Grocery Shopping While in Treatment

Grocery shopping while in treatment may seem like something trivial but it is not. Grocery shopping is a basic life skill and many of us who come into treatment have never grocery shopped a day in our lives and if we have we weren’t really paying attention to nutrition, costs, or anything of the like.

Grocery shopping while in treatment is the perfect place to start learning how to shop for yourself so that you can have everything you need while getting all the nutrition and healthy foods your body needs to be entirely well.

When you are grocery shopping while in treatment it is important to remember these three things:

1. Fresh and frozen vegetables have around the same nutrient content. This is good to know if you only go to the grocery store once a week in treatment and need veggies that will last.
2. Compare the ‘per serving’ cost of different brands. If you only have 50 dollars to buy a weeks’ worth of groceries you need to maximize on every dollar.
3. Cheaper brands often offer the same quality food as the name brands. The name brand product may cost up to dollars more so look for the cheaper brands and save yourself some money.
4. Don’t shop while you are hungry! This is hard to do if your shopping day is set for you while in treatment but if you know its grocery shopping day make sure to eat beforehand. If you go hungry you will end up buying everything in sight and none of it will be of any real benefit.
5. Make a list before you go of what you need. Planning your meals for the week and what you need for them is a great way to budget money and to make sure you get everything you need.

Grocery shopping while in treatment shouldn’t be painful. Here are some tips for you:

The most nutritious fresh fruits and veggies are:

• Apricot
• Grapefruit
• Pear
• Tangerines
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Strawberries
• Avocado
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Green and red peppers
• Plantain

Convenient and nutritious veggies are:

• Baby carrots
• Precut veggies
• Salad mixes
• Grape tomatoes

For healthy frozen meals to make grocery shopping while in treatment easier get frozen vegetable and stir fry meals. You can get frozen squash, spinach, peas, carrots, green beans, black eyed peas, field peas and butter beans.

Happy Shopping!

If your loved one is in need of addiction treatment please give us a call at 800-951-6135.