{"id":15857,"date":"2020-07-28T10:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T14:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=15857"},"modified":"2020-07-16T13:19:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T17:19:24","slug":"vegan-grocery-shopping-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2020\/07\/28\/vegan-grocery-shopping-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Grocery Shopping During COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an older person living in a state with ever-increasing\ncases of COVID-19, I try to limit my errand to those that are essential. I\u2019ve\nchosen to continue to physically going to the grocery store but am doing my\nbest to minimize both the number of trips I make and the time I spend in the\nstore. I recognize that I am very fortunate to have enough space to store food\nand the money to buy several weeks\u2019 worth of food at a time. Also, I\u2019m only\nshopping for myself and my husband, not for a large family, which makes things\neasier. That said, I hope that some of these ideas that allow me to limit grocery\nshopping to once or twice a month will be helpful to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spend more time\nplanning in order to spend less time in the store.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gone are the days when I planned the menu for that night or\neven for the next few days as I walked through the food store, zigging and\nzagging from the produce department to the pasta aisle and back to produce.\nNow, while I don\u2019t extensively plan 2-3 weeks\u2019 worth of meals, I have a sense\nthat I will need 6 packages of tofu, 10 cans of assorted beans, some quinoa and\nrice, 5 cartons of soy milk, a couple of jars of peanut butter, and so forth. I\nthink about recipes I might want to make and if there are any specialty\ningredients I\u2019ll need to get for them. I estimate how much fresh fruit and\nvegetables and bread we\u2019ll need. I look at staples \u2013 are we running low on soy\nsauce or spices or flour? Are there some things I should buy a bit extra of in\ncase plans change – like canned tomato products or pasta? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make a list.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I make my grocery list, I do it with the store\u2019s\nlay-out in mind so that I don\u2019t have to double back and pick up something I\nforgot. Like many stores, the one where I shop has one-way aisles, adding to\nthe challenge of going back to pick an item I missed on the first pass. Because\nI never know which shelves will be bare, I try to think of alternatives before\ngoing to the store. If there\u2019s no pasta, do we have enough rice or other grains\nthat we can use instead, or do I need to pick up more of these in place of\npasta?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fruits and Vegetables<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless you belong to a CSA or go to a farmer\u2019s market, it\ncan be challenging to buy enough fresh produce to last 2 or more weeks. Here\u2019s\nthe way that I approach it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     I think of\nproduce in 2 categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n