Healthy Foods for Healthy Home Pantry

Healthiness, price, convenience, and safety has now become top priorities for shoppers in the new normal. Fill your pantry up while meeting these priorities! Here's how.

8 min read

With thousands of food items available in the markets and groceries today, it’s no wonder many decisions must be made. Today, we have more food facts and healthy eating information at our fingertips than ever before.

Because of the current threats to our health and well-being, people have grown wary of going around, and a lot have resorted to online selling of meats, poultry, fruits, vegetables, cakes and pastries and cooked food. Anything under the sun is sold online.

More food choices mean more to learn, more decisions to make, and more ways to eat for health. Today you have options like these:

More local and regional foods.
- Local food is generally grown or produced close to where it’s purchased.
- Seasonal produce may be picked at the peak of ripeness. It might not be available all year long, so eating local means eating with the season.
More varieties of vegetables and fruits. Today you will see various varieties of fruits and vegetables, so the variety is seen in groceries.
More simple, fresh, raw and convenient foods. Groceries today offer frozen, ready-to-cook, convenience foods.
More nutrition and health focused products. Traditional foods have been modified as consumers become increasingly health aware.
More flavor and taste adventure and more ethnic and special foods. Growing food experiences and sophistication have brought more gourmet, artisan and ethnic foods to mainstream stores. Just consider today the many flavors, vinegar, oils and condiments in store shelves.

What is Your Shopping Savvy?

Like most consumers, flavor likely tops your list when you buy foods, and healthiness, price, convenience and safety are important to shoppers too. If that sounds like you, do you….

		YES	NO
1	Do you use the nutrition and ingredient information on food labels to make sound shopping decisions?
2	Do you look for Nutrition information displayed in some stores?
3	Do you know what the dates on the packaged foods mean and don’t mean? Do you get the best quality, yet avoid wasting food?
4	Do you check packaging and cans to be sure they are clean and not damaged?
5	Do you know what to look for when picking peak-quality, fresh produce, raw meat, poultry and fish, and refrigerated and frozen foods?
6	Do you try new-to-you ingredients from time to time to experience new flavors?
7	Do you take perishable foods home within 30 minutes of shopping and immediately refrigerate or freeze them?
8	Do you pack refrigerated and freezer foods in separate, insulated shopping bags to keep them cool until you get home?
9	Do you ask to have fresh meat, poultry, and fish bagged separately so their juices don’t drip on other foods.?
10	Do you take advantage of coupons or discounts?
11	Do you monitor prices as items are scanned at check out?
12	Do you skip the urge to buy a food or drink just because you sampled it or see it in a big store display?
13	Do you buy only foods in the amount you will use to avoid food waste and unnecessary expenses?
14	Do you use unit price codes on shelves to compare the cost of similar products?
15	Do you keep a shopping list to save shopping time and avoid impulse buys?
16	Do you keep shopping trips to a minimum – if so, do you tend to buy no more than once or twice a week.

The more times you checked “yes” the more savvy you are!

When shopping one needs more strategies to enjoy food varieties from today’s marketplace.

Food safety on the way home

Here’s how you can keep food safe on its way from the store to your kitchen:

During warm weather, transport your groceries inside the air-conditioned vehicle, not in the hot trunk. Take groceries home and store immediately.
If you must run a few quick errands after food shopping that could take longer than thirty minutes bring a cooler with ice or chill packs for perishable foods. This is especially important in warm weather since the temperature of refrigerated foods can go up to eight or ten degrees Fahrenheit on a trip home from the store.

So parents, please follow this advice because it will be useful to you not only at this time but in every mission trip to fill your pantry!

Reference

Duyff., Roberta L. “Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Complete Food and Nutrition Guide”
2017, USA

About The Expert

NIEVES C. SERRA, Nutritionist-Dietitian

Ms. Nieves Serra, a registered Dietitian, took up AB major in Nutrition and minor in Home Culture in St. Scholastica’s College (SSC) Manila in 1960. After her graduation in 1964, she took up the ten months Dietetic Internship program at FEU Hospital. She was the only one in her batch at SSC who took the Board Exam, passed it and practiced in the country. She took up M.S. Foods and Nutrition and MBA without thesis from Philippine Women’s University, Manila.

Her career has been devoted to hospital work in the Dietary department of private and government hospitals for a span of 46 years, and 41 years teaching nursing, HRM and nutrition students. She was also a cafeteria concessionaire for 6 years in various industrial companies, a lecturer/speaker in seminars and conventions and a member of various associations such as PASOO, and PHILSPEN.

In 1992, she was awarded the Outstanding Nutritionist-Dietitian of the year by Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC), and was a past president of Nutritionist-Dietitians’ Association of the Philippines or NDAP (1988), NDAP Life member (2007 to 2011), and held various positions from 1966 to the present. She is married to her profession, a devout Catholic, and follows the Benedictine motto of her school, St. Scholastica’s College, “Ora et Labora, which means work and pray being a loyal Scholastican and a loyal NDAP member.

The views and opinions expressed by the writer are his/her own, and does not state or reflect those of Wyeth Nutrition and its principals.

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