Healthy Food Haul

One of the hardest things to do when trying to lose weight is keeping a fridge full of healthy food - and being on a student budget doesn't exactly help matters. I tend to shop in my local supermarket about once a week to stock up on fresh fruit and veg but every month to six weeks I do a big online order to restock my cupboards and occasionally to treat myself on a cheat day.

This week I received my monthly order from Ocado and I decided to photograph it and share it with you as an example of what I buy in order to maintain a healthy diet.

Monthly Ocado delivery
Cost of goods - £70.10
Money spent - £45.00
Number of bags - 10
Number of products - 45

 Although the exact items range from month to month I tend to get the same basic staples. For my cupboard I always stock up on tinned tomatoes and a selection of beans and chickpeas as they're so handy to turn into feel-good meals like chilli con carne or curry, and I normally find I'm running short of either pasta or rice so I tend to pick up wholemeal versions of those too. This month I also picked up some nice salad dressings (which I will be featuring in an upcoming blog post!) and for a sweet treat I got some popcorn, Special K cereal bars and a new purchase to try: almond butter.

 Look at all that colour! Whenever I get an Ocado shop I like to stock-buy some products I know will last, like carrots, apples and jacket potatoes. This month I also picked up some sweet potatoes to make some yummy sweet potato fries, and they're much higher in Vitamins A and C than regular white potatoes. I like to stock up on fresh greens too - rocket leaves in particular are so versatile and I like to chop it all up and put in a airtight container just to prolong its life a little bit and so I always have salad available - that way I'm far more likely to eat a salad!
When I can afford it I also stock my fridge with fresh fruit; normally strawberries, blueberries and bananas, so I have something in the evenings to stave off the sugar cravings and to turn into smoothies.

One area I often fall down in when trying to eat healthily is eating enough protein, so I often stock my freezer with Quorn products or other meatfree alternatives that I know are high in protein - tofu is a great source of protein and I also stock my cupboards with lentils. This month I also picked up some hummus, as I find it to be a great snack food with some crudités, and some carrot and swede mash to make one of my favourite dishes: Barbecue Tofu.

Yes, I'm well aware that this is an awful lot of food and money to spend on a restricted budget but I know that I will all-too-easily succumb to cheap microwave meals if I don't have healthier options available to me (I can be notoriously weak-willed sometimes). I often freeze some of the fruit just to make it last that little big longer and I will prepare meals from this to take to my partner's house if I'm going for dinner or staying the weekend - and I would rather spend that bit more to eat healthily than waste nearly a year's worth of hard work.