Sustainable and healthy grocery shopping

CEBU, Philippines - One time I decided to buy a shoe polish from one of the supermarkets in uptown Cebu. What was supposed to be a less than a hundred quick-drop-by-the-supermarket became a shopping spree that brought my total to P4,000!

For someone like me, who technically has no hullabaloo when it comes to lifestyle or who simply depends on the neighborhood carenderia for my meals, this was a bit on the too much side.

Reflecting on the experience, I came to realize that many single guys admittedly don’t know how to shop on a budget. We conveniently put on the cart anything and everything that would attract us as we go along the aisle. Well, at least those that we could put on the cart (pun intended).

Some don’t even stop to look at the labels, which, by the way I’ve learned and come to enjoy when I attempted to become a vegetarian. Which leads me to another dilemma: Just how many of the items we put on our cart are considered to be healthy? And with the health issue, comes the climate change issue, which would delve on sustainability.

Got you confused? Well, why don’t I just walk you through the grocery aisle and let us shop sustainably and healthily. Here are five tips that you may find helpful the next time you decide to drop by the supermarket:

1.Make a grocery list and stick to it.

You’d probably have heard of this from countless of get-your-finances-straight gurus. But this somewhat simple tip always slips out of everybody’s mind the moment they decide to drop by the supermarket. Sometimes, going grocery shopping is done out of convenience – you’re already in the mall, so why not drop by the supermarket? But the thing is, simply deciding on a day to do your groceries would help you from overspending on things that you do not actually need. And yes, don’t go grocery shopping when your hungry, because the tendency is, you tend to buy more than what you actually need.

2.Take advantage of promos and discounts.

Buying in bulk is a good advice if you can afford to buy the biggest size. If not, then go to the promo aisle where you can check out the bundles that carry free promotional items. Of course, you would need to check the expiration date, and make sure you have enough time to consume all of it before it spoils. Some stores have ads in newspapers or brochures that scream of deals. Check them out before making your grocery list.

3.How about a healthy grocery list?

Decide on a healthy grocery list. This would include fresh fruits and vegetables; whole grain bread, pasta or cereals (as opposed to those made of white flour); vegetable-based protein sources like tofu, nuts and legumes; and less on the processed products which contain lots of sodium. When it comes to dairy products, well, you can try out the vegetable-based ones like soya milk or soya butter. Or you can choose to go light. According to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), milk, especially those sourced from dairy farms, contain pus and pasteurization is not an assurance that pus will be removed. PETA further argues that cow’s milk is a major mucus producer, citing the opinion of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and other experts.

4.And a sustainable grocery list?

The issue of climate change is real and it is already being felt closer to our doors, with Baguio City’s hailstorms, large waves that wiped out houses along the coast of Talisay City, or floods that are increasingly becoming a frequent occurrence in the city and in neighboring towns and islands. So, reality is, its time for us to go sustainable and this means preferring locally grown and processed products over the imported ones. This decreases our carbon footprint, as transporting local goods would not entail a thousand kilometers worth of fossil fuel. Plus, we are not only assured of their freshness, we would also be helping our local entrepreneurs to grow. So, come on, let’s do our share for the community.

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The reason why most of us don’t bother to look at the label is because we don’t really know how to read them. Labels are actually very easy to read. First you can check out the nutritional value, where you would see if what you are getting is good for your health or is simply junk laced with vitamins and minerals. The nutrition label would also tell you the serving size of the product, the number of servings that each container would have, the calories per serving, and the essential vitamins and minerals that the product actually has. Usually, it’s based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

And then you can also check out the ingredients. For vegetarians, this is a must, as you would need to know if the product you are buying has animal derivatives. Did you know that Cheez Whiz has anchovies? After that you can check other labels like if it is Fair Trade certified, organic certified or if it has the green mark.