How to Create a Vegetarian Grocery List

A healthy vegetarian diet can deliver optimum health and prevent many diseases, including diabetes and high blood pressure. As a result, many people adhere to a vegetarian diet, and supermarkets are responding to the increased demand for nutritious and meatless foods. Follow these steps to create a vegetarian grocery list to take with you on your next shopping trip.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Make a wide variety of vegetables in many different colors tops on your list. Vegetables are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants vital to a healthy vegetarian diet.

2. Stock up on whole grains, including oatmeal, brown rice, wheat pasta and high-fiber cereal to ensure you eat enough complex carbohydrates, fiber and protein.

3. Ensure that you purchase several different kids of fruit, which are rich in beta carotene, fiber and vitamin C.

4. Plan to buy plenty of beans, chickpeas and lentils, which provide protein, iron, zinc and fiber for your vegetarian diet. These foods can replace meat in some dishes you make.

5. Add some pre-packaged vegetarian options to your grocery list for those days when you don't feel like cooking. Tofu cutlets, pre-made salads and bean burgers are all quick and healthy selections.

6. Write down a reminder to buy such pantry staples as peanut butter for added protein and fat, tomato sauce for pasta dishes, vegetable broth for soups and stews and couscous and kasha, which tend to contain more protein than rice.

Tips & Warnings

• Foods high in meatless protein include tofu, eggs and those foods with soy or wheat gluten. Add these to your vegetarian grocery list.
• Consider taking a daily multi-vitamin to supplement the iron your body might lack from not eating meat.
• Avoid drinking fruit juices instead of eating fruits, as fruit juices do not contain much fiber.
• Make sure you're choosing dairy products such as yogurt and cream cheese that do not contain gelatin, which is made from the bones and cartilage of animals and is therefore not vegetarian.

Who Can Help:

• Overweight? Lose 30+ lbs without pills or diets- guaranteed
• Arthroscopic Alternative to Spine Surgery- For Back & Neck - Free MRI Review by our Doctors. Get your life back!
• Do you suffer from back pain? Learn more about our Medicare approved back support system. Medicare covers 85% of the cost.

Resources

• Read about the vegetarian food pyramid.