You see fewer tempting offers, you can keep a saved basic list, and you’re never shopping hungry in a busy aisle.
When should I talk to my doctor?
If you have a medical condition, a food allergy or intolerance, or follow a special diet for health reasons, please talk to your doctor or a dietitian about what’s right for you. The same goes if you’ve lost your appetite, are losing weight without trying, or find that thinking about food causes you a lot of worry.
Would you like some help?
Shopping, planning and simple everyday meals are things we work on together in my group programmes in nutrition and health, such as Six Tuesdays in Montignac, where everyone brings their favourite shortcuts and leaves with a few new ones. If you’d like to hear when the next group opens, write to me at hello@catherinepolet.coach.
If you’d rather have a plan built around your own body, tastes and week, I also coach one to one online. Book a free 20-minute call and we’ll make healthy eating the easy option for you.
About Catherine
I’m Catherine Polet, a holistic nutrition health coach, yoga and autogenic training teacher for more than 30 years, author and speaker. I help people find a way of eating and living that suits their own body, online in English, French, Spanish and German, and in person in Southwest France.
