The Best Ways to Find the Healthiest Foods at the Grocery Store

Why do we end up going grocery shopping with the best of intentions only to walk out with the least healthy foods in the store? It’s because shopping for healthy food takes a little bit of extra effort on our part. In the long run, the additional work is worth it in order to come home with a bag full of healthy food, rather than junk.

Follow these suggestions and tips to make sure you not only have a well-stocked pantry for healthful eating, but are buying the right products in the right way.

If you’re looking for the healthiest foods in the grocery store like fresh produce, unprocessed meats and the dairy products, take a walk around the walls of the store. is the place where these types of foods are always placed. You’ll find the less healthy, processed foods filling up the middle aisles of the store.

Pick out 100 percent whole grain breads at the bakery department. Stay way from the white breads made with refined flours and of course leave the high fat, high calorie pastries alone.

When shopping for meat, poultry, and fish, shop smart. When shopping for fish and other types of seafood containing fatty acids, buy ones that smell fresh and are still firm to the touch. Be a label reader of packaged red meats you’ll find a good deal of these are injected water, flavorings, and preservatives that you don't want. Buy skinless chicken or lean turkey but be careful. Most poultry birds found in grocery stores are high in fat.

Use the color of the meat as a good indicator of the meat’s freshness as well as its aroma and feel. It should smell fresh, not sticky or slimy. Read the freshness date on the label. If there are any local butcher shops in your area, for your meats there. They are more than likely to sell fresh, organic meat from animals that were raised on grass or free-range.

Here’s one more meat buying tip for you: take along a few clear plastic bags from the produce department and wrap up the meat you want a little more in that. By doing this, you prevent any of those meat juices from leaking all over your other or your car. In other words it prevents the cross-contamination of raw meat juices onto the rest of your grocery items.

While treating yourself to a snack here and there is ok, make those snacks healthy with items such as whole grain crackers or something baked. Instead of drinking soda with that snack, use water, juice or milk as a less sugary substitute.

Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are firm, ripe and unblemished. Be on the watch for fruits with mold on them. This is common on berries or other produce items found in small packages. Buy only what you need for a few days so that nothing spoils in your refrigerator.

 The Best Ways to Find the Healthiest Foods at the Grocery Store

Why do we end up going grocery shopping with the best of intentions only to walk out with the least healthy foods in the store? It’s because shopping for healthy food takes a little bit of extra effort on our part. In the long run, the additional work is worth it in order to come home with a bag full of healthy food, rather than junk.

Follow these suggestions and tips to make sure you not only have a well-stocked pantry for healthful eating, but are buying the right products in the right way.

If you’re looking for the healthiest foods in the grocery store like fresh produce, unprocessed meats and the dairy products, take a walk around the walls of the store. is the place where these types of foods are always placed. You’ll find the less healthy, processed foods filling up the middle aisles of the store.

Pick out 100 percent whole grain breads at the bakery department. Stay way from the white breads made with refined flours and of course leave the high fat, high calorie pastries alone.

When shopping for meat, poultry, and fish, shop smart. When shopping for fish and other types of seafood containing fatty acids, buy ones that smell fresh and are still firm to the touch. Be a label reader of packaged red meats you’ll find a good deal of these are injected water, flavorings, and preservatives that you don't want. Buy skinless chicken or lean turkey but be careful. Most poultry birds found in grocery stores are high in fat.

Use the color of the meat as a good indicator of the meat’s freshness as well as its aroma and feel. It should smell fresh, not sticky or slimy. Read the freshness date on the label. If there are any local butcher shops in your area, for your meats there. They are more than likely to sell fresh, organic meat from animals that were raised on grass or free-range.

Here’s one more meat buying tip for you: take along a few clear plastic bags from the produce department and wrap up the meat you want a little more in that. By doing this, you prevent any of those meat juices from leaking all over your other or your car. In other words it prevents the cross-contamination of raw meat juices onto the rest of your grocery items.

While treating yourself to a snack here and there is ok, make those snacks healthy with items such as whole grain crackers or something baked. Instead of drinking soda with that snack, use water, juice or milk as a less sugary substitute.

Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are firm, ripe and unblemished. Be on the watch for fruits with mold on them. This is common on berries or other produce items found in small packages. Buy only what you need for a few days so that nothing spoils in your refrigerator.