At this time of emergency even going shopping can be stressful and a source of anxiety. Outside the supermarkets there are often queues due to the containment measures; then once you get inside, besides respecting the safety distance, it’s good manner not waste time in order to allow a regular flow of people coming and going. Suddenly, from an ordinary gesture, going grocery shopping has become a sort of ritual. It’s become necessary to optimize purchases and shopping in a smart way, once a week or even every other week.
Knowing what to buy is crucial to reduce the time you stay in the supermarket and it’s best to leave the house with a clear idea and a “smart” and detailed shopping list. If you know well the supermarket where you stock up, another useful strategy to speed up shopping, can be to write the list in the order in which the lanes are organized.
We need to know what we’re going to eat until the next grocery shopping to write this list. Therefore we should plan our meals choosing healthy and nutritious dishes that keep us healthy, but at the same time, are good and appetizing.
Given the extra time available, we can also consider to prepare home bread, the base for pizza, cakes for breakfast, jams etc. All those products that for convenience and lack of time we buy “already made” , but now we can safely produce ourselves. In this way we will also improve our cooking skills and have more control over what we eat.
There are ingredients that are indispensable in cooking and are the basis for a wide variety of recipes.
- Long-life products: Tomato sauce or peeled tomatoes, flour (preferably whole grain, legumes, buckwheat), no GMO corn flour, sugar (preferably whole cane), whole iodine sea salt, legumes, brown rice, wholewheat or buckwheat pasta, jams (no added sugar), extra virgin olive oil, water, wine, milk (almond or rice).
- Vegetables: it’s important to choose seasonal vegetables or to take those already frozen. Don’t forget potatoes, garlic, onions, celery and carrots.
- Fresh fruit: as for vegetables it’s always better to choose seasonal products. At this time oranges, apples, pears, lemons.
- Dry fruit and nuts: excellent as a snack or to be used in the preparation of desserts.
- Herbs and spices: better the dried ones that last a long time.
- Dry yeast and baking powder: if you want to bake home-made goodies.
- Cheese: choose the seasoned ones rather than the fresh ones. Don’t miss the grana or Parmesan cheese, easy to grate.
- Meat: chicken and turkey, minced meat to prepare sauces or meatballs. It can be eaten immediately or divided into portions to be frozen.
- Fresh blue fish: even in this case we can divide it into portions and freeze it.
Good “smart shopping” to you all!
N.B. Our meal plan is based on our experience and it’s just an example of what works for us to maintain a balanced diet considering we work-out an average of 5 times a week. Each of us is different and what works for some may not work for someone else. If you need to lose or gain weight, our advice is to rely on a professional nutritionist.
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