When it comes hitting up the grocery store to stock up on necessary nutrition, there are some tips to help you go longer between store visits. A lot of if has to do with planning . . .

Please keep in mind that when you do go to the store to stock up, you don’t have to panic shop and get enough items for a whole month, but you may want to consider getting two weeks worth of items at a time. Even if the US government shuts everything down for a full on quarantine like Italy is currently under, grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open — typically with limited hours and restrictions on how many people are permitted in the store at a time.

If you should test positive for COVID-19 and need to be quarantined at home (or are immunocompromised), have a plan on who you can call on to do your grocery shopping for you — you can even PayPal/Venmo them and they can leave your groceries at your front door so there is no contact nor risk of contamination.

Now, for the grocery shopping tips . . .

1) Take stock of what you already have. You may already have a good amount of items you think you would need/want in your fridge, freezer or cupboard/pantry to get you through a couple weeks. If you are looking a little skim in the nutrition department at home, add the basics to your shopping list, like rice, pasta, beans, and canned items. They are super versatile and have a pretty decent shelf life.

2) Plan out meals with common ingredients — again, like those common basics with a solid shelf life, like rice, pasta and beans.  You can mix them together in different ways with red meat one day, chicken another, throw in some other spices to season the meal in different ways to keep your taste buds from getting bored. Don’t forget about the veggies (fresh, frozen or canned).

3) Take full advantage of your freezer. When it comes to keeping fresh produce (fruits and veggies) . . . well . . . fresh, prep them and toss them in the freezer. It will help them last longer. For all the other frozen food needs, check out the freezer aisle at the store. Frozen items like broccoli, spinach and berries are good to have on hand . . . and frozen pre-prepped meals like pizza and other full on meals or grab and go boxes are great to have on hand. Meat is also easy to defrost/thaw out to use.

4) Skip the junk food. Sure, it’s easy to just grab at chips, cookies, candy and whatnot, but there is ZERO nutritional value to those items. You won’t stay full and will end up eating more of your items than you would if you were staying healthy.

Also, while at the grocery store, if you see any items with the WIC logo by the price, please, please, PLEASE leave it! Families who use the WIC program don’t have the option to opt for other items if the WIC approved items are gone. They have to leave the store empty handed. Please, do not try to purchase any items that are WIC approved. Opt for something else.

Together, we can do our part to continue to take care of each other as well as ourselves during this trying time.