TOPIC:

Wise Food Shopping

RESOURCES NEEDED:

Food ads, groceries

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY:

It is an important life skill to be a good shopper. When teens leave home to go to post secondary education or to start their careers, they will have to learn how to shop for and cook food. Learning how to budget will help them to save money and eat healthy meals.

THE ACTIVITY:

• Tell your teen that you want them to budget, plan and shop a meal. They will decide which meal and what the menu will be.
• Ask your teen if they know what “Shop the perimeter” means.
• Read the following excerpt from “Life Skills for Teens #4: How to Grocery Shop” by Lucy Dakota, together. (http://lucydakota.com/teenagers/life-skills-for-teens-4-
  how-to-grocery-shop)
  1. “Shop the perimeter” means, follow the walls. All the healthiest, most wholesome foods are located around the outer perimeter of your grocery store. Here you’ll
  find the produce and bakery departments, the meats and the dairy and eggs. Most of this stuff makes up the basic building blocks of a healthy meal.
  2. Buy organic. Whenever you can afford it, buy organic produce and other products. It helps support farmers doing right by the planet and helps to ensure
  you’re not putting a bunch of unknown toxic chemicals or GMOS into your body.
  3. Watch the sale ads.
  4. Stick to simple ingredients. Things you buy from the aisles of the grocery store should only have ingredients whose name you can pronounce. Chances are if you can’t say it or don’t know what it is, it probably isn’t necessarily meant to be eaten. A lot of hidden chemicals and preservatives find their way into our food like this so you can eliminate them by only buying items that you know what’s in them.
  5. DIY. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Like granola but can’t afford to pay $6 a box for the organic stuff? Pick up some honey and brown sugar, some oats and some dried fruits and nuts and give making your own a whirl.
• After looking at the weekly food flyers, give your teen a certain amount of money to spend on their meal.
• When they have planned their shopping list, take them to the grocery store, and let them do all the shopping.

FOLLOW UP IDEAS:

• Go to Health Canada’s website and look at Canada’s Food Guide to read ideas and tips to help you make wise and healthy food choices. You can also download a copy of Canada’s Food Guide which is available in several languages. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/using-utiliser/plan/make-faire-eng.php
• Make this a regular routine and let them budget and plan a meal every week or month.

WEBSITES:

• http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-27/features/sc-food-0222-kids-grocery-shop-20130227_1_teens-aisles-grocery-store
  Grocery aisles full of lessons for teens
• http://recipes.familyeducation.com/dinner/teen-nutrition/72941.html
  8 Simply Healthy Meals Teens Can Make
• http://parentingteens.about.com/od/recipes/a/dinnerrecipes.htm
  Dinner Recipes Your Teen Can Make
• http://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/Articles/Adolescents/teenagers/-Top-10-easy-ways-to-get-teens-cooking.aspx
  Top 10 easy ways to get teens cooking