Post by charlie on Apr 12, 2014 5:08:20 GMT -5
Oh boy, is this a fitness exercise in itself. Be prepared to have to plan a mad dash into about 20 different shops, especially if you live in England.......
I now have it down to a fine art, I know where to go for what on what day. But, But, But, always reread labels as all of us have been caught out on ingredient changes on our staple food in the name of "quality improvement". What you may also find is they start being more honest about what is in the food as regulations get tighter. One day they may realise that they need to list fructose content too but for now we just have to use our common sense.......
Sugar reading on the nutritional labelling may mean sucrose, fructose, lactose, maltose, galactose or glucose, basically all the 'oses. If the sugar element is high on the list (dextrose, glucose are the ones to look for) then there is alot more in the food, if it is at the bottom of the list then there is less in there. Obviously if it says sugar or fructose syrup etc put it straight back on the shelf.
So this is what we have done to make life simple for us, things work differently for everyone. We are in England so some shop names may sound very alien to you.
Step 1. Sit down and make a weeks menu plan. Life has been so much smoother since I started doing this, keep a few back up meals in the freezer incase plans suddenly change but otherwise stick to your menu.
Step 2. Write a shopping list, go through each meal plan and work out what you need. Life is much easier now with internet shopping so you can do some online and add to it as you need but I also like to use different shops that I know will give me a better price.
Step 3. Buy unusual things that are hard to find but have a long shelf life in bulk. Otherwise i can guarantee the next time you go shopping they will not be anywhere to be found. Then try to make sure you always have a spare on the shelf.
Step 4. Buy as good a quality as you can of meats, fish and dairy products, the fresher the quality, the better the source, the purer the product. There have been alot of revelations in the UK about sugar water being injected into meats to plump them up, hormones added to developing animals etc. We are very blessed to have a local butcher who is very helpful and does lovely meat and also a farm shop. Yes, the price is higher BUT you actually find there is so much more quality to it you need less on your plate and the juices make fabulous stocks for sauces.
So we go to:
Waitrose or Tesco for Lactofree products (not a necessary HFI restriction) Egg pastas, cocoa powder
Local butcher / farm shop for roasts, sausages.
Iceland for unsmoked bacon, frozen fish, cheese, eggs, and other basics.
Boots / Holland and Barrett for glucose powder.
Holland and Barrett for their marmite as safer than normal marmite, called yeast extract. Potato flour and herbs and spices.
Lidl do lovely pork and minced beef or beef cubes for casseroles. Yoghurt, butter, cheese.
Market stall for safe vegetables.
Online Tesco or Ocado, or Lidl, Iceland for everyday sundries.
Luckily our town is arranged so I can go round in a big circle for everything except Tesco.
Then I get home and unpack it..... then I realise I have not bought anything for ME.....
If I don't do our groceries like this I forget stuff, run out of safe foods or spend unneccesary money.
Oh, and watch out for supermarket food shuffle, every so often that is to make us have to look at new products while we are looking for what we usually get. Be careful you don't get tempted to try something new and risky. Stick to the plan.....
I now have it down to a fine art, I know where to go for what on what day. But, But, But, always reread labels as all of us have been caught out on ingredient changes on our staple food in the name of "quality improvement". What you may also find is they start being more honest about what is in the food as regulations get tighter. One day they may realise that they need to list fructose content too but for now we just have to use our common sense.......
Sugar reading on the nutritional labelling may mean sucrose, fructose, lactose, maltose, galactose or glucose, basically all the 'oses. If the sugar element is high on the list (dextrose, glucose are the ones to look for) then there is alot more in the food, if it is at the bottom of the list then there is less in there. Obviously if it says sugar or fructose syrup etc put it straight back on the shelf.
So this is what we have done to make life simple for us, things work differently for everyone. We are in England so some shop names may sound very alien to you.
Step 1. Sit down and make a weeks menu plan. Life has been so much smoother since I started doing this, keep a few back up meals in the freezer incase plans suddenly change but otherwise stick to your menu.
Step 2. Write a shopping list, go through each meal plan and work out what you need. Life is much easier now with internet shopping so you can do some online and add to it as you need but I also like to use different shops that I know will give me a better price.
Step 3. Buy unusual things that are hard to find but have a long shelf life in bulk. Otherwise i can guarantee the next time you go shopping they will not be anywhere to be found. Then try to make sure you always have a spare on the shelf.
Step 4. Buy as good a quality as you can of meats, fish and dairy products, the fresher the quality, the better the source, the purer the product. There have been alot of revelations in the UK about sugar water being injected into meats to plump them up, hormones added to developing animals etc. We are very blessed to have a local butcher who is very helpful and does lovely meat and also a farm shop. Yes, the price is higher BUT you actually find there is so much more quality to it you need less on your plate and the juices make fabulous stocks for sauces.
So we go to:
Waitrose or Tesco for Lactofree products (not a necessary HFI restriction) Egg pastas, cocoa powder
Local butcher / farm shop for roasts, sausages.
Iceland for unsmoked bacon, frozen fish, cheese, eggs, and other basics.
Boots / Holland and Barrett for glucose powder.
Holland and Barrett for their marmite as safer than normal marmite, called yeast extract. Potato flour and herbs and spices.
Lidl do lovely pork and minced beef or beef cubes for casseroles. Yoghurt, butter, cheese.
Market stall for safe vegetables.
Online Tesco or Ocado, or Lidl, Iceland for everyday sundries.
Luckily our town is arranged so I can go round in a big circle for everything except Tesco.
Then I get home and unpack it..... then I realise I have not bought anything for ME.....
If I don't do our groceries like this I forget stuff, run out of safe foods or spend unneccesary money.
Oh, and watch out for supermarket food shuffle, every so often that is to make us have to look at new products while we are looking for what we usually get. Be careful you don't get tempted to try something new and risky. Stick to the plan.....
