Five Must-Have Foods To Help Keep You Healthy
"The single most important thing to avoid is trans fats. 'This is mostly found in processed foods such as cookies, cakes and crackers,' said registered dietitian Emily Rice.
" Posted at 6:26 AM Central Time

Wal-Mart bags grocery market in Houston
"The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shopping cart has become a wall-to-wall force in grocery aisles throughout the Houston area. Wal-Mart Supercenters now control about 24 percent of the local market, almost double the amount claimed by the big-box retail behemoth just three years ago." Posted at 7:05 AM Central Time

Time-savvy tips cut meal-prep stress but keep home cooking
"Almost everyone faces time constraints when it comes to meal preparation. But, with a little planning, it is possible to put low-stress, home-cooked meals on the table in about 30 minutes, less time than a pizza delivery. To de-stress meal prep, USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center nutritionists offer these tips..." Posted at 7:02 AM Central Time

Yahoo! Answers: Looking for a generic grocery list
"I am looking for a generic grocery list, can you help? ... The first two are meant to be check-off style, the third has categories to fill in yourself." Posted at 6:29 AM Central Time

The new food icons: Montreal's must-haves
"The biggest conundrum when planning a trip to Montreal is how much room to leave in the suitcase for all the goodies you're going to bring home... The list of edible essentials has grown in recent years. Philippe de Vienne, a long-time chef and modern-day spice merchant at the city's famed Jean-Talon Market, has watched Montreal grow into what he calls a 'food-driven city.' 'Montrealers are such hedonists,' he says. 'We want the best of everything.' So the next time you pack your bags for Montreal, save room for the next generation of food icons. Here's your shopping list." Posted at 8:21 AM Central Time

Plastic Shopping Girl
From soupermanultra's Flickr pool: "I was at this Asian supermarket in Virginia (I think) with my friends and spotted this girl who was having a great time pulling on the roll of plastic bag like she was working. It was hilarious."
Posted at 12:28 PM Central Time

Some tips from the pros
"As authors of the newspaper column, Mills and Ross advocate a full pantry, with ingredients always at the ready and shopping kept to a minimum. But on a tight budget that doesn't work because too much money will be tied up in inventory. And food that sits around too long gets overlooked, which is wasteful." Posted at 7:54 AM Central Time

Top 10 tips to diet the healthy way
"Dietician Kate Mellor, of the University Hospital of Wales, outlines the best way to diet and stay healthy." Posted at 6:44 AM Central Time

Nutrition policy would ban some school foods
"...regulations will ban from school campuses foods made with poultry, meat, fish, rice, eggs, seafood, mayonnaise and dairy products if they're prepared in unlicensed facilities, like a kitchen at home. Dishes bought at the grocery store -- a licensed facility -- made with those ingredients would be permitted in school. While it could mean the end of parent-provided casseroles at teacher appreciation dinners and homemade food for Spanish class fiestas, the head of the committee who put together the new regulation insisted most people have been following these rules anyway." Posted at 5:57 AM Central Time

Is Whole Foods Wholesome? The dark secrets of the organic-food movement
"...here's another technical point that Whole Foods fails to mention and that highlights what has gone wrong with the organic-food movement in the last couple of decades. Let's say you live in New York City and want to buy a pound of tomatoes in season. Say you can choose between conventionally grown New Jersey tomatoes or organic ones grown in Chile. Of course, the New Jersey tomatoes will be cheaper. They will also almost certainly be fresher, having traveled a fraction of the distance. But which is the more eco-conscious choice? In terms of energy savings, there's no contest: Just think of the fossil fuels expended getting those organic tomatoes from Chile. Which brings us to the question: Setting aside freshness, price, and energy conservation, should a New Yorker just instinctively choose organic, even if the produce comes from Chile?" Posted at 7:44 AM Central Time

Read the numbers on your fruit
"Another little tidbit gleaned from April's Food & Wine: those sticker numbers on your fruit actually mean something. Here in the US, fruit often comes with stickers on it, sometimes telling you where it's from and/or what it is. There's also a number, but I never paid attention to that. But on p. 72 I spotted this interesting bit of information: '[T]he sticker labels on fruit: The numbers tell you how the fruit was grown. Conventionally grown fruit has four digits; organically grown fruit has five and starts with a nine; genetically engineered has five numbers and starts with an eight.'" Posted at 7:12 AM Central Time

