Buying better groceries on a budget: New Life Journal's Maggie Cramer asks area experts to share their secrets for staying friendly to our bodies and our wallets.

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If your January resolutions included making healthier choices at the grocery store and putting a little more money into your savings account than you did in 2008, you're not alone. Three months into the new year, you may be asking, "Is it really possible?" Local nutritionists and chefs say yes. You may just need to change your approach a bit.

Start With a List

Okay, making a shopping list at home is an obvious place to start. While it may seem like a simple task, there are a couple of ways to approach it in order to help guide your choices at the market, our experts say. "Make a list that includes the healthy foods you eat on a regular basis, the foods you like to eat," says Atlanta-based nutritionist and certified holistic health counselor Afya Imobu. Armed with a list of items that have a place in your pantry and that you enjoy, you'll be less tempted to try oat the new, often unhealthy, product on the shelves. To further help you stick to what's written down, Asheville-based nutritionist Dr. Elizabeth Parka suggests getting to know the store you frequent welt and then creating your list in the order you'll find those items as you shop.

Asheville chef Chris Aquilino recommends you take your list one step further by writing down the amounts of foods and spices you'll need. "Figure out how much of certain ingredients you'll need to execute the recipes that are on your shopping list. By knowing your weekly meals, you'll wind up only with ingredients you need in your cart and none, or less, of the superfluous ones." He suggests visiting the USDA's website, www.cnpp.usda.gov, to set your individual food budget. He also suggests organizing your pantry as to avoid coming home with that can of corn you thought you needed only to see two already sitting on the shelf.

Choose Whole Foods First

On your quest for buying healthier groceries, all local experts agree: shop mostly for whole foods, like fruits, vegetables, beans and grains. "Start with flesh and organic options first," advises Afya. "If you can't afford flesh and organic foods, opt for any fresh options next, then frozen options, then canned options." Dr. Pavka urges familiarizing yourself with the "Dirty Dozen," a list of the fruits and vegetables that require the most amount of pesticides and herbicides in conventional production compiled by the Environmental Working Group. (You can find the list on their website at www.ewg.org.) "Buy those twelve organically grown," she recommends. Other conventionally grown fruits require very little in the way of chemical fertilizers, so you can save money by choosing non-organic options of those that don't make the list of top offenders.

While whole foods serve as a healthy choice thanks to their richness in vitamins and minerals, they can also be an economically friendly option. "You'll actually stay full longer," notes chef Aquilino of the well-balaneed choices. That means you'll have fewer pricey snack options filling up your cart.

Buy in Bulk

"Because the manufacturer doesn't have to pay for the cost of designing the label and making packaging materials, bulk foods are often cheaper," says Dr. Pavka. She encourages you to compare the price per ounce or per pound in pre-packaged foods to the same food in the bulk department. If the bulk or larger options of items like meat won't fit in your freezer at home, you can still benefit from the savings, says chef Aquilino. "For example, have your local meat cutter break down the larger portions in the store. Most of them would be happy to help you out."

Look for Healthy Deals

If you find a good sale, stock up on key healthy, non-perishable and frozen items, says chef Aquilino. He also advises shopping the store brands to save money. "If you look at the cost per ounce of store brand items, you'll see that they can Be four to five cents cheaper than national brands. Instead of 12 ounces of peanut butter for $2, you'll get 28 ounces for $3." And, don't forget about customer reward programs. "You may know about swiping a card for an extra $.50 off," he reminds, "But what you may not know is that you may be able to sign up for weekly emails from your grocer that will allow you to shop the deals before you even leave home."

Try taking a new approach to your meals.

Afya encourages you to make your own deals when you choose to purchase processed foods. "Give yourself a limit of what you're going to get. Tell yourself, 'I'm only going to get one bag of those cookies or chips." You'll spend less and bring less unhealthy food into the home. Once the unhealthy options are there, she notes, it's difficult not to eat them.

Use Your Groceries Differently at Home

As soon as you've set your groceries down, chef Aquilino encourages you to prepare them for your meals: chop, slice and marinate. "You'll not only cut out a lot of time for daily meal prep, but you'll also be more likely to use what you've bought. After you get home from work and are exhausted, instead of reaching for the phone to order a pizza, you'll feel compelled to use the prepped ingredients you already have. And you'll be done cooking and eating long before that pizza would have been at your door!"

He also suggests taking a new approach to your meals, like choosing inexpensive cuts of meat you may not normally pick and trying out recipes that will allow you to get multiple uses out of your ingredients. "A really good example of that is a rotisserie chicken," he shares. "On the first day, you can serve it as the main protein of a dish with some fresh veggies and some rice. The next clay you can Build quesadillas, the next day kabobs, and the next day use it to top a salad. If you don't want to have chicken four days in a row, you can freeze it and thaw it out later for an awesome soup."

