Supermarket Shopping: “Cooking Light” Guides Healthful—and Adventurous—Grocery Purchases

"Cooking Light" content helps bring grocery shoppers out of their culinary comfort zones.

Edamame or green peas? Hummus or salsa? Sorbet or frozen yogurt? I admit that the information and food choices available today are both exciting and daunting. Most of the things I now shop for, cook or order in restaurants are things I’d never heard of growing up in a Midwestern farm town. So I enjoy having a guide to help me decide which ingredients and foods to purchase at the supermarket.

My favorite source, hands-down, is Cooking Light magazine. Not only do I find good recipes that use natural ingredients, but I also find information—and inspiration—to help me shop for groceries more thoughtfully.

The current issue features a section on pasta dishes using fresh, spring vegetables, which starts me off on a hunt at my local supermarket for any unfamiliar or puzzling ingredients. I’m eager to try a new type of pasta—bucatini, pappardelle or orzo will spice up my cupboard, which usually contains linguine and angel hair pasta. Instead of walking past the season’s fresh asparagus, I plan to pick a bunch for mixing with garnanelli and pecorino cheese. Yum!

My cooking—and grocery shopping—habits have changed considerably since I started reading Cooking Light. Personally, I’m more daring and more willing to try something new if I can learn about the ingredients and if I know that I’m also cooking healthier versions of my favorite restaurant dishes. For example, the March 2011 issue explains how to make your favorite takeout foods healthier. So instead of ordering my Pad Thai, I can just pick up noodles, shrimp and fish sauce at the supermarket and make my own at home.

Thanks to the magazine’s content, I’m also more aware of all types of foods, and I’m paying more attention to their nutritional value. One of my favorite departments in the magazine is “Take Two,” which compares two ingredients and gives a nutritional breakdown. This monthly feature also explains that how you eat—or should eat—certain foods can increase their nutritional value while reducing calories. For example, a snack like hummus has more calories, fat and sodium than salsa, but it gives you fiber and hummus is typically eaten with vegetables, which add almost no calories or fat. Salsa, on the other hand, is usually eaten with tortilla chips, which are loaded with calories, fat and sodium. The result? Just last week, I went to the supermarket for hummus and carrots to keep in my fridge for a snack.

Cooking Light’s content is thoughtful, helpful and fun, and this has made all the difference in my approach to food. It’s made an ordinary trip to the supermarket an adventure, as I work out my goal of trying at least one new recipe each month. I tend to beat that goal often!

Posted By: Sheri Masters