4 Key Strategies For Healthy Grocery Shopping.

If you want to change your eating habits for good, you have to start with some healthy grocery shopping habits.

It is impossible to change your eating habits whilst your fridge is full of food you´́ve been eating till now and hasn't brought you health. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Then when you come across a lovely vegan recipe you would like to try, the idea of getting all the “ strange “ ingredients seems to be overwhelming and you give up too fast.

Start with some planning. 

As this approach will all seem new, you might find yourself judgmental at the beginning… that is normal… but give yourself some time and simply the opportunity to approach this differently. It is for your wellbeing in the end.

Following these basic rules you should be fine..

1️⃣ As you probably know, about 80% of your food should be veggies and fruit (much more veggies than fruit). We all know how bad in general is the quality of fresh veggies and fruit in the supermarkets (actually I get them there only in case of emergency, like once every few months ) Supermarkets don't buy their veggies and fruit very often, but rather they store huge quantities of them in fridges with very low temperatures. That is why your fruit goes bad after just a few hours after buying it, avocados never get soft or they are already rotten, cucumbers don't taste of anything etc.

The perfect solution would be to buy all organic and local. This is not always an easy task, because even if budget supermarkets are introducing some organic products, their storage practices destroy the taste anyway. 

My general advice is find a local market, that you will visit regularly and try to get all your veg and fruit there. Local marketers wake up very early to get the supplies and bring them to the market straight away - no extra fridge time and probably the freshest option you will get. Visiting local markets will teach and guide you to buy mainly seasonal veg and fruit. 🥦🥑🥕

MARBELLA BASED SHOPS: 

Organic Supermarket Chipolino on Ronda Road has a great variety, but might be quite pricey to get all your groceries there.

Green Village Marbella - this brand new organic supermarket has a great variety of organic veggies, especially greens.. This is so far the only place where you find chard in 3 colors, different sorts of kale, purple carrots and other not so common herbs and greens

Local markets in Marbella:

Mondays - Marbella East

Tuesdays - Benahavís village

Wednesdays - Estepona

Thursdays - San Pedro

Fridays - Cancelada

Saturdays - Diana Park (Estepona), or Nueva Andalucia

You can also visit official web and search in all the areas of Malaga - https://www.mercadillosemanal.com/en.malaga

I personally prefer Fridays in Cancelada and Saturdays in Diana Park, because at these places you can park your car literally next to the stand, so you don't have to carry your big boxes (yes, you read it right, boxes!) a long way.

Now this is something important, that is scheduled and never broken. Like my life depends on it. Literally. I schedule all my work and meetings around it, because it is a priority.

I take 2 big boxes with me (I don't like to use any plastic at all) and fill it to the top with veggies and seasonal fruit. This is just a perfect amount for a week.✅

2️⃣ Get your basics with the best quality possible.

Basics means basics 😀.. like whole brown rice, buckwheat, a nice variety of different flours,  dry chickpeas, quinoa and all the NOT PROCESSED goodies.

Go back in time and think of what your grandma had in her pantry. 

Ask in your local shop for big packs - 5kg flours and rice, sometimes they have to order it for you, but it´s worth it. They are usually cheaper and you will reduce your trips to supermarkets.

MARBELLA BASED SHOPS:

I always get all of these organic and you can choose between  affordable options in LIDL and ALDI or top quality in Carmen´s Zentrobio shop, Green Village Market, Chipolino, Al Campo, El Corte Ingles.

Buy in big batches, as this will be your healthy food foundation. 

3️⃣ Get your spices and all the goodies that shift healthy food to the next level.

If you want your food to taste special, get top quality spices. They last for a long time and make a real difference. It is also great to have always some black olives, capers, sun dried tomatoes, tahini, peanut or cashew butter, organic mustard etc.

MARBELLA BASED SHOPS:

The best places to get them is El Gourmet del Corte Ingles, even in Hipercor they have some nice organic selection and Iceland has a great variety. 

4️⃣ Now if you don't want to give up some meat or chicken, it is fine.

But make sure that going organic is the only option. You don't need any antibiotics, hormones or who knows what else in your body, it is weakening your immune system and increases inflammation. The same situation applies with fish. Farm fish is as bad as farm chicken, so get them wild and not very often, because they also contain heavy metals.

My intention here is not to promote any specific type of diet. I don't eat meat, because it doesn't work for me and I also think that is a bad idea if we have a climate crisis.. I still might have a nice wild fish once in 2 months but this is how my body works. 

The universal rule would be for sure - at least 60% of all the food is veggies, 20% fruit and play with the rest until you find your formula.

If all this sounds a bit overwhelming, I have a gift for you. Download my Healthy Groceries List and make a copy in your phone. Don´t forget to check it every time you go grocery shopping, so you´ll never miss an ingredient.

Do you have some cool grocery shopping hack or strategy to share? Tell me in the comments..