Afya also comments on the importance of freezing when it comes to eating healthy on a budget. Her tip: create and freeze fresh fruit smoothies and fresh juices. "Some people only make one cup of fresh juice, because you can't leave it lying around," she says. "But, you can make enough to freeze, say in a water Bottle. I'll pull one out and have it for lunch or put it in my son's lunch. It's much cheaper than Buying pre-made!"

With just a little planning and change in approach, your grocery goals can easily be reached. Here's to eating healthy and on a budget in 2009!

Don't Want to Go to the Grocery?

There are many places to find healthy and budget-friendly options--from famers' markets and cultural groceries to co-ops and CSAs. Here, we ask local co-ops and farmers to share their option's economic and health benefits.

Co-Ops

While a co-op may look like your traditional grocery or health food store, there's one major difference: "It's a member-owned and member-governed business that operates for the benefit of its members," says Steven Watts, general manager of the French Broad Food Co-op (FBFC) in Asheville. And the benefits are both economic- and health-related, he says. "While co-op shoppers don't have to be members, those who decide to become members enjoy benefits. At FBFC, our members enjoy member-only specials, which are deeply discounted products that change bimonthly. In addition, members can buy items in bulk quantities for a 20-percent discount off the retail price."

And the savings don't stop there. Co-ops can truly put money back into your pocket as part of a "patronage rebate," or funds that are given to members who shopped at the co-op during a year in which it had a positive net income. Steven also points out his co-op's commitment to offering natural and organic products. "For. all products, we strive to maximize the availability of healthful and organicoptions grown or produced locally with ecological and social responsibility for our community."

For more information about FBFC, visit http://frenchbroodfood.coop.

CSAs

The difference between shopping in a traditional grocery and participating in community supported agriculture (CSA) is a big one: you don't have to "shop" per se. "The CSA farmer attempts to provide the participant a basket of seasonal vegetables each week from May through October," say Robert and Glenda Ploeger, owners and operators of Cane Creek Asparagus & Company in Fletcher, NC, a farm that has offered CSAs for the past nine years. "As food costs rise, families become even more concemod about obtaining the most nutrition for each food dollar spent," Glenda says. "Having a local food source is the best way to consistently obtain seasonally fresh food."

Glenda notes that their CSA doesn't compete with grocery stores for the cheapest vegetables prices, but that doesn't mean there's no economic benefit. "For the community, CSAs provide the security of having local food that isn't dependent upon trucks and fossil fuels to transport it in from hundreds or even thousands of miles away." Harry Hamil of the Black Mountain Farmers' Market (BMFM) and their CSA echoes her sentiment. "Because CSAs are selling local food to local people, there's the huge macroeconomic benefit of that money staying longer in the local economy."

Harry's BMFM CSA operates different/than a traditional CSA. It connects its participants to a known group of local producers by prepaying--at a discount--for locally grown or produced food. AS a result participants receive a discount on local produce and products. For more information about Cane Creek Asparagus & Company's CSA, visit www.CaneCreekCSA.com. For more information about the BMFM CSA, email Harry at [e-mail].

THE EXPERTS

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Afya Imobu is an author, certified holistic health counselor, entrepreneur, freelance journalist and crochet artist. She has been a vegetarian since 1990 and is currently the CEO of her holistic lifestyle company Nattral Unlimited, LLC (www.NATTRAL.com). She is the author of The Vegan Soulfood Guide to the Galaxy as well as the crochet pattern books Get Your Crochet On!, Hip Hats and Cool Caps and Fly Tops and Funky Flavas. She currently lives in Atlanta and is attending Georgia State University to further her career in the field of nutrition.

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Elizabeth Pavka, Ph.D., RD, LD/N, is a wholistic nutritionist with more than 27 years' experience who provides nutritional counseling for a wide variety of health issues. Dr. Parka helps her client prepare an individualized eating plan and often recommends vitamins and mineral supplements, digestive enzymes and probiotics. She teaches classes, writes articles for local and national publications, consults with organizations about nutrition and wellness, and speaks before professional and lay audiences; she can be reached at 828-252-1406 or [e-mail].

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Chris Aquilino is the executive chef and owner of Picasso's Plate Cuisine, offering catering and personal chef services in Asheville, NC. Chris is a native of upstate New York and has worked in the restaurant business for the last 18 years. He is also an instructor with the Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts and hosts monthly five-course beer and wine pairing dinners with Earth Fare Market and Cafe, a chain of all-natural markets in the Southeast. To contact chef Aquilino, visit www.picassosplate.com.