Grocery stores can be overwhelming when it comes to the number of decisions you have to make. Let’s say you need bread. Which kind of bread? Which brand? How much? It’s no wonder the check-out lanes are full of soda and candy. After making hundreds of choices up and down the aisles, we’re decision-fatigued, our willpower depleted, leaving us nearly helpless to resist the shiny packages with their sugary, savory treasures.

Just making it out of the grocery store without having bought a Snickers bar in the check-out line is an undervalued achievement. But to navigate the terrain well — choosing healthy, satisfying, and cost-effective food — we need a strategy.

Fortunately, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) knows that our busy schedules make it hard for most of us to choose well and maintain a balanced diet without breaking the bank. They’ve created a nifty, easy-to-use guide based on their analysis of nearly 1,200 foods.

Not only does the EWG’s shopping guide (Good Food on a Tight Budget) list foods with high nutritional value at a low price, but their suggestions also take into account environmental pollutants and the use of pesticides.

In addition to food recommendations, the site provides various other resources: forms for making a shopping list and tracking food prices, and a link to EWG’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

Since coming across this material, I’ve been trying to be mindful of their recommendations as they relate to pesticides in particular.

If you have time to peruse the site, we’d love to hear about anything you find interesting or helpful.

—Tommy Grimm

(Image by flickr user Didier Lin /via Creative Commons)