Scientists in food fight over soda
"In reports to be published in science journals this week, two groups of researchers hope to add evidence to the theory that soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks don't just go hand-in-hand with obesity, but actually cause it. Not that these drinks are the only cause -- genetics, exercise and other factors are involved -- but that they are one cause, perhaps the leading cause." Posted at 7:10 AM Central Time

An Insider's Guide to Trader Joe's - For curious New Yorkers.
"The quirky national grocery chain Trader Joe's opens its first store in New York City today. I know this in part because of press coverage more suitable to the opening of a hip new museum than a seller of mayonnaise and tortilla chips. But I also know this because my friends in New York, normally hard-bitten sophisticates, have suddenly gone giddy for the newest resident of Union Square." Posted at 10:15 PM Central Time

Online supermarkets to provide clearer pricing
"Supermarket chains offering online shopping and delivery services are to introduce clearer pricing, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced. The UK's leading online grocery retailers, Asda, Sainsbury, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado, have agreed to make their pricing policies more transparent following an OFT investigation into complaints about discrepancies between list and delivery prices. ...supermarkets were quoting the price of goods in-store on the day the order was placed on their websites, but charging customers the in-store price on the day the goods are delivered." Posted at 7:26 AM Central Time

The Stray Shopping Cart Project
"Over the last several decades, the stray shopping cart has quietly become an integral part of the urban and suburban landscapes of the industrialized world. To the average person, the stray shopping cart is most often thought of as a signifier of urban blight or as an indicator of a consumer society gone too far. Unfortunately, the acceptance of these oversimplified designations has discouraged any serious examination of the stray shopping cart phenomenon. Until now, the major obstacle that has prevented people from thinking critically about stray shopping carts has been that we have not had any formalized language to differentiate one shopping cart from another." Excellent! Artist Julian Montague has done a book on this awesome project, too: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification. Posted at 6:15 AM Central Time

Tips help busy people grocery shop faster
Here are four simple tips to help you get in and out of the grocery store much faster (especially if you're a time-pressed parent). Posted at 6:14 AM Central Time

Personal Finance Blogs
Real People, Real Finances: This looks like a weblog community site where you can keep track of how you spend your money and participate in challenges designed to help you spend that money wisely. Posted at 8:08 AM Central Time

Now featuring 1100 lists online!
I just added another 100 lists to bring us to 1100, despite the fact that I have many other, possibly more important things, to do. Enjoy! If you've submitted a list in the last few months, there's a good chance it's now posted. Thanks, everyone! Posted at 5:10 PM Central Time

GLC giveaway alert for March!
UPDATE: The GLC Giveaway books for March are gone. Congrats to Amy Jo and Corinna -- enjoy your books! | The first person to write in and request one of the books linked below gets it for free during our third Monthly GLC Giveaway of 2006. Limit one per person -- and you must request a specific book. First come, first served. You also must include a snail mail address -- but we won't use your email or postal address for anything other than sending you the book.

Gone! Claimed by Amy Jo of New York City!
The Supermarket Diet | "Real food for real folks — and real weight loss that you'll be able to maintain. And it's all as easy as going to your local supermarket and picking up ordinary packaged convenience foods. Diets are among Good Housekeeping's most popular features, and now the magazine has created a diet revolution that everyone will want to join. Here, you will learn how to read food labels to eat healthy, shop for packaged foods that won't sabotage a diet, and stick to a healthy balanced menu that is low in calories, high in fiber, and moderate in carbs, fats, and protein." —Amazon.com (List price: $19.95)

Gone! Claimed by Corinna of Lake Peekskill, New York!
Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles: Amusing & Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardening | "Many homemakers and gardeners take the easy way out when it comes to exiling odors and banishing bugs — they use toxic chemicals that may be harmful to their families and the earth. Ellen Sandbeck has discovered that the all-natural alternatives are just as easy and effective to use, and that they are wickedly fun. Sandbeck's way of banishing thistles from her backyard kingdom is a case in point: she chops off their heads and lets them bleed to death. Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles reveals all of her best tricks. From bedroom to bathroom, garden to lawn, your home will be clean and green and pest-free." —Amazon.com (List price: $19.95)

Thanks everyone, the books are gone now. So, go for it. Just write in and request a free book. Be sure to check back in April for more giveaways.

