Shame on me, your “earth friendly” trainer, for not having an Earth Day post at the ready. Instead, I thought it would be fun to mix it up with some healthy eating information.  Below is a “healthy shopping list” that I’ve compiled from the University of Michigan’s “healing food pyramid.” Yeah, I know — I’m a Buckeye, but the U of M food pyramid is terrific.

Enjoy!

Healthy Shopping List

*Source: UMIM: Healing Foods Pyramid/University of Michigan

PRINTABLE VERSION OF SHOPPING LIST

FRUITS / VEGETABLES

Choose a variety, in amounts sufficient to cover the U of M recommendation of 7 or more servings per day. Try these:

Apricots
Blackberries
Blueberries
Cantaloupe
Kiwifruit
Plums
Pomegranate
Raspberries
Watermelon

Asparagus
Bell Peppers
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Kale
Radicchio
Spinach
Tomatoes
Watercress
Zucchini

GRAINS: 4-11 servings/day (*U of M recommendations)

100% Whole Wheat breads, pita, pancake or waffle mix, and cereals
Quinoa
Brown Rice
Steel cut or Rolled oats
Barley
Millet
Bulgar

LEGUMES: 1-3 servings/day  (*U of M recommendations)

Beans: Garbonzo, lima, fava, black, kidney, navy, pinto, etc.
Peas
Lentils (red lentils are especially healthy_
Peanuts

HEALTHY FATS: 3-9 servings/day (*U of M recommendations)

Olive Oil
Flaxseed Oil
Macadamia Nut Oil
Grape Seed Oil
Sesame Oil
Nuts (macadamia, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, etc.)
Seeds (sesame, pumpkin, ground flaxseed, sunflower seeds)
Butters (almond butter, peanut butter, tahini, sunflower seed butter)

Avocado
Black and Green Olives (the kind you find on olive bars, not in a can)

EGGS: 1 servings  (*U of M recommendations)

Look for eggs from free-range, grain fed chickens

DAIRY: 1-3 servings (*U of M recommendations)

Milk
Yogurt
Part-skim ricotta
Low-fat sour cream
Part-skimmozzarella
Low-fat cottage cheese
Cheese

(U of M recommends choosing products that come from free-range animals)

FISH & SEAFOOD: 2-4 servings/week (*U of M recommendations)

Anchovies
Wild Salmon
Wild Atlantic Mackerel (*Limit if pregnant/nursing)
Atlantic Herring
Yellowfin Tuna
Halibut (*Limit if pregnant/nursing)
Shrimp

LEAN MEATS: 1-3 servings/week (*U of M recommendations)

Chicken
Pork
Bison
Venison
Turkey
Extra Lean ground beef

*Choose products labeled: organic, hormone-free, anti-biotic free, grass-fed and/or wild if at all possible.

PLEASE VISIT UMIM food pyramid / fish FOR SPECIFIC SAFE EATING RECOMMENDATIONS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE PREGNANT OR NURSING!!

PRINTABLE VERSION OF SHOPPING LIST

To mix things up a bit, I thought it might be fun to run a series of posts about finding healthy, organic food for less. We all know that healthier foods cost more than unhealthy foods, but you don’t have to sacrifice quality to save a dime! Part one in this series: a special guest post by blogger Ellen Christian of Confessions of an Overworked Mom.

Thanks for the great tips Ellen!

Frugal, organic, gluten-free grocery shopping!

Most of what we eat is organic, all natural and gluten free. Both kids are gluten intolerant and I try to feed my family as naturally as possible to avoid artificial substances. We also have a fairly tight grocery shopping budget and that makes it hard to eat the way I want to eat.

I thought I’d share what I do to help others lower their grocery budget.

