How should I buy food in bulk if I want to be healthy?

It takes a combo of self-control and strategy to not bulk up at bulk stores. Registered dietitian Frances Largeman-Roth, RDN, explains which foods are best bets and how to keep portions in control.

Transcript

00:00

When you buy things, say, in a big bag, it can be very tricky. Because say I want to buy pretzels and I like to snack on pretzels.

00:06

It's a low-fat snack. But if I open the big bag of pretzels, I might eat half of that bag or the entire bag.

00:13

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00:21

Buying food in bulk can be a really smart thing to do if you're trying to eat healthy and also to save money.

00:28

But you have to be careful and strategic about how you buy it. So it's great to buy grains, and legumes, and things

00:37

like dried fruit in bulk. And then what I do is I bring it home and I put it into glass containers or another type of container that has a lid on it.

00:44

And for example, if it's couscous, I would actually put the directions for how to cook the couscous on that container,

00:52

and also the date that I bought it so that you know that that couscous hasn't been sitting around on your cupboard shelf for a year.

01:00

And then when you buy things, say, in a big bag, it can be very tricky. Because say I want to buy pretzels and I like to snack on pretzels.

01:08

It's a low-fat snack. But if I open the big bag of pretzels, I might eat half of that bag or the entire bag.

01:15

But if you have a little self-control, what you can do is buy the big bag, which saves you money. It's much cheaper than buying the individual sized bags.

01:24

And then just put them in portion controlled zip top bags. This also works well for nuts.

01:30

Baby carrots, things like that. And then you just package them up on whatever day you have some free time. Maybe it's Sunday.

01:37

Maybe it's Friday. And then you have them throughout the week. [AUDIO LOGO]