How to: Grocery Shopping for Weight Loss on a Budget

Hi everybody!

I love to go grocery shopping! Spending time in between the isles of a grocery store may be one of the most exciting things to do for me!
Is that weird?? I don't know! But I love reading labels, discovering new products and maybe realize that some "healthy" alternatives are not that healthy!

I could spend hours shopping for groceries... Literally... You can leave me there for six hours straight and I will be having fun the whole time!

It's all fun and giggles until you want to have an healthy lifestyle! That's when the problems start!
I mean... They're not actually "problems"... But you have to be more careful about what you put into the cart... It only requires more attention!

The most diffused idea is that "healthy eating" is more expensive... But I realized that it could be actually cheaper than what you may think!

The key is to plan your trip to the store.

KNOWING THE BRANDS

Knowing which brands are better is key!
Sometimes we don't have time to check the nutrition labels and being aware about what brands are worst than others can help you making smarter decisions. 

What do I mean with this?

Most of the time, for example, I go for non-branded (or generic-brand) items, because I've realized that the ingredients list is better! 

Let's talk cereal! Usually branded-version of cereals have colouring that are not so good for you, while almost all of the generic-brand have natural ingredients (at least... The cereal I ususally buy do!).

PRICIER-ITEMS ARE NOT A WARRANTY

You may think that paying more for something implies that the quality is better... 

Let me tell you... Sometimes this can be true (even thought I've realized that is less frequent than you may think!) but most of the times you are just paying the "name"!

Example time!

Greek Yogurt... I never buy the more expensive one! The ingredients list is always the same and the taste doesn't change between price-ranges and brands!

CAN YOU MAKE IT YOURSELF?

What, before buying something, I ask myself is: "can I make it?"

It could just be a matter of price or ingredients list but in both cases if it's convenient making it by myself, I will!

For instance:

Peanut butter (my obsession lately!)... Okay, I live in Italy and the obsession for peanut butter is non-existent. We don't care about it and the only version you can find at the store is the super processed one with useless ingredients like sugar and added oil. And, on top of that, is expensive!

What I realized is that making it myself actually made me save (A LOT OF) money while having an healthy option! I mean... The only thing you have to do is process some peanuts in a blender!

ALWAYS HAVE A GROCERY LIST

One thing I can't live without is a grocery list.

And I'm talking about an organized one! 

Knowing what to buy before hand makes you not waste time at the grocery store and not wasting money on useless food. 

To help you, if you don't know how to make a great grocery list, I've made a template that you just have to print (yes, it's free)! 

Let me show you!

Download it HERE

As you can see I've divided the list between macros, so you are sure to buy everything you need! There may be more space than what you need... But you can do whatever you want with it!

That's it for today!

I hope you find those tips helpful and, mostly, I hope you became more aware of what you buy!

I hope that the grocery list may be helpful to, at least, some of you! 

Let me know what you think about it!

See you next time!