Fill Up Your Cart

A year ago my kids and I were watching "The Biggest Loser" and I learned a great visualization tip for when you go grocery shopping, reposted below.  A nutritionist took them to the grocery store and told them all this:

When you go shopping, pretend your cart is your stomach.You want to fill it up first with fresh produce, your veggies and fruit, so put those in your cart first, then your proteins and healthy oils, and last the carbs.

So then, when I read this in The Smarter Science of Slim, by Jonathan Ballor, I thought it was great advice, (I also thought "That is a ton of food, and for two people!?!) Definitely see how one could be too full for dessert!) Here is step 3 from the chapter "5 Steps To Eating More-Smarter", from page 192:

"A great way to affordably eat a lot of high-quality food is to buy it at bulk wholesalers like Costco or Sam's Club whenever possible.  By buying in bulk, you will be able to eat more higher-quality food while spending about $10 per day on food.  That is a great deal.

Here is the actual grocery list my wife an I take to Costco every other week.  That is the other nice thing about buying in bulk.  It dramatically reduces the amount of time you have to spend grocery shopping.

Non-Starchy Vegetables

2 bulk packages of mushrooms

3 bulk packages of red peppers

1 bulk packages of all natural tomato sauce

5 bulk packages of romaine lettuce

5 bulk packages of spinach

2 bulk packages of frozen mixed vegetables

2 bulk packages of frozen green beans

1 bulk package of celery

2 bulk packages of sugar snap peas

1 bulk package of carrots

Seafood

2 bulk packages of salmon

1 bulk package of canned tuna

1 bulk package of salmon burgers

Meat Eggs

1 rotisserie chicken

1 bulk package of eggs

1 bulk package of ham steaks

1 bulk package of turkey burgers

1 bulk package of ground turkey

Fruit:

1 bulk package of grapefruit

1 bulk package of oranges

3 bulk packages of frozen blueberries

3 bulk packages of mixed berries

1 bulk package of frozen strawberries

Nuts/Seeds

1 bulk package of mixed nuts

1 bulk tub of natural peanut butter

1 bulk tub of soy nuts

2 pounds of milled flax seeds (ordered online)

Other

1 bulk package of 2% fat cottage cheese

1 bulk package of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 bulk package of black beans

1 bulk package of fat free or low-fat plain Greek yogurt

This is a lot of food.  Fortunately, it only costs about $10 per person, per day, and we do not need to buy all of it everytime we go to the store.

So, $10 per person (and he said it's for him and his wife, so 2 people) per day for 2 weeks, ~ so he's saying all that food is just $280? Seems to me that it should cost more than that?   Although I'm used to paying a lot for groceries with the 8 kids we have, and since this seems like soo much food to me, maybe that's why I'm thinking it should cost a lot more, I was thinking atleast $400.  I'm going to take this list to the store with me next time I go, cause even if the kids don't eat it, if it's just a list for him and his wife anyway, then Corey and I should be able to eat it all, right?  Maybe I'll start giving the kids salads for their school lunch instead of pb sandwiches and chips?  Hmmm...  Also, wondering if the food goes bad?  Maybe with things like the fresh veggies it'd be good to get less packages on the first visit, and then run out for more the second week.  Although I just like going to the store, it's part of my weekly schedule, and I'm enjoying keeping to it.  :)