Love,
The GLC Crew and keaggy.com Posted at 2:53 PM Central Time

Londonist: Scott Allsop, AKA 'List Man'
Yay! Fellow list collector gets interviewed by Londonist: "Last week, we brought you the tale of The Man Who Collects Shopping Lists. Raynes Park resident Scott Allsop has amassed hundreds of the things. Londonist caught up with him recently to find out...why?" Posted at 9:03 AM Central Time

Read labels carefully for a truly healthy breakfast
"Breakfast cereals have traditionally competed for consumers' attention using colorful containers and characters, star athletes, catchy jingles and cool toys. Now, the nation's biggest cereal companies are using America's obsession with waistlines as their newest marketing tool. But slogans don't guarantee a bowl full of health, dietitians say. Breakfast lovers would do well to learn how to read labels." Posted at 6:31 AM Central Time

Should Your Doctor Write a Grocery List Instead of a Prescription to Lower Your Cholesterol?
"New study shows a certain 'portfolio' of foods, including almonds, soy, lean meats and fish can lower LDL Cholesterol as much as a first-line Statin drug." Posted at 6:16 AM Central Time

Chef Mom.com's Interactive grocery store shopping checklist
"What do you need to get at the store? Sometimes it's hard to create a shopping list from thin air -- so here's a handy checklist to make the process easier! Scan the list (sorted by category) for what you need. Click on the box on the left of any item to check it, adding it to your list. Hit the 'create list' button at the bottom, and then print our your finished shopping list!" Posted at 6:13 AM Central Time

Eating better by shopping well: what's in your cupboard?
"...research shows that even when we're actively feeding ourselves, most of us are not doing a very good job of it. We've gotten used to those cheap and gigantic restaurant servings, so we're using the super scoop at home more often. We're busier, so we're buying more quick-and-easy processed items and less fresh food. We're eating in front of the TV more, so we're cramming down more foodunconsciously while we're distracted by our shows. In fact, you could argue that a lot of the problems Americans have with their eating habits are due to unconscious habits, rather than that they've made conscious choices in spite of their better dietary judgment." Posted at 8:09 AM Central Time

Weekly Grocery Lists for Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, Summer 1962
In honor of tonight's Academy Awards, here are some Brokeback Mountain Shopping Lists that we stumbled upon a couple weeks ago:

WEEK ONE
Beans
Bacon
Coffee
Whiskey

WEEK TWO
Beans
Ham
Coffee
Whiskey"

...

More after the link. Hey that's kind of funny! Relax. Posted at 8:21 AM Central Time

Dietitians stalking stores in Canada
"Don't be startled if someone in a beige and burgundy apron approaches you in the supermarket during March. It will be a member of the Dietitians of Canada letting you know during nutrition month that you have been 'caught' making healthy food choices and offering you a chance to win prizes for doing so. The dietitians stalking the store aisles will answer questions and give information on the new mandatory nutritional food labels that went into effect in December." Posted at 8:15 AM Central Time

Planning ahead makes weeknight meals easy
"You're hungry. The kids are hungry. Even the dog is hungry. And everybody's ready to eat - now. But just the thought of trying to put a home-cooked meal on the table before heading to Johnny's ball game and Susie's piano lessons is enough to send you scurrying to the nearest drive-thru. Cooking doesn't have to be a chore, but for families on the go, planning ahead is a must." Posted at 7:04 AM Central Time

Other people's shopping lists
"A few months ago, I was grocery shopping downtown and had the opportunity to use a cart that had someone else's list still in the bottom. I liked that idea, so I walked around the store buying my ground turkey and farfalle pasta and soy milk, not really paying attention to the list, just feeling glad it was there, sort of keeping me company..." Posted at 6:13 AM Central Time