Vegetables & fruits - Start a garden in your backyard, your front yard, or on your balcony. Just about anyone can grow a few veggies, berries or herbs where they live. Growing your own is cheaper than buying fresh organic produce. If you must by fresh veggies at the grocery store, eat in season. Eating vegetables and fruits that are growing where you live at the time you buy them will be cheaper than buying Kiwis flown in from New Zealand. If it’s autumn in Vermont, that means apples. I buy a large quantity and eat, freeze and can so that in April when apples are very expensive, I can eat what I have stored. We also frequent pick your own places where we pick strawberries, apples, blueberries and potatoes when in season.

Meats - We buy half a cow and store it in the freezer. That lets us get grass fed, local beef at a much more reasonable price than at the grocery store. We have in the past purchased half a grass fed pig for the same reason. We only have one freezer so we alternate. If you don’t have room for that much storage, you can still purchase bulk packages of meats and break them down into smaller packages yourself. Don’t buy prepared, marinated, breaded meats. It’s almost always cheaper to do the preparation yourself. Most of what you’re paying for is the convenience of having someone else do the work for you not for quality ingredients.

Breads and baked goods – We make most of our own baked goods. Before the kids were diagnosed gluten intolerant, I made most of the bread we ate. I haven’t mastered gluten free baking yet so we have eliminated much of the bread for the kids. Learn to bake from scratch. It’s not difficult and it doesn’t take hgue amounts of time. Buy quality, organic, all natural ingredients and put together your own snacks. Oatmeal cookies are very inexpensive to make and very easy. If it’s summer & you don’t want to heat up the kitchen, make no bake cookies. You can easily make all your own baked goods from bread to pizza crust to brownies to pancakes to cookies without boxed ingredients. For emergencies, I like to keep a few ready to bake items in the house just in case. I always purchase these with coupons when it makes the price lower than a generic organic equivalent if there is one.

Side Dishes – You can make your own potato, rice and pasta side dishes without buying Rice A Roni, Betty Crocker or Lipton products. You start with plain potatoes, rice or pasta and create your own side dish. It’s better for you because you can control what you put into it and it doesn’t have any nasy ingredients like MSG floating around in there. Serve less carbs in your meal & it’s a lot healthier for you anyway.

Paper Products – Switch to cloth. Paper is always more expensive than non-disposable alternatives. You don’t need paper plates, paper napkins, disposable cups or plastic silverware. It’s not even remotely difficult to wash a few dishes or toss a few cloth napkins into the washing machine. We buy only eco-friendly toilet paper and facial tissues. We always use coupons & shop on sale. If you have babies, seriously consider switching to cloth diapers & wipes. It’s so much more frugal and better for the environment too! If you have the need, there are a number of cloth alternatives to feminine products that work very well too.

I have contacted many companies directly to ask them for coupons since it’s so hard to find coupons for organic and gluten free products in regular newspapers. Just try searching online for your favorite food product & use the “contact us” button on their site to ask if they have coupons they can send you.

Request free samples when you see something you’d like to try offered. I’ve gotten some fantastic free samples from Kashi before and I recently got a free coupon from Stacy’s Pita Chips for fanning them on Facebook. Keep your eyes open for good deals.

Barter when you can. Maybe you make awesome strawberry jam & your neighbor has extra eggs or zucchini in her garden? Offer to swap. I’ve bartered my jewelry for homemade English muffins before and have bartered my fudge for some yummy homemade soap too.

Fish or hunt if you enjoy it. Make sure you evaluate the costs of licenses, travel, supplies, etc. when you’re figuring out if this will work for you. Consider raising your own chickens or rabbits for meat if it’s allowed where you live. Or you can raise chickens just for the eggs like we do.

Wildcrafting is a great way to find free edibles in your area. Pick up a book on wild edibles and never eat anything you aren’t certain of. Start with something simple like dandelion greens or wild blackberries or apples. I regularly hunt for wild edibles and it helps with the grocery bills!

Confessions of an Overworked Mom is written by Ellen Christian, a wife and mother of two in rural Vermont who is passionate about self sufficiency and natural and organic living.